The Finest Road in the World

Trains and stagecoaches stuck in the snow, wild storms driving sailing ships off course, traffic pile-ups on so-called ''killer'' highways - stories abound about the horrors of travel in the Highlands and Islands, and have done for as far as the records go back.James Miller tells the dramatic and sometimes surprisingly humorous story of travel and transport in the Highlands. Some of the figures in the story are familiar - General George Wade, Thomas Telford and Joseph Mitchell among them - but there are a host of others too, including the intrepid Lady Sarah Murray, who offered sound advice for travellers (''Provide yourself with a strong roomy carriage, and have the springs well corded'').This thought-provoking book will appeal to all who like stories of travel and transport, and are interested in how changing modes of transport have affected the ways of life in the Highlands and remain crucial to the modern life and the future of the region.

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