Monday, 7 September 2009

A MacLeod near miss

The west highlands almost lost two of it’s MacLeod’s to the A86 on Saturday morning after Claire wrapped her nice Audi around a tree. I was sitting in the passenger seat and believe it or not I was happy it was a direct head on hit on the tree, because if not it would have been over a retaining wall with a probably terminal drop on the other side.


A very wet road, a little too much speed for the bend, and a little touch of the brakes on the cusp of the bend were the combination of causes. The back of the car slid, followed by wild veering and steering, and the next thing we saw in the windscreen was a large tree.


We had a split second to either tense or relax in preparation for the big smash.


It felt a little surreal stepping out of a completely re-shaped car, with only a sore neck and the odd scuff between us. The split second after the impact of turning to Claire to see if she was still with me was not something I’ll forget in a hurry. Thankfully she was looking back at me and immediately agreeable to getting out of the car.


Apologies to my climbing masterclass students who had a bit of a wait for me to arrive and a slightly frazzled coach once I finally did.


Kudos to Mr Gardner for being on the money that there are often more pressing things worth worrying about than falling off rock climbs, terrorists and nasty flu viruses.

28 comments:

  1. Damn, but nice to hear that you both are OK!
    /Erik

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  2. Oh crap! whats the hurry! Slow down...
    Glad you's are both ok. Wrapped my car a few years ago and first words i uttered were 'well that's it noo' thankfully it wasn't but it's made me a better driver.
    Take care all,
    Ange

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  3. Glad you are both ok, that looks really nasty.
    xx

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  4. Glad you are both ok, that looks really nasty.
    xx

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  5. I'm glad you and your wife are okay Dave. God Bless you both.
    NM

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  6. Wowza! Good to hear you are ok.

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  7. Lucky escape. Take it easy :)

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  8. Wow, glad you're both ok. Shame about the nice shiny car/laptop.

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  9. Relieved that you're telling us about this Dave, and we're not reading a tragic report by someone else! Something similar made me a better driver too.
    Best of luck with the insurance company.
    Mark.

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  10. Good to hear you are both OK!
    My laptop met a similar fate when a landrover decided to randomly stop suddenly just outside Crianlarich, the mac(same model as yours, strangely) was on the passenger seat as I had been wiring pictures, it ejected as my car came to a halt and it was in about 4 bits by the time it landed in the footwell.Hope the insurance co are good to you.Shame about the car but much better than your heads are in tact.Respect for carrying on with the lecture..!

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  11. Glad you're both okay!

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  12. Crikey! Glad you're in one piece. And yes, I've had many more near-death experiences on the UK's roads than I ever have on the Arctic Ocean.

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  13. Glad the 2 of you made it out alright!

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  14. Did the same thing in that red Saab of mine a couple of years ago, doing pretty much the same as Claire. Glad you're both ok, and hope the insurance company are decent to you.

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  15. Glad to hear everything is grand
    Very amused by the labels attached though :P

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  16. Typical woman drivers...eh Claire, glad your both ok. Poor wee Micra is going to be doing overtime!

    Take care, Fraser.

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  17. Im glad your both fine, but now to the more important stuff.... What grade would you give that stretch of road? dare I mention E12!?...;)

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  18. Glad to hear you're both OK. It would be pretty daft for someone who's done as bold climbing as you have to die in a one-car accident. Take it easy, kids.

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  19. Glad to hear both OK.

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  20. Glad you're both alright, shows how easily these things can happen.

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  21. Wrote off my nice audi A4 estate hitting a bridge at Invermorrison last Xmas.....you get my sympathy..

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  22. Glad to hear you two are ok. Live life to the fullest you never know what tomorrow might bring.

    Steve

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  23. feck, don't post this online if your making a claim for what ever reason on your insurance, they check the internet..

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  24. Phew - Don't become "the late, great, Wolfgang McLeod".

    Take it easy...

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  25. huh, what a sight when opening your blog for climbing news! could hardly read through it... forget the car, as long as you two are in one piece. take care both of you!

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  26. What is it with you Pro climbers pushing the limits of hard climbing but coming the closest to death with CAR ACCIDENTS! Cheers,

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  27. Just joining the others to say, glad there were no serious injuries, and kudos on making the Master class :-)

    Dan.

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