Community Council

West Ardnamurchan Community Council, the cheerful and effective democratic institution which serves this beautiful area, held its monthly meeting last night. Eight councillors attended, two from Glenborrodale, and they conducted a huge amount of business in just under an hour.

Amongst other items, discussion ranged from the Playpark (which has now raised an incredible £35,000), to the Community Garden, the Kilmory phone box (this is a permanent fixture on the agenda, lest we forget it), the Corran ferry and the fun we're all going to have when they start work on the Corran side slipway in October, improvements to the B8007, and the need for people to complain about the continuing failures of NHS24.

Two items seemed to the Diary to be particularly important. We are heavily dependent on the Calmac ferry service to Tobermory. Therefore, we need to be involved in the Scottish Government's current national review of ferry services, particularly as the decisions made as a result of it will control ferry provision through until 2025. The Western Isles have just secured funding for a continuation of the Road Equivalent Tariff, which has hugely reduced the cost of services and increased tourist numbers, yet it will not apply to us. The Community Council is urging everyone to complete a questionnaire which is part of the public consultation process. It can be completed online, here.

The second item related to Community First Responders. We have been assured again that there is no danger that they will replace the current cover by our local GPs and District Nurses - they are there to offer a quick reaction to an emergency situation, to hold the fort until expert help arrives. Nine have now been trained, amongst other things, in the use of the defibrillator, and they seem impressed with the quality of their training. They now await the arrival of pagers, equipment and, possibly, a vehicle, before they are deployed.

Anyone experiencing a medical emergency will continue to do exactly what we have always done - phone 999. What we may now find is that the first help will arrive even more quickly - in the form of one of our First Responders. There's more about the Scottish service here.

Dorothy Green

The Diary was very distressed to hear of the death of Dorothy Green, at home at Coimh Lionadh, peacefully, on Saturday evening.

Our deepest sympathy to Bill Green and his family.

September Gale

This morning we're enjoying the first gale of the winter, a southeasterly with gusts up to force 6 late yesterday afternoon and force 7 by three this morning - this measured on an anemometer which is relatively low-lying and has a pine tree directly southeast of it, so the true readings were probably a good bit higher.

All yesterday the wind brought clouds and sunny intervals, but not a drop of rain, nor has it rained overnight. It was ideal walking weather to we trudged over the hills to the west of Ormsaigbeg to the deserted village of Reidh-dhail, but the small boats moored along the Ormsaigbeg shore were having an exciting time of it. It's the worst wind direction for them as it blows straight into the angle of this bay, making the seas very choppy, while the larger boats in Kilchoan Bay are well protected by Glas Eilean.

The number of yachts passing in the Sound has fallen drastically in the last few days, but this good-looking boat passed yesterday afternoon, motoring into the wind. She's the Spirit of Fairbridge, a 92' sail training schooner operated by Fairbridge, a charity which offers opportunities for young people from the inner cities to develop life skills - more about her here.

Many of the leaves on the trees are already brown at the edges, and this wind will turn them quickly, but it's a time for rich pickings along the hedgerows. Walking down to the shop first thing we passed brambles laden with fruit, a fair crop of hazel nuts, and damsons scattered along the tarmac.

Passing Ships

The Diary once worked a passage from Tilbury to Cape Town on a cargo ship. One of the more enjoyable jobs was turning out during the night with one of the apprentices because the officer of the watch was bored and wanted someone to use the Aldis lamp to signal to a rare, passing ship. 'What ship?' 'Whither bound?'

In the same way, when a ship passes in the Sound, it's good to be able to check it out using the excellent AIS site. This neat little boat is a Dutch ship, the Aspen, 2,300gt, 3,200dwt, built in 2000 and carrying a cargo of wood from Corpach, near Fort William, to Holland.

And this is the palletised cargo ship Foss, 4,471gt, 3,600dwt, destination Skogn in Norway. She seems to be very high in the water so she may be in ballast.

This boat, which looks like a converted lifeboat, came into Kilchoan Bay on Wednesday night. Being under 300 tonnes, she doesn't have to register on the AIS system, and her crew didn't come ashore in the morning, so we don't know where she was bound - but what a super boat for cruising these waters at this time of year.

Lastly, this is the Red Duchess, a 1,285 gt, 1,298dwt British registered ship. She is mainly engaged in the carriage of timber out of Scottish ports. Looking her up on Google led me to this site, Life at the end of the Road, which writes about a place even more remote than Ardnamurchan.

The Track East of Ockle

From the tiny settlement of Ockle (population: 1), a track runs eastwards across rugged hills towards Gortenfern and the Singing Sands. As it rises from the Ockle valley it passes an almost perfectly round lochan with a ring of lily pads. Most lochans are ice-formed. One wonders what mechanism produced this one: a small meteorite impact?

Beyond it, there are spectacular views north across the Minch to the Lesser Isles of Eigg, Muck and Rhum, and further to Skye and the Cuillins, and northeast to the mainland coast of Moidart, but it is the fierce grandeur of the surrounding scenery that holds the walker's attention. The underlying rock is Moine, billion-year old sediments of sand, mud and oozes which were crushed and heated when they were buried in the core of a mountain chain, later to be lifted and exposed to the recent glaciation. There is little soil above this hard base, so it offers ideal conditions for the growth of heather.

The track is good walking, and passable in a 4WD as far as the secluded valley of Eilagadale (or Elgadale, elg, noble, dalr, dale), where there is a single, remote house. Looking down on the valley, we wondered whether it had once supported several families, but there are no obvious signs of field systems or stone buildings without closer investigation.

Beyond Eilagadale, the way deteriorates into a narrow, barely-visible path that fights its way through heather and rough grass, clinging to hillsides and fording small streams. We walked it yesterday to enjoy the annual display of heather, which is not quite as spectacular this year as in 2007, but well worth the effort. We were out in warm sunshine for over two hours and, once clear of Ockle itself, where we talked with its one resident, Dougie Cameron, we didn't see another soul.

Map of the area is here.