Christmas 2009 was at
Ballimore Estate in Argyll, near Taynuilt, Kilchrenan and Loch Awe. There were 18 of us for Christmas Day and it was amazing.
The beginning was eventful, shall we say. The London folk arrived on their train on time and we headed off in our hire cars from the airport a bit before 4. So it was definitely dark by the time we arrived at the estate. For the past 24 hours or so it had been snowing on and off and we had been warned that we might not be able to get the cars up the private road to the house. We tried anyway, but all three cars got stuck. We weren't able to get hold of the farmer so while the boys tried getting the front car further along the road most of the girls grabbed some luggage and walked the rest of the track up to the house. Meanwhile, the farmer turned up and ferried the boys and the food and alcohol up to house. We ended up eating at about 11...
Next day a few of us spent about 4 or 5 hours getting all the cars back out to the main road, as it was clear that the track was too snowy and icy for us to get them to the house. And Niall, the farmer, very kindly leant us a four wheel drive so that we could get between the main road and the house. And I was the designated driver!
The rest of the week was full of sunshine, a wee bit more snow, eating amazing food, sledging, and drinking and partying of course. Special mention has to go to the crew that went supermarket shopping in Oban for our Christmas week supplies. They were gone for 6 hours and all looked rather shell-shocked when they returned. But it was much appreciated and we definitely did not go hungry or thirsty.
Anothe rhighlight was our trip to Ardanaseig Hotel - quite expensive for a soup and sandwich lunch but an amazing view and fantastic Christmas tree!
Christmas dinner was roast goose, lamb, gammon, nut roast, haggis, vege haggis, and lots of roasted veggies. It all turned out perfectly and was ready at the same time! Luckily we had two ovens :-) The party continued until 6am the next day, but I crashed out much earlier than that unfortunately.
Getting out of the house the following Sunday also proved to be bit of a mission, with my taxi-ing skills being put to full use. In the end though, those that had to make it back to Glasgow for their train to London did (thanks to Jared dropping off two rental cars), and Adam and Sarah spent an extra night in the cottage. They had arrived mid week and picked up some chains on the way so they could get the car to the house. So far, so good. But when they went to leave on the Sunday, one of the chains broke on the first decent hill and Niall was not able to tow them out with his Range Rover. He had to go and so the rescue mission with the tractor had to wait until the next day. Luckily, that was successful.
Jared and I came back to Glasgow and had one night here. We went and met up with Trish, Jo, Steve, Esther, Manu, and Trish's friend Stu and ended up with a drink at the Hilton and getting home at 2am. This was not the best recipe for getting up to the
Ardnamurchan Peninsula early the next day ;-) We weren't in a particular hurry though, and Glencoe was pretty amazing at sunset with all the snow on Rannoch Moor and the hills.
Fourteen of us were staying at Achateny
House and
Cottage on the Ardnamurchan Estate, although the first night we were there there were just five. Jared and I were in the cottage. We couldn't see much when we got there, it being dark, but in the morning we saw that we had the most amazing view of the Isles of Rum, Eigg, Muck and Skye. We had pretty clear weather the whole week and it was just incredible to see the snow capped Cuillin (ridge) of Skye the whole time.
The first day was pretty lazy because we needed a rest and Jared had come down with a bad cold. We picked up Manu in the evening from Lochailort station, which is one where you have to ask the conductor to stop otherwise the train will just keep on going! When we got back most of the rest of the crew had arrived so dinner and drinks followed - all good :-)
The next day we went to the Nevis Range to try to go skiing but it was on hold due to high winds, so we decided to go to Glencoe. Mic's first snowboarding experience!! Woohoo!!!! It was a good day but really cold. I mostly just took it easy but it definitely got me excited about going to Mayrhofen in Austria in January! :-D
Then it was New Year's Eve. In the afternoon we went to the westernmost point of mainland Britain, the
Ardnamurchan lighthouse, and for a walk on the beach at
Sanna.
The main festivities were a 5-10 minute drive away with some of Andy's friends - another 12 people! The highlight of the evening was after the bells when we got
first-footed by a bagpiper and a few other guys. After the customary round of whiskeys he agreed to play a few ceilidh songs for us, so we had a proper Scottish ceilidh for our Hogmanay!
About 6am we realised that the only people still partying (apart from one) were from Achateny so we decided it was time to walk back to our houses. This was supposed to take 45 minutes but took us an hour and half. it was okay though because it wasn't too cold and we could see Skye from the strength of the moonlight!! Definitely one to remember.
Needless to say the next day we were all pretty broken but a roast meal was planned and executed and was absolutely fantastic. The following day was leaving day :-(
Andy's van had a flat tyre so we waited for the recovery truck then headed off towards Fort William where we were rewarded with amazing views of Ben Nevis. I've never seen it so clear. We carried on and had a late lunch at the
Clachaig. I could've stayed there all night, sampling the different ales, but we headed off and got home at a reasonable hour.
All in all, a very Scottish holiday season :-)
Mark, Claudette, Henry the snowman and Ange
Henry enjoying a Magners
Snow white Argyll
The lads having a serious conversation by the fire
Me in the 4WD!!
Dancing with glowing juggling balls
