GlenCoeHogmanay2006

Inchree, nr Onich.
29th December 2006 to 3rd January 2007

Present:
Catherine Jones, Gerard “Speedy G” Capes, Richard Andrews, Paul “Mr Hoff”               Hoffman, Mystery Dave Byrne, James Collingwood

What happened
On the 29th of December, 6 UMHC members and all their kit, and a stupendous amount of chocolates (baby friendly), took the Union bus with the wheelchair lift that got a flat tyre on the return trip from Nethy House and has a tape jammed in the tape deck, up to Inchree (once Speedy had located its whereabouts on the university campus). The lack of working tape player in the bus problem was resolved by use of an inverter from Mr Cooper and Speedy’s old tape player, to which an MP3 or CD player could be connected. We rocked up to Hamilton services in pretty quick time and by 3pm we had arrived at the Inchree centre: a very nice little hostel in Inchree with a big kitchen, nice communal area, comfy bunk beds, a decent drying room and a pub on-site.

After checking out the kitchen, cooking facilities and what goodies lay in the UMHC weekend food box, we headed off to Fort William Morrisons. Well where else do all good New Year trips start? After getting weird looks from buying the place out of bread rolls, and Mystery setting off an alarm in the supermarket (you cannot take Scousers anywhere), we returned to the hut for tea, a pint or two and then bed.

The 30th was Catherine’s birthday, and no better way to spend it than fighting our way through wind and hail and rain up Am Bodach in the Mamores. We literally touched the top, took a photo and then ran away before we were blown into Glen Nevis. We paused for “lunch” on the way down, where some classic quotes were made, but we all know that “what goes on the hill, stays on the hill” so they are unrepeatable here. After a brief visit to see what exactly is in the Ice Factor at Kinlochleven, we returned to Inchree. Also as it was Catherine’s Birthday, she was in charge of the music to and from Kinlochleven, so we didn’t have to listen to heavy, death, super-hard metal punk for once. Which was nice. Instead the delights of Smash Hits ’95 (oh yes) and other delightful tunes of a Belle and Sebastian nature filled the bus.

Not very much can be said about the evening other than after a nice meal in the pub we retired to the hostel. There we all had a fair amount to drink and international drinking rules were enforced resulting in the Birthday Girl drinking rather a lot and passing out. A top tip learned would be don’t drink and Jenga.

The weather on Hogmanay was wild. We attempted to go for a walk in the woods by the car park for Aonach Mor Ski Centre and find the disused tramway (secretly the lass with the map was trying to take the boys for a bit of a trek through the woods, this was quite hard though as it took 5 minutes before they would even consider getting out the minibus). However after sheltering in the trees to eat a chocolate bar, the decision was made to run away, run away. The uninitiated were then introduced to Nevis Sport Café. It may not be in the same league as Pete’s Eats, but this is Fort William.

Back to the hostel then for Hogmanay celebrations. Cue more wild weather and a power cut at about 10pm. At the pub the RAF mountain rescue provided some light for the bar, whilst the rest of the place was lit by head torches and candles. It was actually quite atmospheric. The first decision made of the new year was to not do Ben Nevis due to the lousy weather. So we claimed the Pap of Glencoe for UMHC for 2007. We pap, pap, papped to the top. We huddled in the shelter in the hail and had some chocolate before running away to the bottom again and met Gerard who had not come up due to his gammy knee. After an extended faff break at the bus to remove wet clothing, we sampled the Clachaig and trundled back to Inchree.

For the afternoon’s entertainment, we decided to go and have a look at Inchree Falls. On the way we passed the little men from the electricity board who were trying to get the power back on. We also found a swing and thus made Catherine’s day. On reaching the start of the forest walk to the falls, we split into two groups: Team Lame in Trainers (Lame G, Mystery and James), and Team We’ve Got the Map (Catherine, The Hoff and Richard). Team Lame decided to go widdershins round the walk. Wierdos. Team Mappage went the normal way round and it was a quality little bimble, with the waterfalls at the end. The waterfalls were very impressive. Team Lame got as far as the waterfalls (therefore walking approx 200m) and ran away. Wusses.

However, the weather forecast for our fourth and final day was much better, so we decided to go up Sgurr n-udliah in Glencoe. We set the alarm clocks and all were tucked up in bed by 11pm.

The last day was pretty good. Over three days we had learnt to co-ordinate faff well and were away from the hut at the back of 8am. Walking up the track in first light we walked up onto Sgor na h-ulaidh. The mist then rose to about 1100m, giving superb views over the western Highlands, both to the north and south. The walk onto the top of the hill was serious enough to require an ice-axe (a slip would have required an arrest) but the snow was not hard enough to warrant crampons. We enjoyed sunshine and no wind for lunch and faff at the top, before descending back to the coire. The descent was what would be described in a guide book as “entertaining”.

We returned to the layby at about 3pm to wait for Speedy G and the minibus (the gammy knee once again preventing the Geezer from being able to join us on the hill) and sped back to Inchree. For dinner we had planned pasta bake, but we had eaten all our cheese. The Hoff, Catherine and Richard then proceeded to go on a cheese hunt, but failed miserably. However all was not lost, stilton and breadcrumbs is a perfectly good substitute (taking Catherine on trips has its uses). In the evening we went a wee wander to the pub at Corran (a whole 10mins walk) and sampled the fine ales there in the lean-to bar at the back of the hotel.

On the 3rd we returned to Manchester. For some this meant returning to PhD study, others to work and for others the reality of finals revision. But it had been a good trip to a fabulous area and the accommodation would suit any future club trips well.