Past and Present

This is a photo of Claonairigh that we acquired a few years ago, we are not too sure of the date although we think one of the girls is a lady still living in Inveraray today placing it in the 1930's or 40's. This would be when the house was the home of Agnes and Duchy McColl who farmed the land for much of the early to mid 1900's.

After the McColls passed on the house was mainly uninhabited with only the loggers who were planting the former arable land with pine and larch staying in the house. They lived in the slowly deteriorating house and there is still some evidence of their occupation such as marks around a long gone dart board on one of our sitting room doors....maybe some local whisky affected their aim. A few years ago when one the men who had slept here visited with his Australian wife, he was convinced that the house would be a ruin and delighted us with tales of a grey lady ghost he had seen (maybe that whisky again) but sadly we have never seen so much as a wisp of her.

Above is how Claonairigh looked when we saw it in 1992 and fell in love....we really did and then the hard work began. A year later we were ready to start B and B and our young family started to arrive. 

This is Claonairigh today, we have had a very happy twenty one years here and look forward to many more.

Facebook

So now we are finally on Facebook and so there will be lots of updates etc and hopefully you can get onto it via the link to the right. Please do 'LIKE' the page and comment, request information, post photos and generally stay in touch! In setting up the page I have been going over old photos and finding interesting bit and bobs and do you know what? We live in a pretty special place!

Life for the Corners is trundling on towards the summer holidays, Freya is off to Norway on Saturday. We have know about this for ages but the departure day  seems to have have suddenly pounced and so frantic packing, and for some reason cookie baking is going on. The weather has been sublime most of the time recently and so the poly tunnel is rapidly escaping from any kind of order. The dogs are full of high spirits with the better days and a Rosie who is free from exams to play with. Toby is home and working at the George thereby combining earning a crust with socialising...perfect!!

Barnluasgan-Tayvaliich-Keills

A glorious day here on the West coast today..Freya and I just had to get out and about on the bikes. We drove to Barnlusgan and cycled the few miles to the gorgeous Tayvallich and then onwards to Keills right out of the westernmost point. Twenty one miles on a beautiful day with just enough breeze to keep cool and blow us back faster then the outward journey. The photos say it all really.

Running with the dogs and without.

An up to date picture of my running buddies requested by some guests at the weekend, a delightful conjoined German/ Australian family who were missing their own border collie half a world away. Holly is to the left in firm possession of the stick and Nancy is behind. They run with me frequently both on and off the lead...I really miss them if they can't come. The weekend was hectic, stressful and immensely enjoyable with the race I arrange each year up the Watch Tower Hill (Dun Na Cuiche) in Inveraray. 236m of climb (no dogs to pull me up!), some good banter and great competition at all levels of the race. This year we had a children's run too which was really rewarding. All the pictures can be seen here.

On dry land and all at sea.

Bed and breakfast land is starting to pick up again now with five folk staying last night, the day is gorgeous so no problem drying the sheets today. All guests were french, and all lovely, well, we don't get any other kind of guest. They chatted and laughed together over breakfast as if old friends. Running and cycling continues apace with the 5x50 challenge ( run, walk, cycle, row etc 5k/ day for 50 days). Freya and I braved the still ( always?) chill water of Loch Fyne clad in wet suits and every accessory we could to try to keep the cold at bay. A shame there isn't a full face mask too....the cold whisks your breath from you leaving you gasping and shocked which isn't conducive to swimming smoothly or, in our case at all. A little ungainly doggy paddle was managed over a huge distance...say...20 yards or so? In fairness we had done a 10k cycle too to take up the slack. Incubated eggs have hatched and ducklings emerged to the big world squeaking and surprisingly robust. Chicken eggs replaced them in the heater and so hopefully chicks should follow too.

Barefoot running, buzzards and beautiful Argyll

The first guests are coming drifting back to the beauty of Argyll which brings a big cheer from us. Not only that but Ray who was here on Friday night took these fantastic photos. The bird is a buzzard wheeling around about 200m from the house and the others...well, I am sure that they don't need too much introduction. Weekend of sporty things with a wee run up Dun na Cuiche for me on Saturday, this was only an 8k or so run but an elevation of 236m in between 2-6k which is fun! The view however is stupendous especially when enjoyed with my pals. On the way back we had a little barefoot run around the shinty pitch....well, why not?! Today was the Crinan Puffer race which five of our local running group entered and all ran amazingly. I was a marshal person today due to my ( healing....yes!!) torn knee ligaments and despite feeling a deep green envy did enjoy shouting and encouraging them along. The elite runners passed me by aloof and un-aknowledging of my whooo hoos and clapping hands but the later runners increasingly responded and smiled back! There is a ratio here...lets call it the  elite/smiley principal which means that the speed of runner is inversely proportional to the amount of smiley-ness when approaching the end of a race. I love the running community! Toby was seventh over all which predictably he was not so pleased with but he did beat all his old adversaries....so result!!

50x5 challenge

Freya and I are on day five of the 50x5 challenge together, it is so nice to do it alongside her and we are getting a few good cycles in whilst the weather is still so good. We have been along the main road to the Dubh Loch at the head of Loch Fyne but by far the best was driving the twenty minutes to Loch Awe yesterday, parking and cycling along the glorious Loch Awe. The weather was perfect and traffic very sparse. we are more or less equal at cycling, when my knees and neck hold up and so it is a pleasure to tootle along together. we are of the same opinion regarding frequent stops to take photos and have a drink.We did a leisurely seven miles before turing and retracing our steps to collect Toby from work. Todays 5k will be on our own  two feet at jogscotland....