Off-roading

I’m barely home before I’m away again. This time business takes me to Skye and Uist with a large number of clients to see in a very short period of time – as usual.

The trip has proved very successful, seeing every client I expected to, bar one, and some new clients to boot. The absence of broadband, wireless connections or even mobile phone signals in much of the islands is frustrating, but it was only a few years ago that you could live without any of these, so it is a challenge to go back to the last decade and relive the hardships!

The ferry from Berneray is cancelled due to low tides, so I find myself with four hours to burn before the next, and after buying a newspaper in Lochmaddy I wile away a few minutes working out how the rudimentary SatNav works. Having got it working (and heaven alone knows why I bothered) it guides me in the quickest route from Lochmaddy to Stornoway, which as it turns out involves the ferry to Skye and apparently 11 hours of travel.

“Prepare to turn left”, I am instructed, and I do so early, stopping off in the Lochmaddy Hotel for some lunch, much to the apparent disgust of the voice. After lunch it is silent until I remember and switch it on as I pass Donnie Johnson’s quarry. I disregard the instruction to “Make a U-turn, if safe!” and carry on to Otternish, where apparently I remain “off road” until Leverburgh.