Epic Journey

We went out to go diving in the Sound of Mull again this morning, but it was just too cold. While B&S were in for their dive I watched my bottle of water freeze as I lost contact with the extremities of my body - in spite of a jacket, drysuit, thermals, thermal base layer, hat, snood, gloves, thermal booties....

I left Lochaline just before 1pm. The drive up to the Corran Ferry was lovely, with frozen waterfalls and icicles decorating the side of the road. The ferry trip was a little hairy, with the car getting thoroughly washed down by waves coming over the side.

This photo is from the drive up Glen Coe which was also beautiful, but up on Rannoch Moor it started getting windy and I saw the first snow settling on the road. Through Tyndrum and Crianlarich the road kept getting worse and worse until at Killin traffic ground to a halt on an icy hill. I sat in the car and had some soup from my thermos (I was still cold from being out on the boat!) to warm up - during which time some idiot decided to overtake the queue far too fast and with no grip, and bashed my wing mirror breaking some of the plastic trim off. Prat.

After a while it became obvious the queue wasn't moving, apart from the odd 4x4, so I got out and put the snow chains on. That got me moving again and I needed them until I got all the way down to Callendar. It's only 20 miles, but even with snow chains it took about two hours. Part of that was getting past stuck cars and lorries...

Past Callendar the tarmac of the road was just about visible and although it was slushy it was possible to go a bit faster, but overall what is usually a three-and-a-half hour journey took over six hours.

Poor sailfish and B&S (towing the boat - an added complication in the snow) took even longer - it must have been over 8 hours for them because they only just got in.

I'm very happy to be home safe with the lovely MrsCyclops and Misty. I hope everyone else out on the roads made it home too.