Blaze'n'Trails

So, you may wonder, does Skye really need yet more tour guides when we at present already have a plethora of perfectly good companies doing the mini-bus circuit already?

Well, according to us, indeed yes.

You see, whistle-stop trips around the island where you 'do' 6 places in a day yet never really get to appreciate the land, is in our opinion a bit of a wasted opportunity.

What we reckon is you are far better to do one or two places properly, walk the land, feel the wind and even better, enjoy the sights that usually remain unseen.

Where we intend to differ from the mainstream companies, is as we actually live here on this magnificent island, and through many years of walking, we know where the hidden gems are, well away from any layby and rarely see another soul on many occasions.

With this in mind, and to maintain a 'personal touch', we recommend your group size should ideally consist of only up to 4 persons, (and dogs of course), in order that we can give you our undivided attention, (and of course get to know you all better).

BEN TIANAVAIG

Now, whilst we won't be taking you up any Munros of course, a favourite walk of ours is a fine wee mountain, Ben Tianavaig, and whilst only coming in at 1,400ft, it affords the most amazing views, looking North to the Trotternish ridge, East over to the island of Raasay and over to the twin peaks of Glamaig, with The Cuillin Ridge off in the distance.

                                                       

This walk can be done in just a few hours if you hoof it, but, we much prefer an nice easy ascent with lots of stops for pics on the way up....and of course, keeping an eye open should any of the white tailed sea eagles decide to swoop by, or dolphins swim past in the sound below. This is not a hill to be rushed, such is it's splendour.

A story for the bairns

Ok...so I'm now an old man, but I was once young like you, thinking I knew it all.

Let me say, I was brought up in an age, where before you could even watch a picture at the cinema, you had to stand and sing the National Anthem.
As a kid, we were brought up on a game, where you could play how you would like to die....and oh...how imaginative we were. Everything from daggers, grenades, machine guns & flamethrowers, and boy...we would perform our death throws with gusto in the attempt to win the game.

See, I was brought up in the era of Commando magazines, The Victor, The Hornet etc, where nothing was better than a glorious death for all the 'pink bits' on the map, because, they were 'Ours'

Us Scots were most certainly the proudest to be led to an untimely demise for the Empire.

At 15, I joined the forces and loved it. It was another family to be cherished and be part of.

This was in the midst of 'The Troubles' and we were told...IRA...well if they are an ARMY, why don't they wear a uniform..feckin cowardly bastards, hiding behind civvy clothes.  Instead of buying uniforms, the dastardly Paddys bought guns...  Boo-hiss..just not cricket, eh?
Meanwhile, me and my Oppos, in full uniform, with aircraft carriers, gunships, warplanes, SAS and the full might of the state behind us were the heroic war heroes.  God knows what it was like for the squaddies in Belfast etc...but I was safe and sound on my aircraft carrier....

Thank God, the peace agreement came along...All was getting better....Oops, spoke too soon.

Before I knew it, along came The Falklands.

Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but if we were at war with Argentina, why didn't we attack Buenos Aries?

A wee clue...is was a tussle twitx Thatcher or Galtieri staying in power, no more...no less.

I remember with dread, seeing The Suns headlines...oh, and how the flags waved as 'Our Boys' set sail to liberate the islands and show those damned Wops we were not to be tangled with.
Then, we sunk the Belgrano...and feck me, you could have run a wind farm for a year with the gusto from the flag waving.....then we started taking the hits... Oh dear..   Brave men, all of them...both sides..and for what? A red postbox? A stamp with Queenies head on it? A Bobbie with a tit shaped helmet?

Now...all these years later, I'm seeing yet once again a rise in British nationalism, and again with hindsight, I wonder, for the benefit of whom?  Not mine...not my kids or yours...

I see what's happening across the waters in the USA...it's scaring the shit out of me....

I'm drunk...it's time for bed.

Will I feel better about it all tomorrow?

likely not.

2016 end of Year Blog

Well, 2016 was in some way a horrible year...if you watch the news....plus the fact we waved avoir to our wee caravan that had served us so well over the years, and consigned our beloved Isuzu Trooper to the great green monster car park in the sky.
So instead, we're going to concentrate on all the good bits instead.

At long last, we managed to visit Culloden Moor on the battle anniversary. We normal walk it alone wrapped in the silence (and chaos). If you've done this walk on a bleak day, you'll know what I mean.
However, this time, it was a chance to meet with old friends, and new who we had only encountered within the confines of cyberspace. A grand weekend it was.

Also this year, we were in the running for the Visit Scotland Ambassador dog of the year, yet despite amazing support from Blazes online following, sadly we never quite cut it, but we did have great fun participation and loved the filming up in Fairy Glen and The Quiraing.

Video link is here.     https://vimeo.com/164984548

Then against all common sense, we decided we should do another Blaze Mountain Rescue Calendar. I guess enough time hadtime passed since the last one and had dulled my senses to the hassle of compiling databases and stuffing envelopes and having to prove to Ebay that I wasn't an international money launderer.

Unlike last time though, we did receive great press coverage thanks to Moira Kerr, which made selling just that bit easier and increased the flow of gifts of tennis balls into Blaze 'goodies vault'.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotland-now/celebrity-support-mountain-rescue-dog-8793858

http://www.scotsman.com/giving-back/charities/munro-climbing-dog-in-calendar-for-mountain-rescue-charity-1-4224654

Our target was to beat the £1,000 we last raised for Glencoe mountain rescue, and I'm glad to report we did indeed more than double that.

We had great help from locals here on the island, from those who sold the calendars, The Isles Inn, Ingas Sweetie Shop, The Whisky Emporium, Taigh Alain, Broadford Chippie and Sligachan Hotel.

Most helpfull of all had to be the Post Office in Portree who must have groaned every time we waltzed in with yet another armful of brown envelopes, each of which had to be weighed and sorted according to postal countries...so many thanks to them.

Also this time, we took a tack we had never considered before, and sent of many, many calendars to 'celebrities' to sign. Truth be told, half of them never came back to us.....but...wow...the ones that did really helped so much.

So thanks to

Musicians:-

Eddi Reader 

Donnie Munro

Blair Douglas

Pete Wishart

Runrig (current line-up)

John Maher (Buzzcocks)

Pete (Peatbog Faeries)

Ally Bain

Phil Cunningham

Amy Macdonald

Skerryvore

Authors/TV:-

Peter May

Muriel Grey

Scott Fletcher

Kate Humble

Emma Milne

Ian Rankin

Joanne Harris

Paul Kavanagh & Wee Ginger Dug

Chris Cairns (Cairnstoon)

Greig Moodie

Cast of 'Only an Excuse'

Jean Haines

Politicians:-

Mairi Black

Stephen Gethins

Film:-

Ryan Fletcher

Sam Heughan

Scott Kyle

Madman:-

Danny MacAskill  :-)

Ah well, just finish off with some pics we took this year.  Thanks to you all for the support we received.

Anyway, wishing you all a very happy 2017 and thanks again for your support over the past 12 month.

Blaze & his staff....

2017 Calendar

Well, that was NOT easy, crunching lots of pics down to a final 12.

Then, at the last minute, we decided to change the front cover into the Gaelic as the months will be both 'in the tongue' and in English.

So without further ado, here is the final 12.

Orders can be made via Paypal at address:-  stevemillar@safe-mail.net
Or..if anyone still does cash or cheque :-  Blaze, The Isles Inn, Somerled Sq. Portree. IV51 9EH
The cost per calendar is £8 which includes the postage to anywhere worldwide.
You can also find it here on eBay  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282191489501?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Links to signed calendars.

Runrig (band)  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Blaze-Border-Collie-Calendar-signed-RUNRIG-edition-/282258237003?hash=item41b7e6e64b:g:R78AAOSwcUBYLKzN

Danny MacAskill (stunt biker) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282256040875?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Scott Kyle (Outlander) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282253472576?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Donnie Munro (Musician) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282253416179?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Amy Macdonald (Musician) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282253693836?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Eddi Reader (Musician) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282254499037?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

John Maher (Buzzcocks) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282254481829?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649


Updated list on our celebrity signed calendars that will be up for auction later in the year.

Sam Heughan (Jamie from Outlander)
Ryan Fletcher (Outlander)
Runrig (musicians)
John Mahar (Buzzcocks drummer)
Eddi Reader (musician)
Danny MacAskill (bike stunt rider)
Donnie Munro (Musician)
Mhairi Black (politician)
Ali Bain & Phil Cunningham (musicians)
Jean Haines (world famous watercolour artist)
Joanne Harris (Author, Chocolat)
Diana Gabaldon (Author Outlander)
Muriel Gray (TV presenter and author)
Emma Milne (TV vet)
Scott Kyle (Ross in Outlander)
Richard Rankin (Roger in Outlander)
Steven Cree (Ian Murray in Outlander)
Kate Humble (TV presenter)
Amy MacDonald (musician)
Peter May (author)

We've decided to go for broke...which we most surely are now, and go for a run of 1,000 calendars, so def going to have massive egg on the face if we canna sell them.  :-)

2017 Calendar

Arghhh.

It's that time again where we have to select just 12 pics for the calendar.

Our original intention was to have a 'Skye Only' selection of pics, but we really wanted to include Eilean Donan Castle which is mainland...so, that opened up a whole lot more options.  All are new pics bar one, and that's due to popular demand that we once again include the Bluebells photo.

Well, we've whittled it down a bit..., but if you have any favourites you would definitely like to see included, please let us know.

We intend to sell the calendars for £8.00 which includes postage costs, and are hoping to raise £3,000 for Skye Mountain Rescue, so we really need your help, as (a) The money will really help the team out with buying equipment, and (b), we really canna be left with a 1,000 calendars as we don't have enough tables with shoogly legs needing steadied...

The calendar with be in both Gaelic and English.

Payment will be either via Paypal,  Cheque (if anyone still uses them), or cash if you trust oor postie..

Paypal link is:-  https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/home
Paypal Account to send to is:-    stevemillar@safe-mail.net
Postage Address is :-  Blaze,  The Isles Inn, Somerled Square, Portree,  IV51 9EH

Please remember and leave your postal address on any Paypal payment.

P.S.     I promise not to pose naked as promised like last time when we hit our cash target....


Thanks

Blaze and Steve.