Livestock on the road

[Wile E. Coyote]

I have encountered sheep and Highland cattle on the road during every trip I have made to the far north of Scotland.
Once I had a Mexican standoff with a bovine which resolutely blocked my path on the single track Applecross coast road near Cuaig.
I just had to wait it out as turning round would have meant a 1 hour, 30 mile, detour to get where I needed to be.
Deer are particular hazard as they have a tendency to dart out of the surrounding terrian at twilight or after dark, especially during the rutting season.

[KeithW]

I did once turn up for work at Lancaster University to find a couple of cows in the car park. One was standing in a space as though parked, and was relieving itself on the tarmac.

I went to the security lodge to let them know that the cows were there, and I was a bit surprised to be told "Don't worry, they won't hurt you."

I replied, "I know they won't hurt. I just thought the farmer might want them back."

I've always found it a bit odd in the North (and Northern Ireland) that if you have a southern English accent, people seem to think you're from a big city and have never seen a cow. There aren't many big cities in the South, but there are plenty of cows!

I have seen cattle grazing in Cambridge - taint no big thing. on an average year there are supposedly 120 of them but you have to get a permit to do so.
https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/grazing-pe ... ery%20year.

[Summers-lad]

I have encountered sheep and Highland cattle on the road during every trip I have made to the far north of Scotland.
Once I had a Mexican standoff with a bovine which resolutely blocked my path on the single track Applecross coast road near Cuaig.
I just had to wait it out as turning round would have meant a 1 hour, 30 mile, detour to get where I needed to be.
Deer are particular hazard as they have a tendency to dart out of the surrounding terrian at twilight or after dark, especially during the rutting season.

When he was a young man, long before I was born, my Dad was cycling to Achmelvich youth hostel north of Lochinver. I think it was about where the Achmelvich road turns off the B869 - which was untarred in those days - that a sprocket broke on his bike. While he was sitting on the road studying the damage, a hielan coo came along, looked at him for a bit, and then pushed him - still in a sitting position - for about 50 yards along the road. Fortunately it didn't do any damage, except presumably to his trousers - and he was able to retrieve his bike (which I still have) and wheel it to the youth hostel.

[Owain]

An encounter on my recent visit to the Forest of Dean...

Unresponsive to gentle tooting. Only an 'insistence' that I was coming through got them out of the way; in fact I wasn't far off nudging them.

[FleetlinePhil]

When I started driving buses on the Todmorden - Keighley route in 1989, the moorland section of the A6033 was unfenced, and wandering sheep were quite common in the spring and summer months. The unusual thing was that at the point where the dry-stone walls ended, there was a kennel with a border collie sat tethered on a chain to discourage sheep from wandering from the open section into the road between the walls. I think it was here - in fact, I'm now wondering if there were actually kennels on both sides, but possibly not both used at the same time. Anybody else have a better memory than me?

I recall one passenger being so outraged she said she would be reporting it to the RSPCA. I'm not sure exactly when the open section was fenced and the practice ended, but by the mid 90s at the latest I would think.