UKC

Skye is a must for climbers and scramblers; but while the Cuillin are world-class peaks, they get world-class midges to match - when the wind and rain relent long enough. So what's it really like living year-round in a small glen, and do the pros outweigh the cons? Adrian and Bridgette Trendall followed a dream to find out...

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In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Wonderful

In reply to Mark Eddy:

Cheers, Mark. Hope life's good for you.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

L9ve it.

In reply to TheGeneralist:many thanks. If you're ever in Glen Brittle then drop in for a brew and a chat.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Fantastic write up. 
 

The editor states ` not just Skye’ - well he has clearly not driven the glen brittle / carbost / fiskavaig road in the last 6 months. I was there in March and 2 tonne pickups were being abandoned with busted wheels. 
 

not seen anything like it in the UK in 35 years of driving. 

In reply to RedFive:

Fairly recent discussion of Skye potholes etc on Walkhighlands:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=117794

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I would not recommend driving on Skye without a spare at the moment. Visited family there last month, the main road from the bridge as far as Portree is in pretty good condition, but everywhere else is littered with tyre and wheel-destroying potholes. The Struan to Dunvegan road is particularly bad and at one point there were three(!) cars at the side of the side that had clearly just wrecked their car on the same pothole.

It's very hard to judge the depth of them even in daylight, best to just assume that they are deep and sharp enough to destroy your tyre, so slow/stop if you approach a crumbling bit of road with oncoming traffic to avoid any swerving.

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Good to hear your doing well Adrian. I have good memories of the great days we had on the Cuillin back in 2016.

In reply to midgen:

This inspiring article about upping sticks and moving to a remote corner of the world turning into a discussion of potholes is the most British thing I can think of.

In reply to planetmarshall:

It's probably the most important bit of practical information about living on Skye! I have family that upped sticks and moved there a long time ago, and they've been through 3 tyres and 2 wheels this year already. 

The local recovery service is permanently on call all summer so if you don't have a spare you can expect to be stranded for a very long time.

In reply to midgen:

With respect, they _live_ on the island and they _know_ the roads are terrible, so if they are still destroying tyres and wheels like they are going out of fashion it really is a case of bad driving and just not learning from your mistakes.

The bridge to Uig road is fine but everything else is varying levels of very bad to progressing towards very bad. If you have a commute where you know every single pothole then you can drive quickly enough but otherwise, you accept that the limitations of the road and drive accordingly. I think that if the UK had public gravel roads, it might help people to realise that how fast they can take corners is not the only limitation on safe driving speed.

Obviously it's a big problem for tourists and the Highland council should either be repairing the roads (which they obviously are not) or making sure that people coming onto the island are properly informed about the state of the roads - A big sign at the ferry ports and the bridge would be a good first step. I specifically warn my guests about the poor road state before they come and since I've started doing that, there has been a marked reduction in the number who have had a blowout. I do get plenty of comments about how bad the roads are of course.

I'd be perfectly happy to see a tourist tax/bridge fare for non-locals to support the island's infrastructure but I'd rather nailgun my nuts to the back of a speeding truck than try to get elected councillor to push anything like that forward. The tiny glimpses of politics and beaurocracy I've seen my life are already enough for PTSD.

In reply to someone else: All the roads near Inverness are going to be kept in much better repair because that's where people who operate the Highland Council live.

In reply to RedFive: agreed, far worse than anything I’ve experienced previously or elsewhere. 

In reply to henwardian:

Can't remember the exact wording but they've gone to the trouble of putting up a sign warning of substandard roads for the next n miles by the scarecrow thing. And that seemed to mean substandard by Skye standards. Which means proper f***ed. 

In reply to henwardian:

One of my clients lives in Glendale and drives to Portree Mon - Fri each week and hasn't had a single puncture so there may be something in that.

Here is the list of roads that will be repaired.

750 metres between Drynoch and Carbost

450 metres in Carbost village

one kilometre between Snizort Bridge and Peiness (pie-ness or pee-ness?)

950 metres at Braes

250 metres at Flodigarry

200 metres at Scorebay

1.5 kilometres at the Broadford-Kilbride junction

900 metres near Torrin

1.25 kilometres between Hallin and Geary

2.5 kilometres between Braebost and Edinbane

1.2 kilometres at Loch Leathan

600 metres on the Roag loop

500 metres on the Harlosh loop

450 metres at Ullinish

600 metres between Portree and Struan

one kilometre between Inverarish and Eyre on Raasay

800 metres at Kinloch

900 metres at Galtrigill

900 metres between Drynoch junction and hairpin bends

900 metres near Sligachan on the A863

1.3 kilometres near Bernisdale

380 metres in Portree near the junction of the A855 and A87

225 metres at Lonemore

one kilometre between the Fairy Bridge and Stein

495 metres between the sawmill and Creachan Cottage on Raasay.

In reply to twentytwoangrymen:

To be fair to Highland Council they are responsible for the maintenance of what maybe the longest road network in the UK - over 7000 kilometers.. Repair teams often have to travel long distances  to get to some repair locations. Population of Highland Region is less than 250000,  so potential Council tax uptake affected accordingly with squeeze in recent years on spending by virtually every local authority in UK. I live in Wester Ross and have lost 2 tyres and  1 alloy wheel thanks to potholes in last 18 months. N C 500 has significantly impacted road use in much of  my area and  climate change also a significant contributor to road deterioration

In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Nice article. 
But never mind the potholes, where do you get hold of the seafood you mention?!

In reply to RedFive:

This road has been repaired recently. Seemed quite tame last week compared to a few weeks previous.

Having a high driving position is advantageous to seeing potholes in advance but also beware the deep ruts at the road edge .

So much easier driving a medium van with steel wheels , high profile tyres and good clearance

Have to laugh at the prestige cars with low profile tyres, alloy wheels and lowered suspension. Still its good  business for the local garages.

In reply to rsc:

Once you've been there a while and get to know people on the island, seafood comes to you

But as a visitor....the general standard of food everywhere on the island is very good, can't really go too wrong. Quite spendy though, but with good economic reason, it's incredibly hard to staff hospitality businesses on the island, many places are having to shut up shop, permanently or part-time. 

In reply to Rick Graham:

Not so funny when it’s the council tax payer that foots the bill. £1250 for a new alloy and tyre last year courtesy of East Ayrshire council.

In reply to The Watch of Barrisdale:

Highland council haven’t the longest network, Devon is first with 8000miles, I can’t remember second, but third is Kent with 6000miles.

In terms of length per capita a quick search will tell you;

The 21,850-population of the Orkney Islands has an average of 49 metres (160ft) of road per person, Other local authority areas in the top 10 for length of road per person include the Shetland Islands (45m/147ft per person), Powys (40.7m/133ft per person) and Dumfries and Galloway (31.7m/104ft per person).

By your stats Highland has around 26metres per capita.

But obviously the per capita is misleading, as it’s the  ratio of Miles driven to road network, and distribution of those driven miles that’s important.
 

So it still might be that ‘Highland’ is special, but on first (length of road network) and second pass analysis (distance per capita) its not.

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

I bow to your statistical expertise. 

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Actually those are very interesting stats. I had a feeling there was1 other local authority area with a comparable network scale to Highland although a very different area physically in many ways.

In reply to The Watch of Barrisdale:

Yes, but stats can both illuminate or conceal cause and effect.  
Kent CC have for decades mumbled about not getting extra allocation due to their extensive Road responsibilities, not only do they have the road surface, but also the hedge trimming and leaf removal from drains etc.  Their road network density being related to the geomorphological anomaly that there was little historically to constrain track then road construction, so villages have roads going in many directions.

Highland council hasn’t planned very well in many cases I can think of, often patching to ‘make do’,  when it’s obvious that the road surface will fail again within a year and then having to go to all the cost of remobilisation to patch again or resurface. Even In The short term, in many cases, it would have been cheaper for Highland tax payers and better for all residents if they had bit the bullet and resurfaced rather than patched at the start. Part and parcel of juggling budgets and priorities……that isn’t to deflect from the issue of wear and tear due to volume of traffic.

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Your points are well made.  Too much short term- ism in repairs ,patching rather than resurfacing. In 50 years driving the past 18 months are my first ever experience( twice) of pothole damage.