3 dates available still for Glencoe cottage

30th May, 6th June, 27th June are available, very pretty cottage sleeps 4

This is the view over the bay in Loch Linnhe from the front room of our cottage in Appin, near Glencoe.

The Glen itself is wondrous, quite spectacular; the finest in Scotland - well, we think so. The peaks rise up either side from sea level to nearly 4,000 feet.

Everywhere you look the scenery is wonderful.

But all the stories of this land are epic as well. The MacDonalds of Glencoe are world famous as the victims of the tragic, viscious and clumsy attempt to exterminate them in 1692.

But Appin, here by the cottage, is renowed as the home of the Stewart Clan. The Stewarts provided the great line of British Kings and Queens, from Mary Queen of Scots to Queen Anne, to the fated king, Charles 1st.

We've got the romantic Stalker Castle just down the road from our cottage to prove it, the second most photographed castle in Scotland. One of the Scottish Kings, rather a good one, actually, stayed in the castle a few centuries ago.

But we have modern amenities as well. 400 yards away, within walking distance so you don't need to bother how much you drink before going home, is the Holly Tree Hotel. They've put in an indoor swimming pool, which can be used by folks who dine with them. The dining is top class, and you will get change from £10 from their bar meal dishes.

Here is the photograph of the outlook from their dining room and bar window.

We have three dates available for renting the cottage before the Summer holidays being to fill up the place.

The cottage sleeps 4 people, in the 2 bedrooms, has all mod cons, has been fully refurbished in the past two years. We are a tiny bit proud of the job they've done on the new kitchen, and on the new bathroom.

The dates available are 30th May at £395 less the £20 discount for the credit crunch; the 6th June at £450 less the same discount and June 27th at £495 less the same discount.

If you fancy it then look first at the website, check the availability page because the dates do fill up at the last minute and the one you want might not be free.
Lochside cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland

John

Here are some other links to local pages of interest, the first being our availability page
Last minute, late availability Glencoe, self catering cottage
Spring breaks, March April May Glencoe
Weather in the mountains of Glencoe
Weather month by month in the area
Skiing in Glencoe
New website to help find holiday accommodation in the West Coast, Oban and Fort William areas
Tourist and visitor information, this is the biggest Glencoe information site, hotel and cottage accommodation
Events in Glencoe Appin Lochaber Oban and Ballachulish
Last minute, short breaks, in Scotland, owners sites direct
Find the best Scottish holiday cottages on the internet
Cut the costs of your holidays

The pic is of Morar sands. Why? No reason. I just liked it from the file. Why not? Its my blog. Sorry, dear, our blog.

We have a lovely couple from the USA staying in the cottage. He is a Campbell and goes back to the days of Angus Og, and his lovely wife calls herself Pokey Sue always sends us e-mails of what they are up to. This is part of her latest e-mail. They are staying for a month.

They already know the area well, used to live in Benderloch.

Hi, John, we are just attempting the low level walks due to the snow level (and if truth be told, our rather substandard level of fitness at the moment!). If it gets bad, it's certainly easy enough to simply turn back and return to the coziness of the cottage.

The central location is great. We have been in Glencoe for small, medium and longer hikes (once up the Devils Staircase) weather permitting. This morning we were back in Glencoe Valley with friends who have a six year old, and simply drove the valley to see the view - after last night's storm it was spectacular - and then went over to the Visitor's Centre and took a low level hike out the back door and up the forestry road with especially clear views of the Pap of Glencoe. By lunchtime we were grabbing a couple of pizzas (great for fitness!) at the Co-op in Ballachulish and back at the cottage to eat and watch the latest storm flying across Kentallen Bay.

Late in the day I decided to explore the disused railway track which we had been observing while driving the road to and from the cottage. A considerable amount of work is going into making this a bike and walking path. At least we hope its for walkers too! I set out in the sunshine and only about a quarter of a mile down the road was met by a wild squall of a hail, sleet and windstorm that blew me into the Holly Tree Hotel dripping wet and wondering why my Maine gloves didn't seem to be working.

Reception was very welcoming and I proceeded into the non-resident bar where another friendly person fixed me a very large pot of tea. I drank this overlooking the amazing view of Loch Linnhe from their huge windows. The storm blew over and I walked back along the track to the cottage with glorious views and sunshine. As it turned out, I barely made it back. Within minutes after turning the key, another wall of freezing water appeared and obliterated everything.

Pokey Sue.

I'll post more later... meanwhile we are interested in getting the A82 road upgraded....

The A82 upgrade campaign website
The A82 tragedies, and accidents. This is our new blog site about it.

If you have a Campbell name in McDonald country, take care

This tale is from Pokey Sue. She and her husband are coming back from the USA to Scotland next Spring. They used to live at Barcaldine, down the road a bit.

Sue has made a study to trace her husbands' forebears and we'll publish bits of it from time to time. She is married to a Campbell - read on.



Beware! This is a land where feelings can still run deep. Some may joke about your family connections but others may feel there will never be enough time to mend the old feuds. Our family name Campbell is famous or perhaps infamous for its involvement in the Glencoe Massacre of 1692.

Aware of this on our first trip to Scotland, we decided perhaps we should call ourselves the "Smythes" until we found out how far back someone might hold a grudge.

While waiting for a bus in Tyndrum, not far from Glencoe, two gentlemen emerged from the nearby pub, and while waiting with us asked our names and where we were from, bidding us welcome to their fair land. We said we were the Smythes from Maine. They shook our hands and wished us a good trip. “I’m a Macdonald myself. Glad yeere no’ one of those treacherous Campbells!” said one, and turned to spit emphatically, hitting the back of the bus with the last syllable.

Later at the Clachaig Inn, Glencoe, Mrs. Pokey Sue "Smythe" crept by the reception desk at the hotel to snap a furtive photo of the sign that says “No Hawkers or Campbells” for the family album. Then she met Mr. "Smythe" for a nice pint at the Hiker’s Bar we enjoyed the beautiful green mountains around us. The site of the ancient massacre as it happens.

The libraries are wonderful for researching your Highland ancestors. You can use the internet right there for free if you are travelling, and the bookshelves are usually filled with lore from the area you are in. So if you are looking for a starting point, this is a great way to do it. It also answers questions from people about why are you here and what is it about the area that interests you? Someone might take a little more time to talk with you, as after all, you are maybe, a long lost relative!



Editors note.

Strange this antipathy towards the Campbells. I speak as an outsider with no axe to grind. The Campbells were winners throughout the ages, or at least they always joined the side that would win. The clan and its huge territories were built on this idea, so I suppose you could never quite trust your Campbell partners if they decided to switch sides.

By and large they joined the Royalists, and in general the Highland and Island clans were anti royalist.

The Campbells were on the side of Robert the Bruce, so this pitted them against the powerful Comyns. Thus at the Battle of Brander the Comyn kinsmen, the Mc Dougalls, lost their title as Lords of the Isles. That was a big come down. This in the early 14th century.

They had fights with everybody really, but then so did nearly all the other clans. The 17th century was one of the worst for clan battles. Campbells joined with the McDonalds to fight the Frasers at Loch Lochy in 1544. 130 years later they were set up by the government to take the blame for the dastardly Massacre of Glencoe. It was a vile crime, and the army was led by a Campbell, but there were few Clan Campbell soldiers. Most of the soldiers helped the McDonalds to escape, which is why only 39 out of 400 in the Glencoe area were killed.

Most of the Campbells were on the winning side against the Highlanders at the Battle of Culloden, the last land battle fought on British soil. But there were a few on the side of Bonnie Prince Charlie.....just in case.

They are still in and around government, even to-day. Do we hear the name Menzies Campbell, and Alistair Campbell? There is a Campbell government in Vancouver to-day. Aileen Campbell is an Scottish National Party MSP in the Scottish parliament. In the Scottish Executive to-day there is a Neill Campbell, and Andrew Campbell, a Ruth Campbell, Colin Campbell, Joanne Campbell.

Who said "born to rule".....

John
Autumn short Breaks November December Glencoe
Winter breaks in January February March in Glencoe
Spring short breaks, March April May Glencoe
Short breaks,last minute, special offers self catering Scotland
Everything the Tourist needs to know about Scotland in one page

Karin's right. The Scottish people are friendly and kind

Applecross, on their road to Skye. From our friend Colin at http://www.conchra.co.uk/

Dear John,
We really enjoyed our vacation. We found the cottage to be just right and very cosy. It had all that we needed! We were very happy about the rubber boots and the extra rain gear. Sascha and I appreciated the information about the area and the kids appreciated the videos especially Braveheart! I didnt mind it at all. We loved all the lochs and went hiking many times in Glencoe. That is where I ate haggis and I also tried black pudding. That was a surprise because it is spiced with ginger. I really enjoyed it.

We were regulars at the co-op in Ballachulish and also visited the slate museum there. We went also to the Isle of Skye which was very beautiful. We loved the drive up there. We enjoyed driving on the left side of the road as well. It took time to get used to because the gear shift is on the wrong side and I always mistook the first and third gears the first and second day. One time I even drove a few yards on the right side before I noticed what I was doing...it was all fun.

We found the Scottish people to be very friendly and kind. I enjoyed the way they took their time with everything. We drove to Inverness as well and at least I had my first "high tea" in a very lovely tea room there. That was a highlight even for my boys. The older one really enjoyed drinking tea and eating scones! The younger one (10 years) had hot chocolate, but what he found most interesting was to watch the workers make the cakes and scones. That was lovely because all that was served was baked right there in an open kitchen. That was a lovely afternoon.

I took many walks on the path on opposite the house and enjoyed the stillness there.
We tried to leave the cottage in the same condition that we found it. Please let me know if I can help with anymore translating for German tourists.

All the best! Karin

Driving in Scotland is different

Touring Scotland by road the Right way

Touring the small Scottish Highland roads is different

These Scottish roads can be dangerous

Speed camera positions in Scotland

How to avoid speeding tickets in scotland

How to get off Speeding tickets in Scotland

Scottish weather in October November and December

The Anoch Eagach solo. The wrong way.

This is where Keith walked. The usual route is from East to West. This lovely photo was taken by Dougie. His photos of Scotland can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldnotbold/478270195/

Hi John,
We arrived back late on Saturday and I spent Sunday generally sorting out. School started on Monday, so I now feel as if I have been back ages!


The information, guidance and friendly help you gave prior to our visit and in the cottage was the very best we have ever experienced. No other host in any holiday cottage we have rented has been so keen to help and ensure we have a good time, know where to go, how to find the cottage etc etc. Your book in the house was read by us all; you really did work very hard on behalf of your guests and should be proud of yourself!!
We had an active holiday and the boys always had things to do. The weather was OK, not sunny, but also not pouring with rain.


What did we do? Firstly, we read all your information so we are grateful to you for your insight. We walked to the Hidden Valley, climbed Ben Nevis, walked to the waterfalls in Glen Nevis, the boys climbed at Kinlochleven Ice Factor (what a brilliant place!) they also ice climbed on our last day which was the first time for them. Kind instructors and very welcoming.


Keith walked a ridge which ended near the Clachaig which he just loved, but it sounded quite scary to me and I am glad the boys did not go too. It was foggy on top, so we had decided that Keith should trial it alone. He met people walking it with helmets and ropes, but he managed it and will talk about it for ages.



We ate at the Seafood Cafe whch was different and fun, but I think it fair to say we liked eating at the Clahaig most. It was lovely and informal, good food and not too expensive. (Haggis, tatties and neaps!) We enjoyed seeing deer outside the pub, just stood looking at us as we got into the car...beautiful. I very much wanted to go on the "whalewatching" trip from Arisaig to one of the islands, but was outvoted and due to lack of time (and will) we did not go. I regret that. Keith and my boys love to be active, to hike etc and did not want to spend a whole day on such a trip. We also kayaked (it was great to have the garage to lock the boats away) in the bay, to the bridge and to the Island of the Dead, off Glencoe.


So, the location/ area is stunning. Keith wanted to do far more hikes than we had time to do. The deer, the heather, the mountains were beautiful to say the least. I was fascinated by the history and read most of your history books! I had to stop by about Thursday as it seemed too gloomy, too unfair. I needed to read about something nice happening to someone. James of the Glen is rather stuck in my head at the moment! Where is the actual plaque on the site of the massacre? Is it just the cross in the village? I looked in "a field just beyond the Clahaig" as one guide book said, but "just beyond" gave me no direction or scale! Still I made myself not be too morbid about it all ...........


The cottage was lovely and clean. Bath is interesting, especially for Jim who is 6ft 5ins. He is of the generation who have never really done anything but shower, so I think he probably came home a bit dirty!!! (No harm in that)


Sally
Sally also had some very sharp things to say about the people who run the roads up here. She wants speed restrictions and better driving. She thinks the roads are dangerous, and we totally agree with her. The absolute worst bit of road is 10 miles south of the cottage on a sharp left bend. The signage and lack of speed restriction are a disgrace. Her remarks are going to the Village Council who also share her views, and now I'm going to do a separate blog and try and whip up a campaign about with. Good on you Sally. Thanks. Oban Times letters page, here we come, that will do for a start.

The pic is of the boys, Jim and Charlie, in the Hidden Valley. One of the reasons why the Glencoe MacDonalds were so hated by the other clans was because they carried out continual raids on other clans' cattle - an act punishable by death if caught at it - cattle thieving was the bank raid of the day. The other clans came in strength to the Glen to find the cattle and they never could. That's because the beasts were shoved up the steep track to the Hidden Valley, a feat which no one thought possible. Like most Scottish tales it is happy and sad at the same time. Sad if you are a Cameron or McLean or Campbell, but happy if you were a Glencoe MacDonald with food for the winter.

(Would the MacDonalds of Skye ever do such a thing? No, of course not. They'd nick the cattle out of the Dunvegan estate and ambush any McLeods who tried to get them back. Happy days.)

John

Lochside cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland

Short Breaks Glencoe

Winter breaks hill walking in Glencoe

Travellers Tales from the Highlands of Scotland

how to find your ideal holiday home in scotland, advice for visitors

visitors information about Glencoe in Scotland

Ancient Scottish hunter-gatherers traced to Benderloch, in Appin

Reconstruction of Mesolithic settlement in Finland.

When our girls were young we used to go caravanning at Ledaig, near Benderloch on the Oban road. Once we climbed a small hill overlooking the village and picked up a tiny rock which seemed to be sliced into layers, interleaved with fibres, which looked burnt. It could not be natural.

I sent it to the British Museum who sent a report back to me that it looked like the remains of a Vitrified Fort. These strange embankments have no lime or cement to hold the stones together. It seems to have been done by the application of intense heart. But no one knows why. I remember our young Joanne was particularly disinterested at the time. When you are seven you have other things on your mind.

Now the archaeologists have gone back a lot further. They’ve found the bones of the Mesolithic people at the end of a garden in Benderloch. They lived between 3,500 and 5,000 years ago. They’ve found a jawbone and other bones and have uncovered some caves – in a garden! They think there are the remains of two individuals there possibly a youngster s well.

Times past, people roamed throughout Scotland, in small tribal groups. For 4,000 years, after the ice retreated the climate was warmer and wetter, For their living, woodland was good with its plant gathering possibilities, rivers and sea were good for fishing, They travelled, pursuing herds of animals as they moved inland in the Summer and to the West Coast in the Winter with its more tranquil, warmer climate. They butchered the animals with their stone tools, cooked the fish on open hearths. Nuts, fish and game is what they ate.

But the West Coast had one other thing in its favour. Caves. Caves were the housing estates of the day. Lewisian gneiss one of the oldest rocks in the world and it is perfect for creating rock shelters. That is what we have around this part of the country.

You know, this land is absolutely marvellous. We can trace the story of our people from the Mesolithics in their caves, the Neolithics with their the standing stones which are everywhere. The biggest in Argyll is just 2 miles down the road from the cottage. Then we have the unexplained vitrified Forts and the equally mysterious Brochs – on Lismore.

The duns and burial mounds of Kilmartin, the early Scots from Ireland, St Columba, the clash between the early Gaels and the Picts, followed by the Vikings, then their settlement and integration with the population. Angus Og, son of Somerled ruled the Western Isles and formed an alliance with Robert the Bruce. He won the War of Scottish Independence at the famous Battle of Bannockburn. This led directly to the Stewart Kings and Queens. The first Stewart to rule was his son-in-law. He led directly to Mary Queen’s of Scots, her son, James, the first Stewart King of England, ending with Bonnie Prince Charlie himself.

The rest is history.

What a place this is!

John
Lochside cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland
Short Breaks Glencoe
Winter breaks in Glencoe
Special offers, short breaks, off season

Wonderful week of weather in Scotland. Yes!

The garden wall at Ardchatten Priory near Connel. About 13th century. The wall, not the flower.
Dear John

We had an absolutely wonderful time up there, I think we had the best weather in the UK during that week! Only one day was a complete washout...
The countryside and scenery is stunning, I could certainly see myself spending my retirement there.
Apart from the walks (hidden waterfalls was a smash with the kids), we went ww rafting in Glengarry, talk about adrenalin.., seafari trip was also incredible

Cottage is very snug and cosy, everything you need was there. Thanks again for all the useful advice and tips on what to do.
I’m sure we’ll be back.

Note from editor: you might not believe this, but Kentallen has a little micro weather system all of its own. It has more sunshine and less rain than the average for the West of Scotland and about one-fifth of the rainfall they have in Glencoe itself six miles to the East. How do we know this? Because there is a Met station at Dunstaffnage near Oban.

Forget the Med. It is far too hot there. Try Kentallen, it is near perfect. And on the odd occasion when it is not perfection, it is wondrous to watch

John

Wow! Look at this wild life trip photo

Photo from Seafari, Oban.

Lovely new report just in from last week's guests

Dear John and Gillian,
Just a quick e mail to say thank you for the use of the cottage for our holiday. It had everything we needed to make us comfortable during our stay.

The area is beautiful and we had a couple of good days so saw it at it's best. When you live a busy life in Glasgow you can easily forget that there is beautiful scenery just two hours from your doorstep. We really are very lucky us Scots!

As I mentioned on the phone we tried the Sea.fari trip from Easdale and it was a great day out. We saw a lot of wildlife, but unfortunately no dolphins on the day we went. We would recommend it to others, being out on the water certainly blows away the cobwebs. Overall we had a great week and have come back refreshed and ready to face reality again!

From John,

I asked Tony Hill at Seafari to send me a piece for this blog, because we have had several commendations of the trip fom guests. Here is what he says and which I'm very pleased to post.

Sea.fari Adventures Oban are marine eco tour specialists offering a variety of tours around Argyll's spectacular European Special Area of Conservation - Firth of Lorne. You can visit the infamous Gulf of Corryvreckan, home to the World's Third Largest Whirlpool. A family favourite, don't be surprised to see porpoise, dolphins and minke whales. There are seals and otter on the shoreline, red and fallow deer on the islands and birds of prey like sea and golden eagle in the air along with a host of seabirds.
Open all year (limited winter sailings) visit the website www.seafari.co.uk or telephone 01852 300003 for further details

John

Surprise - it brought back childhood memories

Mc Cagis Tower Oban

The cottage was very clean and cosy and a great base for exploring the surrounding area. I had quite a surprise as your cottage is only a few miles down the road from a lodge I stayed as a child - Glen Acculish, just past the Ballachulish House hotel!! I remembered going under the bridge by the Ballaculish hotel. We did lots of walking. On Sunday we went into Oban -walked up to McCaig's tower, wonderful views, then went on a boat trip to see the seals and had a nice meal in McTavish's.

Monday we went to Glengarray castle, and walked to the top of the hill behind it, tiring but worth it.

Tuesday we went to Fort William and then on to Glen Nevis further past the centre to a long and rocky walk to a waterfall. That was definitely worth the trek.

Wednesday we went to Mull and walked to Torosay and the other castle further on (got the bus back though as a long trek!).

Thursday was the only rainy day so we did the Seal Sanctury and went to do the hydroelectric station but it was fully booked.

Friday we went for a ride Spean Bridge way and did another waterfall walk and on to Mallaig for the ride. We also went for a ride along Glencoe to the Visitor centre. We had two lovely meals at the pub on the old Glencoe road when we found it!! We hadn't gone far enough the first time we tried to find it.

We had a wonderful time thank you so much for all the information in the cottage and emails. We didn't want to come home!

Marie and Leighton

4 Do's and 1 Dont's to find your independent holiday property on the Internet

Our family spotted this hotel beside the Station at Verbier in Switzerland. You could ski straight down to it. "This is the place for us" we said. So we booked it for the following year through an internet agent.

When we arrived, it was the wrong hotel at a different station. Ouch!

The internet sales agency. The first Don't

We made the mistake of booking the hotel through an internet agency, where you book online with the Directory, not the Hotel. Don't do it. They know lttle about the property, you lose contact with the owners, and because the owners pay a hefty commission to the agency, above 30% very often, they load up the charges. You'll generally get it cheaper if you buy direct from the owners. That is the first Don't.

Directories. The first Do, but choose big ones.

Of course you can find a property in a Directory, one which quotes the owner's web site and e-mail address and you then deal direct. Just make sure the Directory is a big one so that there are many properties in the area you search for. The directories charge the owners a fee for listing, but it usually works quite well. You ought to bookmark your short-list otherwise you'll find difficulty in finding them a second time around. That's a Do.

Finding owners' web sites.

Not so easy as it sounds because you have to wade through Google's pages of Directories before you find individual sites. There are about 10,000 holiday properties in Scotland. The moment you Google "self-catering Scotland" you are in trouble. The sites in the first pages are all those by clever professionals who know their way around Google's 200 "web crawlers" which identify the sites they think you will want - using only your search term as a guide. Clever, these directories, with oodles of specialised knowledge - about Google. They know about inbound
links, about keyword emphasis, they know about anchor text and they write their text around the search terms they think you will use. That impresses Google no end.

Do narrow your search

You'll get fewer directories showing up on Google if you narrow the area of your search. You would not find our site if you Googled "Scotland self catering", you would have to search through the first couple of pages if you used "The Highlands" but you would find us on page one if you Google "Glencoe cottage" and its variations.

You could also find us on page one if you Googled, simply, "Lochside cottage". People rarely look past page one - they change their search terms. Well, if you get crowded out with directory sites you may have to go to page four or more to find individual owners' sites.

When to book.

In Scotland, the two most popular areas are Edinburgh, and the Highlands - our area. Properties divide into two, there are the large Victorian houses or other houses with four or five bedrooms. If you are trying to get a property for several families to share there are many opportunities, but don't leave it until late. The best properties in the high season are nearly all booked out. You'll have a problem if your date is fixed. By May all of us at the top end have only a week or two to offer in the Summer. We get one third of our high season bookings about 7 months in the previous year, particularly from returning guests.

Off season, you can try for late bookings. The only exception to this is for Christmas and for New Year. These are premium weeks and will sell out.

Spending Hogmanay in Scotland is a pretty romantic notion for some.

Or, Do use these other two ways to find your ideal holiday property. Google the word "Dmoz" This is the world's largest hand-edited Directory, called the Open Directory. It is not too difficult but a bit laborious to navigate your way through the options to find the property you want anywhere in the world in fact.

The route to find us, for example, is: Recreation/Travel/Europe/United Kingdom/Scotland/Highland/Lochaber/Self catering/then you'll get a good number of properties. If you use the Back button you can find other areas, obviously.

The final sneaky way is to do what 600 people every year do. They go to our own site where we have listed about 25 attractive self-catering properties whose owners we have come to know. They are all over Scotland, and all good properties. Try them
http://www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/holidayhomelinks.html

Good hunting.
John
Lochside cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland

Short Breaks Glencoe

Winter breaks in Glencoe
Help for holiday home owners for their Web sites

How to stop big burly Scotsmen in their tracks

This is Springtime in Scotland. the weather is gorgeous. This is the local megalithic stone near our cottage. How old? Well, let me see, would 3,000 years old impress you?

Imagine the scene. I have just been overtaken on a single carriageway road by that most lethal of drivers, a white van man from Glasgow, doing 60mph.

Coming the other way is a monster truck full of pine trees just harvested, at the same speed. Closing speed of the two vehicles 120mph.

Neither of these men would you want to make angry in a back street of the Gorbals on a Saturday night when they’ve had a couple of drams.

Both of them screech to almost a halt – 5mph, and pass within centimetres of each other, very gingerly.

Why?

There was a tiny lamb, sitting on the side of the road with its feet rubbing together on the white line, bathing its head in the sunshine. On the other side of the road is Mother sheep, blissfully unconcerned, munching away at the grass thinking “Got to get some sustenance, the little sod has been keeping me up all night.”

That’s how you stop even the most formidable Scotsmen in their tracks. They are just big softies.

John

Ps Mind you, I wonder what their speed would have been if I had been sat on the roadside myself instead of the lamb, with a sign around my neck saying “Sassenach”
(Google it, if you must)

www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/touringscotland.html
www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/shortbreakscotland.html
www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/holidayhomelinks.html
http://holidayhomewebsupport.blogspot.com/

I might regret saying this - few midges this Summer?

You heard it here first. There will be few midges around this Summer.

Great news. I'm thinking of putting out a press release on this. We are at the cottage now and there are no signs of the dreaded midge. They usually start around May, build up to a ferocious climax in August, and die off in Septemer having feasted on human blood all Summer.

You won't believe the next bit, but I promise you it is true. Although we are on the West Coast with its notorious reputation for midge atrocities, and you can see the human remains from countless bites all around the Glencoe Lochan in the Summer - why do you think they put the Glencoe Hospital there? - we get virtually no midges where we are at the cottage.

We have not had one guest complain about midges here, at this spot. No I can't believe it as I write. Neither Gillian nor I, in all the nineteen years we have been here, have ever complained about the midges. and we are wimps. The first to scurry off to bed if there was any danger of a bloodsucking female around. It is the females who bite. As ever.

Why few midges this year, then?

We now have a comprehensive midge measurement service for the first time in Scotland. In the Spring of last year they were forecasting that midges would be bad in a dry summer. They weren't. they were very light. They know this because there are machines around that kill off midges, and the scientists can collect the remains and get a count.

To their amazement, they collected significantly fewer than the year before.

If we are to get aother long dry hot summer, then starting with a lower population and breeding stock then I think we should get fewer still.

The midge forecasters don't start until this month, so I'm getting my forecast in early.

Nothing like hot news - a scoop in fact.

John

www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk

http://holidayhomewebsupport.blogspot.com

http://www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/glencoewalks.html

http://www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/touringscotland.html

Kentallenite - the most amazing granite stone

This is the pier at Kentallen, 200 yards from the cottage. Best fsihing in the area.

Three young people took a week off and gathered at the cottage. This is what they said. "We really enjoyed our week, the scenery is amazing. We wandered about a lot and tried some fishing. We caught 30 fish in total but only four big ones."
"The neighbours and locals were friendly and helpful, and the cottge was great. We are going to come back and explore more.
The cottage was great."

A party of Japanese got out of a coach at the pier near the Hollytree up the road from here. They took out little hammers and began hammering at the rock. Strange behaviour? Well not if you are a geologist.

Our cottage at Bayview is built from local stone quarried from 300 yards away. In the world of geology this Kentallanite stone is famous.

Its particles look like this, but you would need quite a powerful microscope to see this.

The stone was formed about 400 million years ago and is very very tough. On different occasions it has apparently had six miles of ice on top of it. Hardy stuff! We could tell that by the language of the men who installed our double glazing. Fancy our cottage being 400 million years old!

John

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The wrong man was hanged here in 1752

This is the site of the killing of the Red Fox. It is about 200 feet above the curve in the road between Ballachulish Pier and Kentallen. It is actually the ancient road to the South which used to pass in front of our cottage. The victim was carried from here to Ballachulish House where he died from his gunshot wounds.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "Kidnapped" based upon a true tale of the Highlands. His uncle built the Corran Ferry so he knew our area well. In the story, a lad was accused of killing a local "factor" - the man who collects the rents in the Highlands. He was chased and harried all over the country to Edinburgh, but they hanged the wrong man, his 52 year old cousin, for the murder.

The victim was a Campbell - always they seem to feature in these atrocities, the Campbells. This one was very unpopular with the Stewarts of Appin because he was a bit tough on them. He had plans to clear out a lot of the Stewart families from their lands. These are the lands around our cottage, including Ardsheal across the water from our lounge. 1752 was the year exactly 70 years after the Massacre of Glencoe.

This chap Colin Campbell, The “Red Fox” was having a drink in Inshaig the old pub in Duror with James Stewart, known as James of the Glens. James was arrested, and taken to Inverary for trial. It was rigged, James was hanged on a rock above to-days Ballachulish Hotel and beside the bridge. You can see the rock there if you look. His bones were tied together and left there as a warning to others.

Friends later cut them down and buried them at Keill Graveyard near Duror just off the road to Oban two miles to the South of us.

Gillian and I made a serious effort a few years ago to find the graveyard. It was ruined, very overgrown and based in the middle of farmyard buildings. We found it but it took a bit of doing.

There is a big row going on in the local papers now about how it has become even more difficult to find because the farmer has locked gates and hampered access. We hope it gets opened up properly, it is a national treasure this site.

John

ps The weather has been unbelieveable up here. Who says it rains in Scotland?

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