Sunday, March 19, 2006

Coire an t-Sneachda to near Lurcher's Crag via Edinburgh







At Coire an t-Sneachda in poor conditions on the 8th March. The stranded helicopter had just left its landing pad by the adjacent Coire an Lochain (presumeably in better visibility) a few days earlier. Then onto Edinburgh airport to pick up Dylan from his Amsterdam flight. Visits to Edinburgh Castle, Roslynn Chapel and Stirling Castle were followed by a return visit to Edinburgh airport on the afternoon of the 13th. A planned visit to St Andrews on the 12th and 13th had to be cancelled following 8" overnight snow on the 11th and a puncture on the morning of the 13th. The puncture got repaired on the 14th & 15th (nobody keeps Discovery tyres in stock apparently and two new tyres it unfortunately was) and the Chalamain Gap from the ski road seemed more attractive than the cloud covered plateau on the 16th. The Chalamain Gap was full of snow so was nearly a straight walk through instead of the usual boulder scrambling. The top of Lurcher's was also under cloud but seemed worth a look, but the wind was biting cold with spindrift in the heavy snow that was falling as I reached the skyline of the final ascent to the top so a retreat to the Lairig Ghru and Rothiemurchus while watching a few brave hearts come down off the Braeriach ascent (Sron na Lairig) seemed the best option, especially as I had to drive to Tarbert that evening to catch the 07:00 ferry to Port Ellen on the 17th.

posted by Fred 65 @ 2:09 PM 0 comments

Dredger at Port Ellen Pontoons


The grab dredger mv Shearwater from Moray Council moves closer to the village green. Yachts shall shortly be able to anchor far inside the bay. The old flat bottomed Lochiel could probably have got in too. The village grows more attractive, but the eyesores and ruined infrastructure remain to stagnate further with no signs of improvement or even a halting of the decline. A pity then the dredger couldn't grab the (decontaminated) derelict ruins of the old cafe and the Islay Hotel and dump them offshore too. A pity it couldn't reach out and rid us of the Argyll & Bute Council and its representatives who have to all intents and purposes abandoned Islay, and a pity it can't take us in tow to become part of Highland Region, leaving mainland Argyll to sink further into the mess of its own making. A pity too that Calmac choose to let the main entry point to the island (and the only one in their ownership) degenerate to such an unsafe and unattractive condition with their mustering area extending onto the public road almost into Charlotte Street that the Health & Safety Executive are forced to take action but turn a blind eye to much more, and a pity too that Calmac dump their oldest ferries which for safety reasons are only licensed to operate under reduced capacity restrictions - on the Islay run. There is therefore still room for more improvement.

posted by Fred 65 @ 1:08 PM 1 comments