HOGMONAY

The Dornoch Castle Hotel In Dornoch

We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time. When we were here last February, shortly after Trish's ski accident, we resolved to return within the year and thought to come back and what better time of year to come than during the world famous hogmonay celebrations to welcome in the New Year.

So on Tuesday we caught an Easy Jet flight to Inverness and was met by my very good friend Rob Jones, who transported us to his Lochside residence in the small village of Bonar Bridge. We were welcomed by his wife Cara and their three children who were all still enjoying the Christmas family holiday. Of course, Rob and I are big cricket fans and the first night was spent watching the England cricket team retain The Ashes against Australia in Melbourne. Naturally we had to celebrate with a 'wee dram'. Rob needs no excuse for a 'wee dram' . In fact, there was a block of ice in the loch we can see from our bedroom window which melted before the other blocks and I was afraid a 'wee dram' may be required to celebrate that too!

Ashes retained!

The next day dawned clear accross the the loch, and reasonably bright. As always, Rob is at his best when touring his local area, pointing out places of interest and then imparting his considerable historical knowledge. He had a big shopping list to resolve so he dropped us off in Dornoch. This small town is on Dornoch Firth, the only estuary in western Europe not be industrialised. (more Jonesfacts) and boasts, one of the ten top golf courses in the world.(Jonesfacts) On previous visits, we had looked at the course and on one occasion given the impression we were going to actually play it. Of course one would need to pay a considerable green fee to do that! This time the course was under a blanket of snow. So Trish and I walked the beach which ajoins the course for an hour and a half. How strange it was to see snow lying on the sand.

Snow on the beach at Dornoch

After a couple of beers at The Dornoch Castle Hotel, where after his arduous shopping expedition the Jones collected us, we returned to Bonar Bridge to prepair for the evening's entertainment which was a fancy dress birthday party for one of Cara and Rob's friends. About twenty guests in all turned up for the festivities and the evening culminated in an Abba singalong for all of those that were not watching Match Of The Day in Rob's study. I am happy to say Trish joined in with this and when I looked at the scoreboard, she and her partner were well in the lead!