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2007 Archive Stories and pics from |
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2007 Archive Stories and pics from |
Donation | Provence on the Peaks | Caledonian Challenge | Treasurer turns 284 into 10!
New Munros (... again?)
but no .....!
.... another rush to Sutherland avoided!
Justin reported that a donation of £184 was sent to the
Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland,
made up from a proportion of our annual membership subscriptions and the
proceeds from Bob's raffle at the Christmas outing last year.
Well .. we did it! We arrived back in France on Wednesday night after an action-packed trip and subject to much acclaim from the group who had been with me in Scotland. The week went by very quickly but at the same time the group couldn't believe they had seen so much in such a little time. The minibus gave us a huge advantage over the original plans to use public transport. You might know already that there is a quirk with the British Driving Licences that allows anyone who passed their test in the UK before 1997 to drive a minibus up to 17 seats. After that the rules were brought into line with Europe limiting normal car licences to 9 seats including the driver.
Thursday 10 May on Ben Lomond introduced the full meaning of the word 'clag' to the French vocabulary and we had the well known four seasons in one day scenario well known to Scottish walkers, with some hailstones chucked in to complete the menu. Friday saw an easier walk (300m) from Loch Lomond over the moor to end at lunchtime in the Rhu Inn. After that we travelled up to the Drovers by Garelochhead, Arrochar and Tarbet to give them a glimpse of Loch Long. The Drovers looked worse than ever on the outside, and then we discovered it was still worse on the inside! It wasn't difficult to make them believe the place had not been painted since 1705. By contrast the rooms we had booked in the lodge on the opposite side of the road were superb, having been built only about 10 years ago.
Saturday saw us settled in at Fort William and Sunday was spent climbing to the summit of Ben Nevis where they were surprised and delighted to find a metre of snow at the summit. We enjoyed splendid (if intermittent) views of the country all around. By the time we got back to Fort William on Sunday night they were literally in high spirits as a bottle of whisky disappeared during the aperitif before dinner, not too serious when you consider it was divided amongst ten.
We left Fort William on Monday morning, passing by the distillery at Dalwhinnie for the guided tour and to replenish the stocks. You can see this trip was well watered. Then by A9 to Pitlochry for lunch with a stop at the Queen's View, then via Perth and Stirling to Glasgow. Tuesday was spent with a visit to the Cathedral at Glasgow, then the Kelvingrove Gallery newly refurbished which they thought was superb, and finally some time to do shopping in the city centre leaving me a couple of hours for a family visit on the south side, with the 'end of tour' dinner at the Bothy restaurant in the west end as a finishing touch. All in all a fairly hectic programme.
I've attached a couple of photos showing the group at the Drovers and on top of Ben Nevis just two of the many photos prized by the group as records of their visit to Scotland. My only problem now is that they liked it so much they are asking to come back again to do some of the hills further north, so if there is enough demand I can foresee a second trip at some time in the future.
In the meantime I hope your own weekend excursion to the Fisherfield area went well as planned. I've also noted some details of your re-visit to the Dolomites and I'll keep myself up to date on your plans in the event that I might be able to join you for part of the week. No promises at this stage.
However for your future plans I could help you organise a week in the Mercantour National Park or some other parts of the Alpes Maritimes where the 'Grandes Routes' are well set up for long distance or single centre walking. You would be sure of a warm welcome from the members of our walking group here.
Best regards to all in the club.
John and Liz Logie
Congratulations to Kenny MacKenzie who completed the Caledonian Challenge on Saturday/Sunday (16th/17th June).
You can view his results at http://siera.sportident.co.uk/caledonianchallenge/competitor.php?id=824
That's him on your left of the front row below ....
Kenny wishes to thank all Club members who contributed to his amazing total of £1100 raised for his nominated charities.
Treasurer makes Club Munroist total ten!
Congratulations to Tom Cuthbert who successfully climbed his last Munro on Saturday 15 September accompanied by friends and club members. Despite it being a rather damp day, Tom led his party to the summit of A'Ghlas-bheinn where the customary celebrations took place.
On their return to various abodes in and around the Shiel Bridge area, the support team later regrouped in the Kintail Lodge Hotel at 19:00 for a champagne reception and an excellent meal.
