Blaze Calendar

www.microlodge.net

Time is upon us....  We need to choose 12 photos for Blazes calendar.  For those who don't know yet, we intend to attempt to sell as many of these as possible, with all profits going to Glencoe Mountain Rescue, a group close to our hearts, although thankfully, we have never yet had to call upon their services.  

We recently won a £50 prize in the Sunday Post photo competition, so this will go towards funding the printing of the calendar, helping to keep printing costs down.

I estimate if the calendars can be sold for circa £5 plus postage, we may be able to raise a decent sum.

Please inform friends and family via Facebook, Twitter, word of mouth, jungle drums and carrier pigeon...whatever it takes, to help raise money for these admirable people who turn out, unpaid, in all weathers.

I will also put the calendars on E-Bay so they may be purchased via Paypal.  We hope they will also be on sale at the Clachaig and the Kingshouse hotels in Glencoe.

They may also be purchased directly from us by e-mailing microlodge@live.co.uk

Therefore without further ado, here are the photos.  You can vote by listing the name tagged to them. You need only vote for 1 or 12 pics, or any number of photos in between.  I will then add these votes up, and these are the ones that will be published. You can vote via the comment section on this blog, or by e-mail at the above address, or via Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/steve.microlodge

Thanks for your help in making this a reality.

Steve, and Blaze

Enlarge photos by clicking on them

3 Sisters, Glencoe

Above Kinlochleven

Aonach Ridge

Approach to Ben Nevis

Approach to Glencoe

Approach to Lomond Hills

Baby Blaze

Ballachulish

Bealach at CMD Route

Beinn Mhanach

Ben Dorain

Ben Nevis North Face

Ben Vorlich

Blackrock Cottage, Glencoe

Blair Atholl

Blaze on Tour

Bluebell Meadow

Buchanty Spout

Carn Mor Dearg

Royal Navy SAR

Creisse Bealach

East Lomond Hill

Elie Beach

Falkland Hill

Falls at West Lomond

Riverbed at Glen Etive

Glen Etive

Glencoe Portrait

Ice Factor, Kinlochleven

Invermoriston

John Knoxs' Pulpit

Laggan

Largo Harbour

Leven Beach

Loch Earn

Loch Ken

Loch laggan

Loch leven, Glencoe

Loch Lomond

Loch Ness canoe

Loch Ness Sunset

Looking down into Glencoe

Lost Valley, Glencoe

The Lost Valley

Meall Ghaordaidh

On Loch Ness

Overlooking Buachaille Etive Mor

Queens View

Rainbow on Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor View

Salmon leap falls

SAR at Kingshouse

Summit at Meall a' Bhuridh

Sunset over Loch Ness

West Lomond Hill

Winter on Rannoch Moor

Winter on West Lomond

Woodland stream

First post of the Year

www.microlodge.net

Glamping

www.microlodge.net

Camping Pods, the future option?

It seems the days of the ‘festival tent’ has come and gone.  

For many years, the sale of cheap tents that could literally be abandoned after use, be it at a festival, or even more sadly on a hillside, is fading into memory.

This meant that ‘outdoor accommodation’ options reverted back to the hired caravan, or on a greater scale, lodges.

There are other types of unit available, such as teepes and yurts, but that discussion should be for another article.

So, camping pods. What are they and why is there such an uptake of this option?

Firstly, we’ll concentrate on consumer expectations.

At their most basic, a camping pod is a shed whereby you lay a sleeping mat on the floor and stay sheltered from the elements. However, consumers are leaning towards expecting more, much more, for their money.

Your average ‘camper’ now takes along gadgets, which only a few years ago would never have been added to the rucksack list.  Now we pack our I-pads, E-readers, mobile phones, GPS and even laptops to take on the road with us, keen not to remain incommunicado even for 24 hours.   I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just that these are the facts of modern day glamping.

Therefore, expectations of what are seen as basic requirements in a camping pod have risen.

Power and plenty of sockets are now regarded as a must.

A kettle is nice.

A micro-wave?  Why not?    

Heating? of course.   

Comfortable mattresses?  preferable.  

A TV to keep up with the news/soaps and allow the kids to plug in the X-box or similar?, looking even better.

A fridge for an evenings wine or beer? Great.

Secure doors and windows, to keep all the aforementioned stuff safe when you go out.

Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms.

Storage space for bags.

That pretty much sums up what is expected nowadays.

For the Owner.

Nobody, especially in this economic climate is able to expand or invest without a good knowledge of expected returns. The outlay for camping pods is varied and other considerations must be in place to allow the installation of the pods, such as toilet and shower facilities, plus a suitable base for laying the units on. This may be as easy as a rectangle of hardcore rubble, or a concrete apron.

The cost outlay?

In this, I can only give numbers from my own company perspective as I’m not privy to any other manufacturers information.

A pod can set you back anywhere from about £5,000 up to £15,000, depending on build quality and specifications.  Therefore, if you are spending the same cost as a car, what can be expected in return?

We have found from customer feedback that majority of our units pay for themselves within the first season to a season and a half.

Rental fees vary dependent on location, from as little as £35 per night up North, to £70+ in the South of England.

We have seen an average of 120 – 190 nights per year occupancy on our particular units.  So, at a middling price of £45 per night at 155 nights, expect a return of £6,975 per season.  £7,750 at £50 per night.

If you are lucky enough to be on a high footprint walking route or holiday destination, you will likely have a higher occupancy take up.If your pod has high insulation properties, your season can easily be extended into the cold winter months, unlike many other facilities.

We have customers who will close their hostels during winter due to low occupancy not covering heating costs, yet still receive income from their pods due to the very low running costs.

We use 2 analogies for ‘cost out to cost in’.

A taxi, will cost the same as a pod. However, once council inspections, fuel, tax, drivers wages, control room operators, maintenance etc is taken into account, a return on a pod is looking very good, especially as maintenance and running costs are minimal. Yet, taxis are a viable business option….

Another example we use, is should you purchase say, a flat to rent out, at a cost of £100,000, You should realise a rental income of circa £450 per month (here in Scotland)

Now, were that £100,000 used to buy 10 pods, should you get just 13 nights occupancy at £45 per unit per night in a month, you are exceeding your annual house rental income, so if you get your 120+ days…well, the numbers speak for themselves. 

Of course, a pod value will depreciate, unlike a house, which even with market fluctuations will always eventually increase in gradually in value, but taking income over a 5 year period on a batch of pods is still a very attractive prospect as it is providing a ‘living wage’ and not just a ‘cover the costs’ income.

www.microlodge.net

Well, it's been a tad hectic as usual here in the Kingdom of Fife.

We have been juggling 2 projects, the first which was designing and building our 2013 range of Microlodges, and the second has been doing a conversion on the building adjoining the workshop to allow us better office facilities etc.

Sadly, all this has left very scant time for heading off and having 'adventures' and so we've not been on the hills for a month, but hope to get off out camping over the Xmas period.

We also had a trip down to Cornwall to Wellfarm cottages to deliver their new Hobbits, and even managed to miss the floods...barely.

We have managed to 'stretch' all our units now, to allow an extra 6" in length to the single bunks, Not that it affects us...as we are only Hobbit size...but we realised that there are some longer folks than us out there.

In addition, we enclosed the rear bunks a tad with the addition of a top ring.

We also built a new style toilet/shower unit....

...As for the building work next door...the first requirement was skips... which allowed this....

...to become this....

....and this......

to become....

                                     

We even started fitting in a kitchen area for our staff dinner breaks...

Now we are even getting a sofa in from our friend at the garage next door. Luckily, we know him well, as we never...ever take suites from strangers

We see that the snow season is also now upon us, so we really must attempt to head back to Glencoe and get some skiing in, as last year was a disaster weather wise.    We did get a picture of the site up there though, thanks to the power of Facebook.

Our latest projects are building agility training equipment, garden benches (for a Xmas present), then starting on a prototype 'Hobbit' kennel

Anyway, needs must be, and get back to work as Gary is beavering away whilst we sit fiddling with the computer....  If we don't blog before the end of the year...Have a great Xmas.

Ballad of 69

The Ballad of 69

See me, I’m a number, and I think my life is fine,

I started off a fraction, now I’m up to Sixty Nine,

I sometimes look upon my past, and often think of when,

I first discovered decimals, the day that I turned Ten.

I must admit, at Three and Five, it made me feel so odd,

But evened out when I turned Six, though Eighteen was a sod,

And when I first turned Sixteen, I found it quite a hoot,

Discovering when I was Four, I was my own square root.

And though I’m getting bigger, as year on year goes by,

I think of what it would be like, to be the same as Pi,

They say that life’s a circle, I think it can’t be fun,

If all your life, remains the same, at Three point One Four One.

You sometimes think, you don’t need maths, Oh come on, let’s be fair,

You couldn’t give the finger with your whole hand in the air,

You need to learn to count and add, it needn’t take you ages,

To take your pay, divide by hours, and find it’s rubbish wages.

We give each other nicknames, for example take my cousin,

His given titles only Six, we call him Half-a-Dozen,

At One Four One my Grandpa, the one that’s aged the most,

He still goes chasing Seventeen girls, we call him Grandpa Gross.

I know of these Two Zeros, they’re preceded by a one,

They’re heavy on the scale of things, we’re calling them a ton,

And take my brother Eighteen, we call him Double Nine,

But with his mates, he’s Treble Six, and that suits him just fine.

Now Three Four Three, is arrogant, he’s often really rude,

He thinks he’s so much classier, because he’s Seven cubed,

But boy have I got news for him, I’ve multiplied his mum,

And all the boys from algebra thinks she’s the Number One.

Now please don’t think I’m bitching, or just want financial gain,

But when I reached my second year, I didn’t share the fame,

I helped to solve lifes mysteries, but no-one seems to care,

I was that Two, that Einstein used, when E was MC square.

I’m moving house tomorrow, it won’t wait any later,

I’ve been promoted to a job, inside a calculator,

The moral of my story, is get up off your bums,

Stick in at school and learn the rules, and memorise your sums.