1 EAGLETON NOTES: Timing is Everything

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Monday 13 January 2020

Timing is Everything

The secret to great comedy is timing. The same can be said for  travelling when living on an Island.

I had planned to stay with friends in Callander until today and I was booked on the evening ferry from Ullapool. It became fairly clear on Saturday, though, that if I didn't make a run for home on Sunday, I might not actually get home until Wednesday or even Thursday. Why? Storm Brendan was threatening most of the North-West of the UK and the Western Isles in particular were likely to get 90+mph winds. So I drove to Ullapool on Sunday for the evening ferry. It was a beautiful journey.

I'm now safely home.

The photos are mostly from my dashcam with the last three taken on my phone.








The last photo is Ralia the Highland Gateway Centre just South of Newtonmore. It's open throughout the year from 0800 to 1800 and is a very popular place to break the journey.

36 comments:

  1. Great snow cover for a beautiful area.

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    1. Red, it was just enough not to be a nuisance driving.

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  2. Perfect roads, no traffic, and snow. I thoroughly approve of the first two, but not the snow. Great pictures.

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    1. Cro, the snow wasn't a problem on the road and up on the hills and mountains it looks lovely and doesn't discommode me.

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  3. You did well, travelling when you did. I have not seen that much snow since last May when we drove through Austria on our way to South Tyrolia. This "winter", I have not yet seen one single flake.

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    1. Meike, I understand that there is more around today in The Highlands. Here it's just been incredibly stormy. I won't be going to The Woodlands this morning because the Braighe (the road across the isthmus to the peninsula on which I live) is closed by the storm winds and a very high tide.

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  4. It looks beautiful and good that you changed your journey so you're back home before the storm hit. Stay safe.

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    1. Thank you, Jules. There's no place like home, even in a storm!

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  5. Stunning scenery and great photos, Good to hear that you made it home safely.

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  6. I'm glad you didn't miss the boat, Graham! Some would say I often miss the boat!! :)

    I hope all is safe...and Storm Brendan wasn't too angry.

    Great photos...thanks for sharing. :)

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    1. Lee, all of us have missed one boat or another. Storm Brendan has now moved on but we still have very strong winds which, combined with very high Spring tides, are causing problems. But compared with the problems in Australia and the Philippines and many other places they are as nothing.

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  7. Good thinking to make a hasty trip back up to your home. I said to David last night that the road across the Braighe would be impassable just now. The snowy photos are wonderful, blue skies and snowy landscapes but decent road conditions. No snow here but very strong gales and torrential rain due by lunchtime today. Ooooh I hate winter. Glad that the tests were still on the right track when you were in Glasgow. Keep on keeping on as we say.

    regards Beverley

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    1. Beverley, I'm glad that you are back commenting again. It keeps us more in touch. We had a lull today but this evening the strong winds are back. The storm shutters are up though! I don't particularly dislike winter, but I do not like the high winds and the disruption. But then few of us like disruption, however caused.

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  8. I'm glad you got home safely :) And nice to be able to take some photos along the way while driving! The weather has been very windy here too, but unusually mild for January. Still no snow around here.

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    1. I'm glad, Monica, that your weather isn't as bad as ours. I rarely stop to take photos when I'm journeying. I should do so more often. However the dash-cam runs all the time the car is running .

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  9. oh wow I'm loving the snowy landscape. you know what it reminds me of? Our Mount Ruapehu and the scenic roads on the way there.

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    1. Amy, your photos always show off the landscape so well so I'm glad you like my snowy ones. I've never been to Mount Ruapehu in the winter so I've never seen snow on the Desert Road. I can see there would be a similarity though.

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  10. I'm with you... snow is all right, so long as it doesn't affect the roads. I am all for snow on the mountain tops, tree tops, and shrubbery, but I want my roads dry and driveable! In places where winter snow is usual, I can't believe they don't put down heater wires in the pavement when they resurface the roads... it would make such a difference!

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    1. Marcheline, I like your idea of electrically heated roads but somehow I don't see that happening any time soon in the UK.

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    2. It's odd, the vagaries of what technology is and isn't utilized in various countries. Over there, loads and loads of windmill farms to harness FREE and UNLIMITED ENERGY. Over here, I live on an island where the ocean winds could probably power the whole damn island for free... but people are concerned with "the view" - so, no harnessing natural power. Also, the windmills would get in the way of oil pipelines they want to bury under our ocean.... (!!!!)

      Over here, household bathrooms only have toilets and sinks. Over there, bidets are considered de rigeur. Over here, they're considered to be "faux posh" unless it's the bathroom of a mansion. Also over here, households that have them installed usually end up using them as magazine racks... sort of like exercise equipment is used as a towel rack...

      And the roads don't really need to be electrically heated... either solar energy to power the inlaid wires or even just paving with dark black paving material serves to melt ice and snow extremely well, too.

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    3. Marcheline, last year on at least one day, Scotland was self-sufficient in electricity from renewable sources. Despite that there are still objections to windmills on all sorts of grounds. Personally I think they have great majesty and a certain beauty. However I would not want one too close because they are rather noisy in a discomforting sort of way. One of the biggest objection Scotland has had to wind farms off-shore was from a certain well-known environmentalist Donald Trump who happened to own a golf course not far away.

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  11. How pleasant to drive home through such picturesque scenery. Definitely a good idea to get home when you could though, even if it meant a change of plans.

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    1. It proved to be a very good decision, Margaret.

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  12. Great pictures. Is a dashcam a camera that is only used by speeding drivers or is a part of an angry outburst range - dashcam, bloodyhellcam and flippingheckcam?

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    1. YP, it's a camera not a phone so I'm not quite sure what your point is or points are. So far as speeding is concerned no one wanting to speed would fit one because it would give evidence against the driver if they were speeding.

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    2. YP, I was in the shower when I just got the joke. Duh!!

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    3. Oh good...I don't need to explain that "dash" has at least two other meaning apart from "dashboard".

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  13. It really is beautiful to look at though I'm sure there was a cost in comfort and convenience!
    I like that you did the sensible thing, heroics in these situations are not really heroic at all and annoy me

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    1. Kylie, I was in a comfortable car so the comfort wasn't compromised. Fortunately the ferry crossing was fairly comfortable too. I don't do heroics of any sort: I'm far too practical (and cowardly).

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  14. Glad you got home to batten down the hatches although I imagine you wouldn't leave home without doing so anyway. Thank heavens for the dashcam to capture those sights. Every one so beautiful.

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    1. Pauline the hatches were battened. The dashcam is wonderful. I have some lovely New Zealand journeys recorded.

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