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