Deluge

In almost fifty years of driving, I have not had a day which was so scarily  disrupted by water.  

It was raining when I left home just after 7.30 am to drive to Inverness.   It got heavier the further north I went and by the time I reached Fort William there were small rivers running across even the main roads.   

Larger  rivers , with signs of landslips, blocked culverts and road damage become more evident along the Great Glen and my extra picture was taken beside Loch Lochy.   

Beyond Fort Augustus the main road was already closed, but I didnt know that at the time and so  my decision to take the high road on the south easterly side of Loch Ness was driven by my destination, which was on the south side of the city.  

However my main picture shows the conditions which were steadily worsening, with flooded fields pouring water across roads.   Then about  a mile on from this spot I was stopped by a van the driver of which  said that the road was impassible further on and that a vehicle was stuck there  in the middle of a very large puddle though a tractor was trying to pull it out.

I went on to find a place to turn round and saw the tractor with water halfway up its big wheels . Then  I turned back, but had the same experience  within five minutes with a van stuck in what was like a small loch lying across the road on another road .  I then  retraced my steps and tried a third route , somehow managing to get through multiple floods caused by overflow from Loch Ceo Gas on the road down to Dores.  

The road at Dores was like a torrent and the tarmac was lifting,   Then  the car in front of me had to pull in because steam was coming from  its engine and I wondered - not for the first or last time on the trip - if the strength of the water was going to push my own car to one side or, worse, into deeper trouble.   

However  I mangled to get through but there were huge amounts of water in every dip in the road between there and Inverness itself.   On a number of occasions I  wasn't sure if I would  get through, but I was slow and careful and the Tesla - because it is sealed underneath - proved its worth (unlike the next day, but that is another blip).

I eventually got to my destination over an hour late, but most people were surprised I made it at all.   And it was still raining when I checked into my hotel in the middle of Inverness some hours later .