A Mexican stand-off on the Tizi n' Test

The only upside of last week's collision is that the replacement Swift is not as underpowered as the original Celerio. The Quaker had wanted to go up the Tizi n' Test and Beloved had refused to drive it in the other car but with the bigger engine we went off to Tin Mal yesterday.

We had not been up for 2 years since we took the juggler and were very pleased to find that as the ascent started the road had been repaired. Instead of being 1 1/2 carriage ways wide with potholes and washed out bends it was all newly metalled with 2 carriage widths and a white line down the centre!! This continued for 17 km and the 7km from the col and just when the precipitous drop transferred to our side of the road it stopped and we were on the old surface. 11/2 vehicles wide, potholed, washed out and no planned passing places.

We went to Tin Mal. The guy recognised me again and we had a chat about what Ibn Toumert actually believed. One strand of research suggests that he may have come back a Shi'ite after visiting Iran but others refute this. 

We'd booked lunch at the Belle Vue and as that 30kms over the col to Tin Mal always takes much longer than you expect were expecting it to be a late one. Imagine our dismay when we turned a bend and found a mexican stand-off where a bus had met head on with a lorry on a hairpin.

 As the lorry was stuck between a crash barrier and the wall of rock behind it was clearly up to the bus driver to reverse as the road wad wider behind him. He was refusing to do so. All the passengers got out of the bus and it became a bystander event. The drivers of other vehicles blocked on each side joined in on the lorry driver's side. The bus driver was refusing to give way. 

The drop at this point was quite precipitous and on the lorry driver's side. 

After half an hour common sense prevailed and the bus backed up with much assistance from the passengers. The lorry crawled through and we were on our way to a very late lunch.