Monday 14 January 2013

Skye Holiday Accommodation - Book Online!

After a week or so of setting everything up, I have now 'gone live' with online booking for all our Isle of Skye accommodation. Online booking is quite popular among B&Bs, but is not so often seen for self catering cottages, so we are hoping our initiative may give us a little advantage over our competitors!

Each property has its own website:

Roskhill Barn Bed and Breakfast 'With a Difference'

Aird View Self Catering, near Portree

Rowan Cottage Self Catering, near Broadford

Loch View Cottage Self Catering, Carbost

Sunday 13 January 2013

Winter Weather on Skye

I know this is a subject I have written about before, but it's the kind of subject that can be re-visited!

Just about every UK resident, no matter where they live, has had something to moan about regarding the weather in 2012. It is mostly the incessant rain that drove everyone to distraction, but there wasn't too much evidence of sunshine either. As it happened, while the central and southern UK suffered downpours, the north west coast of  Scotland endured a drought. We had an exceptionally dry spring and summer.

But most people want to know how we cope with all the rain and wind in the winter... Well, this is the fourth winter we have lived on Skye, and each has been completely different to the others. So far this year, it has been very mild, with some rain, but not much wind. Last year was wet, wet, wet. It started raining in October and didn't stop till March. The year before we had several weeks of snow and temperatures well below freezing. There doesn't seem to be a 'normal'.

Skye residents are mostly impervious to the weather. Everyone has waterproof jackets and trousers. All manner of headgear is employed to prevent chilly ears or rain down the neck. Stout footwear is the only kind of footwear one sees. There's no place here for haute couture!

Interestingly, our winter photographs over the last four years show very little difference in the colour of the landscape or vegetation (other than the obvious exception of the snowy ones...!). Everything turns a thousand different shades of brown. (Thanks to Sue for the photos).





Thursday 10 January 2013

Forward

Graham's funeral takes place tomorrow. He is to be buried on Skye - the island he loved. We are not expecting an easy day, but time moves inexorably on, and we have to go forward with it.

The telephone is beginning to ring more frequently with people wanting to book accommodation. We have gardens to tidy, and there is still quite a bit to be done at Loch View. We have to set our minds to the tasks and not dwell on the past, though our memories of Graham will remain vivid for many months yet, and I have no doubt at all that as long as I live, every time I glance at the brooding Cuillin, I will remember his smile.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Graham Paterson and the SkyeHi website

The whole of the Isle of Skye, as well as the world-wide climbing community, are still trying to come to terms with the tragic loss of our friend, Graham.

The power of the internet has proved its worth in spreading the news, and in enabling people to share their grief. People from all corners of the planet wanted to read the news for themselves, and especially to see happy pictures of Graham and Annie in the Cuillin, taking part in the walking and climbing that was so important in their life.

This blog - which generally gets an average of some 30 page hits a day, had 662 readers of my 29th December post (below) within 24 hours of the post being online.

More staggering though, is the number of hits on Graham's SkyeHi website. On average, the site normally received around 200 page hits per day. On 30th December, the day after the news of Graham's accident was released, the site had no fewer than 33,368 page hits. There have been over 64.000 page hits in total in the last four days. Unsurprisingly, by far the most popular page on the website is the photo gallery. The increased activity caused the site to 'crash' on three occasions, and I am sorry I have had to remove the video clips showing Graham climbing, because viewing of those was using too much bandwidth.

Every one of those thousands of visitors to the SkyeHi site will have shed a tear. And every one of those visitors will have felt for Annie and mentally sent their love to her. I hope, Annie, that at this awful time, you are able to feel all that love coming to you.

For now, the website will remain online, largely unaltered, as a small memorial to Graham.