Take the long way home...

Well today didn't go quite to plan.

Up early as we had to vacate the holiday cottage by 10am.  It's a lovely little cottage and perfect for us and we will definitely return in the future.

Stopped off at McKenzie's bakers in the town square at Portree to pick up some freshly made filled rolls for lunch and some rolls and doughnuts for S and the girls.  We arrived at their house a few minutes before they returned from Anna's swimming lesson.

I'd messaged ahead to S to say we would drop off their lunch and say our goodbyes and head off as we had to be home by 5pm for Lola's return. We handed over the goodies and chatted for a few minutes then the horrible time came when we had to say goodbye, which we agreed we wouldn't say, we would just say see you later.  

We got massive hugs from the girls and Anna was very subdued.  Tried to gee her up by talking about the halloween party we're having when they visit in October and it worked for a moment or two, but I could see she was trying hard not to cry.  Her mum messaged me not long after we left to say she howled after we left.  Wee sweetheart.  I wish we lived closer.

We decided to take the shorter route home via the A86, which would bring us onto the A9 at Dalwhinnie.  

Journey went well and we joined the A9 at 3.25pm with home arrival time being 4.30pm.  Not bad going at all given we left Kyle of Lochalsh, where we stopped to eat lunch, just after 1pm.  We got about a mile on the A9 when it all came to a complete standstill.  Traffic as far as the eye could see and no traffic moving in the opposite direction.  Oh dear.  

Our conclusion that something serious had just happened ahead (No Sh*t Sherlock!) was confirmed when four police cars, two ambulances, a fire engine and the air ambulance appeared and it became clear that we were going to be stuck there for a very long time (a similar incident earlier this month on the A9 saw the road closed for 4 hours.)  

We sat for a while considering our options of which there were only two - stay put and wait it out or turn round, head back over the A86 to Fort William and come home via Glencoe / Crianlarich, which would take about three hours.  Neither appealed.

Of course as soon I knew there was going to be a long hold up, I started to panic about needing the loo!  We ended up turning and heading back to Dalwhinnie where we popped into the loos in the Distillery Visitor's Centre.  So grateful they were open.  The shop was busy with 2 coach loads of visitors or I would have bought a bottle as a thanks!  I still might! :-) 

When we returned to the car we could see the A9 was still at a standstill so we decided to bite the bullet and head back to Fort William.  David prefers to be driving than sitting in traffic and at least if we needed the loo again, we would be able to find one somewhere on the route.  

We finally got home at 8.30pm.  If we'd stayed put we probably would have made it home about half an hour earlier, but hey, we got to drive through stunning Glencoe and Rannoch Moor so it wasn't all bad.

Lola returned 5 minutes after us (thankfully R was able to keep her till then but couldn't collect his next doggy boarder till he'd dropped her off) and she was very happy to see us although she still ran to R for final cuddles.  It's been a whirlwind three days and we're pretty shattered now.  Unpacking can wait till tomorrow.  All we wanted was a cuppa and a toasted bagel!  It's the simple things.

Reports say it was a three vehicle crash and a man has been charged with dangerous driving but no-one was seriously injured, thank goodness.