What's new at Ach na skia Croft for 2009

Well! QA Inspection just over for another year and we're still sitting very comfortably at the top of the 3 and 4 star brackets. They were most impressed with the brand new kitchens going in to Creag Mhor and Glen Mhor, the 4 star Lodges. Creag Mhor's is complete and our German guests are thrilled with the addition of a dishwasher, not to mention new ceramic hob, oven and fridge - all 'A' rated to help keep the carbon footprint under control - more work surface, under cupboard lights and twin bin for sorting the rubbish for the Council's new recyclable waste collection bin.

Meanwhile the Cottage porch is getting a makeover with some slate-look tiles which should look very smart.

The Wi-Fi we put in last year has been very popular with our guests, who can use it to check out what's on around Arisaig while they're here.

Another new venture we are dippping our toes in this year is sea kayak hire. Being keen kayakers ourselves and lucky enough to live in what is recognised as one of the most fantastic sea kayaking destinations in the world, we are happy to share our knowledge and now our boats with like minded paddlers who would like to hire a boat for a day or 2, or even a week or more, to explore the area.

As we don't have the time at the moment to come out with you on the water, hire will be restricted to paddlers with some experience.

The daffodils are blooming and Spring will soon be on it's way so we look forward to seeing you all at Ach na skia Croft soon. You might even see a few developments up at the new house, though progress is at a standstill again at the moment while we polish the skirting boards for all our 2009 guests!

Holidays in Arisaig and the "Credit Crunch"

Well, there may be a credit crunch out there in the real world, but here in Arisaig things feel much as usual - just enjoying life.

The views are great, the weather ever-changing - snow on the hills (and sometimes even on the ground), water crashing down the hillsides, winds to blow you over, frozen waterfalls, calm days, dazzling blue skies and starry, starry nights. As they say in the Highlands, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute"

We've had quite a few short break visitors so far in 2009 at
Ach na skia Croft and they've all enjoyed every minute - shell hunting on the beaches, going out for a paddle and catching the sunset, soaking up a sauna.

Meanwhile we are getting on with the house building, spring cleaning the properties, splashing about in boats in the pool.

Our local news sheet, the West Word, the monthly paper for Arisaig, Morar, Mallaig , Lochailort, Glenfinnan, Knoydart and the Small Isles, has won the UHI Millenium Institute Community Newspaper of the Year award - well done, Ann.

Room 13 Caol artists Marly Falconer and Carly Smith's paintings (‘Solar Girl’)

and (‘Chat line’),

have made it to the finals of
the Unilever International Schools Project and are being exhibited at Liverpool's Tate Gallery. Well done and good luck to them.

The season winds down

Well, what a year! The 10 dry, warm weeks from April time turned into a generally dry and warm summer, unlike what other parts of Britain seems to have been experiencing. The shorts have been on more often than ever before and the wellies have been replaced by Crocs. Most of the holidaymakers are off back to work and school, though we're still pretty busy here at Ach na skia Croft and, what's better still, loads of our favourite guests have already booked again for next year.

The house build has been rather on the back burner of late due to still more kayaking exploits - Tuesday evening sessions, more training with Skyak Adventures on Skye, Sunday paddles and an awesome trip to Shetland with Glenmore Lodge. It is such a privilege to be able to explore the caves, arches, geos and subterranean passages of the Shetland coast and islands in a craft that is small enough to get right in there and feel the power and the magic; a very special place.

Wi-fi for Ach na skia Croft

Just a quickie before we head off to the windy Western Isles for a week of sea kayaing (maybe!).... Four of our party set off from Mallaig last Saturday and have spent the past 2 days sitting out the wind and waves at Lorgill on the west coast of Skye. Hopefully today will see them on the water and heading for a rescue point so we can all get across to Lochmaddy at the weekend.

We finally got the Wi-fi connection set up for guests at Ach na skia Croft. Not yet been tested by any guests so there may still be some teething problems and we may have to try to get a booster to extend the signal range. Hope it's worth it; I know we find the option to use the Internet when on holiday useful, though that may be a rather sad confession, so hopefully it will be an asset that helps people plan trips, check email, etc.

The house has been at a total standstill. The wagtail family, nesting in the dining room, have fledged and are feeding on the lawn, but the swallows are still feeding hungry chicks in the nest in the bedroom. The latest addition to the wildlife park that we hope will one day be our house is leaf cutter bees, who are busily making leaf nests in the gaps in the polystyrene walls. Oh dear! We haven't seen the deer again, since it demolished our bird feeder and part of the wall.

The drought is over, by the way!

Must go and pack.......

Drought on Eigg

Almost eight weeks since the last blog and virtually every day of it has been clear blue skies. One day of rain and a couple of days with a few drops then a small patter last night. It's been bliss and perfect for a bit of patio laying, but on the Isle of Eigg, just across the water, they are having to ration the water, which must be an all-time first. And just when they've finally got mains electricity and can have a washing machine, they can't use the water. Poor Maggie! Maggie and I were in full fashion in our Crocs at Ann (of West Word fame) and Richard's wedding dance in the Astley hall last month - a great celebration, but no dancing for me and my poorly foot. Eight weeks on it is still a bit swollen and I am having to practise balancing on it, which is surprisingly difficult. Luckily it didn't prevent me from doing the 4 star Leader (sea kayak) training and assessment on Skye with Gordon Brown and Ken Nicholl at Skyak Adventures, which was brilliant (and successful). Met some great fellow kayakers and had lots of fun playing (and doing some rather tiring towing) in the tide race at Kyle Rhea and developing navigation skills amongst the skerries near Kyeleakin.

Another success last month was the news that Ach na skia Croft has achieved a Silver Green Tourism Award, which validates our Green credentials. Most of the work around the properties is now complete for the time being and we are hoping to be able to get back to some house building. We arrived back from Skye to find that we had swallows nesting in our bedroom and wagtails in the dining room, so it was as well to keep a low profile and let them get their chicks raised and out into the world. The wagtail was not too bothered by our proximity, but the swallows were much more wary.

To add to the wildlife park we have up there at the house site there was a young deer wandering about the other day. You can just see Eigg to the right of the deer, which is standing on the mound of earth beside the house. We thought it was quite cute until next morning when we found the bird feeder in our garden had been wrecked - pulled apart, stamped on and a stone loose from the wall. The deer seems like the most likely culprit. A few deer having been making a nuisance of themselves in the village so I guess this was one that had made its way to Back of Keppoch. Speaking of pests, the entire area is overrun with rabbits. Around us we have a family of black rabbits, descendants of a neighbours pet liberated by a younger brother some years back. Over the river at Bunacaimbe, hwoever, there is a family of mostly white, with a bit of brown, rabbits, descendants of an escaped pet from there. They make a colourful contrast to the gorgeous black foal. The garden is awash with bird parents trying to appease their demanding offspring with tasty morsels. Altogether a great time of year.

Speaking of off-spring, the annual Mallaig and District Canoe Club barbecue paddle, organised by Mike with off-spring in mind, was a great success this year. Sunshine, an 18km. paddle for 17 paddlers (and a shorter one for one and longer one for a few) and a barbie on the beach at Camusdarach, where we were joined by a further 12 parents and children, from 7 weeks to 10 years old.

The parents were keen to get their youngsters initiated into the black art of sea kayaking once the eating was over.

This year's challenge was for the best bbq'd desert and there were some great contenders.

There have been numerous sightings already this season of minke whale and basking shark in the little Minch. Many of our visitors who have taken a day trip to one of the Small Isles on the Sheerwater have been treated to a sighting.

Daughter Laura has had a successful month as well, having sold two of her paintings that are exhibited at the Resipole Studio Gallery's Landscape Exhibition, which finishes this Thursday, 13th. June. A great little gallery if you are in the area. Visitors to Ach na skia Croft will find examples of Laura's work in the properties.

Sea kayaks for sale

The sea kayaking season has started and Simon's Loch Sunart paddle on Sunday had a hardy group of 5 paddling from near Glenborrodale to almost Lochaline. Having torn a ligament in my ankle the weekend before last whilst on a Club coach weekend at that kayakers' centre of excellence Glenmore Lodge (where it was deepest winter with masses of snow and freezing cold - and greta skiing at Cairngorm) I did not make the paddle and sulked at home in frontof the computer. Having been enthused by the weekend and getting to grips with the new BCU paddlesport awards I bought the Mallaig and District Canoe Club a new and more memorable domain name (mallaigcanoeclub.co.uk) and whipped up a couple of pages to add to Tony Laidler's excellent existing site with a silly address. The club has a a couple of sea kayaks they want to sell as we need a bigger boat for the summer evening adult paddles, so if you're after a bargain sea kayak check out the for sale section of the website.

Back at Ach na skia Croft we are getting on with painting the Lodges and getting everything up to scratch for this year's guests. Last weeks guests couldn't believe their luck with the fantastic weather and the Cottage visitors said it was the best place they had ever stayed in, so we were happy with that!

Going Green

Well, we've always been pretty Green really, so we decided to see if we could get the sticker and today the "Inspector" from Green Tourism came and gave us the once over. Wouldn't tell us the answer but he seemed to think we had quite a few Green credentials, so we'll know in a few weeks' time. The Re-cycling "centre" put in place at the start of last year has certainly been a success and is always brimming with bottles, paper and cans, not to mention compost. He liked all the information available on the website and in the cottages about walks, transport and wildlife and was interested to hear about our Local Ranger walks. We have come up with an Environmental Policy for Ach na skia Croft to let people know what we are doing and what they might be able to do to help.

I meant to mention the geese in the last blog. The greylags have now become regular visitors to our "bottom" field, below the Lodges, joining the lapwings, which are whirling and calling and preparing to make their nests among the rushes.

We now officially welcome Walkers and Cyclists.

Of course we always have welcomed walkers and cyclists (not to mention kayakers) and fitted boot driers into all our cottages quite a few years back, which have been a boon to walkers, though of course we mostly hope they won't get wet feet at all, but it does happen from time to time! Speaking of kayaking, we had our first sea outing the weekend before last - a bimble around Loch nan Uamh on a somewhat blustery day, so good for getting the balance and reflexes honed up. The seals weren't expecting us and kept popping up alongside for a nosey. We had a long lunch and a mosey around the old settlement at the head of Loch Beag before heading for the open sea.

It has been a pretty spectacular couple of weeks for weather, with lots of snow on the hills - Ben Nevis and Aonach Mhor pictured here. There have been some good skiing days at Nevis Range this year.

The Easter visitors enjoyed their visit to Ach na skia Croft and the Games Room got lots of use in the evenings while mum cooked dinner.

The road closures are now back to Tuesday and Thursday from 1.30- 2.30p.m. so there's less disruption for anyone needing to go up or down the road to Fort William. There are some new sections now so you need to watch where you're going!

We still have some self catering availability at Ach na skia most weeks up till the end of June, so why not come for a visit - you won't regret it! Arisaig Marine are starting their trips to Eigg, Rum and Muck on 14th. April - always something to look forward to.

SK