1 EAGLETON NOTES: Ambleside to Cluanie

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Sunday 8 July 2012

Ambleside to Cluanie

Written Saturday night at Cluanie Inn

A few weeks ago I was due to go to Glasgow and the A9 was closed due to an accident so I went down the A82 West Coast route instead. Today instead of sailing from Skye on Monday we decided to bring the sailing forward to Sunday and after a walk round Keswick we set off for a hotel in Spean Bridge. Unfortunately there were no rooms available so we just carried on and ended up here at the Cluanie Inn in the middle of absolutely nowhere but only 90 miles from the ferry on Skye giving us an easy day tomorrow. 

When we were on the M8 coming out of Glasgow three very large ambulances (much larger than normal emergency ambulances) came past us in convoy and went over the Erskine Bridge and up the Dumbarton Road. It looked ominous because that was our route. When got to Balloch on the A82 we saw an overhead road sign saying that the A82 was closed at Luss and advising the use of an alternative route. We decided that this could be a very long closure if those ambulances were indeed headed that way so decided to take a detour via Helensburgh and Arrochar to Tarbert. From Arrochar to Tarbert is 2 miles but despite all the traffic in from of us going that way the Police officer directed me the other way. So we arrived here via Inverery and a total of 2 hour detour. Instead of 360 miles today I’ve driven about 415 on top of the 350 yesterday. The difference was the quality of the roads and the speed we were able to travel.  The odd thing is that I don’t feel tired. 

What is even more odd is that we’ve not been able to pick up any traffic reports on Radio Scotland this afternoon and there’s been no mention of the road closure on the News (the A9 closure made the national radio and TV news). We have no internet and no phone signal sufficient to get the internet. We are in an information desert. 

PS This morning (Sunday) my phone did have a signal (thus creating a wifi hotspot for the laptop) and the draft I had done was accidentally put onto  the blog - hence Monica's comment. 

9 comments:

  1. Interesting. I wonder what happened? A few years ago, I was stuck up on the freeway, halfway between to exits, when everything discommenced. For about an hour-and-a-half nothing moved in any lane, in either direction. I looked in the newspaper, checked the radio and TV news -- nothing. To this day I have no idea what happened or why the road was closed for so long before we were able to get moving again.

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    1. It's strange Carol isn't it but these incidents, though not that important in life, can puzzle us for ever.

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  2. Actually, the draft showed up twice. With all the XXX in it, I was quite sure it wasn't meant to look like that and therefore did not comment.
    It truly is odd that a major accident that requires several ambulances and closed roads does not appear in any report.

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    1. Yes Meike. I think whilst my iPhone was connected to the internet I saved and then accidentally published the post. We've not been able to find any information even on the web about the closure except the Roads Agency formal notice advising a detour which went as soon as the road re-opened of course.

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  3. I just want to take the opportunity here to say a big THANK YOU to GB for the chauffeuring hither and thither, in this case first from my home to Helen's and then all the way back up to Eagleton. As I said to him this morning - 'You're not a bad brother to have!'.

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    1. Thank you. And, as I said, sitting here at the same breakfast bar simultaneously typing, it's all worth it now we're here.

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  4. I liked the XXXs. They enhanced the impression of a survival message from the "information desert"...

    Glad to know you found your way back to Eagleton.

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  5. Did you ever find out what the reason was for the closure of the A82?
    Things that make you go hmmmm......

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    1. No, Virginia, we didn't. It looks as though it will remain a puzzle.

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