Ditch Drama - 13 March 2019

This photograph does not readily convey very much so you might enjoy reading the story.

The roads in the interior of St. Lucia can be steep and windy and speed should, ideally, be moderate. In a lot of places those roads are not quite two vehicles wide nor are the options on either side very attractive. Many of the ditches or gullies are deeper than that depicted here. Our Toyota Coaster had taken us on an excellent tour and the parking skills which had seen four such vehicles fit in to a driveway at Stony Hill were commendable. On the way back to the ship, we had had a near miss with an opposite direction car. About a mile later, we were less fortunate with a second rogue vehicle. It was already fishtailing as it approached us at an entirely inappropriate speed. Our driver was excellent but it drove us off the road and into the ditch shown. Although the picture does not show this well, we came to a rest quite close to the wall and a deeper part of the ditch. To exit via the passenger door would have been hazardous so we decided to evacuate over the drivers seat. Again, the picture does not really show quite how uphill that was. My partner and I were not fully mobile and certainly not fit and there were people less mobile than us but it all worked. Once we were all out of the bus and trying to stay clear of the steady traffic which was not slowing down (!) our driver was able to move the bus back to the road. The indentation ahead of the bus shows how far the driver had backed up first.

Geotagging approximate.

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