Amy left her mark on the Estate, that’s for sure!

Storm Amy Fortunately we had engaged with all the event organizers earlier in the week, encouraging them to review their bad weather forecasts and to dig out their risk assessments. All duly obliged and we subsequently cancelled the ROC Scotland Ben Nevis triathlon, a National Cross Country event in Glen Nevis and deferred some activities of the Lochaber Trials clubs as they make plans for the upcoming Grace Dignan trial.

Unfortunately our trees and some of the wider infrastructure suffered. Particularly badly hit were the access roads (lower and upper) into Kinlochleven which were both closed due to fallen trees. Some of the roads in Inverlochy village also suffered the same outcome, as a number of large trees came down in the storm. Access roads into Killiechonate were shut at Spean Bridge, as well as trees down both sides of Fort William on the A82 and the A86, with access to our landholdings at Glenshero cut off for a short while.

One of the consequences of the fallen trees and smashed powerlines has been the loss of electricity supply across much of the estate and the subsequent impacts on water pumps, freezers for our venison shop and the loss of amenity for visitors in our holiday lets, and of course much inconvenience for our busy staff across the estate.

During the night and early morning we kept in close liaison with Highland Council and worked to ensure that once the storm had abated sufficiently and when it was safe to get out that we deployed both our own staff and contractors to assist with the priority tasks of ensuring no one was injured or trapped and that access to all the major road networks was made available to all.

In Inverlochy a number of residents were visited in person and we explained our rationale for prioritising the varied tree works required in the village. This work will carry on for a few weeks given the amount of storm related damage. All our estate staff were heavily involved assisting with their local road and track clearing, ensuring that water supplies and generators were distributed out and installed to secure a resilient power supply.

Tree on Lundy Road, Inverlochy.

Kinlochleven, blocking public pathways.

Damage to overhead cables, Killiechonate.