The man from the BBC

It's been such a busy week that we nearly forgot to say that the BBC film crew were through last weekend, interviewing 'Munro Baggers' in the Boots Bar for a programme about well..., Munros.

Nick Crane - the man from the BBC

All seemed to go quite well until it got a bit busy in the bar. So we grabbed this bloke, gave him to wear a Clachaig t-shirt (looking good, Nick) and told him to get on with serving some pints!

Good to have Nick and the crew back again - last seen here at Clachaig in March 2007. See the Blog entry.

If we can find out when it's due to be screened we will, of course, let you know.

SeaXplorer - boat trips out of Ballachulish

The kind and generous folk who run Vertical Descents in Onich and who also run SeaXplorer fast boat trips from just down the road in Ballachulish offered a familiarisation trip for the staff at Clachaig. With a date set some weeks in advance, it was a lottery as to whether we'd be regretting it on the day, or smearing on the sun cream.

St John's Church by the A82 at Ballachulish

As luck would have it, it turned out to be the latter (good work Isi - can you also make the sun shine 3 weeks on Thursday, please?) Hard to imagine better conditions for our boat ride round Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe.

All aboard - the boat is moored at the pier by the Isles of Glencoe hotel

The meeting point is at the Ballachulish Visitor Centre car park. Very handy for free parking, toilets and the obligatory coffee and cakes after your trip. You can also book your trip here. Fetching blue suits and life jackets are available for all. If you think its a bit of overkill wait till the bow wave starts blowing over the rib at 30 knots!

Isi modelling the latest in marine fashion

We've known our guides, Dave and Simon, for many years, and the enthusiasm, knowledge, skill and humour they demonstrated throughout the trip came as no surprise. First up was a trip round the corner to the Burial Isle, followed by a quick spin round Loch Leven to take in the superb views back to Glencoe.

We then set off under the Ballachulish Bridge, leaving Loch Leven behind and heading across Loch Linnhe to the Morven coastline towards Kingairloch. This part of Lochaber is a great place to visit any time but from the water on a blue sky day its just fantastic. No sign of the sea eagles that frequent these coasts but plenty of other wildlife, from feral goats (on the land that is), porpoise, birds galore and the not-as-common, common seal.

The burial isle, with Ben Vhair beyond

Loch Linnhe was like a mill pond making warp speed a very exhilarating experience. Unlike my last trip on a rib out of Mallaig to the isle of Rum. At the time it was blowing the proverbial 'hoolie' in the Sound of Sleat. Head to toe waterproofs, a handrail and a big padded cushion were definitely required on that occasion!


The final leg took us round the small island of Balnagowan, just off Cuil Bay, before heading back up towards Ballachulish. The final bit of fun is a creel that the SeaXplorer guys have in the water off the Holly Tree Hotel. Pot luck as to what you find in it. One large prawn and a couple of dog fish in our case!

Warp speed on Loch Linnhe - Ben Nevis just visible with spring snow

The whole point of the trip was to get us enthusing about so that we could tell you. And it did exactly that. Its a great way of spending a couple of ours, even if you'd generally not consider yourself to be someone seen in a boat very often. everything you need is provided (but do take warm clothes and a camera) and as well as seeing loads, you'll also learn loads. We can't recommend it enough!

Stunning evening

The trauma of snows of Saturday is behind me now. A glorious day here in the glen again. Spent the morning on a fast rib ride round Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe. (Hopefully more on that tomorrow). And most of the afternoon with Glencoe Mountain Rescue looking for a 'lost' person on the West Highland Way.


Too late then to follow the original plan of a 'half' ben (nevis) and so opted for another trip up the Pap of Glencoe. 51 mins up this time. And another stunning view from the top.

Bealach Na Ba

So, remember the bit on Friday when I joked about snow and bike rides? Oh dear! Don't get fooled by the photo. That's how it should look according to the PR on the HandsOnEvents web site. It wasn't quite like that on Saturday.

It was an early rise to get up to Shieldaig in time for the 10.30am start. And it rained hard all the way. Driving down through Glen Shiel was more like winter than winter. Snow down to low levels and a howling wind to boot. The weather looked little better at the start line. Never before has it been so difficult to get out of the car and get on a bike.

The headwind and the lashing rain over the first leg was just the warm up for the climb itself. Once onto the ascent of the highest road pass in the UK, it turned to hail. And 50 minutes later crossing over the summit it was indeed snowing. Oh joy!

But come the village of Applecross, at the bottom of the most amazing few miles of road proving that moutain bikes go downhill much much faster than road bikes, the sun started to shine, the crowds cheered and the wind swung round to follow us. Life was sweet again!

A great event. A lovely part of the world. Get on your bike and go see it!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Yes, we're well into May and we're rapidly approaching the longest day of the year. And no surprise that the prevailing weather reminds me of, er..., well, Christmas. After 4 days of high winds and monsoon rain, its gone one better today, with snow down to quite low levels on the west face of Aonach Dubh.

Not good news for the BBC who were planning on taking a hike up Bidean today with Alan Hinkes, getting some footage for their new programme on the Munros. (They'll be in the Boots Bar with Nick Crane tomorrow looking for some 'baggers' to interview).

And not good news for me either, as I'm heading out on a Cycle Sportif ride over the highest road pass in Britain, the Bealach na Ba. Snow chains for bikes I wonder (and heated underpants for bike riders perhaps)? This neck of the woods up by Applecross has also just had a good airing on the telly with Monty Halls' programme. Funny, every time I saw it the sun was out.

Anyway, with the snow lying on the hills we thought that this would be a good opportunity to persuade you to book a self catering holiday in Glencoe this Christmas, when no doubt it'll be shorts weather and the sun will be out! See the web site for further details.

35 years and counting...

So there we are waxing lyrical about how the Daynes family are celebrating 25 years at Clachaig, only to be upstaged by our longest serving member of the Clachaig team.

It seems we have another 10 years to go before we catch up with Doris, Clachaig's keeper of the books. Doris let slip that she came to work at Clachaig in May 1974, for Rory MacDonald (who originally hung the now famous No Hawkers, No Campbells sign in reception) and hasn't been able to escape since.

There's not much that Doris hasn't seen here at Clachaig over the last 35 years. However, we did manage to surprise her with a big bunch of flowers, a bottle of bubbly and a '3 Sisters of Glencoe' cake (made by another of our multi-talented office staff). Not much got done that afternoon!

Fishy Tale!

When it comes to lost property we’ve probably seen it all over the last 25 years. From ill advised bobble hats, gloves, jackets, boots & walking poles to mobile phones, wallets, specs & car keys, you wouldn’t believe the things our customers leave behind.

We recently received a desperate email from one of our self-catering guests trying to locate her sons pet sharks. The poor lad was beside himself as he had inadvertently left them behind in the bath. With the theme from Jaws ringing in their ears our housekeeping staff were pleasantly surprised to find they were only the plastic toy variety. They were quickly dispatched courtesy of the Royal Mail – you should have seen the look we got from the local postmistress when she asked what the contents were.

Happily they are reunited with their grateful owner who kindly sent us a little thank you note…Say Ahhh!