Invergarry Lodge

Archive for the ‘Tourism info’ Category

Fort Augustus Golf

I’ve been craving a game of golf for a few months now, one of our regular dog walks goes along the caledonian canal  right past the Fort Augustus golf course and it looks very inviting on a nice sunny day. I’m not sure where these cravings have come from, my golfing experience is limited to rounds of Pitch and Putt over 12 years ago, but that wasn’t going to put me off. My brother James is visiting from New Zealand, he was also up for the challenge.

Apparently it is one of the hardest nine hole courses in Scotland….my brother James and I, although we are no experts on the subject, agree…it beat us good and proper.

There was quite a lot of ball hunting going on (mainly from my brother you understand)

We also had a small trolley malfunction…

Anyway, I won’t embarrass ourselves by putting our score cards on here but needless to say it wasn’t pretty and the pros have nothing to worry about, although on the final green, right next to the club house, in front of other golfers and the the man in charge…..I played the hole of my life and managed par!  Respectable!

£15 plus club hire for a round of 9 holes, £20 (I think) for the full 18 . Not a bad way to spend a few hours but don’t wear shorts if you expect to end up in the long stuff.

Matt

Glengarry Highland Games

A few photos from todays Highland games…a great day had by all by the looks of things.

Special Offers at Invergarry Lodge

To celebrate the launch of our new mailing list keeping you informed of any special offers or events at Invergarry Lodge (sign up at the bottom of this page) for the next month we are offering all 2011 bookings at 2010 prices (which were the same as 2009 prices!). The more you book, the more you save!

Call us on 01809 501 412 or email us at mail@invergarrylodge.co.uk to book now – just mention this offer when booking.

Now you can find us on Facebook too!

–Matt

Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence

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!

Mackerel Season has officially begun!

Rick and Anna are now officially on holiday at Invergarry Lodge (at least it seems that way) so today we headed down to Kinlochhourn to my proven fishing spot to try and catch us some dinner.

The drive down to Kinlochhourn was as spectacular as ever, highland cows and some big old stags standing guard along the road while an eagle soared above us. Success didn’t come straight away but it did come in the end, we left with three good fish, would have been four if it wasn’t for the one that jumped for freedom off Ricks’ rod as he brought it in to the shore.

Jenny put her culinary skills to the test when we got back and I can highly recommend freshly caught wild Scottish Mackerel with sesame oil, five spice, fresh ginger and lime, yum yum.

Nothing better than cooking freshly caught fish, we can lend you a rod if you fancy a go or you can  head down to the seven heads store and pick up some fishing supplies – and some frozen chips to serve with your catch!

–Matt

Caledonian Canoeing

Our friends Rick and Anna have graduated from kayaking and moved on to canoeing, we thought it only fair that we test out their new toy on our local loch – you know, to check it’s safe for them before they embark on their first expedition.

We headed to Loch Oich, as the smallest and shallowest loch in the Great Glen it was calm even when the weather is less than perfect like today. We had great fun and can happily report that it is safe for them to head out on their own. It all felt nice and stable and you can get up to a good speed, we can’t wait for them to invite us on a bigger excursion.

Fancy a piece of the action? You can rent canoes on the Loch Oich from highland activities or if you have your own there is a very handy insertion point near the Well of the Seven Heads.

–Matt
PS. Anyone selling a second hand canoe? – feel free to let us know!

Doggy Dylan does the double

The chief hostel mascot did us proud again at this years highland games – getting first place in two categories in the dog show, ok, one of the categories was “most disobedient dog” but still, a wins a win.

Unfortunately while we were supporting Dyls we missed the start of the hill race so that will have to wait until next year. Elsewhere at the games there was all the usual heavy events – caber tossing and the like, highland dancing and the lochaber pipe band etc but the shock of the day was that Jenny wasn’t chosen as parade queen! Scandal.

–Matt

Loch Ness Cruises

We always get asked about which Loch Ness cruise is the best by our guests – now, we’re ashamed to say it, but we’ve never been on a Loch Ness Cruise (unless  you count our kayaks).

Anyway, one of our guests came back today after a cruise onboard the Nessie Hunter which they thoroughly recommend.  So, unless another cruise company wants to offer us a cruise so that we can give a first hand opinion, we’ll be recommending them as well www.lochness-cruises.com

Come on Loch Ness Cruisers – stand up and be counted!

–Matt

Interactive Local Map

Sorry for the lack of posts since the blog redesign, the hostel has been so busy we’ve not had time for much. I did find a bit of time to create this interactive local map – we thought it’d be useful for people planning their stay. Anyway, it’s a bit of a work in progress at the moment so bear with us as we keep adding things of interest, we’ll also hook it up to the main site when we get two minutes.

View Invergarry and Surrounding Area in a larger map

If you think we’ve missed something out, feel free to let us know! mail@invergarrylodge.co.uk

-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.

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

–Matt