Wild Lochaber Blogs
The latest bleats from the sheep on the street...
Blogs (web logs) and blogspots provide a unique insight into Highland life and nature in Lochaber and The West Highlands.
We have put together a collection of Lochaber blogs to highlight the traditions, culture and wildlife in the various regions, including the West Coast Islands.
We show entries from the last 100 days, organised by region, topic and blog. The titles and text snippets give a taste of each entry with direct links to the main blog entry on the host website. We hope you will find time to explore the full articles and further information on the host blog sites.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions for blogs you would like to see here.
Abacus Mountain Guides
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Scotland is renowned around the world for its changeable weather. Sometimes we enjoy very bad weather with a significant amount of wind, cloud and precipitation, but we also get very fine spells of weather in between. Rapid changes in the weather bring rapid changes to winter...
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We had a bit of a thaw earlier in the week which has stripped a lot of the snow from the mountains, but over the last day or two the temperatures have plummeted again. Elisa and Tamara are over from Belgium and with -8 degrees Celsius and 50-60 mph winds forecast for the summit of Ben Nevis we...
Scottish Islands Explorer
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Old Scatness has some history as a settlement. It's in the South Mainland of Shetland and illustrates how one culture, in this case Pictish, developed a 'residential area' that was taken over by another, Viking. Then it became a ruin, to be resurrected with archaeological discoveries during airport...
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Grand Designs attracts us to other people's houses and concepts of residency. Here's a house to dwell on (as well as in) that's on the Isle of Skye. To learn more, click here.Scottish Islands Explorer - likes looking in as well as beyondDigital Edition: lends itself to the minimalist approach
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Here is part of the Black Cuillins on Skye which are not often confused with the red planet, Mars. However, recent research has suggested that there are similarities between the soils of Skye and Mull with the ground covering on Mars. Follow the connections on the BBC website.Scottish Islands...
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The Schools Hebridean Society was founded by John Abbott in 1962. The first camp that he organised was on Gometra and many subsequent ones followed. Rhenigidale (below) is featured on the Gatliff Hebridean Hostels Trust website following the expedition there in 1974. The picture above is from an...
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The type of estate above - Soval in the Western Isles - is unlikely to increase, but the property-style estates are destined to grow there according to a report in The Press and Journal. Moves are afoot to attract the young by providing more housing.Scottish Islands Explorer - always looking for...
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Casey McIntyre, of Berneray, has won a photographic competition that's a prelude to The Hebridean Dark Skies Festival to be held in February 2019. Read about this image and the events to come - on the BBC Website.Scottish Islands Explorer - tends to look out and around rather than upDigital Edition...
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Populations vary on islands and a few, such as Eilean da Mheinn, are recorded as one. It has 7.4 acres, is some hundred yards to the west of Crinan, in Argyll & Bute, and ironically has a name meaning island of the two mines. The mooring of boats in this area is so popular that anchoring off...
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The Puffer Café and Pub on Easdale is up for sale, offering an opportunity for a prospective proprietor. The details are in The Press and Journal. The short ferry journey to the island brings visitors on a daily basis throughout the season. Each September the World Skimming Championships attract...
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Across the road in Garyvard - featured here yesterday - is a two-bedroomed house, with a garden, vegetable plot, artist's studio, access to a harbour and jetty plus stunning views. Seahaven is open to offers over £125k and can be viewed through Zoopla.Scottish Islands Explorer - likes what it...
wondering wanderers
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We love Christmas. Ady and I loved it before we had Davies and Scarlett, even though as retail managers in our early careers it meant a time of long working hours, lots of stress and finding yourself humming Christmas songs right through from October onwards. Ady worked in Garden Centres so was...
Marc Calhoun
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Another Isle to Be is The Pirate's Isle. How's that for an enticing name. Was it once the base of Blue Beard, or maybe Jean Laffite? No. Or how about Captain Hook? No; although Hook's creator spent time writing in a spot 20 miles from the island.The island's other name is Bearasaigh, and it...
West Coast Mountain Guides
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Over the past few days, I've been out with Blair, Seb and Nigel, who have been on our Winter Mountaineering Course. We've had to work hard to get up to the snow, with one day on Ledge Route, a day on 0.5 Gully in the Cairngorms, No.3 Gully on Ben Nevis yesterday, and finally, to wrap...
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I was out running the first day of a winter mountaineering course today, and to kick things off, Nigel, Seb, Blair and myself made an ascent of Ledge Route, whilst focusing on introducing the team to the rope, and looking at various types of belays that can be found on mountaineering terrain. The...
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After a rather awkward approach into Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis today, Renee and I found great conditions on No. 3 Gully Buttress. The first pitch sported some good and some not so good ice, but enough solid stuff for it to feel secure. Thereafter, there was plenty of névé, which is particularly...
Lochaber Chamber of Commerce
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A “health check” on the vibrancy of Highland towns and Inverness city centre has discovered major contrasts in towns across the region. Study assessed 14 Highland towns This major study assessed the strength, vitality and performances of town and city centres and was carried out in ...
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Safety-Zone provides health and safety training courses, including IOSH, NEBOSH and E-Learning, and a health & safety consultancy, throughout the Scottish Highland and Islands. Safety Zone is delighted to announce they will be running the NEBOSH one day Leadership in Health and Safety...
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We’ve all heard the phrase “Shop local” and at this festive time when most of us are doing more shopping than usual it is a great time to support our wide range of fantastic local businesses. That’s why Lochaber Chamber of Commerce is once again running our “Shop local” festive prize draw...
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Thursday 6 December saw the 10,000th native tree from the Nevis Landscape Partnership’s Future Forests project planted in Glen Nevis by well-known musician and radio presenter Gary Innes. Gary Innes braves the muddy conditions to plant the 10,000th native tree up Glen Nevis Gary had his...
