Years of A832 roadworks, Ullapool bench mystery

Hello and welcome once again to another edition of the Wester Ross Round-up. In this newsletter we try to summarise all the useful local news you need to know, and ignore the click bait and the ads. This week, 1057 of you will receive the newsletter. If this is your first time, welcome on board!

And if you've only just come across this newsletter and you'd like to get it every week, tap the button below to subscribe. It's free!

🚦 The ongoing saga over the SSEN A832 roadworks continues... After being forced back to the drawing board when their first proposals were roundly rejected by locals as unworkable, the outline of a new plan has been revealed this week by the power firm. The good news? There will be no daytime road closures. The bad news? It looks like roadworks will affect the route for three years from next January. There are two public meetings coming up where you can grill officials on the plans. More: SSEN

🚆 Meanwhile, from Sunday, October 19, until Monday, November 10, Scotrail engineers will be upgrading around 4.5 miles of track between Achnashellach and Strathcarron. This means no trains will run between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh from October 20 for the three-week period. More: ScotRail

🤷‍♂️ Ullapool’s public benches and tables have been replaced to much positive feedback, but three new benches have mysteriously gone missing before they could be installed. Do you know what might have happened? More: Iona M.J. MacDonald | Ross-Shire Journal (£)

❓It's not too late to share your ideas with the Wester Loch Ewe Trust about their proposed land purchase in Poolewe. The second of two consultation meetings is due to take place today between 15:00 and 19:00 at the Old Schoolhouse, Inverasdale. More: Facebook

👣 On Saturday October 18, the NTS Torridon rangers are organising a guided walk to the Beinn Dearg Shielings through Coire Mhic Noibil. Email them on [email protected] or call 01445 791368 for more info. It's £30 per person.

🎥 At The Loch Torridon Centre they're showing Restless Natives at 7pm on Saturday October 25. More: Loch Torridon Centre

🎆 Aultbea Community Hub will be holding an indoor firework display on Thursday 6th November. Fireworks, hot dogs, burgers and various soft drinks will be on offer. Doors open 6pm. More: Facebook

⭐ Dark Skies Festival events are starting to twinkle gently into view. On November 2, at 7pm at the Old Schoolhouse, Inverasdale, you are invited to go on a "fascinating journey through art and astronomy." Details in the flyer below.

🍲 Meanwhile the folk at North Roast are plotting a "soup and stars" event at the Glen Docherty view point. Date still to be confirmed. They're looking for "a storyteller to join us and share tales that will light up the night as much as the stars above." Want to get involved? More: Facebook

🍄 Have you noticed lots of mushrooms popping up? Highlife Highland Rangers are organising an online talk about waxcaps and grassland fungi on November 6. More: Eventbrite

💃 On Saturday November 8, a ceilidh is planned at Lochcarron to celebrate 50 years since the opening of the Kishorn Dry Dock, port and yard. Funds raised will be donated to the Lochcarron Centre. More in the flyer below:

🐑 A scottish designer is inviting people to sign-up for a creative project called Knitting Wester Ross, which involves... knitting... and more besides. More: KDD&Co

🚚 Highland Council are advertising for a community works officer based in Ullapool or Gairloch. You need an LGV licence though. More: MyJobScotland

🦫 The Scottish Wildlife Trust are hiring for two new posts at the Inverbroom Estate. They're looking for an Ecologist and a Natural Heritage Officer.

🚚 It seems the The Co-op are planning to offer a home delivery service from their new Gairloch store, as they are now hiring a part-time delivery driver. More: Co-op.

☕ Fancy running your own coffee takeaway business? Now that Coffee and Bakes have closed in Poolewe, their van is for sale. More: Facebook

🚌 Young athletes that live in the Ullapool High School catchment area are being encouraged to apply for the first round of Rural Athlete Support Network Travel Grants. More: Facebook.

🚜 The Loans for Enlightened Agriculture Programme from the Real Farming Trust is open. It supports small scale farming businesses that "aim to produce good food for their local communities," with funding and mentoring. Expressions of interest must be in by October 28. More: Real Farming Trust

🐑 Farm Advisory Scotland are also offering crofters up to 4 days of fully funded mentoring to help new crofters plan for the next season. More: FAS

🐟 When Storm Amy hit the Scottish Highlands in early October, it tore through a salmon farm’s sea pens, releasing around 75,000 fish into open water in Loch Linnhe. An expert has explained why this could be more than just a short-term local problem. More: The Conversation

💷 Following the Lloyds Banking Group decision to close the Bank of Scotland Branch in Gairloch Maree Todd MSP is pushing the firm to provide a community banking service, or even a shared banking hub in Gairloch. She's posted a strongly worded letter on Facebook here.

🚗 MP Jamie Stone has raised concerns about a significant backlog of practical driving tests in the Highlands, urging the UK government to provide targeted support for rural test centres as young people and job seekers face delays that could extend to 2026. More: David Scott | Ross-shire Journal (£)

📮 News that Royal Mail has been fined £21m by Ofcom for failing to meet its delivery targets will come as no surprise to many Wester Ross locals. It may be the third largest fine ever issued by the regulator, but Citizens Advice is sceptical it will lead to improvements. More: BBC

🏡 Highland MSP Ariane Burgess is urging Highland Council to implement stronger rent controls and tenant protections following new legislation that allows local authorities to limit rent increases. More: Federica Stefani | Inverness Courier (£)

📱If you use a very old mobile phone that only operates on 3G, you may find that it stops being able to access mobile data soon. Virgin Mobile 02 have warned Scottish customers that they plan to turn off their 3G network in November. This could also affect you if you use the Tesco Mobile or giffgaff networks. If you have a phone that can use 4G or 5G networks you won't be affected. More: Virgin Mobile 02

📸 Thanks to Mavis Covet for getting up above the clouds this week and letting us share their amazing photo at the start of this post that was taken from the top of An Teallach. Thanks also to Ann and Kevin Ruck who sent us this photo, taken on October 15, of a very still Loch Ewe. Ann said: "Loch Ewe is so still you can't see where the loch ends and the sky starts. Sgeir an Araig appears to be floating!"

👯 And lastly, Zumba might be off this week, but Janis and Anji Burke have recorded a full 45 minute class and posted it to YouTube, so you can try this one at home!