Inverness

We’re in Inverness. My Mum and Doug are still here and we thought it would be nice to go away for the weekend. I have been wanting to explore the countryside in this part of Scotland as it’s particularly beautiful but a bit too far for a day trip. We decided to spend two nights in Inverness so that we can explore the area without having to drive here and back in one day.

I booked a car-club car because although we can catch the train to Inverness, and I have to say it is far nicer to take the train than to drive, we really need the car to explore the surrounding countryside. Inverness is about 3 hours from Aberdeen but it took us slightly longer because I’m a Grandma driver, there was traffic, and we made one stop. But the drive was still far quicker than a trip we made with Mum and Doug to the Coromandel a few years ago. What should have only been 2.5 hours ended up taking almost 7 hours because I’m a Grandma driver, the traffic in Auckland is worse than Bangkok in peak hour (ok, a bit of an exaggeration here but it’s pretty bad) and we got very lost. Fortunately the only things that got lost this time were my mother’s iPhone – which turned up again after a frantic 10 minutes of searching the car – a pair of trousers (my mother somehow managed to discard them in a carpark but fortunately she spotted them just as we were driving away), and the car-club swipe card. The car is totally useless without the swipe card but fortunately I found it sitting on the floor of the hotel corridor where I had dropped it.

This is the first time I’ve driven this particular car. It’s not one of the electric ones because Inverness is too far for the battery and we also needed a 7-seater. It’s a manual but has a foot parking break. Maybe someone can help me out here? How do you do a hill start with a foot parking break in a manual car? My left foot is on the clutch and I can’t have it simultaneously on the clutch and the parking break. When I used to own a manual, many years ago now, I had a hand break that I used when starting on steep hills. Fortunately I haven’t had to stop on any steep hills yet but I can’t avoid stopping on hills altogether so if anyone knows then please let me know. It’s a Kia Sedona. Maybe modern manuals don’t roll backwards?

Posted

November 6, 2015

Journal

Rachel M

Tags:

car, co-wheels, driving, Inverness, traffic, travel

Comments

10 responses to “Inverness”

Denise

November 6, 2015

I am actually breaking into a cold sweat imagining negotiating a foot park brake and a hill. I hope someone comes up with the answer in case it ever happens to me when our Lewes cars get upgraded!
Have a good time in Inverness.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  November 6, 2015
  
  Thanks, Denise! It took me ages even to figure out how to disable the parking break. I usually just book the same car each time and so I know it pretty well now.
  
  Reply
  1. Denise
    
    November 6, 2015
    
    I can imagine that happening to me as well.
    I was so excited that I managed to open the filler cap the other day. I can only do that on the Yaris though, the Aygo still has me puzzled.
    In Lewes sometimes you have to do tactical booking – there are some cars that if you take them out at certain times, you know someone will have stolen the parking place when you return 😦
Sandy McFadden

November 7, 2015

Using a manual on a hill is tricky. Probably where I am most likely to stall or spin the tires a bit. It’s basically timing though. I keep my foot on the brake and slowly let the clutch off. Then when I feel it close to the point where it might stall I quickly move my foot off the brake to the gas and let the clutch the rest of the way off. You will likely get a bit of roll back but shouldn’t be much.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  November 7, 2015
  
  Yes, well that’s what I’ve been doing. But when the hill is particularly steep you normally need the hand break too, right? What do you do when there’s no hand break?
  
  Reply
  1. Sandy McFadden
    
    November 7, 2015
    
    Maybe I’ve just never been on really steep hills. I’ve never heard of people using the hand brake for that purpose.
Chaitanya

November 7, 2015

I can’t drive manual car even on flat roads! Hope some of your readers will help you with your question.

Your new wide-page theme looks nice. Fonts look cool too. Header image could be a bit crispier.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  November 7, 2015
  
  Thanks, Chait. Yeah, I need to fix the header image. I might try to get a fresh pic today. We’re going to do some sight-seeing.
  
  Reply
Jack Lenox

November 16, 2015

Hey Rachel, this is quite out of sync but I was catching up on the blogs I follow.

Maybe modern manuals don’t roll backwards?

This. I suspect that your Kia might have had something called Hill-start Assist Control (HAC). A lot of newer manuals have it these days and it basically automatically applies and releases the handbrake for you when you’re on an incline.

I can’t find specific details for Kia Sedonas but I found this video from Kia (about the cee’d) that explains how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KJRR5tt8IQ

On our Nissan (and other cars I’ve driven that have it) a little green lighted icon of a car on a hill appears on the dashboard when HAC is active.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  November 16, 2015
  
  Thanks, Jack. That makes sense. I did feel like the car didn’t roll back very much so that’s probably what it is.
  
  Reply