DEAR DIARY !

New Year 2019

A very Happy New Year to all our readers of this website.

Take Care and Stay safe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, 1st January 2019

For the statistically curious these are the Litter totals for 2018:

KYLEAKIN VILLAGE (1st January - 31st December)

Total Litter collected = 222 bags

Total Dog Poos collected = 466 bags

Total Cigarette Ends collected (from 11th June - 31st December) = 15,819

Total KEG Volunteer Hours = 274 hours 30 minutes

OTHER AREAS

Total Litter Collected = 18 bags

Total Dog Poos collected = 0 bags

Total Cigarette Ends collected (from 11th June - 31st December) = 1,892

Total KEG Volunteer Hours = 6 hours

Other Areas include  Kyle Co-op Car Park and the Skye Bridge.

DEAR DIARY continues after the photos below...

The Obe in Winter Viewed from across the Stepping Stones at low tide	The Obe at Low Tide On very low tides The Obe nearly dries out!
Kyleakin Play Park Thanks to the Kyleakin PTA, children now have a great new Play Park in Olaf Road	Operation Joint Warrior 2013 The Royal Norwegian Navy ~ S304 Uthaug passing Eilean Ban towards The Skye Bridge
Lochalsh Junior Pipe Band Playing on The Corran on the evening of 10th June 2013	Memorial to Andrew Gordon This Memorial Tablet is located at the Old Telescope by the Foreshore and is in remembrance of Andrew Gordon who tragically died in 2015 whilst out swimming by The Skye Bridge
Vectis Osprey at Kyle of Lochalsh This 8500 tonne UK Registered Cargo Vessel docked in early May to unload some truly enormous blades (57m long) for the 66 turbine Wind Farm at Stronelairg near Fort Augustus	Vectis Osprey at Kyle of Lochalsh The truck beds used telescope out for these really long loads
The Skye Bridge & Eilean Ban Lighthouse Viewed from Hill of the Red Fox	Tom Leppard Known as the Leopard Man of Skye, Tom died in June 2016 aged 80 years
Marine Harvest - Kyleakin Quarry Drilling and installing piles - May 2017	New Housing Site off Olaf Road
Abelard aka Hemmy Asleep in his other many Snooze Haunts	Charles Cameron Place in Kyleakin New housing development off Olaf Road - see above
Parking Regulations in Kyleakin New Parking Regulations came into force in 2019	MOWI Kyleakin The new Fish Feed Plant viewed from Hill of the Red Fox
The MOWI Salmon Wagon Further info from: mowisalmonwagon.co.uk	Huge scale of the Fish Feed Plant Standing below something that is over seven storeys high!
The Control Room It only takes a crew of four persons to operate the Fish Feed Plant

Tuesday, 1st January 2019

The Village was like a Ghost Town today with more visitors being seen than local Residents.  Still, Litter, Poos and Fag Ends were duly picked up in really quite pleasant weather.

Saturday, 5th January 2019

Sadly we have to report the passing of one of our Villages' most well known and loved cats - Abelard (aka Hemmy).

Aged 15yrs and 4 months, Abelard suffered a severe thrombosis which affected movement and his owner (Flora Strachan) took the difficult choice to let him go.

He will be sadly missed, not only because we discovered he has a Facebook page!

He is currently 'lying in state' in the Studio at Flora's house and will be interred in the back garden on Monday.

Photograph of Abs / Abelard etc on the SALLY page and above.

We are indebted to Craig & Amber from Corran Cottage for informing Flora of her cats' distress and alerting the local Vet.

Thursday, 9th January 2019

Yesterday was quite a busy day which started off with the surprising sight of a Hercules C130 Transport aircraft flying from the Plockton direction and heading down towards Loch Duich.  It is amazing how graceful and quiet these huge aircraft are.

The roadworkers were out in force and stripping the tarmac off Kyle House Brae prior to resurfacing today.  The road has been in a terrible state for some years.

During Litter Picking a yellow Marie Curie charity box was recovered from the foliage at the front of the Mackinnon House Hotel on Kyle House Brae (by the Bus Stop) and taken down to Billy to see if was the one that had been stolen last year.  Sadly and not unsurprisingly the box was empty.

In the evening, with a huge flash and bang, the power in part of the Village went off but the Hyro Board were soon on scene and power was restored before midnight.

Sunday, 3rd February 2019

Local residents may be interested to know that the 'Official' notices put up on lamp posts around the Village refer to the new Parking, Waiting and Loading regulations that are coming into force and will cover the road and pavement areas to the east of the Village Shop (including the former CalMac Slipway area) and the pavement area on South Obbe.

Residents have until 15th February to lodge objections with 'competent grounds' to - Legal Manager, Council Offices, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX.

Copies of the Plans may be viewed at www.highland.gov.uk/parking and select 'Consultation'.

Wednesday, 27th February 2019

A few changes in the Village - a nice broad new footpath from the top of Olaf Road to the Village Hall and a new enclosed Life Ring by the main Car Park.

Sadly, it's been noticed that the new plastic matting on the upgraded Fisherman's Pier has started lifting and is a trip hazard.

Also, new potholes by the Bus Stop at the Haakon, on Kyleside by the Hotel and on South Obbe by the Guest House.  Tourist Season starts this weekend!

Thursday, 14th March 2019

UPDATES - the potholes above have been filled in and the Harbour Master says that they are tacking down the matting.

Still alot of Dog Poos around, with over 100 picked up this month alone (so far).  Poo Bags cost about £23 for 1,000 online which must be better than an £80 Fine.

Lastly, Joint Warrior is due to start on the 30th March and this year is expected to involve over 10,000 personnel, 35 warships, 5 submarines and 59 aircraft.  The latter will primarily be flying out from RAF Lossiemouth.

There is another Joint Warrior Exercise in the Autumn which usually involves military drones and non crewed ships.

Friday, 29th March 2019

Following on from a post on the KCDC Facebook page about Dog Poo on the Obe, we lifted 18 bags of Dog Poo from that area yesterday.

Somone has certainly put up enough anti-Dog Fouling posters!  I think that's called overkill...

Sunday, 21st April 2019

A wet start to Easter Sunday soon disappeared to sun and warmth again.  Sadly the Fag (Cigarette) End totals have soared this month from just over 600 last month to over 1,500 to date this month.  Fag Ends and Dog Poos are just as much Litter as other items are and the Fines for such are enforced throughout The Highland Council region - by their own Enforcement Officers who could visit this area at any time.

Tuesday, 23rd April 2019

We were updating our LINKS page today and have just noticed that the Kyleakin and Kylerhea Community Council are now on Facebook and that their website is no longer in use.

Tuesday, 30th July 2019

The Half Year Litter etc totals for the period - 1st January to 30th June 2019 are:

LITTER = 96.5 bags

DOG POOS = 288 bags

CIGARETTE ENDS = 7,143 collected

TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS = 117 hours 10 minutes

Sunday, 20th October 2019

The tourist season is nearly at an end and the King's Arms Hotel is now closed until March 2020.  New Parking Regulation signs have gone up, the main one being in the Car Park and will hopefully prevent motorhomes and caravans using it as a free camp site - to the detriment of other users.

Tuesday, 22nd October 2019

A wee reminder - BBC Scotland at 10.00pm tonight - a documentary on the "Battle of Skye Bridge" about the fight to have the extortionate tolls abolished.  A fight that was fought and won.

And for those who may have missed it or wish to watch again, it will be repeated on BBC Scotland this Saturday, 26th October at the earlier time of 9.00pm.

Thursday, 24th October 2019

The Ministry of Defence are planning to hold a Ground Based Exercise over the Islands of Skye, Arran, Jura and Islay from the 4th - 25th November 2019.  This is envisaged to involve fast assault craft, landing craft and helicopters.

Wednesday, 6th November 2019

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that Google Ads are now appearing in the middle of and often obscuring page content.  We have no control over this but will be upgrading our site so that all Google Ads are removed.

Saturday, 9th November 2019

Two KEG Members attended the MOWI Presentation and Tour today which proved to be very informative and educational.

The freezingly cold day started with a very welcome mug of steaming hot coffee, followed by a slide show and film presentation that was momentarily interrupted by a power cut!  After a lively question and answer session it was outside to the Salmon Wagon (see our LINKS page under Suppliers) for a free lunch, more coffee and then off on a short tour of part of the new Feed Plant at Kyleakin.

We will be setting up a separate page on this site, in due course, dedicated to the Feed Plant site.