Loch Ness Newsletter - February 2012

Hello Everyone

If you have been reading our newsletters for some time now you will be aware that there always seems to be something going on around Loch Ness. And this year it will be no different. It is great to see the south side in particular feature in many of the planned outdoor events - both on land and water. We will make this a regular feature of our newsletter - either letting you know in advance of the planned events or telling you a little about them after they have happened.

The first big event planned for this year is the Great Glen Paddle Festival which will take place over the weekend of 23 and 24 March. To celebrate the opening of the Great Glen Canoe Trail and the fantastic paddling destination of the Great Glen and the Caledonian Canal, British Waterways Scotland have teamed up with the Scottish Canoe Association to bring the first Great Glen Paddle Festival. The event will be held in Fort Augustus and will have a number of workshops for everyone, whatever their level or knowledge.

On Saturday 5th May we have the Inaugural Man Versus Horse Competition. This is a 20K race starting at Inverfarigaig and taking in part of the new South Loch Ness Trail as well as part of the Trail of the 7 Lochs. As you may have picked up from the title - this is a race between human runners and horses! The first prize for the fastest time by either horse or human is £100. Graeme will be taking part so might we be £100 richer at the end??? Place your bets please! If you know of anyone who might be interested in taking part - runners or riders, you can get more information from candy@lochnessriding.co.uk.

But the biggest event of the first half of the year will again be Rockness which is being held this year on 8th, 9th and 10th June. Not only will Rockness 2012 have a fabulous lineup, including Mumford and Sons, Biffy Clyro, Ed Sheeran and Justice, to name just a few of the dozens of acts which will be appearing. But, in what will surely be the most fun journey of the summer, THE ROCKNESS EXPRESS is running for the first time and marks the Year of Creative Scotland. This specially chartered train will depart from London Euston, picking up festival goers at Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle, before arriving in Inverness. If you are a music fan or have friends or family who might be interested in this fabulous event plus train journey, then it is certainly worth finding out some more details.

But Rock Ness is not just about music this year. It will also play host to the Olympic torch on Saturday 9th June. The torch will be heading up the A82 from Glasgow and will be shown at Rock Ness before ending the day in Inverness. In the evening celebrations will be held in Inverness to mark the arrival of the torch so this is going to be a very busy weekend!

These are just a taster of the first main events coming up and if you are interested in finding out more about any of them or indeed checking out what might be on if you are heading for Hazelgrove this year, have a look at the Events page on the Hazelgrove website which lists everything which is planned on a month by month basis. 

But what has been happening in January and February? Just a few weeks ago the Forestry Commission came out to us here at Evergreen and spent a whole day chopping down about a dozen big trees which they had decided were too large and could be a threat to the house if they fell. Most of the trees they took down were to the right of Evergreen just as you start up the forest track but they also took down a few opposite the house. Graeme has already started chopping up the huge trunks and you will be pleased to know that we will probably have enough wood to burn in the Hazelgrove wood burning stove for at least 2 or 3 years!

This weekend we are heading up to Arising, just south of Malling where Graeme will be competing in his first Duathlon. Yes, with the purchase of the new bike at the tail end of last year, he has certainly picked up the cycling bug. The event is a run of 8km followed by a 25km cycle and ends with another run - only 5km this time. Having never completed in anything like this before, it will be interesting to learn about the best and quickest ways to do things - changing from running to cycling shoes and then back to running shoes is one of the things which springs to mind! We did have a dress rehearsal of sorts last Sunday which seemed to go well but I am sure it will be very different in the middle of a race and on a course that he is not familiar with. But it should be fun - as long as it is not pouring with rain or blowing a gale.

Speaking of which - we have had neither of late. While a lot of Europe was suffering from horrendously low temperatures and lots of snow, which then moved over to the southern part of the UK, here on Loch Ness we were experiencing unusually high temperatures for the time of year. I think I have only had to scrape ice off the car on two mornings before heading into Inverness which is normally unheard of for this time of year. This warmer weather obviously helps the wildlife - there doesn't seem to be so many red deer visible on the lower slopes - they are able to stay on higher ground as they can still get food as the ground is not covered by snow. I saw a couple of Sika deer just up the track from Evergreen when I was coming back from a walk a few days ago but they too are able to find enough to eat. This should be the same for the squirrels and the birds but my peanut and bird feeders still need filled up on a daily basis so all I can say is that we have both fat squirrels and fat birds!

Finally, we have had a great response to our special winter offer for Hazelgrove. I think the introduction of short breaks during the winter months has been very successful and we will certainly continue this in future years. I was looking at the bookings which we have for 2012 so far and there are two facts which stand out - almost 75% of guests coming to Hazelgrove bring their pets with them (we have a cat and two dogs staying at the moment!) and about 65% of our guests are returning to Hazelgrove - many for the third, fourth time or even more. So thank you everyone.

Till next month

Fiona and Graeme