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Damon & Renate's Holiday Cottages

Damon & Renate's Holiday Cottages: May 2011

Damon & Renate's Holiday Cottages

Beautiful stone cottages near Oban and on the Isle of Mull

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Location: Taynuilt, Argyll, United Kingdom

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Weather - lots of it

Well, what has the weather been throwing at us.  Heavy rain over the weekend to cause flooding everywhere.  Severe storm yesterday.  Never known to have such strong winds in May.  Very occasionally these happen in late autumn.  Trees down everywhere, including by us, roads closed.  Yesterday the school children on the bus did not get home till 8 pm.  Electricity supplies off for 12 hours, so no mobile phone use.  Then this morning thunder and lightning and hail.  And of course another ash cloud!  But, it's calm now and became quite sunny this afternoon.  Damon and I have been busy chopping wood and clearing access.  Also clearing our chicken pen so that hopefully the predators can't get in.  We had moved the chicks from the front lawn to the side of the house, and fortunately they've survived the storm.  They were just annoyed at being left on the pebbles.

You can see where the big beech broke off

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Friday 20 May 2011

Snow


Heatwaves, fires, gales, now the snow is back! It's down to about 600m on Cruachan though I suspect it won't last the day.

I spent last night visiting some of the gorges in the area that are used increasingly by local outdoor centres to take groups up for a mix of walking, climbing swimming and jumping in. There is going to be an accident at some point and they can be very complex to get people out of, more difficult than most mountain situations, so it is good to have an idea of easy access points in advance.

Tonight we are taking the local school adventure group Coasteering at Ganavan. Similar to gorge walking but by the sea, climb up the rocks, along them and jump off into the water from high or low. No idea why kids love it......

Personally I recommend coasteering over gorge walking, the water is much warmer, particularly after about start of June.

Monday 16 May 2011

Speckles and 4 chicks

We could never imagine it would really happen, but on Thursday the first chick appeared! We now have 4 bundles, on the front lawn in a cage, and await them becoming more adventurous.  The weather isn't great for them at the moment with drizzle, but we await the sunshine.

Taynuilt has a new bakery in the village, that is very popular.  And the attractions lost for the year are Torosay Castle and the railway on Mull.  The castle is up for sale, so if you fancy an abode!



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Wednesday 4 May 2011

Last of the good weather

It's been exceptionally dry for the past month with lots and lots of sunshine. But the forecast is due to change for tomorrow. Believe it or not , quite welcome as there have been many heath fires on the mountains. The road between tyndrum and bridge of orchy was closed yesterday due to fires.
These are pictures I took today.






The iron furnace



View from front of house

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Sunday 1 May 2011

Taynuilt playpark

I'm delighted to announce the new 'excellent' playpark, by the sports pavilion.


A huge hit with the sunny, dry weather we've had for several weeks. There's also been some smaller Heath fires around here, not just in Torridon.



Unfortunately we lost the first of our chickens today. A heap of feathers on the back lawn, and chuck chuck has not been seen all day nor coming in at night. The silver lining is that we'll now have space to keep a chick if that works out. Due in 1.5 weeks.
Renate

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