Dateline July 2000
July 29th
The start of Tennent's West Highland Yachting Week. Based in Oban, the event inolves feeder fraces from Inverkip, Bangor and Oban to Crinan. this year, 175 yachts assembled at Crinan for the first race, Crinan to Oban, on Sunday 30th. On Monday, races took half the fleet to the waters south of Kerrera, and the other half to the area between Ganavan and Lismore. Tuesday sees a passage race from Oban to Tobermory, and Wednesday is races in the lee of Mull, and south of Ardnamurchan.
July 22nd
Mother Nature is having a blast. If she was a teenager, she'd be getting drunk for the first time. If this was her first credit card, she'd be up to her limit already. Growth is everywhere. The trees are groaning under a full load of leaves, the fields are sprouting a profusion of grasses and flowers and every bush bulges. In places, the roads cut green tunnels through the flora. The dry spell continues, and Oban has been the hottest place in the land for a couple of days.
July 14th
You can't trust anybody these days. Somebody ate my raspberry!!!
July 10th
The Americans leave, Lots of tears andfond farwells. A couple of wild raspberries look nearly ready - a couple of days and they'll be mine! The bramble bushes are flowering - a good crop in prospect.
July 9th
A farewell ceilidh for the American group. It rain steadiy outside, but inside the pipes skirl, the box (accordion) rants, highland and clog dancers perform, and a good time is had by all.
July 6th/7th
The Laurinburg went to Edinburgh, visited the Scottish Parliament, and some of them say the Queen on her way to perform the ceremony of knighting Sean Connery.
July 5th
A dull day, and in the evening - rain.
July 4th
Independence Day for Americans everywhere. The Laurinburg group visited Oban Distillery, had lunch with Oban Rotary, and in the evening decamped to Tralee Beach, just north of Oban, for a cookout. Ravenous teenage appetites demolished enough food to satisfy a small army, fireworks soared into the evening sky, and a small group scoured the beach for shells. Having found a few, they were shown how to use them as whistles - an old trick of the islanders who used them to issue whistled commands to their sheepdogs.
July 3rd
The good weather continues, and the Laurinburg group make a trip over to Mull, and then on to Staffa (Fingal's Cave) and Iona, before returning to Oban in the evening. The scenery is described as 'awesome', and the journey as 'cool'.
July 1st
The weather holds, making it just perfect for Radio Clyde who spend the afternoon broadcasting live from Oban, and offering a listeners prize of a weekend for two in Oban. Surprisingly, a number of Oban listeners phone in to enter the competition!