Invergarry Lodge

Archive for the ‘Tourism info’ Category

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.

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?

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

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.

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

Walk the line

A Wet And Grey Skye

The great thing about living up here is that you get the pick of the weather, the rainy days you stay in and do the hostel work, the nice days you get out and about. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always collide with having a baby sitter for the hostel.

My mum is here, ready, willing and trained up for any eventuality so we took the opportunity to get away for the night. We had some climbing planned on the Cuillin but the weather wasn’t playing ball when we got there so we decided we’d get on the tourist trail for the day and get something done the next day before we came back.

We had a nice day cruising round the shops, galleries, beaches and fish and chip shops but were itching to get something done in the hills. Unfortunately they’d disappeared from view completely by 3 in the afternoon. A restful night in the van, two cups of tea and bacon butties didn’t help the weather to improve dramatically for the morning and we where torn between getting wet in the hills and, er, staying dry in the van. The van won, and we were back on the tourist trail before heading home (via some more fish and chips).

To summarise our trip, we’d recommend Portree harbour for chips and Grumpys in Plockton for Fish, but that’s only if you can’t get to the one at the top of the locks in Fort Augustus.

Weather is looking better for tomorrow, better work off these chips!

–Matt

A bicycle made for two….

The latest addition to the Invergarry Lodge arsenal is a bicycle made for two. Early tests show it’s easy to use as long as Jenny stays at the rear and I promise not to try and ride no handed. The latest test run through the village have proved that cycling up hill is no easier with two, especially after stopping for cake. Unfortunately, being at the front stops me from checking that Jen is actually pedalling – lets just say I have my doubts.

In other news, Jen the little forager has got her eyes permanently open for free food these days and decided get her hands on some of the mushrooms that are all over the forest floor. As well as bagging another load of Bilberries, we ended up with this lot.

We didn’t really know which ones where poisonous or not so we ended up with quite a collection which we tried to identify when we got back. The white ones in the middle are definitely poisonous, the clue is in the name – deathcaps. The ones we could identify (chantrelles, oyster etc) we used in a special recipe – Cheese-on-toast-a-la-Jenneson – simply delicious, but there wasn’t “mushroom” for dessert!

We also found time to take Dylan the wonder dog to the Lochaber Agricultural Show. We thought it would be good to get him socialized with other dogs and after a poor start (hiding under the van from a terrier for 10 minutes) he got a bit braver and made some friends.

He even insisted he enter the pet parade, unfortunately he didn’t win (probably because he needed the toilet mid-parade) but it was a valiant effort and he got a rosette for taking part and he celebrated when he got home.

Anyway, now the hostel is quietening down a little as soon as this weather sorts itself out we can start having some big days out again.

–Matt

New Neighbours

The peace and tranquility at Invergarry Lodge has come to an end.

I thought the Highlands were supposed to be a friendly place with friendly people, not so our new neighbours – they just turn their backs on us and walk off whenever we try to make friends. Scruffy looking bunch as well, and nosey – always staring over the fence, very rude. The invitation to our barbecue for a nice burger didn’t go down especially well either.

We are expecting to receive complaints from our guests about prying eyes and a funny smell wafting over from the neighbours any time now.

In other news, it’s been an engaging time up here lately, the recreational activities have been put on hold because the in-laws are visiting and we’re working them hard. The garden particularly has received a lot of attention and the chicken run will soon be ready for some inhabitants.

–Matt