Snow chaos and a rogue fish farm pipe rescue

👋🏻 Hello and welcome to this week's Wester Ross Round-up newsletter. This week 664 people are on the list. If you're new here - hi! If you are reading this because you've been forwarded it by someone else and would like to get it yourself, you can sign-up by clicking the button below.

🌨️ Winter has certainly arrived. The snow caused a fair bit of disruption. From vehicles sliding off the road all over the places to temporary blockages on Glen Docherty, getting around has not always been easy this week. People reported 16cm of snow in Achnasheen, and 15cm of snow at Lochcarron. Schools were disrupted, Poolewe swimming pool closed, events postponed or cancelled and Wester Ross radio was even off-air for a wee while.

🌀 More weather-related disruption is forecast this weekend as the second "named storm," of the year, Storm Bert, looms on the horizon. Various weather warnings are already in place.

Of course, if you didn't need to go anywhere, and you could stay warm, Wester Ross looked stunning. Lots of readers shared their local snow photos on our Facebook page. Thanks to Rene Schoen, Kate Larsen-Dawe and Chloe Hall who were among the people who gave us permission to share their snaps here.

The good news is that some events have not been completely cancelled. The Torridon Christmas Market has been rescheduled to November 28.

🚐 Whilst we're in that neck of the woods the South West Ross Community Car Scheme have announced they have a nine-seater vehicle based at the Torridon Community Centre available to help people access "cultural, educational or sporting events," in return for a reasonable financial contribution. More info here.

🚲 Julia MacKenzie hopes to raise £1000 for the Gairloch Community Hall by cycling the Etape Lochness race. You can pitch in to her crowdfunder here.

🃏 In Kinlochewe they're raising money for the village hall there by organising a Whist Drive on November 27.

🛍️ Local GAMS group have so many seniors interested in a pre-Christmas outing to Inverness they are having to run two different trips. They're looking for donations to support the days out.

🇫🇷 At the UHI Gairloch Learning Centre they are trying to gauge interest in a six-week French language course, probably starting in January. Interested? Oui? Click here to email them to let them know.

🍛 The Badachro Inn are planning a curry night November 28. If you book in advance you they'll also do take-away. You can find the Menu here.

⚓ The Highland Coastguard are looking for fresh volunteer recruits in Gairloch and Applecross, among other places. More information here.

🐟 The Ullapool Sea Savers have published a YouTube video showing how they bought ashore 110m of pipe that had washed up in Summer Iles MPA from a fish farm. The group is calling for tougher rules to force fish farm firms to clear up their detritus.

🐋 And whilst we're on the topic of marine pollution, the High Life Highland Rangers tell the sad tale of the West Coast Orca Population in their latest Substack post. On Thursday November 28 The Rangers are putting on a whale-related online event that will give an "introduction to the Marine Mammals found along the North Coast of Scotland and how to find them." Register here.

🎻 Scottish Gaelic arts organisation, Fèisean nan Gàidheal has announced it is a partner in a 4million Euro tech project "that will unite communities through music, transcending geographical boundaries and fostering collaboration in creative spaces."

🔨 Highland Council are planning to launch a "trusted trader" scheme to help people avoid scammers and promote "vetted" local firms. Officials are looking for local businesses to pay £240 a year to be part of the project.

🚫 And lastly, Fodor, a global travel guide, put the NC500 on it's "no travel" list on account of "downright disgusting" over-tourism. Was it right to do that? Let us know in the comments?

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