The venue for this year’s Christmas meet was Achnashellach which is always an excellent location for hill walking, but again, like last year’s Christmas meet, there was heavy rain for most of the day. Despite the awful weather forecast, thirty-nine members and one guest braved the conditions and were determined to enjoy the day. The Christmas meal was held at the nearby Ledgowan Hotel which is a typical old-style highland hotel and perfect for this type of function.
The heavy rain and predicted high winds restricted the walking options but George’s gang of Graham M, Graeme M, Alan, Fiona, Jake, Drummond, Dan, Colin, Bill, Steve, Denise and Brent got off at Craig for a low level walk through the Achnashellach forest.
After a wet slog through the later pathless terrain, they hit the road and hitched a lift back to the bus via a passing farmer and his sheep van. Priceless!
The only other sane walking option for the rest of the party was a direct assault on the bothy via the Coulags pass! This is normally an easy 3km stroll in summer but in winter there are some fearsome rivers to cross.
Everyone eventually managed to get across the rivers and tried to dry out in the bothy.
Ken had brought some coal and others collected wood to get a welcome fire going.
As the smoke started to fill the room and the rest of the group arrived, it was an opportunity for others to stretch their legs for a walk up towards the bealach below Maol Chean-dearg. An equally wet return to the bus consisted of even deeper rivers to cross and lots of fun trying to get across safely!
For the record, the river expedition party consisted of Andy L, John, Kat, Jennifer, Joe, Sheila, Sue, Ella, Jane, Richard, Desmond. Dougal, Tony, Mandy, Andy B, Ben, Natacha, Malcolm, Ray, Jerry, Ken, David, Sandy, Bob Mac, Lucy, Justyna, Chrissy and Patrick the dog. Great to see Chrissy drive all the way up from her home in Tayside for the meet.
After an excellent meal the President, Andy L made a brief speech to sum up the year which included mention of a record 40 new members joining! He then congratulated Dan on completing a first round of the Munros and presented him with a Quaich. Other congratulations were extended to Graeme M for finishing a 3rd round of Munros (and a 1st round for his dog Penny TWD), John and Dave McR for completing a round of the Grahams (221 Scottish hills between 2000ft(610m) & 2499ft(762m) with a drop of at least 150m on all sides). Lastly congrats also to Andy for finishing the New Donalds (118 hills in Central or Southern Scotland at least 2000ft high with a drop of at least 30m all round). Special thanks were also extended to Graeme M for sponsoring the purchase of the Quaich, Glen Moray for providing two bottles of whisky for the toast, and finally the hotel staff for delivering such an excellent Christmas meal.
Oh …. and Dan managed to “win” the Boot Award although it was a close call on the clapometer with other finalists Colin and Zippy !
The next Bus meet in the New Year will be to the Cairngorms on 18 January. On this meet, Ray and Steve have kindly agreed to carry out Winter skills transfer on the use of ice axes and crampons, etc. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please mention it when you make your bus meet booking.
Best wishes for 2015 and remember, ‘adventure is a balance between danger and safety’.
Report Author: John
Photos by: Dan, Ray and Andy