Crannog in Midwinter

The Doubleus are going to be joined for Christmas this year by the Irving clan. Meyrick had a rather uneventful trip up from London despite the weather. On the other hand, the overnight flight that Tony and Chris took from Cape Town via Istanbul was one of the last to land at Heathrow before the snow and ice really took hold. Reward for this was a 2 hour wait on the runway followed by a 2 hour wait on the tube followed by a 4 hour train trip to Newcastle.

Feeling that they hadn't done enough travelling, after a few days this "hardened northern posse" decided to brave the snow, ice and feezing fog and venture up to the cottage at Gatehouse.

Temperatures of minus 12'c greeted us on arrival. But a crystal clear night sky with a full moon gave way to a very crisp still day with a perfect blue sky. So after a warming breakfast of porridge (what else in a Scottish winter?), we set off for our walk with Jeff in Laurieston Woods.

Jeff was a little perturbed to find one of his all-time favourite drinking streams frozen solid. Not one to let his spirits be dampened, he quickly got stuck in to a bit of ice skating! It looked such fun that by the end of the walk we'd all had a go!