Oban has become University town. Good, really good news.

Picture taken of Dunstaffnage Castle last month by Dougie Lee. This is a truly important area in Scottish history. 


As of 2nd Feb 2011 Oban is a university town! The University of the Highlands and Islands has 13 colleges in the area including the world renowned Scottish Association of Marine Science. The Privy Council of the Scottish Parliament has decreed it so. There has been a sustained campaign for this ever since the 1960's.
This is real prestige for the town, and the University shows Scottish education at its best. Just by Dunstaffnage Castle is the truly famous Marine Science lab. Good news


John
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Visitor numbers up in the Western Isles

According to the BBC, visitor numbers throughout the Western Isles are up by between 25% and 40% on the same time last year
Apparently the Scottish government's road equivalent tariff (RET) scheme, which offers lower ferry fares, has been a factor. The scheme was launched on Western Isles routes in 2008.
The subject of Island fares charged by Calmac has been the subject of local outrage for years. Oban has always been a main focus for grumbles. The cost of living on one of the Islands is horrendous, and all services from the mainland are very expensive. Imagine getting building work or contracting from the mainland if you live on Barra. Calmac do have a difficult job in profitably maintaining safe and up to date ships for traffic that peaks for just three months of the year.
But the tourists expect to pay the normal sort of holiday charges, and the accommodation providers are squeezed hard to cover costs.
So it just shows that when the ferry costs are reduced then this works for tourists.

The cost of services is a general problem in the Highlands as a whole. We may grumble about paying 32p for a 2nd class stamp, but this is based upon delivering letters to Birmingham. Can you imagine the costs of delivering even to Ardnamurchan? Or to Glencoe come to that? That is the hang up about privatising the Post Office. Whoever takes it on will be forced to charge the same rate for delivering everywhere. If they are allowed to charge differential rates then expect postal charges in the Highlands to go up to £1 for a 2nd class stamp. Ouch!

John
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Wedding in Appin, near Glencoe

Wedding in Appin, Kentallen wedding, Honeymoon cottage Glencoe, Duror church wedding

We love it when folks get married fom the cottage or come to us for their honeymoon. It is, after all, one of the most romantic spots in the world.

Hi John, I hope you are well... !! The wedding was wonderful and the cottage was superb!I must say the directions were great, we arrived there in the dark and everything was easily found. The service was lovely, a stunning setting and good acoustics for all the screaming babies... The reception was held in a marquee just over the road from the church in the field. The road down to it was slightly muddy and uneven - so nice shoes got a bit of a battering!

The marquee was also slightly on the nippy side, especially as most people were in frocks and kilts so it was good to get up and get dancing. In the end we used the services of a friend who is pregnant so hadn't had a drink (she probably did the local taxis out of a good dose of cash) to take us home however the bride and groom had laid on some transport as well. In all, a great place for a wedding!!

Training for the marathon I also had a lovely although slightly soggy run to Ballachulish and back most of it along the new cyle way which is superb so I am very keen to go back and cycle/run along more of it!

Thank you again.

John

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