Traffic on Skye is probably limited by the amount of overnight accommodation.
Well if you'd read the rest of my post, that's exactly the point I was making.
As for improving the roads for the locals. That sounds like the sort of argument used by developers. The Glen Brittle road, for instance, is more than adequate for the small number of locals that use it. Its the thousands of tourist that cause all the problems.
Traffic on Skye is probably limited by the amount of overnight accommodation.
Well if you'd read the rest of my post, that's exactly the point I was making.
As for improving the roads for the locals. That sounds like the sort of argument used by developers. The Glen Brittle road, for instance, is more than adequate for the small number of locals that use it. Its the thousands of tourist that cause all the problems.
While providing income for campsites, pubs, hotels, B&Bs. Pesky tourists. Anyway, the tourist season runs for much of the year. No reason why tourist seasonal traffic should be ignored.
Sometimes the worst judge of whether or otherwise to develop the local environment are the inhabitents of said environment.
Yep, why ask the people who live there all year round? Let them do what they are told.
A bit like those people sitting on a resource with a few trees they could sell. Get em chopped I say. Lucky Brazilians, wish I had some to chop down, too, good for them
Theme Park Skye here we come
I exaggerate to make the point of course, but resources aren't the sole preserve of those who live there.
Sometimes the worst judge of whether or otherwise to develop the local environment are the inhabitents of said environment.
Yep, why ask the people who live there all year round? Let them do what they are told.
A bit like those people sitting on a resource with a few trees they could sell. Get em chopped I say. Lucky Brazilians, wish I had some to chop down, too, good for them
Theme Park Skye here we come
I exaggerate to make the point of course, but resources aren't the sole preserve of those who live there.
Because widening an existing road in Scotland is like flattening the rain forest. Can I complain about the damage to the environment by all those roads in central London. It was semi rural when the Romans were there. Look at it now.
irc wrote: Yep, why ask the people who live there all year round? Let them do what they are told.
A bit like those people sitting on a resource with a few trees they could sell. Get em chopped I say. Lucky Brazilians, wish I had some to chop down, too, good for them
Theme Park Skye here we come
I exaggerate to make the point of course, but resources aren't the sole preserve of those who live there.
Because widening an existing road in Scotland is like flattening the rain forest. Can I complain about the damage to the environment by all those roads in central London. It was semi rural when the Romans were there. Look at it now.
I think you understand the analogy very well. History is littered with examples of peoples who didn't know what they had 'til it had gone, to paraphrase Joni.
I used to go to the Highlands and Islands on a regular basis when I was kid (first in 1969) and when I was a undergraduate and many times since; the last time, to Mull with my late Father in 2001.
What struck me then (in 2001) was the traffic, we were on Mull for a week of lovely weather and decided to drive down from Craignure to the Iona ferry...the coaches down that narrow, undulating road, they didn't slow we had to get out of the way - very stressful.
Many of the roads are much wider and lack the character of those roads I remember, especially when I was a kid - the Road to the Isles was a single track with passing places - and no bridge to Skye, we took the lovely little two car (six now I believe) ferry from Glenelg to Kylerhea and the dramatic but pretty road on Skye.
Daren't go back, might tarnish those glorious memories.
Hobbs1951 you have a very good point. I went back to Sutherland to visit my grandparent's croft where I had spent many happy summers. The house had been trebled in size,the land and outbuildings completely neglected and unused as it had been taken over by " settlers" of the worst kind. I was standing outside the gate when they appeared by car. Although I was only a few yards away on my bike they managed to completely blank me out. I just did not exist. Spoiled my memories for quite a while seeing the changes.
Dawesboi wrote:It's not a museum, you know. People have to live there. Change will occur, and it's not all bad.
Exactly. My dad, a civil engineer, ruined parts of the northwest highlands installing the first public water supply in the late 1940s/early50s. Or so you would think from some of the replies on this thread. Everyone lives in a house that was built on what was unspoiled land if you look back far enough.
I don't think that anyone's suggesting that Skye should be preserved in aspic, just that great care should be taken to ensure, as far as possible, that a national resource, treasure, call it what you will, is not bespoiled in a way which may ultimately be counterproductive to the best interests of the inhabitants.
Change does occur and I was part of the changes in my local area as I came to start a new industry in the area. Trouble very often is that incomers try to change things to match wherever they came from regardless of local mores or conditions. They try immediately to take over rather than fit in first.
If you go to the east coast of Scotland, the borders and Dumfries and Galloway it is very quiet and just as beautiful. Skye is very quiet in the Autumn and the Highlands as well and not so many midges about.
