Our local Munros (Scottish mountains over 3,000 ft) are Sron a Choire Ghairbh and Meall na Teanga. Usually known as the Loch Lochy Munros, they rise dramatically up from the north side of Loch Lochy, clearly seen from the A82.
The usual ascent starts from Kilfinnan, a few minutes drive from the hostel. From Kilfinnan the route involves a few kilometres of forest road, which can often prove to be a bit of a slog, especially on the way back. These forest roads can quickly be dispensed with if you have a bike, but this limits your choice of route to a there and back – off the bike, follow a good path up to the bealach and then tick one, then the other. If you haven’t used a bike for the approach you get the choice of a couple of nice ridges to descend by, and the opportunity to bag a Corbett (Hills 2,500 to 3,000 ft high) Ben Tee – see the map below.
We’ve had perfect weather round these parts the last few days (and set to continue for the next few days) so Dylan and I took the chance to get a quick hill fix and headed up these hills today. I think Dylan enjoyed it, he definitely enjoyed meeting the man halfway up with the pork pie. Whether he enjoyed it or not, Dyls has barely moved since we got back – just the way we like him (I should probably clarify that Dylan is the hostel Labrador, you’ll know if you’ve met him).
Anyway, this is the view from the top of Meall na Teanga today, 360 panorama style – the visibility was excellent, such great views in every direction….
It’s been busy busy busy here at Invergarry Lodge, the mad summer rush has been going for about 6 weeks now and is only just showing signs of abating. I was beginning to feel like I was on a treadmill of bed-changing, cleaning, CBeebies and dog-walking, when my friend Anna asked if I fancied joining her on a charity 10k run up at Fort George. Glad of the chance to break the bed-making routine and get some much-needed exercise, I agreed, on two conditions – firstly that she arrange some better weather than the rain we’ve been having on-off for most of the summer, and secondly that she help me do a bit of free advertising with the wearing of an Invergarry Lodge running vest. She agreed to my terms, so we were on!
As promised the day dawned bright and sunny and I tootled up towards Beauly having made not a single bed, and feeling all the better for it. I tried to forget that I hadn’t actually been out for a run since my half-marathon back in May, and told myself it would just be a nice gentle jog in some nice scenery.
In fact, it was just that. The route was very pleasant and took in much of Ardersier including some lovely sea views, and if anything the sun was too hot in places as we sweated our way around the course. It wasn’t very hilly so made a great run for a beginner like Anna, and an out-of-practice amateur like me.
We didn’t do great with our veggies this year, we kind of got a bit distracted with Alby around the time we should have been getting things planted but we had a flash of inspiration today – a quick harvest of a few of the things that are ready and we created a lovely lunch…..freshly dug potatoes, spring onions, broad beans, rosemary from the herb garden, eggs from the chickens – the only thing that wasn’t home grown was the paprika!
We would have enjoyed this with a nice chilled glass of chardonnay except we don’t look old enough to buy wine in Fort Augustus!
–Matt
P.S Sorry that this is another food post, we’ll try not to let it turn into a food blog!
It’s been a day of intense competition today as we launched the inaugural Invergarry Lodge Alternative Triathlon.
During the first day of competition the boys went head to head at archery in the garden where I took an early lead on points and Ben (the young competitor from Yorkshire) was penalised some of the bonus points he earned fixing the hostel computer when he broke two of the arrows.
The second event of the day, admittedly a little unconventional for a triathlon, was pottery. Anna and Jen went head to head on the hostel’s new pottery wheel, it looked close to me but I’m told Anna snatched victory with her wee dish but Jen was definitely hot on her heels…
Third event of the day was Mountain Biking which consisted of a quick (ish) 7.5 mile loop around the forest, up the forest roads and down the narrow waymarked trails with a quick stop to collect some chanterelles to go on our homemade pizzas – the food of champions!
After a couple of recounts over some delicious post competition pizzas, the final results are in….everyone’s a winner at Invergarry Lodge!
It’s been two years since we planted our first fruit bushes at Invergarry Lodge, and this summer we got a fantastic first harvest of blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries. This means we’ve been indulging in plenty of desserts, including a brioche summer pudding, an apple and blackcurrant oaty crumble and my very own gooseberry delight, made with slow-roasted gooseberries, almond meringues, whipped cream and a sprinkling of toasted oatmeal.
This week we have also begun to take advantage of the wild harvests around Invergarry, starting with the beautiful Chanterelle mushrooms which are plentiful (if you know where to look!) in the local forests. With the help of some dried Porcinis, fresh basil and a handful of parmesan the Chanterelles made a fantastic wild mushroom risotto, and even Alby gave his portion (minus the Chanterelles) the thumbs up so it will definitely be appearing on our menu again!
We also recently spotted a bumper crop of wild raspberries along a nearby stretch of the Caledonian Canal, so we returned the following day with our tubs and collected enough for the aforementioned summer pudding with enough leftover to re-create Delia Smith’s delicious Raspberry and Pecan shortbreads:
All this and we haven’t even managed to get out for our annual bilberry harvest yet… if we make it in time we’ll also be able to add bilberry jam to our list of 2010 culinary adventures.
I’ve been meaning to run up Ben Nevis to see how fast I could do it since Jen ran up it two years ago, so I took the opportunity to combine it with a bit of hostel advertising. We considered an old fashioned sandwich board but thought they might be too cumbersome so settled for official Invergarry Lodge running vests.
It was a glorious day on the Ben, the hundreds of people heading up where rewarded with great views from the top . Lots of walkers meant there was lots of people to see our advertising and lots of people to spur me on.
I reached the top in 1 hour and 42 minutes feeling pretty good, I posed for a quick snap and took a quick snap of another group while trying swallowing a mars bar in one go and I was off again. Was great fun running down as fast as I could until about 20 minutes from the bottom my feet started burning - I could feel the blisters getting bigger and bigger with every step.
I made it back to the bridge at the bottom in 2 hours and 31 minutes. I think Team Invergarry Lodge can get a better official hostel time but for now I think I did the Team running vests proud.
–Matt
PS. My feet are in tatters, anyone know how to have a shower without getting the bottom of your feet wet?
Dylan the hostel labrador was swimming in Loch Ness the other day and got a bit spooked. Now anyone who has met Dylan will know he’s not a dog to easily get spooked, the only rational explanation we could find was that he saw the Loch Ness Monster.
We’ve not managed to catch the monster on camera yet but we always keep our eyes open just in case. Anyway, we had a bit of a google and found some photographic evidence…..
R.K. Wilson snapped this in 1934
Lachlan Stuart photo – 1951
Peter McNab – 1955
Sir Peter Scott got these in 1972 with special underwater equipment
and
Also from 1972 (a popular year)
Anthony Shiels caught this in 1977
More recently, this was captured on google earth
We also found this from more recent times….
Now, we’re no expert but firstly, this is not even Loch Ness (where are the hills) and secondly, this is clearly a seal.
Anyway, just thought these might be of interest to any Nessie hunters out there, keep your eyes open, you never know what you might see!
I’m supposed to be training for a Tranter round (18 Munros, 36 miles and 20,600 feet of ascent) in September so jumped at the chance for a day out with Rick, he had ideas about where to go but I mentioned a small hill on Skye that I’d fancied for ages that has great views – he didn’t take much convincing once I mentioned it has been called the finest viewpoint in Britain.
There are a few approaches to Sgurr Na Stri – Sligachan is the longest, over a wee bump from Loch Slapin is the shortest but we opted for the coastal path from Elgol, a narrow path running along the cliffs.
I’m not sure I can actually count it as training, it was only about 10 miles and very little of it got ran (it took us four hours) and although the ascent is hard work across some rough ground there is barely 2,000 foot of ascent – not ideal as a training day but check out the views! I’ll definitely be returning for a night out on this hill in the future.
If the big run isn’t until September – is it too early to start taking on reserves of energy, you know, chocolate and stuff?
Some people will do anything so they can enjoy a bar of chocolate or a piece of cake without the guilty feeling they’ll be piling on the pounds. Me? I normally run a 5 mile loop from the hostel and round the local forest, but every now and again I have to head up high and get my hill fix. While the hostel is busy it means setting off late in the evening after Alby has had his bath so Jen can take over hostel duties without an 8 month old hindrance.
Obviously setting off for the hills in the evening has its pros and cons. The cons: You often can’t tell how the weather will change in the evening, it’ll be a lot colder than it has been all day, you’ll more than likely be descending in the dark, after you get back you can’t sleep because you haven’t had time to unwind and finally, you miss out on your evening glass of wine!
There are also benefits – you’ll likely have the hill to yourself – which is great if you have our dog with you – and you get to see some amazing sights as the sun sets over the hills.
Last night wasn’t perfect weather-wise as I headed to A’Chralaig in Glen Shiel but was still rewarded with some nice views – your allotted bar of chocolate tastes a lot better when you feel you’ve earned it and you get to enjoy a view like this.
We regularly get asked about mountain biking round the local forest so we thought we’d make you a little video so you can see what it’s like…
Theres some lovely fast bits of descent all easily accessed by forest roads and can be linked together to make a longer or shorter ride – we have maps available at the hostel and can tell you which bits are the nicest. Great for an evening ride if you are in the area.
Bike-less but still want some of the action? You can rent bikes at highland activities at the south end of Loch Oich or head to Nevis Range or Laggan wolftrax for bike rental and dedicated trails. There are more trails if you head northwards at Abriachan and Balnain bike park.
If biking is not your thing we can still reccommend Glengarry Forest for a pleasant stroll along the river and up to the waterfalls.
