When I was a kid growing up in the Netherlands, we frequently went on vacation to Scotland. My mom was Scottish and she had family that lived in Aberdeen, hence the frequent visits. One thing I remember so well are the narrow, single-lane, roads with turns-outs to allow oncoming cars to pass. This was over 50 years ago so imagine my surprise (and delight?) to find that these roads still exist. In fact, two of our AirBnBs (so far) could only be reached by navigating those single-lane roads.

Now, for some context, these are not necessarily “straight” roads. They are windy and go up-and-down, leaving the driver with MANY blind turns and or hills. Those are the places where you simply CANNOT see any oncoming traffic until they are right in front of you.

Needless to say, navigating these roads puts you on high alert where concentration is essential and high speed is a HUGE “NO NO”.

Check out the video below, showing my sister’s car backing up into the passing place to allow the oncoming car to go through. You really need to look ahead and pick the closest passing bay to avoid situations requiring backing out. The opposite driver does the same, so most of the time, things work out just fine. You wave a quick “thank you” to each other and continue. We joked that we were making lots of “new friends” on these roads.

On the upside, some of Scotland’s most beautiful scenery can be found along those roads, unspoiled by heavy tourism, they not only represent the Scotland I remember, but also shows off the country in ways that most visitors would never experience.

It also never ceases to amaze me that, after miles of driving such roads, in the middle of nowhere, you’ll come across a small town made up of half a dozen quaint, white-washed, stone cottages. Many of them with gorgeous gardens, little stone walls instead of fences and …. a greenhouse.

Other things regularly seen along these back roads are farm animals. There do not seem to be many fences, so these animals have complete freedom to wander around the countryside, INCLUDING the roads.