We were still on our trip around England and had got as far as Scotland. We had wanted to go to the Isle of Skye the previous trip we went to UK, but circumstances had prevented us from getting there. So we safely made the trip to the island this time, taking the vehicle ferry across the narrow passage of water from the seaside village of Mallaig.
We found the Isle of Sky a fascinating place and felt that we had gone back a hundred years until we met other vehicles on the narrow one way roads. Small stone crofts dotted the landscape, with the rugged hills making the backdrop. There were no fences to keep the animals off the road, and one had to be careful of not collecting a sheep or two as one went around a corner. The main town of Portree was a fascinating collection of stone houses all jumbled around the small harbour that was ringed with hills. There was no flat land….it was all sloping at different degrees.
We found the public campground a little further along the road and pulled in there, trying to find the most level bit of ground we could find. There was usual collection of tents, vans and caravans that one finds in such places and it soon began to fill up even more for the night.
The camp ground was on the sloping side of a hill, and right at the top against the fence, we noticed a tent with a car parked just below it. We didn’t see the occupants as they zipped themselves up fairly early in the evening. Other people went off down to the village below, while yet others were preparing their evening meals.
Being summer time as it was, and so far north, it was still quite daylight at ten pm in the evening , and we were preparing for the night. I looked up from the table where I was writing up the day’s events, and could hardly believe what I was seeing.
“Look out”, I cried, “That car at the top of the hill is running down among the tents and there is no-one in it!”
Keith looked up in disbelief, and watched the car run over one of the small domed tents, then veer towards our camper van. There was nothing we could do. The car turned slightly more, and ran between us and neighbouring caravan, just clipping its back side as it went past. It was slowing down by this time, and ended up its mad career by sitting on top of another tent beside the bottom fence.
People were scurrying around watching in horror, and checking that no-one was badly hurt. The girl in the first tent that was run over had been hurt, but she was still alive. It was only a matter of minutes and we heard the wail of the ambulance and police sirens coming. There was no-one in the second tent that still had the car sitting on top of it…..they were out on an evening walk.
As for the occupants of the zipped up tent at the top of the hill, they didn’t know anything until the police woke them up to ask why their car had run away! They were a couple of French lads and must have felt totally bewildered by the turn of the evening’s events!
How thankful we were that our van had been untouched by the runaway car that zipped so close by, and as far as we were concerned it was truly a miracle from the Lord to keep us on track for our trip. What could have happened, gave us the shivers just to think about it all!