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

You can get to Staffa and Iona from our cottage in Appin. Ask Nathalie.

Dear John and Gillian. The sun was shining almost every day! It was just fantastic. We even had the sun shining on our boat trip to the Isle of Staffa and Iona. That was my personal highlight of the holiday for we saw both basking sharks and dolphins on our way to Staffa. The island itself is so beautiful and kind of...scary, dont you think? My mother loved the Isle of Iona, especially the white beach. She also fell in love with Oban and our trips to that town were really really fun. We walked very much and visited both Fort William and Inverness and it was really great. Two weeks are way to little time to see everything we wanted to see but we both want to go back as soon as possible.            Nathalie and Beate

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

It will be spectacular in Glencoe on September 18/19

The pic is from the website, here is the map of the route. http://www.scotlandcoasttocoast.com/route.html


Expect television coverage, the press, photographers all over the place in Glencoe in the weekend of September 18/19. That's when Glencoe is to be the finishing line for a wonderful 100 mile sporting challenge through the mountains over 2 days.

This is the ultimate for endurance, stamina, speed and skill. The "Nokia Coast to Coast challenge" should be pretty spectacular.

The Saturday will start with kayaking in the Moray Firth, away to the east of Inverness. Then they run to Cawdor castle, cycle down to Fort Augustus, finishing with kayaks again on Loch Ness.

On Sunday, they'll bike to Fort William, then run up Glen Nevis to Loch Leven along the West Highland Way, kayak across Loch Leven, and a run to the finish in Glencoe. Three levels of expertise are offered: Challenger level is over the 2 days, Racer and Expert categories Sunday only.

There will probably be many friends and familes staying in Glencoe that weekend, they ought to book early. Can't see many discount offers available then, can you?

John

20 brilliant walks around our cottage area
Easy hill walks in Glencoe
Why not walk up Ben Nevis one day?
Easier Munroe walks in Glencoe
Rock and Ice climbing in Glencoe
Cycling and fishing Glencoe
Spectacular wild life around our cottage
Golf in the Highlands, Dragons tooth golf course, Glencoe
Cruising the islands, using Glencoe as a base
Safe, beautiful beaches and bays in Glencoe area
Touring the Highlands by car from Glencoe,
Spring breaks, March April May Glencoe
Winter breaks, Jan Feb March in the cottage
Autumn breaks November December in the cottage
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