A record breaking run and new roundhouse images

Hello and welcome once again to a new Wester Ross Round-up. This week the newsletter is landing in 951 inboxes. Each week we try to cut through the online noise to highlight the useful news you need to know from the area. And every week hundreds of readers click links on the stories we share in this newsletter.

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👟 First up, congratulations to Leacnasaide resident Siobhan Killingbeck. This July she set a supported Fastest Known Time for an endurance challenge in the north-west Highlands known as the Martin Moran Round. She is also the first female to complete the route. Siobhan, 35, completed the round of nine Munros and eight Corbetts in 20 hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds. Siobhan is also raising money for the Martin Moran Trust, and you can donate here. Read more about Siobhan's remarkable achievement: Fiona Russel | Fiona Outdoors.

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🎻 The 2025 Fèis Rois Cèilidh Trail has begun, bringing together some of the nation’s most talented young traditional musicians for a summer of music, song and dance. Two local musicians are among those taking part. They are Anndra Cumming from Laide and Isaac Baptist from Gairloch.

Although they've already played some local dates, you can still catch them at these places in Wester Ross over the coming days:

• Tuesday 29^th July – The Torridon
• Wednesday 30^th July – Inverewe Garden
• Wednesday 30^th July – Macphail Theatre, Ullapool
• Friday 8^th August – Gille Brighde, Diabaig
• Friday 8^th August – Applecross Hall

More: Fèis Rois

💃 And in more local music news, The Loch Torridon Community Centre have announced they are hosting the Robert Nairn Ceilidh Band on Saturday August 2. Details in the flyer below.

🦦 On the same day, the next North West Mammal Network walk is set to take place at Mellon Udrigle. Organisers have promised the event will end in good time so that people can get to the Aultbea Flotilla in the afternoon. More: Facebook.

⛵ Also leaving from Aultbea pier on the Saturday August 2, local outdoor learning charity Slattadale have teamed up with Tanera to give people the chance to sail Loch Ewe in one of their historic luggers. Reserve a spot on Eventbrite.

🚣 And sticking with seaborne derring do, the organisers of the Shieldaig Raft Race, which takes place as part of the Shieldaig Fete this weekend on Saturday 26, have announced that it will begin at 4pm, and not 5pm as previously advertised. More: Facebook.

🏁 On August 7, Gairloch Active Schools are planning a Gairloch Highland Games event for primary school age children. They still need a few more people to sign-up for the event to go ahead. To find out more and book, search the High Life Highland website for event code: SOS002986. More: High Life Highland

🎨 The next exhibition at Inverewe Gardens opens on August 9, with a launch party from 13:00 - 15:00 on the day. More details in the flyer below.

🏘️ There are plans afoot for affordable, community-led homes, at Darroch Park in Torridon. A community consultation event on the proposals is planned for Wednesday July 30 between 17:00 and 19:00 at Torridon Community Hall. More: Facebook.

🛖 Gairloch Museum have released more details of their proposed roundhouse project. You can see some mock-up images showing where the roundhouse is likely to be sited and what it might look like below. There's a video explaining more here: YouTube

🐏 The Scottish Crofting Federation have announced a new series of training sessions. Some are online, and some are in-person. There's a "Crofting for the Future" in-person course planned at Ullapool on October 31 – November 1. More details of all the courses and how to book: Scottish Crofting Federation.

🐄 There is a new strain of Blue Tongue that is affecting animals in the UK. If you keep livestock, you can find out more about it from an expert here: The Conversation

💷 If you attended Ullapool High School and plan to further your education in aquaculture, sustainable lifestyle, environmental studies, or STEM subjects (or know someone who is) then you might be interested in the Wester Ross Salmon Education Fund. More: Wester Ross Salmon

🌼 Locals and visitors alike are invited to take a short guided "walk and talk" around some of the 92 acres of peat bog and woodland that are the focus of the Bac-Dubh re-wilding project near Poolewe. The walks take place every Wednesday at 11am. More: Bac-Dubh

💷 Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team are among the latest beneficiaries of the The Loch Broom and Ullapool Community Trust community benefit fund. More: LUCT

🚁 A Wester Ross climber was rescued by the Torridon Mountain Rescue Team after suffering multiple severe injuries from a fall near Bealach na Bà, with assistance from the coastguard helicopters. More: Iona J. MacDonald | Ross-shire Journal (£)

🚗 Applecross Community Council has broadly welcomed the completion of work to resurface the Bealach na Bà but have warned road users to watch out for "quite significant drops along the edge in a number of places," as a result of the work. Some cars have already required towing out when they've come off the road. More: Facebook.

🫂 In Gairloch, GALE are hosting a training session run by Highland Hospice on Last Aid Care on November 14. Organisers explain: "Last Aid aims to create awareness and discussion on topics related to death and dying. The instructors will aim to give practical tips on how you can provide comfort to someone who is dying, and what you can do to plan for your own and your family’s future." More: GALE.

🙋 The Scottish Drugs Forum are looking for Peer Research Volunteers across Highland. If you have lived or living experience of drug use and want to use that to help improve services, they’d love to hear from you. They are especially keen to reach those in more rural or remote parts of Highland who might not usually hear about this kind of opportunity. More: Facebook.

📵 Problems with 4G data in the Gairloch area continue to frustrate locals after a shared mast managed by O2 developed a fault that seems to mainly affect Vodafone customers. Two weeks ago Vodafone apologised and told us the problem was fixed, but it turns out that it wasn't, so we contacted both firms for an update. Neither could confirm when the problem will be resolved.

An O2 spokesperson said: “We apologise to customers in the Gairloch area who may be experiencing intermittent issues with their services. Our engineers are aware of the problem and working as quickly as possible to fully restore customers’ services.”

“We recommend customers ensure they have Wi-Fi calling enabled on their device as it will allow them to make and receive calls and text messages whilst connected to a broadband network.”

A Vodafone Three spokesperson said: "We’re sorry to our customers who are affected by issues with their services. Our infrastructure partner is aware of the network issues in the Gairloch area and is working hard to restore services. We encourage our customers to sign up to Network Checker to receive status updates regarding network issues.”

Vodafone said that requests for compensation will be "evaluated on a case by case basis."

🌧️ And finally... It's been a bit wet recently hasn't it? This has caused all sorts of disruption on local transport routes this week. Here's a video shared by Network Rail of flooding at Achanalt Station.