Ardnamurchan Pet and House Sitting

26/08/2024

Yesterday was like the middle of winter, rain like you’ve never seen, all blooming day, freezing cold as well, so we had an at home day. Won’t be doing that in a hurry again, as the poochies were extremely hyper and were bouncing all over the shop. I lit the fire and spent the time listening to the wireless, playing games and reading and eating crap.

So you can imagine my surprise when this morning at 6.30 I discovered It wasn’t raining and noticed it was forecast to be dry for the whole day🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 so I’ve been a busy person, put a load of washing out and it’s back in the cupboard, took the poochies for a 5 mile walk, did the hovering, cleaned the fire out and then walked to the coop and got some Pringles to celebrate the fact it was dry. You see, I LOVE when it’s cloudy with sunny intervals, or even brilliant sunshine. Unfortunately my joy won’t last long as it’s to rain tomorrow….. anyway, here’s some photos

24/08/2024

Today we managed a quick walk between some pretty hefty showers. Went back to Ardmore and tried a different route with some pretty spectacular views of Tobermory Bay and surroundings. Looks like they’ve had similar outbursts of rain over in Kilchoan as well…then went to Tob to get some cash..couldn’t remember my pin no…AGAIN… been here now for a week and am still having a ball..dogs and cats are settled into a routine and I’m actually remembering to water the plants in the house, and there are several 🤣

23/08/2024

Two days in a row that I didn’t get soaked! It was threatening downpours but only splashes of rain here and there. Took the dogs back to Ardmore and went on a different route which ended up as a dead end. Walked 4 miles and the boys are absolutely pooped!

22/08/2024

Well I’m shocked! Got a two and a half hour walk in with the dogs and did NOT get wet🤣🤣🤣🤣 first dry walk since Saturday! Anyway went on that forestry commission walk just outside Tobermory and it was lovely..dogs enjoyed it as well as there was only one other person there so they (dogs) could have crazy time.

21/08/2024

Another sunny day in paradise. Took my furry friends for a walk and got thoroughly soaked again, that waterfall was just a trickle on Sunday, so goodness only knows what it’s like now after all that rain. Only stayed out for an hour or so and spent the day doing odd jobs like giving Riley a really good grooming, watering the plants, hoovering… you get the picture.

20/08/2024

As it looked a bit more promising outside than yesterday, decided to take the poochies to the track down to Glengorm as Karina had said it’s a lovely walk with little or no traffic on the road and you can walk for ever…set off in glorious sunshine, but after an hour or so, it started raining…nothing like yesterday, so my coat and boots got dry. I think I walked 6 miles and it was really pretty. Waved to Kilchoan and then walked back to the car and got to about 400 yards from where it was parked and the heavens opened, needless to say it was a real downpour and so by the time I’d got the dogs in the car and driven home, my coat was absolutely wringing wet, so it’s as wet as it was yesterday. Ho hum….anyway, here’s a selection of photos.

20/08/2024

Am loving this “beautiful” weather we are currently being blessed with! Just feel for the hundreds of people who are up here on their jollies. Yesterday I took my new furry friends on a walk to Aros Park…ha ha ha, should have worn a snorkel and flippers. Wet was an understatement, gave up after an hour. As I was in the town, decided to fill up with petrol, but it only let me have £20 worth…anyway, I then decided to do my weekly shop at the coop. Having had the items run through the till and put my shopping in my cool bag, I got my card out to pay and it declined it x 2…. By which time there were at least 5 other people waiting….kind wifey kept hold of my shopping whilst I raced back to the house, took the dogs in and got another card and paid the bill…talk about being stressed! One cat went missing for the night but was sitting on the doorstep at 6.30 when I let the dogs out. Later on I decided to make a chicken pie, inspired by James Martin’s cookery programme on Saturday. Sort of Followed the recipe as I couldn’t find a big enough pan to boil a whole chicken, so used drumsticks instead. They were gently cooking away and there was a delicious aroma of chicken. I’d been on the phone with a friend for almost an hour and went into the kitchen and there was a lake of chicken stock on the floor. Pooches thought it was Christmas 🤣 I’m beginning to wonder if I’m fit to be let loose 🤣🤣🤣. When Karina left, she gave me watering instructions, including a greenhouse, so when I got up at 6 this morning, I kid you not, THE SUN WAS SHINING!!! So I thought I’d go and photograph her garden whilst it was dry, and check stuff in the greenhouse wasn’t dry..so here’s some images of the last day or so

18/08/2024

Had a brilliant meal last night with a few glasses of wine and didn't get to bed until gone midnight as the craic was so good. Woke at 6 this morning, which for me is brilliant. Mooched around until Karina and Graham departed and then took the poochies for walkies. The first two images were taken earlier and the rest were from the walk. One cat has not let me take her photo, but the others obliged. Good walk was had by all.

02/08/2024

Have you heard an alarm call from red deer? I certainly have and it didn’t half make me jump. Took my furry friend back to the “top of the world” as it’s going to be a while before I return. On the way up there, she tried to catch some deer and failed abysmally 🤣 and that’s when I heard them bark…very loudly…. Timed the walk to perfection, as twenty minutes later the heavens opened. Think it’s going to be a showery type of day so am glad we got a 4 mile walk in.
Time to pack my bags and think about my next job, which I’m also really looking forward to.

Here’s some from today, the last one was nearing sunset last night and the rest are from on top of the world.

31/07/2024

Hello from the top of the world (much earlier this morning) after a lovely walk with the dog, took myself down to the beach with the idea of going for a dook…too cold so returned home. Let the dog out and on hearing children shriek, she scarpered down to the beach and I found her digging holes in the sand with a toddler….anyway, I’m still loving it here and will be sad to leave on Friday afternoon.

30/07/2024

Plans of a beach day were well and truly scuppered today. Took the pooch along a rather pretty forestry track and timed it to perfection as when we got back, it was doing that drizzly stuff and it was cold. Just did the same walk as this morning but the other way round. Loving the peace and quiet….

29/07/2024

See this Scottish weather? It’s that really wet drizzly stuff, took the pooch to the beach and got drenched…. Yet at 3 this afternoon the sky was really black. Oh well that’s us all settled…

29/07/2024

I’m at my new job today…think you will agree it’s rather remote and very beautiful…so quiet, though I. The background you can hear the men in the forest. It’s been really warm in spite of the black clouds…

27/07/2024

Today I went and met some new pets, one of whom I met years ago. For a change it wasn’t raining and here’s a taster of where I’m going for several days next weeek. I got to the gate and it was locked. No key and no idea of the combination..thought an impolite version of “oh dear” as you do. Phoned 2 people who might have had the combo, no reply, so parked up and thought to myself there might be somebody at the holiday lets so walked a total of 1,3 miles each way down the track to a cottage where a lady I know was working. Having explained the situation (me needing to get through the gate for my appointment) she kindly lent me her key. I know I’m famous for walking miles, but had no water or anything edible with me, so I was unprepared and rather hot..eventually got to where I wanted an hour and a bit late after going up the wrong track. Fortunately I didn’t get stuck as some walkers advised me to reverse and go back as my poor wee car would have conked out. it appears that this gate thing is following me about, hopefully when I get the right number it will be a thing of the past….

21/07/2024

21/07/2024

Bye bye till the next time 🤪

21/07/2024

Back to the beach…😍

21/07/2024

Some from today…the flower is a blue weed..very pretty.

19/07/2024

That’s my boy 😍

19/07/2024

Here’s my pal coming out of the water..he really loves going to the beach and have a job on when it’s time to go home 🤣

19/07/2024

Good morning from a sunny and breezy Mull. After yesterdays appalling weather, me and my 3 legged friend went to the beach.

19/07/2024

Just to let you know I’m fully booked now until 27th November, which is brilliant news. If you are looking for me to house/pet sit in December or any time in 2025, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Should you like me to just walk your dog I am charging £10.00 per hour, plus the petrol to and from Kilchoan.

I also run a pet and house sitting service which I charge £30.00 per day for up to 2 dogs and or cats, plus the fuel at 35p per mile to and from Kilchoan and if you are on Mull, the ferry crossings will be included as well. If you have more pets and chickens etc, please do not hesitate to contact me on Messenger and we can come to some amicable arrangement.

Thank you for reading this and hope to hear from you soon
Wendy MacFadyen

07/07/2024

Parrots plotting their next prank

27/06/2024

The summer holidays are upon us…where did the time go? One of my clients for July has cancelled, so now I am available to take bookings for pet and housesitting for the beginning of July until 17th, and from 24th July until 17th August.

Should you like me to just walk your dog I am charging £10.00 per hour, plus the petrol to and from Kilchoan.

I also run a pet and house sitting service which I charge £30.00 per day for up to 2 dogs and or cats, plus the fuel at 35p per mile to and from Kilchoan and if you are on Mull, the ferry crossings will be included as well. If you have more pets and chickens etc, please do not hesitate to contact me on Messenger and we can come to some amicable arrangement.

Thank you for reading this and hope to hear from you soon
Wendy MacFadyen

Thank you.
Wendy MacFadyen

21/06/2024

Good afternoon

I’m currently looking after the most lovely dog for the day. Decided to go for a walk down to Kentra, but think she had other ideas and kept on sitting down, so we were only out for just over an hour…she’s now fast asleep on her comfy chair…. She’s a wee darling 😍

17/06/2024

Hello! I was a bit early yesterday so I decided to stop off on the old road where we used to let Sleet out for a run after a trip to Oban, happy memories and a lovely photo.

What a super day I’ve had today! Woke at 5, Heather and I took the dog a walk, came back to the house and then went to the local tip, which is brilliant - you can even leave electrical goods, including fridges, freezers, ovens and old computers etc..what a really friendly and helpful bunch of people they were…pity it’s not closer to home.

As the tip is on the main road to Lochgilphead, Heather drove down to Glen Lonan which is the most beautiful place I’ve been to in a long time. It was so peaceful and absolutely brimming with history both ancient and more recent.

The Glen has several different habitats including oak woods, temperate rainforests -which are just amazing and quite rare, marshes, rivers, streams, pastures and hills. Probably is why I find this place so magical.

Heather told me the Glen was used as an ancient burial route for kings en route to their final resting place on Iona which is their spiritual heartland…some of that spirituality definitely rubs off through the Glen and that’s why I drove back down there again this afternoon and also to see if I could find Angus with his many girlfriends and mooplets.

Loch Nell is a fresh water Loch with a Crannog close to the shore where the beautiful thatched cottages can be found. These are quite unusual hereabouts and are now holiday lets called the Clan Cottages. What a stunning setting for the visitors to stay in..

There are several Bronze Age burial cairns, vetrified forts and standing stones, the largest of which is called Dermaid’s Pillar which has been dated to Neolithic times, which makes it four and a half to five thousand years old. This begs the question why this particular place for so many forts, burial sites and standing stones and why was it the preferred route for the deceased kings?

The Glen is incredibly picturesque just now as you can see from the photos, especially at this time of year when everything is so green and lush. Definitely my new favourite place around here, so thank you Heather for showing me this stunning place. The road comes out at Tynault next to the pub, but there’s loads more side roads and tracks to explore so hopefully next time.

On the way home I went down to get a photo of the marina opposite Dunstaffnage Castle…

28/05/2024

No midges today, too windy. Tides are back to where I can take the pooch onto the beach, we both had a lovely time…Will be sad to go home on Thursday….

25/05/2024

Good morning its a dry, breezy and sort of sunny day with large black clouds looming, 14degrees and no midges, which is a bonus🤣

Took my new furry friend on her usual walk today, which she seemed to enjoy, as I did….shes now conked out on her bed. The cats were being cats, they had a shouting match during the night and when I came down it looked as if WW3 had broken out as the rug was all crumpled up in a heap by the kitchen door…love them to bits 😍 here’s some photos from today…

24/05/2024

Yesss, people, I’m back on Mull again…only for a short time. Arrived yesterday and was parked in reverse, ready to get on the ferry as one of its ramps was broken. Naturally, I had to point the car in the right direction, as we were to reverse off at Tob. Typical! 🤣🤣🤣

Thought the first ferry across might have been cancelled or delayed due to the gusty North wind but it wasn’t, so made it across in one piece. Got my shopping and then went to see Lilian Mackinnon until after lunch and then made my way to my new accommodation.

Unfortunately the weather is much colder, damper and duller than it was 3 weeks ago. We certainly haven’t had the rain which was forecast and actually managed to sit outside for a wee bit at lunchtime today.

Went for a walk down by Aros Castle at 8 this morning with the dog and the midges were atrocious, but the views certainly made up for it.

Here’s some photos…enjoy