We decided to put the incident behind us and we both thought that the disturbing affair of earlier on might be upsetting both of us and actually making us paranoia now. We decided to forget about the whole thing and laughed about the way our imaginations had run away with themselves. We put it all firmly behind us and made for downstairs where we had stored our bicycles as the boat started docking in Craignure.
We joined the rest of the cyclists pushing our bikes out of the hold onto tot the car ramp and watched as the rest of them rode off. We decided to have a coffee before leaving the town on our journey. The town had quietened down again after all the hustle and bustle from the ferry before we set off again. We were not far out off town when a police car lights flashing and siren blaring came speeding past – hurtling down the road – in the direction we were headed. This was followed shortly thereafter by an ambulance – we thought we had had our fair share of them already. Well about two miles down the road the traffic had been completely stopped – but we managed to crawl past - we presumed that there had been a accident – as sometimes happens. Due to the nature of the roads there is not much option other to close the road until such time as things have been sorted out. We cycled slowly on passing cars – which had long ago been switched off – it can be a lengthy business. When we arrived at the front of the queue we were horrified to a wrecked bicycle lying on the side of the road. It always hits home more when it is another cyclist as you realise it could have been you. We struck up a conversation with the driver of the first car who said he actually seen it happen. It was the damndest thing it was almost as if the car driver had done it on purpose and then he had just driven off – being an island they will get him – looked like a bunch of youth’s, in a light blue escort. I walked around the side and there was the cyclist lying in the road – I couldn’t see how serious it was but they had not yet moved him and then I saw another body on the road but this had a blanket over it – so there had been a fatality. I walked back to John in a daze – somehow things were not going exactly as planned. Our plan was to catch the last ferry from Fionnphort and spend the evening camping near the abbey – south of the village actually. That would allow us to get up early and start the day at the abbey.
We were quite shocked by the accident – you take things for granted and most of the time motorists are very careful and tolerant of cyclists. And in part I think just scared of the trouble they would be in if they knocked one of us down. But here was someone killed and another person obviously seriously injured and the motorist still at large having driven off – John said that we didn’t know that they may well have handed themselves in at a local police station – I asked him how many police stations did he think Mull had – I’d be surprised if it had more than 1 – but of course I didn’t know. We mad ourselves comfortable in a grass field under the shade of a large tree – I had my book out and started reading although I must have dozed off as the next thing I realised John was gently shaking my shoulder. Come on sleepy head – the road is clear again – I glanced across and true enough the traffic had started flowing again.
We allowed the traffic to clear and we climbed on our bikes and were on our way again. We had allowed plenty of time for the cycle as it included some mountainous terrain and we did not want to have to push things – we were more than ready to take it at our leisure and had packed a picnic for consumption along the way. But we had obviously not factored in any major stoppages other than for our lunch – having said that John was a keen amateur photographer – I think if he devoted enough time to it he could actually be very good at it. He seemed to have a knack for seeing a photograph before actually taking it – in other words what it would come out like. He was quite meticulous about where he wanted me to stand sometimes – moving me right & left forwards backwards etc., until he was quite happy and I must say I had seen a few gems already.
We soldiered on and had discussed stopping but decided to push through to Fionnphort were if need be would could relax before catching the next ferry and could always have our food onboard – what we did not want to happen was for us to miss the ferry and have to stay on Mull instead of Iona as planned. The roads were not too busy and we were lucky with the weather, as I had said. It was still quite warm and very pleasant cycling conditions within no time at all we were approaching Bunessan – cycling along a long level section of road. We road through the village and were about 10 minutes outside of it when we saw a car approaching from the other direction. It was a light blue ford escort – there was no mistaking who was driving it either it was the same youth who had been sitting on the ferry the one that had been laughing all the time. As the car approached we could see both the occupants as well as the fact that the vehicle had sustained some damage on the front left hand side. They turned to look at us and there was no mistaking the malevolence we could feel from their stares.
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