Here Comes Summer

Early March and the signs of warmer and busier days to come are slowly, some days very slowly, presenting themselves. The winds are still blowing and sometimes making standing a difficult task in itself. But that thermometer on grannies old barometer is inching or should I say millimetering its way upwards. And March is ending with a warm flurry.

Other signs are there too, foreign (overseas) number plates more than occassionally glide past. Eilan Donan that perenial historic attraction on the shores of Loch Duich is open already. Pub and cafe prices are going up bit by bit as the days inch closer to Easter. Also those ubiquitous modern Highland animals are coming out of their three months of hibernation to start filling the main and sometimes back roads, they are of course the motor home and camper van. In the last 10 years they've been joined by an ever increasing number of two wheeled animals as a plethora of Japanese, German, English sometimes motorbikes whizz around the few roads north and west of Inverness, particularly along that recently created phenomenon the North Coast 500. The motorbike has been with us for a long time but in its modern incarnation it seems to have replaced the bus or coach as number one pick for a jolly boys holiday, so much so that the remoter hotels are targeting these groups with special offers and special accommodation.

Other things like seasonal ferries will begin to start up. The most historic of these the Glenelg to Skye ferry across the narrows at Kyle Rhea is due to open on April 1st. This more than anything brings the motorbike's buzzing over Britains highest pass Bealach na Mam Ratagan in long snaking lines sometimes 30 or 40 in number cruising down the only just adequate single track road and then navigating the even narrower single track road on the other side once onto Skye. Meadering their way to the attractions of Broadford and Sleat peninsula or further up to Portree, Uig all points far west and even over to the outer Isles. Skye is a beautiful place, but it is also a living, working landscape nd as a such vulnerable to large influxes which alter the annual rythm of life.

Don't get me wrong Scotland needs tourism and as we inch towards independence it will become an even more needed source of revenue, foreign currency in particular. But sometimes the more fragile areas are pushed to beyond their limits. For example in the height of summer on Applecross at the top of Bealach Na Ba the area is so full that parking even on verges is an impossibility after 10.00 a.m. in the morning. There are times when the police have to turn people away from the Isle of Skye unless they have business there, live there or have a place booked because overcrowding causes so many problems not the least of it is that the sewage system can't cope with such a massive influx, if thats what you call it.

Maybe as a recent incomer, switching sides so to speak, I'm not sure if I have the right or at least the freedom to comment on events about to unfold. But as the days grow ever longer so will island ferry queue's while exponentially accommodation will shrink. And as the European nationals leave for all things EU the seasonal workforce becomes more inadequate putting businesses at risk because of lack of staff. But all is not lost, maybe, because as the war in Ukraine continues and exacerbate the already high fuel prices thanks to Brexit, people might not be able to afford to came.