In the news - but not the way we would want to be...

Item copied from the Oban Times, 22.11.2012.

The accident happened two weeks ago. The 'Skye Woman' is Sue. She is absolutely fine - completely unhurt, though she was lucky the car didn't turn over. The insurance company is still pondering over whether to pay to repair the car or write it off.

Skye Tradesmen

There I was in my last post, all optimistic that the refurbishment work at Loch View was well underway, and then the guys who did the knock-through of the wall decided that they no longer wanted to undertake the refitting of the bathroom.

This was after providing a quote for the job, and suggesting to me where I should obtain the new bathroom suite and wetwall for the shower.

However, there are a number of other tradesmen on Skye, and one of them is going to Loch View tomorrow to look at the bathroom job. So I am hopeful we will soon be back on track, and I look forward to posting some more pictures shortly!

Work is Underway at Loch View Cottage

We have every intention that our recent purchase - Loch View Cottage, Carbost  - will be refurbished and ready for holiday letting from early 2013, so work in underway now.

We have local tradesmen, Nick and Alistair, at work opening up an archway between the kitchen/dining room and the lounge. This will give the impression of a much bigger living space, and will also enable people in the kitchen to see the view, and communicate with people in the lounge. We'll be blocking off the door from the hall into the lounge too as it will no longer be needed.

I have started work on stripping out the bathroom. It's a small room, so we are not going to replace the bath, going for a large shower cubicle instead. There's new bathroom furniture on order too, then the room will be re-tiled and a new floor laid.

We have a few new items of furniture to source, and together with a few of our own 'little touches' the rest will stay as it was for 2013. Maybe next winter, the kitchen will get re-fitted and we will go for new carpets throughout  - that all depends a bit on finances!

MORE GAIRLOCH PHOTOGRAPHS

Well, here we are again!

Looking through the rest of my photographs, it was noticeable just how many wonderful beaches we visited whilst touring the Melvaig area....

Below is a shot of Big Sands en route to The Croft where we were staying.  A deserted beach with a beautiful evening sky, - what more could you want!
(Don't forget to click on each photograph to get a better view!)

On Saturday 27th we spent a lovely few hours at Flowerdale waterfalls (featured earlier in this blog) and then went down to the Pier.   Following a footpath from there, we discovered this lovely view of another deserted beach with Gairloch in the distance.

The following day we went on a drive encompassing Poolewe, Aultbea and Laide.  Driving further northwards we ended up at this fabulous sandy beach at Mellon Udrigle which has vast expanses of white sand, rock pools and the most fabulous sandstone rock deposits. Wonderful!

Our long walk along the beach encompassed rock pools, huge mountains of bladderwrack and often vast formations of sandstone rocks.......

Saturday involved a much longer walk out to the deserted housing remains of Slaggan.  Just past it we came across another wonderful, empty sandy beach..

Later that day and back at our cosy, comfortable base, The Croft, Cupar the Collie relaxes in the lounge after his long - eight mile or so - walkies!   

A great day and a fabulous mini holiday in all! :)

Pageview counter

Hello to all our many readers!

I have just decided to change the pageview counter (located top right of every page) to show page hits per week rather than per month, as it then shows a more 'up to date' status.

MELVAIG HOLIDAY

Well here I am - finally getting round to putting photographs to blog at last!     We had a wonderful three days at Melvaig and ensured that our time was not wasted with various walks along beaches and through woods, the latter of which were attired with some fabulous autumnal colours.   Below is a path at Flowerdale which we took on our way up to the waterfalls. 

Below is a photograph of Richard and Cupar on our way up to the falls.  We got absolutely drenched when it rained but enjoyed our trek there all the same.....:)   

Despite the rain, the sun finally managed to peep through the trees for a few minutes casting wonderful shadows and brightening the already beautiful autumnal colours.  It was glorious!

Our path often followed the river which was in full speight as a result of all the rain that had fallen recently.  The noise was quite deafening at times.  

Afterwards we moved across the road down onto the pier and had a leisurely stroll about looking at all the small boats in the harbour......

.. and then it was back to our temporary home - at The Croft in Melvaig, - where we later planned our next walkabout for the next day!   And where did we go?  Well watch this space and you'll find out very soon!

SkyeHolidays on Facebook and Twitter

I've never been much good at Facebook. I have created a few accounts, and dabbled with posting stuff, but then I leave it a while, and my 'notifications' soon go quiet.

As for Twitter - I don't really get it... though I do have an account...

BUT, I am aware that FB and Tw are valuable free marketing tools for a business such as SkyeHolidays...So, if you are Facebooked or Twittered, please do try to find me. I'm variously called SkyeHolidays and HolidaySkye and even Richard Dorrell. I am currently trying to post something sensible at least once a day in each account.

And if anyone can point me to a really useful website which explains what these sites are all about...?? No, I guess that's a bit too much to hope for...

Tweaks to this blog

Google provides Blogger authors with statistics about their blogs, so I have been aware for a while that this blog has become pretty popular. I've just added a hit-counter at the top right of the page, which is showing page-views per month (I think each post counts as a 'page').

I've also added a search box, which is powered by Google, so it is very efficient, providing you enter reasonably intelligent search terms!

Maybe I need to be careful what I write - who knows who is reading this...???!!!

New website for Skye Holidays

I've been struggling with this one for a few weeks, but have now decided it's ready enough to launch, so the all-new Skye Holidays website is now live on the old address - www.skyeholidays.co.uk
I think it is all working and displaying correctly, but being an amateur web designer, I am sure I have problems with issues that an expert would solve in seconds (or never create in the first place). My biggest problem is my failure to understand Cascading Style Sheets... maybe one day...

I have now created individual stand-alone websites for each of our cottages, so that we can advertise them individually, which will have the effect of broadening our advertising (and our presence on the internet). There are links to all the websites from skyeholidays, and each should open in a new tab or window.

Melvaig Holiday Pictures

Here's just a few of the couple of hundred pictures we took on our wonderful little holiday to Melvaig...

I'm here - can you see me? (Red deer hind in Melvaig)

The crash-site memorial to 15 people who died when a USAF Liberator hit the hillside, lost in fog, June 13 1945. Wreckage remains scattered to this day. A tough walk to a very moving place.

This is MY beach!

Sue photographs the autumn colour. Note the full wet weather gear... wear the right clothes, and who cares if it rains...?!!!

Flowerdale, Gairloch. Another tough walk, but I'll bet this waterfall looks best at this time of year!

Flowerdale again. Just wonderful!

On our way to Slaggan... (Wet weather gear again...) (Our path goes off the picture upper left).

Slaggan beach - 3 miles from the nearest road. There is a ruined settlement of some 20 or more houses just behind the photographer.  Words can't describe the emotions we felt here.

Gairloch harbour - bathed in autumn sunshine.