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.
Lochaber Chamber of Commerce
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You might have noticed that the possible introduction of a tourist tax – or Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) – is back in the news. The Scottish Government’s proposed Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) aims to allow local councils to raise additional income directly from visitors to help address local...
Scottish Islands Explorer
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Canon Angus MacQueen (1923 - 2019), who died last Saturday, was ordained in 1951 and served parishes on the West Coast and Western Isles, including his final ministry at St Barr's Church, in the north of Barra. A tribute to this legendary figure appears in The Press and Journal.Scottish Islands...
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Two island photographs in the BBC Your Pictures of Scotland - taken between 1 - 8 February - provide something of a remarkable contrast. Above is a view between Tiree and Coll; below is North Tolsta in Lewis. Take a further look.Scottish Islands Explorer - provides many different viewsDigital...
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The West Highland Free Press covers the story of a planning application that has been reversed, giving the go-ahead to restore Pier House, Broadford, Skye, as an hotel. It is pictured below in 1900, the tallest of the buildings and called Campbell's Temperance Hotel, from the 'new' pier. This was...
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To end this week's look at properties for sale on the Scottish islands, comes the former Scalpay School, Harris. It comprises four separate buildings and is offered at a price over £90k. Here's a challenge to convert with ingenuity, innovation and industry. Ken MacDonald, of Stornoway, invites you...
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There was a considerable response to Wednesday's blog featuring a relatively new five-bedroom house for £150k on Shetland's Out Skerries. A comparable figure is asked for an older property - with five acres, an extensive workshop and various outbuildings - on the Orkney island of Sanday....
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The Hebridean Seaweed Company in Stornoway has been awarded £659k by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to further its work in harvesting knotted wrack. Background and prospects are outlined in The Press and Journal. You will be surprised where the all-year-around production eventually reaches....
Abacus Mountain Guides
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What a wonderful day to be on Ben Nevis. There were lots of people out enjoying a really nice day of weather and climbing conditions on the North Face and Rob, Ali and I had a fantastic time climbing Ledge Route. This was a wee step up for them, something more "ropey" than what they have done...
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More fresh snowfall last night gave Lochaber MRT members a very tough job to rescue two climbers stuck on Tower Ridge. The call out came in last night and everyone got down by 11am this morning after a very long night. Well done to everyone involved and thank you. Dave and I...
West Coast Mountain Guides
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With views up to the summits for much of the day and with cold, calm conditions, it was a great day to be out on Ben Nevis today. I was out with Andrew, who is looking to develop his winter climbing. With the forecast looking to deteriorate a bit over the next couple days, we decided to make the...
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One of the great things about the job that I do is the opportunity to explore new places whilst working, today was one of those exploratory days. I was out with Nick, Allan and Andy for their final day. We've climbed many of the classics, so thought that it was about time to try somewhere...
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The forecasts for today were suggesting similar winds to yesterday, but cooler and drier conditions. After quite a bit of thought, I decided that Nick, Allan, Andy and I should seek shelter on the East Ridge of Beinn a'Chaorainn (with possible descent options of climbing back down the ridge...
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Today, I was out with Nick, Andy and Allan, who I've been out with a number of times over the years. We decided that Western Rib on the west face of Aonach Mor would give us a good mountaineering day out. It also gave us a good deal of trail breaking to get round there! Fortunately, the snow...
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For Peter's final day, we decided to go for a journey and headed up Stob Ban, which translates as white peak, which it definitely is at the moment. We had a thaw last night and into the early hours of today, which stripped some of the lower-lying snow and saturated the snowpack to about 800m...
Ardnamurchan Estate
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The Ferry Stores, here at Kilchoan, are giving holiday makers and locals alike the chance to spoil the one you love (or would like to love). Pop into the Ferry Stores and buy some raffle tickets, in aid of the Church Restoration Fund. Tickets are selling at £1.00 per strip (of tickets… Staff...
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Wondering when Shrove Tuesday is or as it is now more likely to be known “Pancake Day”. Officially it’s not until March, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying pancakes in the office. We are lucky that one of the ladies in the office, brought in her electric girdle, sugar...
Marc Calhoun
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I have posted in the past about the hill path to Reinigeadal which, prior to the road reaching the village in 1987, was the only way for walkers to get there from Tarbert. The walk is so spectacular, that I thought it worth revisiting, including some photos I've not used before.In no particular...
Highland Titles
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Two miles north of the Stirlingshire town of Denny, close to the village of Torwood, lies the ruinous 16th century Torwood Castle. A crumbling shell of what it once was, the lonely silhouette sits quietly in the countryside and the castle is not open to the public. But in recent years several...
Hunter Mountaineering Courses and Guiding
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9th February 2010. White Shark with Lena Brune Back in 2010 I started to climb with somebody called Lena Brune. Our first climb was on the 2nd Feb, second climb on the 3rd Feb and so this (9th Feb) was our third climb together. Lena and I have climbed a bit since then too! This is what I wrote on...
Nevis Range Blog
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The 2019 winter season is now fully under way and Scotland’s highest snowsports destination is open for business! The silhouetted quad chairlift at Nevis Range, with mist filling the glen below. Photo Stevie McKenna/Ski Scotland On Wednesday 30 January 2019, after a long-awaited start, Nevis Range...
