Article by Non-Member Shaz

The Rannoch Dinner Meet 2007 was a colourful affair featuring green lochs, white knuckles, black humour, blue jokes, red faces and pink sorbet.

The A Team (R, Gav and Shaz), on arrival at the Boat Hotel on Friday night, were met with a scene of elegance and refinement as the Advance Party (Mary and Andy) sat enjoying their drinks in the luxurious and elegant Residents Lounge, Mary looking every inch a lady as she sipped her G & T.

So who could have guessed that this idyllic scene had moments earlier been preceded by an extremely ugly scene which had culminated in Mary calling the barman a pr**k? Apparently, when Mary had tried to order a drink in the lounge bar of the hotel at 10pm, she had been told that the lounge bar was now closed and that she would have to go to the public bar. A heated three-way interchange ensued between Mary, the barman and the Hotel Manager but when Mary had finished carefully explaining to the Manager that a lady such as herself had no desire to drink in a ‘sh*tey wee bar like that’, the Manager, clearly recognising that he was indeed dealing with class, kindly offered to provide a bar service in the Residents Lounge just for Mary and her equally classy friends who were about to arrive at any minute.

A convivial evening ensued, the A Team and the Advance Party having now being joined by Tim for a few drinks (brought from the ‘Sh*tey Wee Bar’ on a tray to the ‘Residents Lounge’ by the Manager himself).

At the end of the evening, we all set off for the other end of Boat of Garten where we had accommodation booked at the very charming Fraoch Lodge. As far as the Lodge was concerned, we quickly established that the rules appeared to be that ‘anything goes’ as long as we removed our shoes/boots while doing it and stripped our beds before we left.

For once, plans to have a restrained evening in terms of booze in preparation for a tough hill day ahead were adhered to and, as a result, the team were up bright and early, ready for the meet with Fiona at Glenmore car park the next day for the ascent of Bynack More.

Unfortunately, Gavin was unable to join us due to a previous serious leg injury (although I suspect it was all part of an elaborate ploy to provide an excuse for a less than average performance in the forthcoming Rob Roy Challenge).

It was a most excellent hill day although a tad windy which is where the ‘white knuckles’ come in as we clung onto our walking poles to stop them (and us) blowing away in the extremely strong winds which had forced other less hardy individuals to turn back ahead of us (had he been there, Pud, I suspect, would not even have ventured out the car park). However, despite the adverse conditions, the team reached the top and were rewarded by a most pleasant walk back down as the wind had by then subsided.

As we walked back through the glen, past the stunning emerald green loch (Lochan Uainie), we were met by Gavin who, in a ‘Touching the Void’ type epic journey, had virtually crawled out along the path to meet us on our way back. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the team rushed on, anxious to complete the walk and get back in time for a few drinks in the bar before dinner, leaving Gavin to hobble back to his car on his own. (It’s the Rannoch way!)

And so to the Dinner itself…..By now, other Members had arrived from far and wide including C, Big Al, Wee Al, Carol, Hutch, Morton, Angela, Gordon, Stan, Liz and Freya. I thought the meal itself was very good indeed though clearly a bit more upmarket than The Rannoch were used to with canapés, amuse bouche, pink sorbet and the like all to contend with – and no chips nor indeed curry on offer. Still, at least the conversation was rooted firmly in the ground, if not the gutter, so no surprises there.

Many thanks to Rhona for all her efforts in arranging such a smooth-running and illustrious Dinner Meet which will hopefully set standards for future events. I am pretty sure I am right in thinking we already have a volunteer for next year – Tim? – and a suggestion for a venue – Port Sonachan Hotel, Loch Awe? – let the emails begin….


Shaz (Non Member)
June 2007