Yesterday actor Timothy Spall and his wife Shane visited Loch Ness and today they have been filming on the loch as part of their adventures for 'Spalls At Sea', a documentary about life aboard their 50 foot Barge as they travel around the coast of Britain.
Loch Ness RNLI Lifeboat supported the event. Tim and Shane are great supporters of the RNLI and have been calling in at RNLI stations and meeting the volunteers as they travel.
Loch Ness has been a very much anticipated highlight for the duo and they plan to be in the area for the Glen Urquhart Games and Gathering on Saturday.
However, being of a certain age, I will forever associate Tim with the character Barry in the 1980's TV series Auf Wiedersehen Pet!

So there I was on Sunday stuck up a ladder again hanging on with one hand and painting with the other, when this very large wasp comes buzzing by my head. I thought it had dissappeared until Fiona shouts up 'There is a big wasp thing on your back'. At this point I decided to descend, but I need not have worried because it was a wood wasp (or Horntail as they are also known). We get quite a number around here at Evergreen and although they look ferocious they are infact harmless and do not sting. Up to 4cm long the female wood wasps lay their eggs in trees. The larvae bore into the wood and live in the tree for up to 3 years. Here is a photo of one that Fiona took some time ago

An article in the Sunday Times magasine today on Jimmy Page of Led Zepellin fame mentioned the time in the early 1970's when he owned Boleskine House, which is situated one mile along the road from Evergreen. For those unaware, Boleskine House is one of the most infamous houses in Scotland on account of the fact that it was owned by Aleister Crowley, the self proclaimed 'most wicked man in the world' for 15 years at the turn of last century. It was this that attracted Page to buy the house. A few years ago I was invited up for coffee in the house by the present owners. Interesting place to say the least and I don't care what anyone says, when I walked in to the room where Crowley would carry out his 'magick' rituals, it really did makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!!

I have to admit that the other morning it felt a bit like autumn here at Evergreen. The outside temperature at 8am was only 6C and combined with overnight rain it really felt like a bit later in the year. But today... lovely sunshine and strong winds, and when the wind blows Loch Ness looks more like the sea than a loch with lots of 'white horses'. Perhaps not the weather for canoeing but it looks fantastic. In winter of course we get much stronger winds than today. Here are two photos from taken a while back. I think I have posted them before but they really give a good idea I think of how powerful the winds can be on Loch Ness

It has been a long busy summer, but this weekend past I took the opportunity to go away with a friend on a 'wilderness challenge'-two days of running and walking in an area of the Highlands which is without doubt, the 'last great wilderness in the UK. The area is the mass of mountains and lochs that form the north west tip of Scotland. We based ourselves at a bothy,( appropriately known as the Lone Bothy). On the first day we did a long run 30km run deep in to the wilderness round the back of of a mountain called Meall Horn. It was a hot day and by the end of it I was pretty tired but thanks to the wonders of 'recovery drinks' now available, I was sufficently rested to do Foinaven yesterday. Foinaven is one of Scotlands most specatcular mountains and the ridge walk arguably the finest in the UK, and we spent another wonderful day traversing the ridge.
So, two great days in the wildest area of the country and yet only 3hours drive from us here at Evergreen... Here are three photos. The first is looking out towards the coast from Foinaven. The second, me on Foinaven and the third our home for two nights!

Great news that a Loch Ness landmark, the Bona Lighthouse, is finally to be restored. Over £450,000 is to be spent on the restoration over the next two years by primarily British Waterways who own the building, and The Vivat Trust, an organisation which repair and convert old and unusual buildings in to holiday homes.
The lighthouse stands at the north end of the loch where it meets the Caledonian Canal and was built (along with the canal) by Thomas Telford, one of the greatest civil engineers of the 19th century.
Not many people know though that 200 yards east of Bona Lighthouse are the remains of Bona Castle. It is also known as Castle Spioradain. Spioradain comes from the Gaelic for 'spirits'. It is said that the castle was haunted by the ghosts of some Cameron hostages who were murdered there. It is also said that the trees growing in the ruins, rubbing together, made strange, ghostly noises which could account for the castle's name!!!

So there we were last night sitting down after another hard day's work at 10pm when who should appear on our decking once more but our pinemarten ( well perhaps it's actually a different one from the last one, who knows!). He /she strolls right up to the patio window, takes a look through and proceeds to do some serious scenting around the decking. By this point Coco the cat has wakened up and is bolt upright against the window making funny noises! After a few more minutes though our pinemarten seemed to get bored and slunk off in to the woods again. Fiona managed to get a photo but not a good one so here is one taken on a previous visit...

Perhaps not for everyone, but I thought I would draw attention to the 7th Inverness Book Festival which takes place between the 12th and 15th August at Eden Court and has some great local and national authors lined up. Amongst the authors is Andrew Greig who I rate one of Scotland's finest living authors. His most recent work is called 'At the Loch of the Green Corrie'. Andrew Greig was asked by his friend, the great scottish poet Norman MacCaig, shortly before his death 1996 to fish on his behalf in his favourite place on earth, the Loch of the Green Corrie in Assynt, Sutherland. ‘If you succeed, I shall be delighted. If you fail, then looking down from a place in which I do not believe, I shall be most amused.’ That trip developed into the book, a story of friendship, fishing, memoir, love, loss, Scotland and whisky.
But Greig is only one of many appearing. Check out the website www.invernessbookfestival.co.uk for more details