Great Glen Skiing

Invergarry is fast becoming one of the best winter snow sport destinations in Scotland, if it's not sledging, having a snow ball fight or making snowmen, it's skiing the Great Glen Way. I made it up to the local viewpoint but couldn't see much because of the snow.


Ever seen a dog on a ski slope? No, you know why? Because they (or at least Dylan) are a massive pain in the neck when it comes to skiing. He just about got used to me skinning up the hill but when I took the skins off and set off down the hill he just couldn't comprehend what was happening and kept trying to jump on top of them and eat them, still he wasn't good the first time we took him running either.


I'm sure he'll get the hang of it next time. All was good apart from as I was walking the 500 metres to the bottom of the hill, along a not very snowy, ploughed and gritted road with my skis on my shoulder, first my neighbour Jimmy came past and looked at me like I was from another planet, I then bumped in to Colin from the bowls team who also couldn't believe that I was going skiing.

I was on my own so couldn't get a photo of myself but so you know - I looked the business, orange skis, orange boots, grey trousers, orange jacket, grey hat (thanks mum), I even had orange logos on my gloves... I looked like one of those super coordinated aging french super skiers that whip past you in the alps whilst blowing smoke in your face that look like they are wearing the same gear they bought in the 80's. Cool.

Happy New Year (again)

--Matt

A Seasonal Ski Tour Adventure

My brother Mark and his family have come up for Hogmanay and we managed to get permission from the wives for a morning out as long as we were back by lunch time to look after the kids. My brother thinks he's some sort of ski touring demon so after an alpine start (7.30 am) we headed down to Fersit to tackle the two Munros to the south east which Mark reckoned wouldn't take too long.

I think he only does all this ski touring and ice climbing business so he can look cool in car parks, I got a example of this this morning as we met half a dozen walkers which he impressed before they set off up the neighbouring hills.

After some basic hints and tips from big brother and him trying to tell me you have to shout "lock and load" (he doesn't get out much) we were off.


We made steady progress up to about 750 metres by which time gale force winds and thick fog and dangerous hoar frost conditions and the impending wrath of two wives and three kids we decided to head back down to civilisation and a lovingly prepared lunch - is anyone else still eating turkey?

Mark deciding he has absolutely no idea where we are.

Good fun, shame the weather wasn't better and the "pass out" for a few more hours, maybe I'll start taking the dog for ski tours instead of walks.


Happy new year.

--Matt

New marketing campaign launched!!

Advertising space available to rent, please send enquiries to mail@invergarrylodge.co.uk marked for the attention of Alby.

--Matt

Crafts ahoy!

We've not been up to much since the wee man was born 23 days ago, but we did manage to host a stall at the local craft fair along with our friends Crafty Helen and Winky Lisa and with craft contributions from Alby's Granny and Great Granny - East Yorkshires' finest knitters and Ranger Dave.

As you can see from the photo below we had an excellent looking stall but think it's fair to say we can't afford to give up our day jobs and make a living solely from craft fairs - we spent most of our profits on refreshments at the cafe.

Can you tell where Alby is? (it's like those old spot the ball competitions)...

Alby was without doubt the biggest hit of the day, we really should have been charging for cuddles!


--Matt

New member for Team Invergarry Lodge

As Helen mentioned in her guest blog, we were away having a baby last week, which explains why the Blog has been getting quieter and quieter over the last few months as Jen got more and more pregnant and my DIY list got longer and longer. Anyway, the son and heir to the Invergarry Lodge estate was born last Wednesday, Alby George, weighing a healthy 7 lbs 11.

He's been pretty well behaved so far, as has Dylan, Helen must have had some strong words with him before we came home. Unfortunately, Alby seems to take after both his mum and his dad and isn't very photogenic, he's a little bit cuter in real life - honest. We'll try not to turn the blog into a baby blog, don't want both our readers to get bored but I'm sure you'll see a bit more of him as time goes on.

How old do you think he needs to be before we can get him changing beds?

--Matt, potential father of the year 2010 .

Hostel Sitter Extraordinaire! **Guest Blog**

I don’t know, matt and jenny are off having a baby, and I’m left here in charge of the wildest dog in the west… Yes I’m the hostel sitter, dog, cat and chicken sitter for however long it may be. As I write this I’m just shy of 24 hours in charge. It’s all going well tho, my hostel guests are all lovely and looking after themselves. The hostel is nice and roomy and I’ve seen all the rooms bar one, explored all the nooks and crannies myself, and as an occasional hosteller I think it must rank as one of the best in Scotland. Its got lots of space to relax and a lovely friendly atmosphere. My guests at the moment are all here for some hills, I’m looking forward to asking them where they’ve been today!

Dylan the monster dog is who I’m really here to look after, and he has been very well behaved all things considered. My list of things he’s chewed so far is much smaller than I expected it would be…. He’s been tormenting me by going for the hall rug whenever he’s bored. Unfortunately he seems to devour doggie chews in a matter of seconds, so I am saving the last one for an emergency…. Worst offence so far is that somehow he chewed through his lead. I’m not sure how I’m going to explain their dog on a string to matt and jenny when they get back….but really he’s been very good, and at the moment would you believe is sound asleep… I daren’t move….

This morning all the hostellers have been asking about the baby- not yet I’ve said… When walking the dog a fellow Invergarry bowler saw me and asked too. Nope, not yet…. Hopefully, we all -and more importantly Matt and jenny!-, won’t have too much longer to wait!

Helen
(The best caketopper in the land)

Witches trail '09

Rich's first visit to the Witches trail at the Nevis Range at Fort William...apologies if video is slow to load...

--Matt

Salmon Fishing on the Garry **Guest Blog**

Back in May, I had my first experience salmon fishing. I'd been fly fishing for trout plenty of times down in Yorkshire, however I'd never had a chance to try for a salmon, so my friends Matt and Jenny at Invergarry Lodge invited me up to fish for a day on the River Garry, as a present for my thirti... twenty-fifth birthday. Sadly, I didn't manage to hook anything at all, except for clothing, nets and various plants, trees and weeds. Thankfully though, others present were more successful, and I saw proof at least that there were some big salmon in that river.

In August I tried again, this time on the Esk in North Yorkshire. That day was even less fruitful, with three of us working the river for over 12 hours with not even a nibble. So after two unsuccessful salmon fishing trips, I decided it was time to call in the big guns - I invited my Dad, Phil Parrish, up to Invergarry to see if we could catch one of those fish I'd spied back in May.

We arrived with a car boot full of various rods, reels and lures. We had everything ranging from antique Sharpe's reels and Hardy cane rods, to cheap modern rods and spinning reels. Surely with our vast arsenal, we'd be hauling in the fish?

Well it was a slow morning - we started early at the end of the Garry near Loch Oich, and worked our way up river. By early afternoon we were starting to tire and so stopped for a bite to eat, and to curse Poseidon for our bad luck so far. Thankfully, things started to pick up after that, and we each hooked a pike which provided us with some fun for a while. Thinking that the weather was about to take a turn for the worse, and noticing Matt appear with a six-pack of lager, I retreated to the fishing hut for a break with Matt whilst Dad continued in his search for a salmon.

Suddenly, we were alerted by shouting, and a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush. Running down the bank with the landing net, it appeared Dad was struggling with a fish the likes of which had not been seen since the première of Jaws in 1975. After a bit of a struggle to direct it into the net, we soon had it on the bank - not a shark, but a decent size salmon, and one very happy Dad.

Glenfinnan/Corryhully Horseshoe

I managed to escape the hostel duties for a few hours today for a quick trip round the Glenfinnan Horseshoe, a steep and rugged circuit taking in two fine Munros, Sgurr Thuilm and Sgurr nan Coireachan.
The approach is on a private tarmac road so a bike comes in very handy for much of it. Then it's a steep (and quite boggy) slog up to the 600m mark where it eases towards the summit (963m) and gives great views across to Ben Nevis.

Then across the ridge, over four minor summits to Sgurr nan Coireachan which although slightly lower at 956 m provides great views across to the Outer Hebrides, Skye and Knoydart. It took some effort to pull myself away from the views and head back down to the bike and Glenfinnan.


--Matt

A Snowy North Shiel Ridge

I'd been given a half day pass out for good behaviour (I've decorated one of the bathrooms in the hostel) and what with the recent dusting of snow I'd spied on the tops on Sunday there was nothing else for it but an early start.

I pulled up in glen shiel a little before 6am and things were looking promising. The sky was clear and lit up by a full moon, I set off up the Allt Coire Tholl without even needing my headtorch. By the time I was approaching the south east ridge of Sgurr An Fhuarail, however, the sky had clouded over and light rain was following me up the hillside. I kept skirting further and further eastwards in an attempt to catch the sunrise at the other end of the glen, but unfortunately luck was not with me today - cloud was!


Despite this the ridge did offer some atmospheric views across to Ciste Dhubh, A'chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-Choire as the cloud danced around their summits.


I followed the narrowing ridge over Sgurr An Fhuarail and then made my way onto the snow-covered summit plateau of Aonach Meadhoin, which despite its cloud covering had a real wintry feel to it. I hung around for a while hoping the cloud would clear but I soon got rather chilly so decided to head off towards Sgurr A'Bhealaich Dheirg, the next Munro on the ridge. Again the ridge started to narrow and I enjoyed a few short scrambly sections before starting on the long slog up to the summit, accompanied all the way by a soundtrack of rutting stags. The summit cairn actually lies beyond an easy but exposed ridge, made more interesting by a good smattering of snow. As I sat eating my sandwiches (cheese, sausage and redcurrant jelly if you're interested!) I was treated to a few glimpses of the summits I'd covered earlier on as they poked through the thick cloud.


Back on the main ridge I continued westwards, dropping sharply out of the cloud before tackling another short scramble leading to the bealach. Onwards and upwards I went, up the grassy slopes of Saileag for a well-earned rest at the rather pathetic summit cairn and another sandwich. The early start was starting to catch up with me, so I took a breather here for a while before backtracking down over Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg and forking south down the broad ridge to Meall a' Charra. I was soon back at the van and made it back home in time for lunch!

--Matt

Scottish Wildlife

There's a wealth of wildlife to see in the Scottish Highlands, we saw our first sea otter the other day (we also held a python at the Skye Serpentarium!) and we've even had deer in our garden. Here's a list of what they've seen at the swing bridge up the road. The bridge wardens have sharp eyes and often see golden eagles and pine martens amongst many other species. The list is from earlier in the month showing what they've seen so far.... wait a minute, what's that one at the bottom? That monster gets everywhere!


--Matt

Disclaimer: We at Invergarry Lodge cannot promise that this list is genuine and has not been photoshopped.

Ben's First Munro (A Scottish weather special!)

After having to shorten our fishing trip due to high winds, Ben (Invergarry Lodge's Fishing Guru) decided he'd like tackle his first Munro instead.

We decided on Sgurr a' Mhaoraich down by Loch Quoich, I've done it before so decided we'd make it slightly longer by heading in to Glen Loyne and climbing it with Am Bathaich. The weather forecast wasn't great but the tops where clear as we headed down after lunch (we had Ben helping out with hostel duties in the morning).

We parked up and it started raining. Then it stopped. Then it started again. Then it..well, you get the picture.

After a small stream crossing (imagine how good that photo would be if you'd jumped across Ben!) we headed up the tight zig zaggy path to the ridge of Am Bathaich where the winds picked up significantly.


About two minutes after this photo it started raining quite heavily and didn't stop until we where nearly back at the car - a freak localised squall that followed us around for two hours! The winds on the final summit were vicious so we didn't hang around and after a small navigational issue (we couldn't see anything) where soon safely back down to the glen.

Not one of the best days on the hill, character building at best but I don't think it's put Ben off too much, maybe next time we'll try something a little harder.....


--Matt

Burn, Burn, Burn, The Ring of Steall

The Ring of Steall is a real classic mountain route combining the traverse of four Munros with scrambling along narrow, rocky aretes.

I finally got underway after a late start (beds to change and DIY supplies to buy) and was mentally doing my checklist as I set off up the 'best half mile in Scotland' to arrive at Steall Falls and blue skies.....Suncream, No.....Shorts, No.....Extra Water, No......Sun Hat, No..... oh, well I'm already half way up the first one, I'll be fine. Well, fine-ish, the first one proved to be a long slog, great views to the back of Ben Nevis but definitely a long slog. My energies where quickly revitalised after getting to the top and along a short scrambley ridge before stopping for lunch with this fine view in front of me, the Glencoe hills just poking through the cloud.


It felt a bit strange sat on the top of a mountain on a lovely hot day, blue skies all around and autumn colours coming through and me eating my first mince pies of the year, delicious (as an aside - mince pies do not hold up well to the strains of hill walking, they were more like mince and pastry crumble).


Anyway, another top and then another long hard slog up to the summit of Am Bodach, the third Munro for the day and where I ran out of water and mince pies.



From here you have to cross a much narrower ridge called The Devils Ridge which only really has one awkward section (which can be bypassed) the rest is just a little exposed.


From this point it's all down hill, I confess I didn't hang around on the way down, I had a hot date with the stream at the bottom of the glen and the bottle of water in the van. Happy days.


--Matt

Nessie News - The Monster Lives!

For those of you who missed it in the news recently - the Loch Ness Monster lives! The full story can be found here but basically someone has spotted Nessie whilst browsing Google Earth...


You can find it in Google Earth yourself by looking at these coordinates 57 12'52.13"N, 4 34'14.16"W.

--Matt

PS. What do you mean it looks like a boat?

The Forcan Ridge (plus a bit of bagging)

I knew one of our guests this week from an online forum so we headed out together to tackle the Saddle via the Forcan Ridge. The Forcan Ridge is a classic Scottish scramble, not difficult but has a few exposed sections which can all be easily bypassed if you wish. The weather has not been great this week (better from tomorrow apparently!) but we took advantage of the best looking day and headed out.


The wet weather chased us up from the bottom of Glen Shiel, cleared slightly, then came in again as we got on the ridge proper, this was to be the case all day with the weather, all the seasons in one day.

The ridge provided lots of fun, proving a little more straight forward than when I last did it in the spring snow. Adrian took the lead and found every little bit of scrambling that the ridge had to offer. The interesting down climb proving to be the most, er, interesting bit.

From the Saddle we headed down and then easily back up to the next munro Sgurr na Sgine. I knew the next summit was a Corbett before heading over to Creag Nam Damh for another munro tick for Adrian. He told me as we headed over that we couldn't claim the tick as it was a twin Corbett, and that the summit 2 1/2 km to the south was exactly the same height and you had to do them both!

As I'd already done the Munro he was heading to I left him and headed south for the other Corbett summit before retracing my steps and meeting him back on the main ridge before descending.

That 5km proved to be very hard, the going was fairly easy, just one steep wet grassy section, but my legs were tired and I felt under pressure to be quick and not leave Adrian waiting for me - he had less ground to cover. I was rewarded with some moody views across to Knoydart before I turned and headed back, we got back to the descent path at pretty much the same time, both feeling pretty tired.


This time it was safe and enjoyable, but remember, if you meet strangers from the internet, be sure to tell people where and who you are meeting!

--Matt

Foraging in Glengarry Forest

Now that our busy summer season has ended we have a little bit more time on our hands, and we're both keen to make the most of it before our baby arrives in November. So when the opportunity arose to join the Great Glen Rangers for a day out foraging for wild food in Glengarry Forest we signed up straight away.

Unfortunately the weather didn't look on us kindly and the rain showed no signs of stopping for the day, so we kitted ourselves out in all our waterproof garb and headed out, picking up Helen along the way. We are already regular visitors to the forest with Dylan, our big black labrador puppy, but today we were looking forward to exploring at a more leisurely pace, with time to take in the things which usually pass us by in a blur as we get pulled along. We pulled into the car park to find a good few other cars already there, along with a big white gazebo tent under which the rangers were busy preparing for the forage. After an initial briefing to introduce the rangers we headed off, following a footpath alongside the River Garry and it wasn't long before the rangers spotted some interesting mushrooms to show us.

Although not experts, the rangers were very knowledgeable on their mushrooms and had some good horror stories to tell us about some of the more poisonous varieties, and it certainly helped hammer home the message that you can never be too careful when it comes to picking wild mushrooms to eat. Someone in the group even managed to spot this lovely specimen - the rangers narrowed it down to two varieties of mushroom, both of which are among the top three most deadly mushrooms in the UK:

Eating just a sliver of one of these innocuous-looking beauties is enough to kill a human, so it was quite awe-inspiring just being in its presence. After examining the mushroom it was thrown back deep into the bushes and everyone who had handled it was very sensibly instructed to give their hands a thorough clean.

As we continued on the walk, we went from the extremely poisonous to the really rather tasty, finding a good stash of chanterelle mushrooms. The rangers told us how to pick edible mushrooms in such a way as to minimise damage to the main plant underground, and to ensure the longevity of the plant.

After this we moved onto other types of edible wild food, including yarrow which can be used to make tea, the roots of silver weed, and hazlenuts.

We then headed into the bilberry terrain to try out some of the commercial and home-made devices the rangers had brought along for bilberry picking. As veteran hand-pickers it was interesting to try the tools out, and they did certainly make the job somewhat faster and less messy, but I still think hand-picking is the most enjoyable method, as long as you don't mind having purple stained fingers and nails for the best part of a week afterwards.

We were running out of time so at this point we headed back to the car park with our findings and found the head ranger had been busy cooking up a storm while we'd been gone. We'd been out in the rain all morning so it was fantastic to be given a hot cup of tea, and then after we'd all washed our hands we were treated to a demonstration on how to skin a rabbit and gut a fish, and the fish was then cooked on an open fire for us all to try, accompanied by a zingy wild sorrel sauce. We then moved on to sample the rabbit stew which had been cooking all morning, and which was truly delicious. Among the other things on offer were wild nettle soup (also delicious), some pig nuts, wild sorrel, fresh hazelnuts, a plethora of jams and jellies served with bannock (a simple traditional scottish bread), and a vast array of cordials and syrups made from various foraged berries.

The day ended with a short overview of some of the good foraging books available to buy, and a quick feedback session. I couldn't believe how much had been crammed into this day - so much delicious food and such an interesting and inspiring day out. There was a lot of information to take in, but luckily the rangers were well-prepared with recipe booklets and information leaflets for us to take away with us.

We couldn't recommend this day out enough - our thanks to the Great Glen Way rangers for a wonderful informative day and lots of inspiring ideas.

Jen x

Eileen Donan Castle

We had to postpone our planned fishing trip due to adverse weather conditions and decided to take a trip down the road to Eileen Donan Castle instead.


What did Team Invergarry Lodge think of Eileen Donan?

Jen: "Fun filled, action packed, wild and wonderful"

Ben: "Majestic and windswept"

Matt: "Nice cake"


All in all, we'd recommend a visit, even if it's just for the tea shop.

--Team Invergarry

North Ridge of Aonach Air Chrith (and 5 wet Munros)

MWIS, the god of weather and his trusty sidekick Metcheck, told us (Rich and I) that the weather should be OK today until about 2ish so we tried to grab a quick scramble.

We set off bright and early from the bottom of Glen Shiel heading toward A' Chioch and following the north ridge to the summit of Aonach Air Chrith. We'd been going all of 5 minutes before the drizzle (or Mizzle as Crafty Helen would say) started, before we got to the bealach between the two tops we had to don full waterproofs.

The scrambling was really nice (apart from cold hands) with only one tricky bit where the narrow arete was wet and slippy, will definitely be back again to try it in the dry.

We reached the summit and walked along to the next Munro, Maol Chinn-Dearg, from here a descent path heads back down to the A87, we figured we couldn't get much wetter so decided we'd continue along the rest of the ridge and bag the other three Munros. It was basically just grey cloud all the way, it cleared a few times for the odd moment, at least the rain was coming from behind us. I think I managed to keep Rich's spirits up by singing "it's getting wetter, get-ting wet-ter every day" (from a recent TV advert I think) for at least half the walk.

Anyway, beats hostel chores.

--Matt

Glen Quoich/ Kinlochhourn fishing.

My fly fishing guru is due a visit to Invergarry soon but I couldn't wait any longer and headed out on my own.

The soothing gentle breeze, the crystal clear water lilting against the shore, the swoosh of the fly line as it flows back and forth through the air, the rhythmic clicking of the reel as more line is released, the periodic pops as eager fish break the surface, the barely perceptible ripples as the fly is presented to the fish with impeccable precision.... well, that was the dream!

It all seemed so simple when I practised in the garden. Apart from a few funny looks from people walking the Great Glen Way thinking I was fly fishing in our 4m2 pond it was fine. Out in the real world, at an actual proper real life loch though, different story. It was a bit windy and the hook was flying up all over the place, every time it flew past my head I was tensing up in case it caught me. Within 15 minutes I had hooked my jacket and then my hat.


I thought I'd better call it day before I had my eye out, luckily I'd planned for this eventuality and headed off a bit further down the road to try my luck with my other rod and the mackerel at Kinlochhourn.


Just my luck - some proper fishermen that seemed to know what they were doing! I hid around the corner so they wouldn't see how terrible I was, just close enough to hear them telling each other that it wasn't a high enough high tide for the mackeral. Great. I'd just about decided to give in and that I should have spent the day up a hill when the rod started twitching, and I came home with 2 (nearly 3!) fresh mackerel for tea. Result!

--Matt

Abriachan Bike Trails

I've not had that much luck the last couple of times I've been out on my bike, my chain snapped 200 metres into the ride last time then someone tried to steal my bike from under my nose but Rich was keen to test out his new toy. We headed over to the new (newish? new to me anyway) trails over at Abriachan where we hoped to have a quick blast before the wives required us back.

We had good fun playing on the see-saw next to the carpark but unfortunately luck was not on my side, within 5 minutes my chain snapped again, we spent 2o minutes getting it back on whilst receiving our first midge bites of the season. Joy.

We headed up the green run which soon changes in to a nice blue run and after swooping around some burns it heads up to the top of the hill, and we managed to enjoy a wee red section before my chain finally gave up again. Rather than spend another 20 minutes getting eaten and being made even later for our rendezvous I opted to free wheel down the trails as Rich told me it was all downhill. Mostly downhill would have been a more accurate description! It's funny, Rich didn't seem keen on letting me give his bike a test run after mine was chainless.


Rich had a play on the mini obstacle course at the end of the trails before we headed off in our different directions. Not a bad place, the trails are stacked so you warm up on the easier stuff as you get towards the harder reds which, by the way, seem quite hard for reds especially when freewheeling! Will be back again.

--Matt

Le tour de hebrides

We headed over to the Outer Hebrides for a spot of cycling this week, think we've (I've) been watching too much of the Tour De France. The sun came out and shined on us and we had a great time.

We really enjoyed cycling round Barra in perfect sunshine and lunch overlooking Kisimul Castle (we can recommend the burger at the Craigard hotel).

I think I won the yellow jersey - Jen is pregnant after all - she did however get the prize for most aggressive rider, do they do a prize for fastest lunch eater? They should, it was hotly contested.

We also spent a bit of time relaxing and taking in the sights, although we had to make an quick escape from the Isle of Berneray after skinny dipping on what we mistakenly thought was a deserted beach!

--Matt

Wild west coast camping

Whilst the "hostel sitter extraordinaire" was looking after Invergarry Lodge, we headed off "oop north" for a spot of wild camping with our friends Rick and Anna, you may remember them from such blogs as Jen Conquers Ben Tee and Agag's Groove on the Buckle.

Holiday highlights include some award winning fish and chips in Ullapool, some award winning pies in Lochinver and what should have been an award winning curry in Beauly, the lows involve being refused a cup of tea in a unmentionable hotel because it had gone 5pm!

In between the eating and drinking we managed a bit of scrambling on Stac Pollaidh


and a spot of wild camping

The sun didn't shine on us for much of the holiday, but it was good kite flying weather so we made the most of it!



--Matt

Handsomest rescue dog in Invergarry!

Dylan has done us proud at this years Invergarry Highland games!

Hill races, dance competitions, the heavy events, pah! The dog show was the big draw at this years games, I even spotted a world class climber from Fort William (hello Dave!) appreciating Dylan's award winning good looks.

6 categories altogether, Dylan was eligible for four and took prizes in two! He lost the puppy class due to some cute little contenders (and some underhand tactics from Ken - sending his dog in with his cute little nieces!) but he got a prize in the "rescue dog" category and the big one, "most handsome male".


Next year he's going for number 1 and I might even enter a race, or at least encourage Jenny to. Now, if I could just stop that dog from strutting around like he owns the place....

--Matt

A working holiday

We've had the inlaws (Jenny's side) up here this week and what a busy week it's been.

Days out to Inverness, taking in the local castles (Eilean Donan and Urquhart), visiting Glenfinnan to watch the Harry Potter train steam over head, mountain biking at Laggan Wolftrax, walks in Glen Nevis, boat cruises on Loch Ness, day trips to Skye and long walks in the Grey Corries and along the Shiel Ridge. Unfortunately, none of that was us....we were busy doing jobs around the hostel (mainly gardening) while the guests were out having all the fun.

Maybe one day they'll come up and it won't turn into a working holiday. Saying that, hostel sitter extraordinaire (my mum) is coming up next week and there are already comments in the guest book about her and she hasn't even arrived yet!

--Matt

Glengarry Highland Games!

We'd thought we'd better let you know that this weekend is the Glengarry Highland Games in Invergarry, 1pm at the shinty pitch.

We had great fun at the last one - watching the strong men toss the cabers and throw the weights, watching the Highland dancing competition and the pipe band, considering entering the races but eating sweets instead.


There's also a pet dog show so we may even take Dylan along, he did pretty well at the Lochaber Agricultural show last year, he's still proud of his rosette (don't tell him but everyone got one just for entering).

Hopefully we'll see you there!

--Matt

I should mention that I borrowed this photo from http://www.fife.50megs.com as can't find ours from last years games.

CMD Arete (with extra scrambley goodness)

Rich and I decided to head up to the CMD arete but made it slightly more interesting by adding an extra little ridge on the way.

The traditional approach is to start up the mountain track and cut across to Carn Mor Dearg, we thought we'd miss out the steep ascent of CMD by ascending up the east ridge of Carn Dearg Meadhonach from Allt Daim. From the lovely secluded glen (nice wild camp spot?) we headed up some lovely pink granite slabs for about a 100m and then continued up a slightly loose boulder field to the pinnacles (not difficult but slightly windy) with a couple of stops to admire the west face of Aonach Mor




Over the pinnacles we where presented with fine views of the north face, although the skies had clouded over, the way the the north face is suddenly presented to you as you come over the top from the pinnacles was great. We saw a few other walkers looking tried after their steep ascent and decided we'd made a good decision.

After a quick stop for photos, lunch and the "Hill food: frozen butties versus refrigerated butties" experiment results (long story, but since you asked....tasted the same but the frozen ones had kept their shape better!), we carried along the splendid looking ridge.



The going is easy but very enjoyable, the hardest part is the slog up the steep boulder field the reach the actual summit. You can stick to the crest of the ridge for maximum enjoyment but there seems to be a path slightly lower down so you can avoid anything you don't like the look of.

We spent a while at the summit looking for climbers on the north face (none) before heading off down the zig zags with half of Fort William (it was Rich's first visit to the Ben and he was amazed at how busy it was - he likes his mountains a bit quieter!) before splitting off at the half way lochan. The sun had come out again for the walk back to the car.

--Matt

More Wild Swimming...

There been a bit more wild swimming for team Invergarry Lodge (me, the wife and the dog). Thought I'd post a quick picture to make you jealous and let you know about the fine weather we are having up here...get up here and enjoy it while it lasts!

This not-so-top-secret swimming location isn't as idyllic and secluded as our other spot but this one has the advantage of being closer to an ice cream shop. It's a tough decision...

--Matt

Strathfarrar 4 - Dylan 9

I had a favour to do for someone which meant I had to head up north, I figured I may as well combine it with a Munro or 4.

I've always said the great thing about living up here is being able to wait for the nice weather before you head out for the hills, unfortunately that doesn't really explain why today I was out in gale force winds and ice cold horizontal rain.

The 4 Munros down Glen Strathfarrar are a funny mix, two nice interesting hills and two big round lumps. I was planning on heading east to west, doing the featureless lumps first, before getting to the interesting hills further along the ridge. The wind was supposed to be about 40 mph so I decided to do them the other way round so the wind would be partially behind me.

The weather looked like it might be ok but as we approached the ridge it got pretty bad. Dylan kept stopping and looking me - now I don't speak dog, but if I did I think Dylan would have been raising his eyebrow in a knowing way and nodding his head towards the way down.

I ignored him and pressed along the bleak looking ridge helped along by the wind. After the first summit things started looking up, the horizontal rain had stopped and the ridge ahead had cleared up so we headed up to summit number 2 for a spot of lunch.



Half way to summit number 3 we met some walkers I knew from staying with us at the hostel, they confirmed that I'd made a wise decision doing them west to east, they looked pretty windswept.



The last Munro passed uneventfully (apart from the rain was back) and we made our way back down to the glen which was bathed in glorious sunshine for our 6 km walk back to the start.

These four hills put Dylan's Munro total up to 9 - he's really excited about soon reaching double figures - well, he was excited, currently he's out sparko on the sofa and has been for 4 hours.

--Matt

Invergarry Bowls Champion....

.....Almost

A couple of weeks ago the Invergarry Bowls Annual Knockout competition finally came to a head and yours truly managed to make it through to the final - but tripped at the last hurdle.

I only started playing when we took over Invergarry Lodge last year but have thoroughly enjoyed it. I struggled a bit the first few weeks using a different set of borrowed bowls every game but my grandparents came to the rescue by donating their old faithfuls to Team Invergarry (Me and Jen).

Grandad had obviously taught his bowls to play well because they were great - made all the difference. Jon and I had a tense final, but I couldn't get the better of him.


Runner up's not bad though - I was even presented with a certificate (along with a hug!) from Marigold - much rather from her than the club president Dave! Notice the extreme through-the-legs technique and the mis-spelt name on the certificate.

Anyway, until next year Jon.....

--Matt