Murphy's law in Scotland
After breakfast, we get into our car and drive off. However, we haven't reached the main road yet, or a major problem occur. We failed to see a rock on the driveway. When we hit it with our front left tire, we instantly know something is wrong. We immediately stopped the car, stepped out and inspected the tire. Well, an inspection was not really necessary as the tire was completely flat, and that within seconds. It appeared that a huge tear on the side of the tire had caused severe damage. We managed to turn the car and drive back to the bed & breakfast.
There, we dialed the 'emergency number' our rental company provided. After telling what the problem was, they asked: 'is anybody heart?' Uh, no not really, except the tire! Just five minutes later, we were called back with the announcement that there we no spare tires for our rental car. 'You mean that there are no spare tires for a Ford Fiesta?' Sounded rather strange to us, as there are dozens of Ford Fiesta's driving around in the UK. We were also told that a towing service was on its way, should take about an hour before they should arrive at our location. Well, one hour turned out to be over two hours. When the towing truck arrived, we were called again: 'Sir, I have good news for you! I have found you a new rental car. You can pick it up at the Airport of Aberdeen. The tow truck will bring you to there.'
You might imagine that at this point, we were completely flabbergasted. For those of you that do not know Scotland very well: we were in Gairloch, To get from Gairloch to Aberdeen is probably a four hour drive. We therefore got a bit angry. Finally, the owners of the bed & breakfast stopped complaining we were to polite. However, it appeared that we were not on the phone with our rental company (which we thought), with the road side assistance. Luckily, the gentleman on the phone understood our frustrations. Less than five minutes later, we were called again, this time with the announcement they actually found a spare tire. How ironic. We still had to drive two hours in order to get it as it was currently stored in Inverness. We therefore told the driver of the tow truck to bring us to Inverness, however, he was still thinking we were heading towards Aberdeen. Another phone call was necessary to convince him to bring us to Inverness. What evolved next was an hilarious road trip with a typical Scotsman. We heard some great stories about his life and almost had to cry from laughing. Despite we felt awful not being able to ride ourselves, it was a great ride. However, when we arrived in Inverness, the driver couldn't find the repair shop where the spare tire was stored. After driving round in circles, he finally found it. Less than ten minutes later, our car was fixed and we could continue our road trip...
For a moment, we had some doubts what to do: back to Gairloch and continue our original plan, or stay in Inverness and call it a day. Well, we don't like to sit and wait, so we headed back to Gairloch. In one-and-a-half hour, we were back where all problems had started: Gairloch. We planned to drive from Gairloch towards the Isle of Skye. We took one of the most beautiful roads so far, towards Applecross.
At a local bar annex restaurant, we had a great dinner. However, we didn't had accommodation booked for the night, so we still had to find ourselves a place for the night. To get back to civilization (Applecross is just a few number of houses), we had to cross a mountain pass: the highest mountain pass in the UK.
It took some time before we actually reached the first town. However, at this time, all bed & breakfasts were full. We hesitated what to do: stay in an expensive hotel or sleep in the car. Guess what we have chosen: a night in the car, how romantic! However, we first had to find ourselves a location where we could park the car. When we finally saw a large and empty parking lot, it turned out that this was a cemetery. We just couldn't sleep there...
After arriving on the Isle of Skye, we were really getting desperate in finding a location to sleep. We did saw a parking lot at the side of the road. We said to each other that if we won't be able to find anything else within the next 5 minutes, we will spend the night there. Well, we hadn't finished this sentence, or we saw noticed a day-recreation area. It was located on the sea, pretty far from the road so we wouldn't hear any cars driving by. Without having to discuss whether this location was suitable, we just parked the car and went to bed.
When we woke-up, we had actually slept remarkably well. And to our surprise, the location was absolutely breathtaking. One of the best locations we have spent the night in Scotland.
