It was with a great deal of disappointment that I opened an E-mail from
Charlie & Irene Hot Rod to inform everyone that the proposed Run to the
Hills 2005 had been cancelled due to circumstances beyond their control.
Other members of the club were equally disappointed, so a plan was
quickly hatched, an E-mail to Charlie & Irene, we were all set. They
sent down some details of B&B's locally which we booked ourselves then
it was time to get the car ready for the journey ahead.
The car I was taking was a recently purchased Anglia, well purchased
last July but only driven twice, I had noticed a problem with the brakes
but I thought I'd fixed that. No such luck, so two weeks before Skye the
brake flexies were replaced, two out of three were partially collapsed,
fine under hard braking but very disconcerting when it tries to throw
you off the road under light braking. A quick 160 mile test drive down
to Dumfries confirmed all was well and the plan was changed from
A-framing the car to driving it with the A-frame as backup.
As the date approached the long term weather forecast wasn't looking
good, with blizzards and gale force winds predicted for the weekend.
This would not affect the plans for me although one or two others
dropped out. So come Friday a rather depleted convoy set out from my
house, me in the Anglia, Lesley and the kids in the daily and my work
mate Reno in his recently imported VW van as his Type 3 wasn't
re-sprayed in time.
As with the last time the drive up to Skye is one of the best bits, the
sun splitting the sky the twisty mountain roads and the beautiful
scenery, not a blizzard or gale in sight! Then it happened, north of
Fort William the snow line started to come down the hill until it was by
the road, no problem the skies were blue the sun was out'
Then it hit
us, just north of Eilean Donan Castle, the snow started to come down, by
the time we were across the Skye Bridge the road was white and the
driving was interesting. Just as quickly as it had come it went!
Once established in our B&B Reno went fishing and we took the boys to
see Charlie, Irene and the few other people who had braved the forecast
weather, Reno turned up shortly after complaining that a wave had
swamped him and the only thing he would be catching was a cold. After a
quick chat it was time for the boys to get to bed and with all that
fresh highland air we were just behind them.
Saturday dawned very early for us and an early trip to Portree beckoned
for provisions, there was no organised cruise, but we met the others
later on and after lunch went for a drive out to Charlie's mate, who in
a moment of madness decided he needed a toy so got Charlie to build him
a VW trike. At this point we made our own way back before rejoining the
others for an evening meal at the Flodigarry Hotel. A surprise 40th
birthday party was held for Ray Ramsay although stories from this are
limited as once again kids curtailed our evening.
Sunday was a lazy day as we had decided on the Saturday that there was
no rush to get home so we would stay another night, Reno went fishing,
or standing on rocks as he calls it. We had an excellent family day out
driving round the northern part of the island and visiting Dunvegan
Castle, on Sunday night we said our goodbyes and hit the sack early as
had become our usual over this weekend.
Monday and time to get packing, the thought of an eight hour drive home
filled us with anticipation as the scenery is always amazing and there
was no great rush, just as well with a recently toilet trained toddler,
walkie talkies are great for this reason, the only time Lesley spoke on
it was to inform us of a much needed pee stop! The drive home was fun
with the Anglia's doubling the mileage it had completed in the last
three years since an engine rebuild. You could really feel the engine
ease up and the car settle in. Skye is one of these places that the
journey is just as good as the destination, with a seven hundred mile
journey that's saying something!
Charlie & Irene assure us that the "Run to the Hills" will be back in
2006 and we'll be back!
