A two centre holiday on the west Coast of Scotland? How about Glencoe and Arisaig?

You may not believe this, but it happens to be true. The weather on our side of the Glencoe mountains is significantly better than on the East side.
And if you go further West towards Arisaig it is better still. It is because the prevailing South westerlies have not yet been pushed high to dump the rain they carry - something like that. I am to metereology what mice are to jam making.

Here is another funny thing - November is not too bad a month. Wet yes, but the colours are lovely and it is not cold. Wonderful for touring around. No traffic. Gillian and I brought our parents up here in November some time ago and it was grand. The nights are getting short, true, but you can bathe in the browns and yellows of Autumn. Accommodation is cheap, too. Lowest prices of the year are offered at this time.

You can even find self catering cottage owners willing to break up the week into short stays of a few days. Well, Sheila does and so do we.

Sheila is lovely and I strongly urge you to stay with her some time at Ach na skia Croft. Her chalets are in a stunning location, they share this view towards Skye. I've pinched her picture from her site - hope you don't mind, girl.

How about a few days in our cottage, and a few days in Sheila's cottage?
Sheila's website for her cottages

John

Pretty cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands
Cottage holidays Scotland in the Autumn, Winter, Spring
B&Bs and hotels in the West of Scotland
The highlands of Scotland
Holiday cottages anywhere
Gorgeous photographs of Glencoe
Beautiful Appin, Scotland
Walks around our cottage area in Glencoe
Hill walks in Glencoe
You can walk up Ben Nevis one day?
Munroes in Glencoe

At last, we get sense out of Visit Scotland

Chap called Mike Cantlay has taken over at Visit Scotland, the quango which handles Scottish tourism.
So far he has made three good moves since he took over in April. He is talking about modifying the grading system - good.

He has sacked the previous Chief - another good move.

He is now talking about getting all of us to concentrate upon our prime market, the UK, and the UK  holidaymaker.  80% of the tourists come from the UK - they are the target market that no one can afford to neglect.

Forget USA, forget the Commonwealth, forget most of Europe except for Germany, France and Italy.

Here is an extract from him. He is concerned that the Icelandic ash cloud may come back and disrupt travel again. Maybe, maybe not, but if it achieves the primary aim of getting everyone to focus on the core market that is ok with me.


"The whole country needs to get behind the idea that holidaying in Scotland is a good thing to do. It's a good time for the industry to be looking at their databases to be making hay of the 'staycation' phenomenon. I'm not saying you should use scare tactics [to remind Scots of the risks of flying abroad] but it's an opportunity to tell people that it's a safer bet to be in Scotland this year."

"Imagine the Edinburgh Festival with the airports closed! It would be the tourism industry equivalent of rain at harvest time. We need to put our marketing emphasis on the 'close market"

Ok, you've got my vote, Mr. Cantlay. You need all of us in tourism to help.

John
Pretty cottage in the Highlands
Holidays Scotland in the Autumn, Winter, Spring, last minute
Bed and breakfast and hotels in Oban, Fort William, and Glencoe
Tales of Hghlands of Scotland
Find the best holiday cottages anywhere
Photographs of Glencoe
Lovely Appin, Scotland
Walks around our cottage area in Glencoe
Hills in Glencoe
Walk Ben Nevis one day?
Glencoe munroes