Rest And Be Thankful

What a long wet day!

We had to do some measurements on this bit of steep hillside above a section of road known as the "Rest And Be Thankful". It is the main route between Arrochar and Loch Fyne and here it climbs up to a pass between quite high mountains; the ones to the north having the collective name the "Arrochar Alps".

The mist and rain swirled about us all day so we didn't get a glimpse of these fine peaks. Our attention in any case had to be focused on where we were putting our own feet such is the hill side gradient above the road.

In terms of road closures due to land slides this section is probably second only to StromeFerry bybass. Of course how do you score this paricular league table, frequency of closures or total time closed? The "Rest" road is one of the main routes to a huge chunk of Argyll from the south, Dunoon, Lochgilphead, Mull of Kintyre, Cambeltown and the Kennacraig Ferry terminal for Islay and Jura. For many it is more than just a pest when it shuts as the alternatives are very long indeed

From the image I think you can see what the problem might be. This is a very wet part of Scotland and in places the hill side above the road is steep with a lot of water run off. Civil engineering is very simply battle against nature and there is only ever one winner in the long term. Hopefully a bit of clever design and hard work may bring some long term security to those who need this road.

Our shift was very hard and stressful and I had little time for a blip other than a work related one.