Snow days and new Torridon homes

Happy New Year and welcome to the first Wester Ross Round-up of 2026. We're kicking of the new year with a remarkable 1103 people on our mailing list. As ever, if you know someone who'd also find this useful, please forward it to them and encourage them to sign up too. The more local folk who get the email the more useful it becomes!

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🟡 2026 began with a surprisingly lengthy cold snap that has seen persistent snowfall throughout the Highlands, extensive disruption to travel and services, as well as school closures. We hope you have managed to stay warm, safe and well fed through it all. We've seen countless messages on social media thanking friends and neighbours for helping them get essential supplies, clear snow, and keep moving. If you'd like to share a thank you message in the next issue of the paper, you can submit it here. The deadline is 10am, this Friday.

🟡 The memorial service for Michelle Smith, who many of our readers may know from Aultbea Stores, is at 11am today January 8, in the Lochewe Community Church, Aultbea.

🟡 On account of poor travel conditions, SSEN decided to cancel two planned public consultation events in the area this week. The events were to outline plans for roadworks on the A832 near Dundonnell. More: SSEN

🟡 The Gairloch Highland Gathering AGM has been postponed because of the wintry weather until January 12, at 19:30 in the Gairloch Community Hall Annexe. If you can't make the AGM you can let the committee know your views on the future of the event by completing an online survey. Take the survey here.

🟡 The Recovery Function Band have won praise after they opted to donate their fee to the Aultbea Hall after the band played a Hogmanay gig there. This meant that the gig raised £2300 in total towards hall funds. More: Facebook.

🟡 The Communities Housing Trust have submitted a planning application for eight affordable homes in Torridon Village. You can see the details on the Highland Council Planning portal and add comments until January 20. More: Highland Council

🟡 Gairloch Museum are seeking planning permission to lay out a 4.5km "deep time" walking trail running from the Carn Dearg Youth Hostel to the museum. The trail will include 18 waymarkers representing different geological time periods and a new bench. More: Steven McKenzie | BBC

🟡 The Gairloch Museum also has four interesting talks lined up for the first quarter of the year already. From Sea Eagles to Botulism outbreaks at Loch Maree, there's likely something you might find interesting. More: Ticket Source

But if none of them float your boat, there's always the pub quiz at the Museum on January 23. More: Facebook

🟡 Ewebrew events have confirmed four events over the next couple of months. Details in the flyer below.

🟡 Two Lochs Yoga have announced they are now running weekly sessions at Aultbea Hall, Poolewe Hall, and The Shieling in Gairloch. More: Facebook

🟡 The Gairloch Angling Club are to hold their AGM at 19:00 on Tuesday February 24, in Gairloch Community Hall Annexe.

🟡 Music Mondays may be making a regular return to Poolewe Village Hall, but only if enough folk turn up to the inaugural event for 2026. Details in the flyer below.

🟡 Aultbea Community Hub have announced that a planned film screening set for January 10 is cancelled on account of a clash with renovation work at the venue. The Hub will be closed between January 8 and January 22. More: Facebook

🟡 The South West Ross Community Car Scheme is looking for new volunteers for 2026. More: Facebook

🟡 The North West Highlands Geopark are hiring an Education and Engagement Officer. More: North West Highlands Geopark

🟡 The Lynx to Scotland project is championing the reintroduction of Lynx to northern Scotland, where research suggests a population of about 250 of the animals could be supported. 2026 will see another phase of public consultation take place on the idea, with dozens of public meetings planned. The nearest ones to Wester Ross are probably the ones in Contin. More: Lynx to Scotland

🟡 Grants of up to £2000 are available for local community projects from the North Highland Initiative. More: NHI

🟡 There's also £5000 - £15,000 available for projects aiming to protect and restore nature in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. More: Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation

🟡 The Rough Guide has named the Scottish Highlands on a list of 26 places to visit in 2026. The Scottish Highlands came in at 22, after Namibia, but before Provence, France. More: Rough Guide

🟡 The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust are celebrating a record year for community marine mammal monitoring. Over 1,000 members of the public, or citizen scientists, reported 16 different species during nearly 14,000 encounters. More: HWDT

🟡 The National Trust for Scotland announced the discovery of seven rare species on its properties around Scotland in 2025, including Lesser Butterfly Orchids in Torridon. The charity said it highlights the need for ongoing conservation efforts. More: Lucinda Cameron | The Herald (£)

🟡 We asked followers of our Facebook page to share their snowy Wester Ross photos with us and got a huge response. We couldn't fit them all in to this post, so here's a selection below. You can see all of them here: Facebook.

In this gallery:

1/ Fynnley the Inverasdale Shetland Pony. Credit: Kirstie Dacker.
2/ Joanna Clarke's kids building an igloo. Credit: Joanna Clarke.
3/ Finlay McWhinney, New Years Day Dook at Dry Island, Badachro. Credit: Ian McWhinney
4/ Wilson, of Duisary 24 Strath looking after his pet calf Hettie. Credit: Hazel Dollol
5/ "Getting your ducks in a row" at Drumchork, Aultbea. Credit: Emma Hewes

We're also grateful to Mali Thomson for letting us share her photo of South Erradale at the top of this post.

And lastly, here's some lovely drone footage of a snow plough train on the Kyle Line, shot by George Finlayson. Watch on Instagram.