Don't forget to pack your t-shirt

It might be summer holiday time. How can we tell? Well, firstly the blog posts have dried up. And second, the entries for our t-shirt photo competition have picked up again. Presumably because folk are now returning from their trips to 'interesting locations'.

 R Emery on Palombaggia Beach, Corsica.

If you fancy £10 in beer vouchers to spend as your will at Clachaig, or perhaps another clachaig t-shirt to give to your loved one or simply add to your collection then all you have to do is send us a photo of your Clachaig t-shirt in an 'interesting location'. The judges are harsh (well, not really, but I'd like to think of myself as the Simon Cowell of t-shirt photos), but if we publish your photo in the rogues, er, sorry, winners gallery, then you're a winner!

So as you head off for your summer hols, don't forget to pack your t-shirt.

Best Country Pubs in the UK

Another nice bit of recognition for us here at Clachaig...

Put together by The Independent, Clachaig features at number 25 in the top 50 Best Country Pubs. Thanks guys!

Clachaig to the Holly Tree by bike

Any day now the bike tracks along the A82 from Glencoe to North Ballachulish will be complete. After months of work, which passers by can't help but have noticed, the new tarred paths alongside the busy road are all but finished.

 New signage to guide your on your way - Glencoe crossroads

The new bike paths provide both an important link between scattered rural communities and a valuable addition to the local tourist  infrastructure. Being able to travel safely by bike amidst such gorgeous scenery is a must, and so to prove a point we checked out the ride from Clachaig Inn in Glencoe to the Holly Tree Hotel at Kentallen Pier.

The first couple of miles are on quiet single track roads, and there's a nice bit of downhill gradient to get you into the swing of things. Nearer the village, the first sections of the Glencoe Orbital Track will take you off the road as far as the Hospital Drive. In time, it is hoped that there'll be a path all the way along the old village road as far as Clachaig, where it will then meet up with a return down the glen, past An Torr and Signal Rock and then back to the village by the National Trust for Scotland Visitor Centre.

If you haven't got your bikes with you, then try hiring from Davy at Crank It Up Gear. Leave your car in the Glencoe Village car park and start the journey from here.

From Glencoe Village, the route uses the old section of road past Craft & Things (save your coffee and cake stop for the return!) and along TighPhuirt. Sections of new tar then take you along past Ballachulish Village and towards the impressive setting of St John's Church. Built in 1842, the present church is now in need of repair and restoration and attempts are being made to raise the estimated £1m required.

It's definitely worth stopping to take in a bit of history, and to also marvel at the panoramic views across Loch Leven from the church.

 St John's Church, Ballachulish

Stunning panorama across Loch Leven to the Pap of Glencoe from St John's

More smooth tar will take you to Ballachulish roundabout next. If you're heading for North Ballachulish, continue on over the bridge, but we took a left turn along the old Ballachulish railway line, which continues through Glenachulish and is currently rideable all the way to Kentallen Pier.

 Left turn for Glenachulish, Kentallen and Oban!

But a little more exploring and a much needed coffee break was required, so once in Glenachulish we took a right turn off the Sustrans track and headed down past Ballachulish House to the Dragon's Tooth Golf Course.

 Passing the walled garden at Ballachulish House

Simply exploring this hidden corner of the area is a good enough reason to head down to The Gathering Place, but equally, the prospect of coffee, cakes and a more extensive bar menu might tempt you!

Parked up at The Gathering Place. Cakes, coffee, golf... Take your pick!

Back on the bed of the old railway line, the views open out, and on a day such as the one we chose, it's just amazing. The views across Loch Linnhe to the Ardgour and Morvern Hills are the best you could wish for. There's a few little shingle beaches and coves where you can get off and search for crabs, watch the cormorants, or simply take a snooze.

Carved stones and impressive ironmongery add to the atmosphere of the route.

The Sustrans route will hopefully continue beyond the Holly Tree Hotel, all the way to Oban and beyond. When it does it will be a superb journey. For now, you need to join the road again as far as the bad corner at Lettershuna, where you can join another section of track past Castle Stalker and the Strath of Appin. Further on, there's also a complete section from Creagan Bridge to the Sea Life Centre. 

 I just want to jump in!

Time to head back again

In the meantime, take a while to enjoy the view (and a beer!) at the Holly Tree before jumping back on your bike and doing it all over again in reverse!

Bikes and bows

 Glencoe Mountain Resort very kindly invited as many of us as could make it to come and see what's on offer during the summer months. And it would be rude to decline such an invitation so we played around with the diary a little and set off up the glen .

Can you spot Kingshouse?

The centre has been through difficult times of late. But under new ownership, a new lease of life has been brought to the longest established ski centre in Scotland, and there's already evidence that the centre will soon become a year round activity centre, with something on offer for everyone. The snow conditions for years this past winter have certainly helped and the momentum gained is now clearly continuing through the summer months.

I never knew that uphill on a mountain bike could so easy!

Sitting in the log cabin cafe with large picutre windows looking straight at Buachaille Etive Mor was an activity within itself. Coffee and cake was far more appealing than the Downhill Mountain Bike Course which was looming on the hillside just above us. However, Dangerous Will was up for it. He still had use of all of his limbs at the end but did mention something about going to the bike shop to replace some broken parts.

'Dangerous Will' looking confident

For the lesser mortals amongst us, we opted for a nice gentle ride up the chairlift with our bikes. We made a quick exploration of the plateau before opting for taking the weasel track down. Overgrown and washed out, this track dates back to some of the early days of gaining access to the hill, but is earmarked for development into a more formal biking track. In fact, speaking to Andy and the team, and listening to their ideas is both enlightening and refreshing.

Keep on through the snow fence to find the weasel track.

The weasel track has bags of potential and even in its current state was a good bit of fun. There's a few wash outs and bottomless swampy bits, but there's also long sections of good cruising and a few more challenging sections, including a couple of rock slabs. Great fun! And the view..!

Blasting the return to the centre, with the access road and Kingshouse clearly visible.

The tracks onto Rannoch Moor are begging to be explored by bike, and with a fleet of new Kona mountain bikes available for hire, Glencoe Mountain Resort is the ideal base from which to start.

Out of the black, into the red, nothing in this game for 2 in a bed. Smashing, super, lovely...

Back at the centre, we tried our hand at archery, a new activity for this summer.Strangely addictive, especially when your arrows end up around the centre but not in it. Just one more go! I can see a Clachaig staff tournament coming on. In fact, I've just had a brilliant idea for Octoberfest!

The value of feedback - part 2

Read our recent post about our guest feedback process and you'll know that it's a subject close to our hearts. Learning how to use it, how to interpret it, has been a learning curve over the last 18 months. If you take it too literally, then it could either lead you to complacency (you're wonderful, don't change a thing) or conversely drive you mad (you're terrible, get your act together).

The new cooker in situ at Quarry Cottages, Ballachulish

The best example we can give is on the subject of the comfort of our beds, as it's quite possibly the most subjective of all opinions that we receive. Tracking our forms we've discovered that completely opposite opinions can be forthcoming on the same bed within a matter of days. The solution? First and most obvious is to test out a negative comment to make sure something hasn't suddenly gone horribly wrong. And second, is to maintain a register of all our mattresses with replacement dates, so that we can tell exactly how old a mattress is and whether it's due for the next round of our rolling replacement programme.

One area where we have acted directly on feedback received is on the cookers at Quarry Cottages. Knowing quite how well these perform is a bit tricky unless we're told, and recent feedback suggested that they weren't performing well at all. And rather than risk acting on just one of the properties, we've replaced all 3. So, Quarry cottages are now equipped with some rather nice new cookers with double cavity fan assisted ovens and ceramic/halogen hobs.

Next up, 3 new flat screen TVs. These should be in within the week!

Tempting fate?

I took these photos of a couple of fairly classic viewpoints in Glencoe to help demonsrate the lack of water in the rivers in the Highlands at the moment. I read Martyn's piece (below) and reckon that the photo of the Coe must have been taken on one of the wetter days recently.

The "river" Coupal and Buachaille Etive Mor from near Glen Etive road end.

The pinky bits are so coloured because for the majority of the time they're under water.

 The Three Sisters, Glencoe

And here, just by the A82 above the gorge, there's definitely water flowing, but it's a little hard to spot! Again, pink coloured rocks where more often than not you'd be wading to cross the river.

North easterlies forecast for the coming days. Chilly perhaps, but a generally outlook into next week.

How low can you Coe? - It's all downhill from here!

Our staff at Clachaig certainly work hard enough and when it comes to leisure time they can normally be found taking advantage of the hills & rivers for some action. Some even take time off to VOLUNTEER to work elsewhere.

Last weekend Martyn, our assistant bar manager, took time out to help at the Mountain Bike World Cup at the Nevis Range. He spent a glorious four days sitting on the hillside maintaining the track and marshalling the downhill course. This was his 3rd year volunteering at the event and probably the best yet, helped by the weather and Gee Atherton winning the men's downhill with his sister Rachael coming second in the women's.

As well as being a part of the creation of the event, volunteering also gets you that bit closer to the riders with the likes of Steve Peat, Greg Minaar and the Athertons stopping to chat and ask who's taking which line. Not to mention meeting lots of like minded people to have fun with …..and of course, some shiny free kit.

Our sister pub, The Grog and Gruel in Fort William, was ram packed on Saturday and Sunday nights with riders, press, volunteers and fans as Fort William exploded into a massive party over the whole weekend.

Some people may think he's a bit daft taking a holiday to go 20 miles up the road to work for free and spend his evenings in The Grog and Gruel. Truth is he's a 'paddler' and he's bored…. There hasn't been any significant rainfall since the second week of April and the River Coe is possibly at the lowest we've ever seen!

 
OK! so a lot of kayak clubs will be out enjoying the sunshine and snow melt of the French Alps at this time of year (not that he's jealous.) but as long as he's stuck in Glencoe Martyn will be doing rain dances for the next few weeks!

I see trouble ahead!