A cyclist needed emergency surgery after crashing into a series of potholes on a crater-filled Caithness road.
Lois Gray, 57, may not regain full movement in her knee after she tumbled over the handlebars.
The experienced cyclist was heading towards Thurso from her home village of Castletown when she crashed on Mount Pleasant Road.
“It’s the most painful experience I’ve ever had,” she said. “I looked down at my knee and it was absolutely horrendous.
“The muscle was cut through and you could almost see the bone.”
Pothole-filled Caithness
The engineering lecturer at North Highland College found herself in the middle of the single-track road after the accident on July 31.
Trips to Thurso leave her choosing between pothole-filled Mount Pleasant Road, or taking her chances on the A836.
That road is part of the North Coast 500 and is currently full of campervans and tourist traffic.
Lois sustained deep cuts to her right knee, a sprained ankle and puncture wounds to her left leg.
Two Good Samaritans spotted her at the side of the road and took her to Dunbar Hospital in Thurso.
A nurse there helped patch her up but told her she needed stitches and further examination.
A trip to Caithness General Hospital in Wick followed, where a surgeon examined her and decided that he needed to operate immediately.
The doctor took one look at my knee and just said ‘this is really bad’.”
Lois Gray
Lois said: “I can’t stress how kind the people who stopped for me were. I’d love to thank them because I’m not sure what would have happened without their help.
“The doctor took one look at my knee and just said ‘this is really bad’.”
The operation took place under general anaesthetic.
Lois was later given an additional morphine drip and put on oxygen all night in the ward.
Now back at home with her husband Alan, she’s struggling to get around.
‘The roads used to wash away, but they’re still better than this’
Questions have been asked about the state of roads in Caithness for some time.
The Caithness Roads Recovery campaign group has highlighted the issue repeatedly.
Every day seems to bring more photos of people angrily glaring at potholes.
Lois lived in Papua New Guinea during her university days and said she believes roads in the far north are now worse than what she found there.
Around 40% of the population of Papua New Guinea live in poverty. The UK government’s website refers to the nation’s roads as being “in a poor state of repair”.
Lois said: “The roads in Papua New Guinea used to wash away sometimes but honestly, I’d say theirs are in a better condition than ours.
“There are plenty in Caithness that are way worse than the one I crashed on. And plenty that are impassable by car.”
Helen Campbell from the Caithness Roads Recovery campaign group said the region’s roads are getting worse by the day.
She said: “We are very saddened by this accident, it should not have happened.
“This is not something that has appeared overnight for the council to deal with. We had amazing roads 20 years ago.
“The situation is extremely dire in Caithness.”
How has Highland Council responded?
When asked about Lois’s accident and the state of the roads in Caithness, a Highland Council spokesman referred to the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.
He said: “The act states that a local roads authority shall manage and maintain roads that are on its list of public roads.
“It does not state that roads are to be kept entirely free of defects, as it would not be possible to do so.
“Local authorities also have fiscal responsibilities. They are required to spend within their limited budgets with the resources available.”
