A driver was unaware that her car had collided with two holidaymakers, killing one of them, an inquiry into the tragedy heard yesterday.
Alice Ross believed there was no-one else involved in the accident at Auckengill, six miles south of John O’ Groats.
News of the tragedy was only broken to her by police two hours later.
The victim, Elaine Dunne, was celebrating her first wedding anniversary with husband Christopher when the accident happened on the A99 Wick-John O’Groats road.
The 30-year-old died at the scene as the couple, from Glenfield, Leicestershire, were travelling south following a cycling holiday in Orkney.
They had stopped by the roadside to change their clothes which had got wet in a shower of rain, when the accident happened on September 21, 2011.
Mr Dunne suffered multiple injuries and was told by doctors shortly after the crash that he would never walk again.
However, he was back on his feet at Wick Sheriff Court yesterday to hear the first day of the fatal accident inquiry.
It was thought that Miss Ross had blacked out at the wheel of her Nissan Micra car but the inquiry heard she told her cousin Alexandrina Steven, she had swerved to avoid a black cat on the road.
Miss Steven said Miss Ross, a retired shopkeeper, who lives in Lybster, had arranged to visit her.
However, the 96-year-old rang her after the crash to say her car had ended up in a field.
Miss Steven, 71, said: “She told me there had been an accident but she was ok. I drove straight to the scene and got into the passenger seat of Alice’s car.
“She was still in the driving seat and told me there was no-one else involved. She was alright and unhurt. Alice said she had swerved to avoid a black cat.”
Miss Steven, a retired teacher, said she went with her cousin to Caithness General Hospital at Wick, where police broke the news of Mrs Dunne’s death.
She said: “It was a shock” .
Miss Steven said Miss Ross, a retired shopkeeper of Lybster, seemed to have been “in perfect health” prior to the accident but described how she took a “turn” a month before.
She said: “Alice was staring straight ahead and didn’t seem to know what was going on. I spoke to her but got no response.
“Friends and I helped her outside and, once she got fresh air she was fine. She didn’t seem to appreciate that something had gone wrong.”
The inquiry continues.
