I've said for a long time that Argyll is the forgotten region of Scotland.
A friend of mine took Canadian visitors to Inveraray on a day out from Glasgow. One of the visitors, seeing the signpost on the Loch Lomond Road reading Inveraray 60m, said enthusiastically: 'Hey, that's not far! It's beautiful here. You could live here and commute to Glasgow!' Then he saw the roads.
It's a good thing really that most of the world doesn't know about Argyll: if Argyll got discovered, the infrastructure would never be able to handle the increased population. The cost of the extra roads, housing, bridges, sewage works, schools, buses/trains/planes/boats would be prohibitive.
As it is, Argyll & Bute Council can't even keep the A83 - the main road that links the Central Belt to many Argyll communities, including some of the islands, and ends in Campbeltown - open on a daily basis. How many times in recent years has the Rest been shut by landslips, adding 50 miles to any journey beyond Arrochar? Pushing the prices of goods being delivered overland - like just about all the food and drink in the shops in both mainland Argyll and islands like Islay, Gigha and Jura - higher and higher. Deterring tourism, the lifeblood of many an Argyll community, at every turn. And still, it's not fixed.
And let's not even mention the fiasco of the Dunoon ferries, the Oban trains where not getting a seat is normal or the villages where having a primary school is now a luxury. How to kill a region in a few easy steps. Congrats to Argyll & Bute Council for starting the process!
If you're travelling - book your seats in advance!
ReplyDeleteI think tonight's BBC news report on the Rest is the funniest I've heard in a while: it seems there's another road over the Rest, called the Old Military Road, which is a couple of centuries old but has a solid foundation and would cost less to upgrade than fortifying the hillside above the new road. Glad A&B Council have found that out, even if it took a while. That's not the funny bit: apparently there are SEVEN access routes into Argyll.....so what are they and how long would it take a loaf of bread to get from a Glasgow bakery to Campbeltown on these routes?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point, sure if the roads were in place and in good condition there would be many people more than happy to live 60/70 miles out and commute to Glasgow for work. Especially as not so many years back a lot of big companies moved their operations in to Glasgow as costs were cheaper than down south.
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