Country Driving: (Pt.II)

Having recently endured the thrills of Devonshire sunken lanes and the rock faces of the descent into Lynmouth I am even more puzzled why people drive as though they are the only people likely to be using the so called country road they are on. The hazards round the corner are many and dangerous. Take your pick from a straw trailer, horse box, stock lorry, heating fuel tanker, feed lorry, pre-mix cement tanker, and sludge emptier.

The white van driver trying to hit all his delivery targets also awaits. Those who send these poor souls out into the unknown think that the timings can be the same as in town. As we have few streets there are no street names, house and farm signs are not guaranteed, and in any case, the houses and farms may lie hidden down even narrower lanes and tracks. We can now spot a lost driver of this type. The most frustrated could have been driving round in circles for an hour or more with little help from Sat Nav which has no qualms in sending articulated lorries by routes where wing mirrors become hedge trimmers. Other road users include riders, pedestrians and cyclists. Often these are unsuspecting holiday makers who are unprepared for the petrol head holiday maker or youngster who has no fear.

On the other hand pedestrians are no better. Of course this is an oversimplification because most pedestrians are in fact drivers but their mental partitioning is impressive. As we approached the Lynmouth cark park under the cliff at a stately 10 miles an hour the worst hazards were drivers making their way into the town by walking in the middle of the road, sometimes backwards whilst beckoning other members of their party, or spread right across the road while trying to read the parking charges. Tempting though it was to sound the horn this was thought inappropriate as some of the obstructions seemed more than capable of staging a heart attack.

There is still some good driving to be had but it has to be done in the more rugged terrains such as on the moors or higher parts of Wales. With the school holidays and the inexplicable demise of the reverse gear we shall soon be grounded until September when school goes back and only the grey market holiday makers have to be guarded against, until autumn really kicks in with a few westerly gales.

Dacier