Moray Club: 2009

Showing posts with label 2009. Show all posts

Wednesday

The Cobbler

Thursday 31 December

Hogmanay

The new path from the Loch Long carpark was covered in hard ice/snow.

Crampons on from the roadside; weird, especially as the lower slopes had no lying snow.

It was chilly so we togged up.

Andy, Grant, Bill and David made it a boys only day out, which is unusual.

Grant looking a cool dude - is that a cigarette in his hand?

Despite being the holiday period, the Cobbler was quiet.

Conditions were 'changeable' -

one moment bright sun - the next a sleety shower!

Progress was swift with Grant powering on ahead.

Someone once said, youth is wasted on the youth.

Where did our fitness go??

Passing by the Narnain boulders and across a small frozen stream we made a beeline for the central peak.

One of the 'old men' plodded on behind....

Do you remember the days when Bill
was always way out front?

Lots of puffing and cursing, well it was steep....

The sun played hide and seek behind the passing clouds.

We were lucky the showers kept missing us.

The SAR (search and rescue) helicopter made a considerable racket as it passed over.

We didn't wave, just in case of misinterpretation....

It was a biting wind but we found shelter just below the ridge.

It's a craggy old place.

Lovely strong sunshine as we ate our 'pieces',
Don't drop anything it's a long way down into Glen Croe!

Another craggy old face on the Cobbler

Isn't it always fascinating the way wind sculpts the snow, in this case a boot is the template.

Super to escape from all the commercialisation of Hogmanay.

Old Man and Youth posed for the classic Cobbler picture.

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Thursday

Tulchan Lodge - Glenalmond

Annual Dinner 2009

12th-13th December

One of the benefits of being part of a group is it's possible to hire large properties for the weekend at a cost that doesn't break the bank.

Tulchan Lodge could be classed as isolated - in a nice way.

One kilometre from the nearest road along a private farm track. It's also tucked behind a stand of trees.

You'll guess it's not easy to find; perfect for a club outing.

To add to the challenge it was thick freezing fog on Friday. Definitely a good test of navigation.

It was a real pea-souper and you couldn't see the house lights until you were almost at the front door.

Despite it's look as a traditional sporting lodge the house is quite new.

A spacious dining room is always good - and yes the gun cabinet has guns in it! All securely chained.

As usual the kitchen is the hub and Friday night saw a communal effort for dinner; homemade fish 'n chips.

Ron was a serious Chef de Chippie

After a good day on Schiehallion our Saturday dinner was home made venison stew.

The recipe is at the bottom of the blog. (requested by Julie)

It was also a special birthday for Bill and he was spoiled rotten.... ask him to demonstrate his storm kettle.

Andy was Head Bottle Washer and chief scrubber.

Lady Marguerita ensured standards were upheld.

No daft party games or boozy late night sessions,

serious stuff being discussed here.

The girls still had the energy (just) for a drunken sing-song.

Julie appears twice in this picture, see if you can spot her.

Two weary men enjoyed the luxury surroundings while letting their dinner go down.

The evening was rounded off nicely when everyone trooped out into the house grounds to look at the crystal clear night sky. Just so happens that this weekend was peak for the Geminid meteor shower.

With no street lights, no cloud and really dark skies we saw lots!

A fab weekend - up to the usual standard.

Julie, Eric, Andy, Elizabeth, Graham, Bill, Roni Dee, Ron, Jim, Helen & David

(& Henry on Sunday)

Casserole of Venison, Carrots & Mushrooms

Best results obtained in a slow cooker.

Dice the venison (haunch is best) dry with kitchen paper and toss in a little flour.

Sear the venison cubes in a hot pan with a little olive oil and quickly brown the venison all over.

Cook meat in small batches to ensure even colour and you don't reduce the pan's heat.

Add crushed garlic clove and cook till golden.

Transfer all to preheated slow cooker.

Add beef stock and red wine along with a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

Also add a bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

Ensure the meat is covered, any meat showing above the liquid will dry out.

Add Chantenay Carrots and halved mushrooms and leave in slow cooker to cook overnight.

Allow to cool and store in airtight container in fridge or freeze if not being used.

Defrost and reheat over a low heat.

Thicken gravy if needed.

A fine piece of meat - all gone not a scrap left

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Autumn Colours on Loch Lomond

Trip report from

our Open Canoe section!
17th October

The forecast for Saturday was particularly good, and a ‘phone call on Friday evening from Andy rallied a family outing of four boats. (well 3 boats & a Kayak)

During the summer months Milarrochy Bay on the east side of Loch Lomond is ‘hoaching’ and we were stunned (and delighted) to find it almost empty on such a beautiful day.

Amanda and Fraser, love adventure in the open air, their main concern was that we had brought enough lunch!

The red (slower) canoe set off ahead of the (speedier) green ones...! The shore slopes gently, there was much hilarity about not capsizing in 8 inches of still water!

Heading in the direction of Inchcruin, the mist slowly burned off the southern part of the Loch. We could tell it was going to be a cracking day…..

The wooded islands with a backdrop of the Luss hills in autumn colour made for a picturesque scene. It was very peaceful; the loch was almost empty of other craft.

The trees were starting to turn and in the bright sunshine they glowed.

Reflections were good, almost mirror image.

We had the beach on Inchmoan all to ourselves, yippee!

As well as playing Frisbee with the kids, we passed time playing that old Scottish game, ‘hunting for lost coins’

Couldn’t resist a pic of the boat, when you have so many good days it becomes one of the family!

Time for the obligatory photo of the group at feeding time,

‘Everybody squint into the sun please!’

Fantastically warm sun for October, little if any wind, and best of all NO JET SKIS!

A great family day out.

Spot the Frisbee!

Beach bums were; Colin, Bill, Amanda, Fraser, Frank, Andy, Susan, Roni, Elizabeth.

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Schiehallion in winter

The 2009 pre-Dinner walk

12th December

So here we are on Schiehallion again - approaching the summit rocks on a fairly typical winter's day.

Thick freezing mist and no views except the heels of the person you are following...

Dee was the trail maker, head down, plod, plod, plod...

Wraiths of mist flowed over and through our Schiehallion summit group. We can see blue sky above, will it clear?

It is bitterly cold.

We were all treated to a Brocken spectre, complete with glory. Not the best picture, but a special moment no matter how often it's seen.

For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon - a spectre appears when the sun shines from behind and you are looking down from a ridge/summit onto a bank of mist or cloud..

Your shadow is projected onto the mist and can appear huge; this is an optical illusion as there are usually no reference points to judge its size.

Your shadow also falls on constantly moving water droplets, confusing perception of depth. This 'ghost' can appear to move, sometimes quite suddenly, because of the movement of the cloud layer and variations in cloud density.

If you are lucky your shadow's head is often surrounded by the glowing halo-like rings of a glory, no - you are not sainted, these rings of coloured light appear directly opposite the sun when sunlight is reflected by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. The effect is caused by the diffraction of visible light.

So that's the technical bit, best just to enjoy the experience!

Today we were really lucky as the cloud melted away, just from our summit, and as Schiehallion sits alone the views are extensive

It's an uplifting and special moment when this happens.

Great feeling of space.

Even David was seen to crack a smile!!!

Now down through the cloud to our Tulchan Lodge Dinner.

Tonight's special treat - home cooked Venison Stew.

Yummy!

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Ben Venue

As Good As It Gets...starring Roni, Dee and Bill.

12 September

Being in the hills in great weather and good company; it just doesn't get any better than this.

Today's criteria; no early start, no long drive and not too challenging (sounds like a normal day then)

Ben Venue in the Trossachs was ideal.

Although the car park at the western end of Loch Achray was busy there wasn't many people about.

It was a fine September day. All the paths leading from the car park seem to head to Achray Water, hope there is a bridge.....

Ben Venue's summit faces you, question is, how long to the top?

The sun was pleasantly warm and Bill played on a path side rock - you can hardly call it an outcrop!

Achray Water has a picturesque fall easily seen from the forestry path.

The path - actually a good track - is bordered by lots of broom and if you stood still the ripe pods 'popped' loudly scattering seed on the ground - the right time, right place. Magic.