A Return

The Diary has been away for a week in South Wales, enjoying the generous hospitality of old friends and visiting some of the local archaeology. There's little that other places do better than Ardnamurchan, but, although we have three similar structures, we certainly can't match this impressive Pembrokeshire burial chamber, called Pentre Ifan.

The trouble with going away is all the things we miss, like, for example, there was an earthquake reported locally on Sunday morning, felt by some but not all of West Ardnamurchan's residents. As can be seen from the British Geological Survey website, there were, in fact, eight earthquakes that day, all centred around Lochailort, the biggest of which was the first, at 08:37 GMT, with a magnitude of 2.9. Earthquakes are not uncommon around here, the last big one being the Glenuig event on 23rd January this year. The BGS website is here.

The best news on our return was that, as reported by ace Diary reporter Rachael on Saturday, the Kilchoan Pig Syndicate has moved its beasts eastwards, relocating them on Ivor's croft. Sadly, this is still within the bounds of Orsmaigbeg, but The Diary understands that they don't have much longer before they meat their maker.

Trevor Potts' campsite has been in the news again, with a large spread in last week's Scottish Farmer magazine which describes Trevor as 'a man of two continents' - Trevor whiles away his winter months as a tour guide on cruise ships in the Antarctic. The Diary understands that this has been a very successful year on the campsite, with more visitors than ever. The campsite's web address is here.

The most noticeable change in the countryside is that the heather is now in full bloom. The bell heather has been out for some weeks, but it's been joined by ling, Calluna vulgaris. As The Diary has often said before, we are moving into one of the best times of year to be out and about on our hills. It's good to be home.