When visiting Loch Awe...

Here's a quick advert for the Ardanaiseig Hotel on Loch Awe. Chances are that you won't simply drive past this place and think 'oh, there's that hotel that was mentioned on the blog I was reading'. No, as was pointed out to me last week, you don't simply discover the Ardanaiseig by driving past. And therein perhaps lies much of its charm.

I found it through the more unlikely of routes. In the midst of searching for a bit of software that will drag our front desk into the 21st Century, we came across a fairly interesting Property Management System by the name of Hotel Executive.

Now, our research has shown us that there's hundreds of these things out there and that they are all the best. So, the only way to narrow down the field was to find out someone who's actually using the systems and get a report from the coal face, so to speak.

The Ardanaiseig was the closest hotel using Hotel Executive so I just gave them a ring and was immediately invited down to get the warts and all story on it. It was extremely refreshing to receive such a welcome and to be able to pinch an hour of a busy hotel managers time at short notice for no real gain. And its this same attitude that tells me that if you do manage to find yourself in need of some real hosptiality on Loch Awe, just 30 mins from Oban, you'd probably not do any better than giving the Ardanaiseig a ring.

In fact, book online instead, and tell us what you think of the system!

(And we won't mention the fact that the building started out life as a baronial manner for Colonel Archibald Campbell of Clan Campbell. I didn't tell them of our policy towards Campbells!)

Glencoe Network Site Launched

Blogs are all well and good but they can be a bit one sided, don't you think? The writer gets to waffle on and choose the photos and the reader gets to well, er..., read. Okay, so you can add a comment but given that there's been 5000 readers of this blog over the last 6 months and barely half a dozen comments, this hardly merits the title 'interactive'.


We're always eager to please, and thought it was about time we did something about this. Enter The Glencoe Scotland Social Network, the site for everyone with an interest in Scotland's most famous glen.

Take a peek and if you like what you see sign up. Its easy, free and there's privacy settings to suit your preferences. You can then share your photos, videos and tales of your experiences in Glencoe. There's also a forum where you can ask questions, find out more and plan your next trip. Chances are that there's someone out there who has the answers to help you on your way.

The URL is http://glencoescotland.ning.com

Did you win?

Did you win? Did you enter? Did you even know that we were offering goodies from the cupboard to the lucky winner of our trivial (shouldn't that be triva?) competition?

In answer to these questions...

If you did indeed win, then you'll know by now. Because we've been in touch with Eammon Lyons who was closest with his guess for the number of visitors that Clachaig.com had in 2008. The answer was 100,552. We're currently raiding the cupboard and sending a pack of Clachaig branded mugs and fashion wear to Eamonn. Congratulations.

Did you enter? Well, you know the answer to that one too. We'll not name and shame but if some of your answers had been correct then I think we would have pulled the plug a long time since and called it a day. And with others, we'd be rivalling Facebook for net worth. Perhaps they meant 'hits' which seems to translate as some meaningless number somewhere in the millions each time someone visits a page. But thanks for making the effort anyway.

And were you even aware? You would have been if you had signed up to our eNews. You'll find the sign up box on each of our home pages. We only bug you once a month, sometimes not even that, and not only do you be the first in the know for all things 'Glencoe', we also offer some exclusive subscribers only deals.

More prizes and frivolity as soon as we can get around to it.