As we paced up and down the glen over Christmas, working out where to bury the fibre for our network, we had a rather helpful reminder from nature: courtesy of Storm Frank, we’ve had the highest water levels here that anyone can remember.

Much of the road above the village has been under up to a metre of water and Loch Occasional – the flood plain of the Balvaig River below the village – has reached further up the valley sides than anticipated. A lot further. Whilst fibre doesn’t mind a bit of damp, we do need to ensure that the breakout points are protected and we really don’t want to have to train people as divers on top of everything else.

So we’re looking further up the hillside for our cable route than we might otherwise have done. A pity, as the river sediment on the lower ground will be much easier to trench than the rocky moraines higher up. But so be it – the journey continues.