Dullest place in the world
(Road sign: Dull, Scotland)
Ying and I returned yesterday from a short road trip to central Scotland. We spent one night in twee little Pitlochry in the county of Perth and Kinross, and a second in Argyll in a small lochside town called Inverary (which I discovered only yesterday is pronounced ‘Inver-air-a’. During our wide and varied Scottish travels, we happened upon an area of the map titled ‘Appin of Dull’ which I read out to Ying’s great amusement. Imagine how uproarious the scene when we discovered a road sign pointing us to Dull itself. We drove through it. Without making any rash judgements, it was indeed quite dull – quite sweet as hilly villages go, but certainly dull – unless one counts the Safari Adventures offered at the Eastern side of it. It is quite the juxtaposition of Scottish exploratory and zoological excitement coupled with the most boring place name (after Stevenage) I’ve ever encountered.
We sampled none of Dull’s attractions, but stopped for enough time for me to clamber over a fence (I know – I could have been peppered with rifle pellets for such an outrageous act of trespass), race through the be-patted field, take this photograph and sprint back to the waiting car and my personal driver, Ying. There was nowhere to stop on the single-track road, and there were no passing places anywhere in sight of the sign, hence the field intrusion on my part. There were many hindrances along the way, the most disconcerting and aggravating of these being that the car’s passenger door would not open from the inside. We discovered this after an hour or so of travelling when we stopped for petrol. Ying asked me to exit the car and I found I ws completely unable. The car door handle fell slack and I was more or less trapped inside. After calling the car rental company and realising not much could be done, we journeyed on in this fashion for the remainder of the trip. Each time I exited the car, I had to first wind down my window, reach out and open the door from the outside, reel the window up, and alight. When rain is hammering down on the car roof, reaching out with a left arm is not a pleasant experience, but we had no choice, except for me to climb to another door or for Ying to run round and open it for me every time we stopped. Dull? Certainly not.
More news soon – I’ll soon be back on a daily basis – Ying’s visit (and the accompanying travelling and lack of internet) has been hindering progress these past days. By Monday I shall be right on track again.
– Today Rosie and Ying are attempting to cycle from Glasgow to Loch Lomond in Scotland –
