Scourie News

February 2017 Edition 128 Dates for February A few statistics Sat 4th Village hall Burns Supper 6pm Tues 7th/21st Refuse bins about the Scourie Web Site Tues 14th/ 28th Recycling bins There have been 933 visits to the web site, with a total th st of 2758 page views in the month from Christmas. Mon 20 /Tues 21 School long weekend; 60% of these were using desktop computers, and 20% Scourie Feis each from tablets and mobile phones. Wed 22nd In-set day; schools closed to pupils The most viewed pages were the Homepage (949 views), Self Catering (155), B & B’s (139), the

Accommodation homepage (98), Scourie News (93), Information (84), Scourie Shop (79), Hotels (72), Guest Houses (65), and Bars & Restaurants (64). 75% of the visits came to the website using search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo), the remainder as links from other web sites or a direct contact. Of the 933 visits, the top ten countries were the UK (670 visits including only 32 known visits from Notice ), USA (64 visits including 32 from California), Germany (35), Netherlands (26), Australia (21), France Annual General Meeting (19), Italy (18), Belgium (12), Canada (11) and Switzerland (9). North West Highlands From these statistics it is clear that nearly all the visitors to the village web site are searching for places Geopark Ltd to stay and eat/shop. 97% of the users came from outside Scotland (excluding unknown users). Coigach Community Hall So if you want to tell your clients about your B&B, Self on Saturday, 18 February from 11am Catering, Guest House or Hotel, the Scourie web site is a good place to start. I can add links, a brief (Return transport from description, and picture to the Scourie site. Rhiconich/ available) Contact Pete Tuck, via the web-site contact mail, or phone 502430.

You are invited to hear of progress planned for 2017 and beyond. If you wish to express an interest in becoming a Director, please apply beforehand and by A Talk on Assynt Landscapes by 10 Feb 2018 in writing to our Registered Office in Unapool. Full and Final Programme soon. Eco-Adventurer Julien Moreau

There will be stalls and chat; information and coffee; plans and friends; sandwiches and members; Assynt landscapes provide a key to understanding presentations and soup; consultations and teas; coffee ice-sheet extension in western Europe during ice and voting; video and hopefully you! There are pebble ages. We will look to the iconic morphologies of routes; interpretation panels; oldest rocks on earth; Suilven and its neighbouring steep hills as well as the rocks not yet formed; beautiful beaches and stunning way the rocks have been scoured on land and under mountains. the sea. From simple drawings and observations, we can understand how dynamic were glaciers flowing over northern Scotland. North West Highlands Geopark Limited Company limited by guarantee, registered number: SC422407 At the Rock Stop on Thursday 22 February at 7pm Registered office: The Rock Stop, Unapool, Kylesku, By , , IV27 4HW All welcome

Only three weeks left before our annual Fèis.

We have booked a new drummer - Dave Martin from Forres who is also one of the YMI tutors and look forward to him coming here for the first time.

If you wish to choose accordion as an instrument and do not have your own, please let Sheilah know as we may have to borrow from elsewhere.

Any donations of raffle prizes can be handed in the shop for collection.

Fèis Bheag - ages 4 to 7 is nearly full.

Please get all application forms to Sheilah as soon as possible. Looking forward to seeing you all at the ceilidh.

Calling all residents aged 60+

The pensioners lunch club committee and Laura Tebay are in the process of arranging a high tea event for all Scourie & district residents aged 60 and over for a date in March to be held in The Anchorage Restaurant, Scourie.

If you are 60 or over, live in the Scourie & district area and would be interested in meeting up with others for a high tea, please contact Gina (502410), Lynn (502201) or Donna (502078) to register your interest.

Further details, including the date, will be published in the March edition of the Scourie News.

Village Hall Bookings

Just a reminder that Village Hall bookings are now made to Pete Tuck (502430, e-mail [email protected], or from the Scourie web site contact page). How clean is our village?

Please can anyone who uses the hall ensure that I am Now that the days are longer, lots of people are out informed when you use it. If your booking is not in the & about enjoying walks around our village, including Hall diary, you could be double booked. the primary school children who go out for their daily mile to improve fitness and concentration. However the amount of dog dirt that is left on the pavements & verge is quite a health & safety hazard. This was a problem in the village before, but became much less for a while. But sadly dog owners have become lax again about cleaning up after man’s best friend! Let’s get back into good habits of cleaning up after our pooches so that visitors to our We are open again! village have a pleasant experience not a smelly one!

Our Feb hours are 12 to 8pm. Booking preferred for evenings

At The Old School Restaurant and Rooms.

North West Community

Bus Association

Route 891 Route 890 Runs: 4th Thursday of every month Operates first & third Thursdays of each month to Dingwall Outbound Departure Kinlochbervie to Ullapool

Ceilidh House 8.15 Rhiconich 8.25 Ceilidh House KLB 09.00 Laxford Bridge 8.30 Rhiconich Hotel 09.10 Scourie Bus Stop 8.40 Laxford Bridge 09.15 Scourie Handa Terrace 8.43 Scourie Bus Stop 09.22 Kylesku Picnic Area 8.55 Inchnadamph 9.10 Scourie Handa Terrace 09.27 Ledmore Junction 9.18 Kylesku Picnic Area 09.40 Elphin 9.22 Inchnadamph 09.55 Strath Canard 9.38 Ledmore Junction 10.05 Ardmair 9.43 Elphin 10.10 Ullapool Arrive 9.50 Ullapool Depart 10.05 Knockan Crag arr 10.15 Leckmelm 10.10 Knockan Crag dep 10.20 Inverleal 10.15 Ardmair 10.35 Braemore Junction 10.29 Ullapool – Tesco 10.45 Aultguish Inn 10.32 Inchbae Lodge 10.38 Ullapool to Kinlochbervie Garve 10.43 Contin 10.50 Strathpeffer 10.56 Ullapool – Tesco 14.00 Fodderty 11.00 Ardmair 14.10 Dingwall 11.05 Knockan Crag arr 14.25 Knockan Crag dep 14.30 Dingwall to Kinlochbervie Elphin 14.35 Inbound Departure Ledmore Junction 14.42 Dingwall 14.45 Inchnadamph 14.51 Fodderty 15.00 Kylesku Picnic Area 15.05 Strathpeffer 15.04 Scourie Handa Terrace 15.18 Contin 15.10 Scourie Bus Stop 15.23 Garve 15.17 Inchbae Lodge 15.22 Laxford Bridge 15.32 Aultguish Inn 15.28 Rhiconich 15.37 Braemore Junction 15.40 Ceilidh House KLB 15.45 Inverleal 15.45 Leckmelm 15.50 Ullapool Arrive 15.55 To ensure a seat book through our Ullapool Depart 15.57 office tel:01971 521054 Ardmair 16.04 (10-12 Mon-Fri) Strath Canard 16.09 Elphin 16.25 Ledmore Junction 16.29 Inchnadamph 16.37 Kylesku Picnic Area 16.52 Scourie Handa Terrace 17.04 Scourie Bus Stop 17.07 Laxford Bridge 17.17 Rhiconich 17.22 Ceilidh House 17.32

January’s weather

On the 28th January, the day length increased to 8 hours. This is over an hour and a half longer than on the shortest day in December. The days are increasing by nearly 5 minutes now, and will be 9 hours on 10th Feb, and 10 hours on 22nd, and at the end of February it will be 10 and a half hours. Lochinver On 18th Jan, I posted a picture on Facebook of the first Friday 17th Daffodils and crocus. We now have snowdrops too. The Eagle Huntress January was drier than the average with only ¾ of the Certificate: U 17:30 average rain. Thankfully we haven’t suffered any major storms (although the plastic on the old poly tunnel ripped beyond repair, I was expecting this and have a Rogue One: A Star Wars Story replacement cover). Certificate: 12A 20:30

Temperatures have been slightly warmer than Saturday 18th average, and for 4 or 5 days hardly fluctuated from 7-8 deg C. Moana Rainfall 2017 2016 20 Year Certificate: PG 14:00 Average Total 108.3 mm 129.0 144.1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Highest 14.5 mm 22.5 Them Days without 9 days 12 Certificate: 12A 17:30 Temperature Ave Max 7.0 deg C 5.6 5.9 La La Land Highest 11.0 deg C 13.0 Ave Min 3.4 deg C 2.0 1.8 Certificate: 12A 20:30 Lowest -1.0 deg C -2.0 Sunshine Total 25.65 kW 23.81 Kinlochbervie Daily average 0.83 kW 0.77 0.5 Monday 20th Highest 3.13 kW 2.58 Pressure Moana Highest 1028 mb 1021 Certificate: PG 17:30 Average 1010 mb 992 991 Lowest 984 mb 965 La La Land Certificate: 12A 20:30

Pete Tuck Durness

Tuesday 21st

Moana Certificate: PG Duration: 113 mins 17:30

La La Land Certificate: 12A Duration: 128 mins 20:30

Connect Assynt Ltd FOR BOOKINGS Tel: 01571 844590 Or email: [email protected] February 2017 - Assynt Community Bus –

Scourie to Lochinver

Tues 7th and 21st February - £1-£5 return Connect Assynt is here to help any resident with transport issues whether permanent or temporary. Lochinver Harbour 8.45am We give priority to the following groups whether Scourie Shop 9.45am arrive they have their own transport or not, but we will Scourie Shop 10.00am depart transport you if space permits: Lochinver Harbour 11.00am arrive  Over 60s and wheelchair users We will return to Scourie after lunch at a time to suit  Those with a disability (attendant travels all passengers. free of charge)  Residents with no personal transport All times are approximate. We will pick up/drop off  Residents with other entitlement card along route as long as safe to do so. Please telephone/email to book your seat. Concession cards not valid as this is a trial route. PLEASE JOIN TWO REGULAR SCOURIE PASSENGERS IN SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY BUS SO WE CAN REGISTER THIS ROUTE AS A REGULAR BUS SERVICE FOR ALL! Scottish Charity SC045852 Company No 402621

Scourie News Complied & edited by Aileen MacDonald on behalf of Scourie & District Community Council The contents do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or SDCC. Paper & ink supplied by Reay Forest Estate To include an item please contact Aileen on 502371 or [email protected]