Cristine Eastin

Just back from another trip to Scotland, here’s another installment of driving in the Highlands of Scotland—on the left.

Our driving was confined to the Isle of Mull. And I mean confined. It’s not very big, though at thirty miles long with nearly 300 miles of coastline, it’s the second largest of the Hebrides islands.

There wasn’t a lot of traffic in September. There was, however, lots of rain! And Storm Ali kept us off the roads for a day with fifty mph winds.

With the exception of a few miles of two-lane road between Craignure and Salen, the roads are all single-track and weak according to the signs.The road straight across is so small that it has no number, just a name, the Glen Road. It’s a lovely eight-mile drive—except when facing a garbage truck. My husband held his ground in the passing place, rather than let the car slip off the pavement and down the 6-10″ eroded drop into the mud, and the truck eased on by.

Dervaig (Der’-vig) was the quaint little village we called home for a week. Fortunately, it was a short walk into town from our rental cottage to the handy little Post Office grocery store that had a bit of everything. I saw a local driver need a spotter to help him back around at the end of the village street.

I asked the grocer for hiking directions to the Kilmore Standing Stones. He said to walk up the “main road.” Here it is—the B8073.

Really, driving the single-track roads on Mull isn’t so bad. If everyone does what they’re supposed to, it’s a sort of dance. Drivers are respectful, with the exception of the young idiot who blasted by me as if he were in the Mull Rally. The drive from Dervaig to Fionnphort (Fin’-a-fert) is only fifty-eight miles—the whole length and width of the island—but it took over two hours. The scenery is spectacular through rolling green mountains laced with waterfalls. I know, because I drove slowly enough to enjoy the view.