By Michael Downing
A Treacherous Road
The road that runs alongside the west bank of Loch Lomond up into the Highlands–called the A82–logs ~170 accidents each year. That’s one every two days. In April 2023, a woman and her dog were killed in a collision with a bus and five people were hurt in a separate two-car crash near Loch Ness.
I encourage you to click on the Loch Lomond link above to get a feel for the treachery in that road.
There have been multiple calls for increasing the speed limit enforcement on that road–including the use of cameras and additional police–but what we experienced as we tried to drive from Glasgow to Oban was nothing short of terrifying.
The speed limit on A82 is 50 mph. That’s 50, around blind curves! 30 mph would be more reasonable. We proceeded as carefully as possible, just to round a bend to be staring at a bus well into our lane. I was driving and I had to basically creep around every corner because otherwise we were afraid of getting:
1) smacked head-on
or
2) getting sideswiped
On our left side was a sheer cliff of slate and shale–no shoulder whatsoever. Cars, busses, vans, and motorcycles going past us at 50 mph. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
The Flat Tire
We were almost out of the proverbial woods when our luck ran out. There were falling rock hazards from the vertical cliff on the left, and as I was trying to focus on keeping us alive by looking straight ahead and keeping us in our lane when I hit a chunk of fallen rock with the front, left tire. The tire made a loud pop and we instantly knew we had a flat. Luckily, we were able to make our way 100 yards or so to a pub called The Drover’s Inn, which is a mythical place where stranded drivers are stranded eternally, serving haggis, neeps, and tatties, and cask ale to customers, doing dishes eternally, and living out their remaining years in a small bedroom above the main dining room.
Kirsten and Dean
Turns out we didn’t have to join the waitstaff because we found a fairy godmother by the name of Kirsten who let us use the landline (no cell service) to call Enterprise and alert them to the problem. They said they would send a tow-truck as soon as possible.
I was, as they say, shitting a brick because 1) it was a holiday, 2) I needed a tow, 3) we were abroad, 4) we didn’t have cell service, and 5) I’m going to have to pay to get the flat fixed. My calculations ranged from $800-$1200. That’s when we learned that the UK mostly kind of cares for its citizens: Turns out that if you have a flat tire in the UK, there is a national code that says that any stranded motorist on a major route will be towed to their destination for no charge. Within 20 minutes, our driver rolled up, put the Juke onto the flatbed of his truck, and pointed us toward Oban.
I want to get back to our fairy godmother at the Drover’s Inn,
But let me say out loud that Kristen at The Drover’s Inn was totally awesome. She was kind and let us use the phone and, upon parting, said when we go to Edinburgh that we needed to find her son Dean which we did. We found him lurking at the Halfway House. We caught him in the alley on a cigarette break and introduced ourselves.
“Hello, are you Dean?”
“You ran into me mum, didn’t you?”
“Yes…how did you know?”
“Because most anytime someone approaches me and asks me my name, it’s because me mum sent them.”
Some day we hope to go back to The Drover’s Inn and spend some time visiting some of the inn’s ghosts and spending some time on Loch Lomond.
Renting a Car in the UK
If you are wondering about whether or not it is advisable to rent a car in the UK, weigh that decision carefully. Probably won’t need one in London; however, if you are traveling into the English countryside, then it might be a wise choice, depending on how much freedom you want.
At the end of the day, I’m glad we rented the car because it gave us flexibility and autonomy, but I would be hesitant to do it again. Driving on the opposite side of the road on the opposite side of the car from US standards is definitely a challenge. Jackie did well throughout, taking the moments one at a time. On my end, it was surprisingly easy for me to get adjusted. I kind of just got in and we were off.
Car Rental Insurance
but let me first provide a public service announcement before we transition: The sales guy at Heathrow Enterprise was applying mighty pressure for me to sign up for all of the insurance options up front (I believe there were four options and Enterprise reserves the right to make it five next year).
He kept saying, “If you total this car, you’re going to have to pay £25,000 cash. Therefore, you need to buy all the coverage.”
I declined because there wasn’t enough time to go through the pros and cons of each of the offerings and I suspect that’s the way they want it, at least at the local level. They want you to make a pressured, on-the-spot decision and I’m betting that is all profit unless you total the car.
I’m no attorney and I am not giving legal advice. If you want to sign-up for any or all of the various coverages, feel free. However, this is what we learned: Car rental agencies have insurance. That means if you are in an accident, it should be covered. We had to pay a $350 deductible and a $75 processing fee. Instead of paying $800-$1,200 out of pocket, I ended up paying $425, which was pretty good in my book.
NerdWallet says you do not have to buy extra insurance but be advised that the coverage is usually minimal, so you could spend a lot of money if there is a great deal of damage. They also indicate that in most cases, “your auto insurance policy will provide equivalent coverage for a rental car as long as you use it for personal purposes.” Educate yourself before going into these agreements because lots of money is at stake.
That said, the highways in the UK are fine for driving–just like US highways–but the backroads of England and the two-lane routes of Scotland are barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and in some cases, there is simply not enough room so somebody has to yield or actually come to a full stop. I understand Ireland is the same way. Be warned.
Slides
Stratford-on-Avon. Photos by Michael Downing.
My Writing Wanderland 