To-day Fort William won the Camanachd Cup, for the 4th time in a row

Shaking hands after the game - not true, I made this up
Originally uploaded by ufopilot

To-day Fort William won the Camanachd Cup for the 4th time in a row at Inverness. This is shinty we are talking about - this cup is the tops, the absolute tops in the sport. I'm telling you this, because a key player in the forward line of the Fort William team is John MacDonald, the husband of Michelle, our housekeeper.

John is the nicest, gentlest, softest sort of chap you could meet, unfailingly polite, always helpful. Except on a shinty pitch.

The game of shinty is older than the recorded history of Scotland. Christianity came after shinty and it is reputed that St Columba tried to pacify the players without success so he turned his attention to a lesser target, the Vikings.

Shinty is based roughly on hockey but with a lot of blood added. You can whack the opponents head, er sorry, ball, with either side of the stick. The hockey stick is kept below waist height but in shinty it was found that you can't do enough damage that way so they let you, indeed encourage you, to hit the ball in the air.

To start the game they throw the ball in the air and hit it. If the referee is English they throw him instead.

The game is absolutely splendid to watch, and we are very proud to know John. They have won it four years in a row, and it gets harder every year. Everyone, without exception are after Fort William. They don't win everything in the League, but they do go for this Cup, big time.

Well done, really good result. Could you do it a bit earlier than the last minute another time please lads?

John


Masses of information about Glencoe in our Home page
About Fort William
Hotels and B+Bs from Oban to Fort William
Walks around our Glencoe cottage beside the loch
Autumn short breaks in cottage, £200 off
Ben Nevis walking, a slog, but at least you can say you've done it

Jan Hamilton's pictures around Kentallen are lovely

This is a lovely photograph of our group of 4 terraced cottages at Kentallen. Ours is the 2nd from the right, one of the white ones. It was amongst a group of lovely photographs of the area taken by Jan Hamilton of Duror, our nearby little village. Jan took them for the new website for the Duror community and this link to to the Arts and Crafts page is where she is mentioned with her telephone number.

Thank you Jan for permission to reproduce it, we have put a small version of it on our Home page of the website

John
Cottage holidays Scotland in the Autumn, Winter, Spring
B&Bs and hotels in the West of Scotland
The highlands of Scotland
Holiday cottages anywhere
Gorgeous photographs of Glencoe
Beautiful Appin, Scotland
Walks around our cottage area in Glencoe
Hill walks in Glencoe
You can walk up Ben Nevis one day?
Munroes in Glencoe
Port Appin
Barcaldine
Accommodation in the area
Kentallen
Ballachulish
Onich

Glencoe Mountain ski resort set to go great guns again this Winter

There is no doubt about the enthusiasm and energy of the new Glencoe Mountain team - the ski resort in Glencoe. These are the winter/summer views. It is tremendous fun there.

They have turned themselves into what is called a Commnity Interest Company. This is a normal trading company but it is created for the benefit of the community and not for private advantage. It ends up belonging to the community. It might make it easier to attract financial support to upgrade the facilities. It already has the total support of the community in Glencoe - they keep us all involved as well.

The first move that the CIC has made is to cap the prices of season tickets at the same price as last year. Early bird season pass prices (Those bought before 30th Nov) are £250 for an Adult season pass & £125 for a junior season pass. Discounted season passes for local children are also available at only £75.

Here is a nice touch though. An example of how the community interest works. They have given us, and others, a set of vouchers so that we and our guests can get 20% off the chairlifts when we use the facilities.

That is the CIC working in practice. Good luck to you Andy, and your team. It is going great guns.

John

Holidays Scotland in the Autumn, Winter, Spring
B&Bs the West of Scotland, Oban, fort William, Glencoe
The west highlands of Scotland
Find your holiday cottage anywhere
Wonderful photographs of Glencoe
Appin, West Scotland
Walks in Glencoe
Hill walks in Glencoe
Do Ben Nevis, we dare you
Munroes in Glencoe
Port Appin, West coast
Barcaldine, West Coast
Accommodation in the area
Kentallen West coast
Ballachulish West coast
Onich West coast