Numbers on the Christmas bus meet are difficult to break down but, 41 members and 1 guest on the bus, and 2 by car doing the walk. There were a further 5 members and 2 guests attending the meal. This was by far the largest attendance of members on a bus meet in 2016. I hope that this is a good sign of an increase in bus numbers for 2017.
First of all, a warm welcome to our new member, Teresa.
The bus started off from Inverness, at 8:00, and then continued to Forres. At Forres, there was slight delay, since one of our members (Jake) was now getting on at Elgin! From Forres the bus then made its way to Elgin. However, another ramblers association had a bus arriving at our pick up point in Elgin –so some of our keen members – keen to get out of the rain – rushed to pack their bags and get on the wrong bus. Fortunately, everyone got off and onto the right bus! Anyway, a further stop at Fogwatt and at Craigellachie, meant an almost full bus arrived at Dufftown at about 9:30. By now, the rain had stopped and it was very pleasant walking weather.
The first group of the bus were aiming to do the Speyside Way spur down to Craigellachie, followed by the continuation of the Speyside way to Aberlour.
The next group, Bob, Fiona, Tom and Stewart, set off to tackle Little Conval and Meikle Conval. Bob and Fiona successfully completed these two hills and made the journey back to Aberlour. Tom and Stewart raced up and down Meikle Conval before venturing over to Ben Rinnes to catch up with the main group of the day.
The final bus stop was at Ben Rinnes, where the largest group of the day set off for the traverse of Ben Rinnes. The weather was extremely mild and there were great vies all around until …well, the top was covered in mist. A nice discussion about windfarms and electricity/power generation on the descent.
Brocken Spectre on the summit of Ben Rinnes
A gathering on the summit Ben Rinnes
So, everyone was at the Aberlour Hotel for 16:00 for our meal. Unfortunately, the hotel staff were expecting us to be there by 15:30!!
Following the meal, the toast to the club, the President’s speech and the awards ceremonies. The winner of the President’s Award for Mountaineering Achievement was Shane Younie. This was in recognition primarily for his amazing progress in climbing (from nothing to multi-pitch E-graded mountain routes after only a few years), but also for his all-round mountaineering.
Shane Younie receiving the President’s Award for Mountaineering Achievement
Trophies for completing the munros were handed out to Shane Younie and Tom Summerscales.
Shane Younie receiving his quaich from the President (Joe Glennie)
Tom Summerscales receiving his Tankard
There were many worthy nominations for the Order of the Golden Boot Award, including most of the usual suspects (Drummond-NeverReady-Beattie – Torch/batteries; Simon Jacyna – Torch/Batteries; Fiona Duncan – Torch/batteries; Joe Glennie – Beer & crampons….to mention just a few). After much deliberation Rob Murray was deemed the winner. It’s probably best to speak directly to Rob if you want a full description. But put simply… Rain + Paper Map = Long Journey home.
Unfortunately, Rob was unavailable to collect his “award”
Christmas Meal at the Aberlour Hotel
A final reminder that there is no bus met in January and that the next scheduled bus meet is February 19th 2017 to the Cairngorms. It will include winter skills. Further details of the February meet will be posted on the website and Facebook early in the New Year. If anyone is wishing to go on a car meet in January, then do get in touch with me.
In the meantime, may I wish all our members, friends and family good health and happiness for 2017.