Lingering Loch Ness lay-by chaos frustrates all
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Tourists squeeze into the few spaces available at the Wellington Lay-by on the shores of Loch Ness
VISITING the Wellington lay-by with its picturesque views of Loch Ness it is quickly obvious why the stop is so popular with thousands of tourists throughout the summer.
But it is soon equally clear why it needs to be fully reinstated.
For 30 minutes, on a beautiful sunny lunchtime, a stream of vehicles pulled into the only available 30-metre section — evidence of high demand for the layby, which can accommodate just six cars at one time.
Several other vehicles indicated to stop but were forced to carry on due to lack of parking space.
One motorist even pulled in and parked at an angle. His decision caused the car behind to swerve to overtake and almost collide into an oncoming van.
The incident was just one small snapshot of several near misses Highland tourism ambassador Willie Cameron has seen at the location since metal crash barriers restricting access were put up in December 2008. "It’s been like that ever since they put that balustrade up," said Mr Cameron, director of Loch Ness Marketing. "It is positively dangerous and with the increase in tourism traffic it’s just going to get worse.
"People start to indicate because they think they are coming to a lay-by, then find there is only space for a few cars and no room for them, so have to come out again. The problem is, the traffic behind them don’t know what they are doing. I’m surprised that there aren’t more accidents. It is not going to improve until the whole lay-by is completely sorted."
The 140-metre stretch, located off the busy A82 between Lochend and Drumnadrochit, was closed when a landslide caused part of the retaining wall to collapse.
Barriers were erected while work to assess the crumbling retaining wall was carried out and the layby was partially reopened.
Workers have been on site in a piecemeal fashion ever since, working on drainage and an access point to the shore.
So far repairs have cost £126,000 and a survey is to be carried out on what else needs to be done to re-open it.
Mr Cameron hopes this will be given utmost importance because he fears it may take a tragedy for action to be carried out.
"The A82 is a dangerous road at the best of times and to have an obstacle like that where people can’t easily go off the road to look at the loch makes matters worse," he commented.
"There is going to be a very bad accident here and then something will be done about it," continued Mr Cameron, "But that would be closing the gate when the horse has bolted.
"It has got to be sorted and it has got to be sorted soon."
Transport Scotland, the government agency responsible for its upkeep, and its contractor, Scotland Transerv, will await any commitment to future work from ministers elected to the new Scottish Parliament.
Each candidate standing for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch area pledged support to our Get it Sorted! campaign to make the upgrade of the Wellington lay-by a priority. Further political pressure is promised by candidates for Inverness and Nairn.
Aird and Loch Ness councillor Drew Hendry hopes previous pledges will be lived up to.
"I see no reason why people can’t commit to getting the job done," he said.
"This has been the subject of discussion for so long and only latterly has some real action happened, so it is important that those people who said they would support getting it fixed actually do get it fixed in the end."
The SNP councillor has been monitoring the site and wants work to ensure tourists and locals can full use as soon as possible due to his anxiety over safety.
"The lay-by was originally designed as a long stretch to allow people the opportunity to stop safely and, whilst I’m pleased a portion is open, clearly it would be better if it was fully reinstated," he added.
"It is concern that people stop suddenly when they see it and it does pose a wee bit of a hazard which puts people at risk of an accident until it is sorted."
Pam and Jeff Oak included the stop in the fifth week of their Highland tour — their first trip north of the border for 36 years. "We’ve been lucky to get to see this," said 63-year-old Mrs Oak. "I’d expect a longer area to be open considering it’s meant to be a viewpoint. Driving towards it I had doubts we’d be able to park. It’s a bit stupid to cut it off in the way it has been. It looks closed from both ends but then you see this tiny bit is open at the last minute."
Administrator Christophe Menetrier was taken aback by the magnificence of the view. "We decided to stop because we had never seen
Loch Ness before and it is very beautiful," said the French 29-year-old. "It’d be better to have
a longer area to stop because when we saw the cars already here we thought it might not be possible to stop but we were lucky. I haven’t seen the monster but maybe it is swimming underneath the surface."
Anne and Derek Baff, from Bridlington, stopped to take photos. "It’s a pity the beach access isn’t properly open – how often do you get a chance to touch Loch Ness?" said Mrs Baff. The couple had stopped on their way home from John O’Groats as the viewpoint was marked on their map. "It would have been disgraceful if we’d have had to drive past and missed this," said
64-year-old Mr Baff.
French factory worker Rosana Tarquini could not leave the area without visiting the world-famous landmark. "The view is impressive," said the 38-year-old, who was with her 47-year-old sister Henriette. "We are visiting Inverness for two days and had to come to Loch Ness. There should be stops like this all the way around the loch but, if not, this should be open fully."
