Eriska, Scottish Island

First harvest from the vegetable garden

Having walked past almost daily the new vegetable garden by the tennis court I had started to become less excited at seeing the progress, initially it was great to see the first shoots through the ground then the potatoes started to grow and we humped the earth around them but it has seemed in the last month that as fast as they all grow so do the weeds so last week we started to show renewed interest and indeed this week we even managed to divert some weeders to the patch.

However like buses the interest comes around in no volume then a deluge as today not only was I inspecting the patch but so was Chay, Robert the Head Chef and even Jodie our Spa manager, Chay I can understand as he would be wondering why we have diverted his resources to clear the patch, jodie was jut interested in learning what we were growing, in case they could be used in the spa and Robert was looking for the first produce for his kitchen. Meanwhile the weeder suggested that they help him but by then they had already lost interest or grown conveniently deaf!!

Anyway the first Onions are now in the kitchen and in reality they do look good so we shall wait and get a ujudgement on taste. normally we would tie them up and let them dry but Robert will probably use them as they are picked so no need to do all of this and also at least if we miss pick the weeds then we cn use the rogue onions rather than attempt to replant them!

Mackerel Run!!

As I was walking round the island yesterday afternoon I was greeted with a cocophony of screetching from the heronry. Wondering what was happening and imagining the worst, given the recent sightings of the Sea Eagles in the same area, and their potential interest in our herons I proceeded cautiously. However on entering the heronry and after closer inspection it was clear that the noise was actually coming from beyond the trees and from the cove on the west face. Indeed the three herons seemed as interested as I was and were watching the activity froim their lofty perches.

As I approached Sir Ians Lookout I could see where the noise was eminating from, the whole bank of the rockface was white and covered with gulls all highly excited. From my vantage point I could look down on the water below and could see that the tide was reaching its highest level and was indeed about to turn so I sat and waited to see what the next act would bring. As soon as the tide ceased to be slack and seemed to turn it was as if the head gull had brought his batten down and all went eerily quiet, but only for a few moments as then in the distance in the water I could see what looked like an oil slick moving towards the rocks then without a moments hesitation the gulls set to work.

Diving, splashing and working the sea, the slick which I had thought was oil was indeed the sprats who were slipping into the loch on the back Eddy, closely followed by the mackerel and then by a pack of chasing seals. It was an amazing sight and without an escape route the fish seemed to be trapped and the gulls were in for a busy day. It did however not take long before the show was over and the birds were back on their rockface well fed and the shoal of fish had dissappeared, but that was not until they had run the gauntlet back out of the loch and under the new pier where a keen fisherman was busy pulling a catch out for the kitchen, indeed in the space of 5 minutes he managed to get quite a haul of fish, enough for the kitchen to use in as both a canape and for Tyron, our Maltese Chef to make his mothers famous Tomatoe and Fish Soup.

It is teh first time I have seen sucha  display and it will be interesting to see if the Gulls are back tomorrow for an encore or if either the fish learna nd are not caught I the trap again or if it was simply unique  conditions whihc mean that this was a one time event. Anyway in the meantime I shall enjoy my fresh Mackerel in oatmeal for breakfast!

weather wc 26th july

Every summer I keep my fingers crossed for a good week of weather during the Scottish Golf Open as it is a real chance to showcase the beat of Scotland and hopefully the sun will shine and the country will look its best for all the television viewers around the world. This year I have had to do this twice as the next week was the Open from Turnberry and that too showed our country to its gloriuos best and now this weekned I ahve found myself doing it again as it was the gathering in Edinburgh and again scots form around the world had the chance to see that it is not always doom and gloom, indeed the sun shomne for most of the dya and there will I am sure be a few sunburnt faces tis morning. But it looks like my current spate of good fortune is over as the week ahead looks a bit different.

Today: A cloudy wet and windy start to the day but becoming drier and brighter as we get towards the end of the morning.

Monday: Sunny intervals and scattered showers will make tis a changable day so don't get caught too far from an umbrella or doorway!

Tuesday: After a dry dawn it will become showery and these showers becoming heavier and more frequent in the afternoon.

Wednesday: It will start cloudy wet and very windy but this should ease off later in the day

Thursday: it is likely to imrove to be dry and very warm with sunny spells.

Friday:An unsettled day with showers and also some longer periods of rain for most areas,

Saturday: Hopefully as sailers start to flock to Argyll for the West Highland Yachting Week it will at least be windy and it looks like it migt be with spells of rain over the weekend.

 

Pier reaches its third life

When eriska was at it hay day back at the turn of the last century there was a splendid wooden pier with a crane at te end and a railway line running all the way to the green house boiler house. The stories of the puffer arriving to deliver coal and the pony and railway cart hauling the load up to the gardens to heat the green house's so the family in the Big house could have grapes, pineapples and other tropical fruits are well documented and photographed but even more surprising are the wonderful images of beach huts and young families swimming off the the Pier. when we arrived in 11973 the condition of the structure was fragile indeed the last 5 metres to the platform had been lost and although my father tried valiantly to repair it it was never the same and continued to decay.

Then after using eriska as a staging post in the early eighties John Yeoman offered to replace the pier with a new structure which would not only stand the test of time but would also offer deeper water access. he inherited from a depot down south a load of North Sea Oil pipes and simply sat a pile driving crane on the back of the barge and drove them deep into the shore, then in an attempt to maintain some history he engaged the local boat builder to lay a wooden decking and staircase at the end. In reality the combination of an inferior wood and the stresses and strains exherted by the tide on a steel structure with a wooden deck insured that this timeless plan was discarded and despite Chays efforts to paint it and maintain it we soon had to admit defeat and laid a new galvanized walkway.

The proof, as they say, is always in the pudding and whilst the staircase has survived in a different guise in the heronry the decking has all disappeared and rotted away. Had we known then what we now know we would have insisted on a better wood but we were all so pleased to have a pier that anything was an improvement. That said even mans modern materials have not lasted as long or as well as the initial wooden structure and the pier has begun to corrode and deteriorate to such an extent that action was required so as detailed earlier we are now installing with the help of our friends at Fusion Marine a new floating pontoon.

Today should, tides wiling, be the final day of the old structure, Chay has stripped the decking down and we have a machine in to remove the evidence of the old legs. As wit all these projects however the ease of deciding what to do is often far out weighed by the stress in doining it and like a wobbly baby tooth I am sure that however rickety the old structure is it will take far more than a simply tug to remove it! Anyway once done we will then be able to get out Photographer back in to reshoot the new North End of the Island. Hopefully third time lucky will see this new pier finally last!

New addition to the Hewitt Collection

Some time ago we were generously gifted a wonderful collection of Frogs for the library and they came with their own stone lilly pad and we were simply instructed to water them regularrly and look after them. Having coaxed and encouraged them for over a year successfully the next visit we were again the fortunate recipients of a family of hedgehogs and this time they were placed in a wonderful field of lavender which simply required regular ploughing to allow the scent to wander round the library.

Yesterday the collection was yet further enhanced by the addition of two new Hewitt Mice, these, it was explained to me are extremely rare and much sought after. The donors have made several expeditions to try and see the mice and despite excellent directions they have either just missed them or they have been away on holiday but at last this time perseverance paid off and they managed to catch two of these elusive creatures.

The two figures , named David and Mark, stand at a small but respectable inch but whilst they are wee and tender creatures now we have been told and assured that with the correctt nurturing and encouragement, regular claret or red burgundy and only the best Mull cheddar will see them blossom and grow. We will do our best!

Homecomming 2009- alive and well!

Over the last 12 months after repeated attempts "Homecoming Scotland" has been llaunched, relaunched repackaged and relaunched musicallyand emotionally several times and in truth I thought it had been unveiled too many times and too late to the extent that apart from some logos and a bit of publicity it had been forgotten. Anyway as I read my papers on Sunday this seemed to be the impression the press had gained and given this I wondered if it would succeed in its cushendo this month with the gathering of the clans.

Anyway my fears were completely wiped away last night as I was talking to the guests, I had made comment earlier in the day how we seemed to be overrun with other nationalities but was told this was simply a sign of the weaker pound and the time of year but after a little more inspector work- really just arranging tours for some guests and putting their plans together for the next day I learnt that several were attending homecoming events and even more surprising they all were involved completely independently in the clan gathering.

Tonight the special theatre event at Dunollie Castle will celebrate the macDougal Clan, so hopefully the weather will hold out and then they can set off for the big gathering of the clans later in the month. the good news however is that the latest launch has set up Homecomming as a long term concept with 2009 being the catalyst for te future. A far more sensible approach given the current world economic situation and the slight shambles. Oh what would Rabbie Burns be thinking as its all his fault!!

Weather wc 19th July

I had some friends up at the weekend and before arriving they had been trying to see a weather forecast so that they could work out what sort of weather we would be having and therefore save on bringing unrequired equipemnt and clothing. One of them wisely decided to check out this blog site and then they were suitably amazed/impressed by the accuracy given the weather that greeted them when they arrived. In truth there is always a good deal of luck when predicting the weather but this is mixed with a wonderful combination of past experience and technological expertise through the weather station my mother gifted me at Christmas.

Anyway lets have a go at this next week!

today:will be cool and cloudy with some outbreaks of rain. Elsewhere in Argyll it may be  brighter with a mixture of sunny intervals and scattered showers. Moderate to fresh westerly winds

Monday:Dry with bright or sunny intervals. Becoming cloudier in the afternoon with some showery rain. Freshening westerly winds.

Tuesday: bright with sunshine and scattered showers but be careful not to be caught out as it will become wet later  overnight,

Wednesday:after a wet night it will then return back to bright showery weather on Wednesday.

Thursday An unsettled, showery theme is expected across the west highlands for a good part of the day

Friday :Showers are possible anywhere, some of which are expected to be heavy, though with clear or sunny intervals between.

Saturday: There are likely to be spells of more prolonged, and at times heavy rain, most likely across the hills . The heaviest and most persistent rain is expected across the hills so as this weeknd we may miss the worst at Eriska

Sports mad nation

Its amazing how sport seems to grab a nation. We certainly notice it here at Eriska, as when Wimbledon is on the use of the tennis court increases and this weekend was the busiest weekend for the golf course in ages, however the cynical might suggest that is more a coincidence as the other half of the hotel that were not on the course seemed deep in the dark watching the tv in their room and those on the course were probably only representing those unintersted ingolf and hence their lack of motivation to watch the play at Turnberry.

I of course would be more polite and point out that it is a combination of all factors with the fact that Gerry has the course in such great shape being the main deciding factor. Indeed having strolled, I could not profess to having played as I spent most of the day off the tees and greens, around the course would have to suggest that the course is in better shape than ever and indeed with the tide in, as it was today, the views and setting would be hard to beat!

Pontoon afloat

Well on schedule and on target the new pontoon has arrived at Eriska. I have to admit a little bit of disbelief and now I wonder why I doubted them!! Well yesterday the pontoon was delivered to the shore and due to the need to bring it down the loch as the tide was going out it meant that it arrived at Eriska at low tide- not ideal given that we wanted to get it  attached to our new station at the top of the beach. They did however try admirably and with the small raft and a crane managed to leaver the whole structure up the beach but as ever it was about a foot short and had to be left overnight awaiting a higeher tide the next day for the official opening ! Anyway when Chay told me this I asked rather surpirsing  that it was attached by someting otherwise I could envisage it floating down the loch during the night.

Rather jokingly Chay told me it was tied onto the old pier by a chain and would never shift! Ok I agreed and he set off home. then after dinner I though I would pop down to see the new addition and just to check that chays knot was good and to my surprise there was quuite a group on the shore, firstly Chay to insure the pontoon was still there, then the manager of fusion marine to make sure it was still floating and finally his boss admirning the work! So after much discussion and hilarity at the huge lack of trust and belief we all aprted and this morning we attached the structure to the bridgehead.

Phase two will now take place next week when the divers will reteun and remnove the old peir structure and then we will be able to see if the new pontoon is feasible as already next week we have a planned vsit from cCoastal Connection the high speed boat whihc can take guests out and aboout around the isalnds. hopefully both the pontioon will be afloat and still attached- yee who have little faith!!

Yo-Yo sun loungers!!

When I checked the forecast yesterday morning it stated it would be sunshine and showers but I certainly was not expecting the crazy weather we had. Indeed the record was 5 times in one hour for being asked for lounger cushons and then having to rush out and put them away. It was even stranger as beleive it or not the rain did not seem wet as one of the guests who continued on the putting green through the shower commented, although the fact that he was about to beat his young son for the first time was I am sure not really behind his obstinance!

It is however ideal weather for the garden as the plants benefit all the more from proper rain rather than our feeble attempts at watering although so do the weeds!! Outside as well though Gerry on the golf course is smiling as the warm damper conditions are ideal for the grass especially on the ist fairway where they are starting to make real progress to get the sward up to the same levesl as teh rest of the course and the new fairways, recently limed are starting to cultivate more and more grass and hopefully less moss!!

anyway its back to cushions out- cushions in again thismonrings so at least life is anything but predicatable!