Quiet February?.....You must be joking!

James preparing a new delivery

Clachaig is buzzing at the moment as we go into the second week of our winter beer festival. The cellar is rammed with a selection of Scotland's finest cask ales from Cairngorm, Williams Bros, An Teallach, Glenfinnan & Caledonian to name but a few.

Plenty of things to do in the evening too, whisky & ale tastings, mountain safety lectures, quizzes & of course plenty of live music & craic by the bucket load.

Winter safety lecture

Meanwhile through in the lounge bar over 60 hardy outdoor enthusiasts enjoyed last nights lecture on
Winter Mountain Safety presented by Roger Wild (UIAGM Mountain Guide and ex Safety Advisor with the MCofS) The main focus of Roger's lectures was winter navigation, vital training that apparently paid off as some of them managed to navigate through to the boots bar afterwards....job done.

Books 'R' us

Following the recent makeover to our residents lounge we've added a couple of bookshelves and filled them with...er...books. Guests & visitors alike can borrow, buy or swap. All we ask is a few pennies for Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team. We've even come up with some innovative bookends....old whisky boxes...empty of course, sorry folks.

Everybody's got to learn sometime!

And to add to the workload we're busy training our 'newest' recruits as we gear up for a busy season. Jessica originally helped us out in our housekeeping team at weekends & during school holidays, but she's all 'growed' up now and has returned from her studies for a stint on the front desk....
......Still no Hawkers or Campbells but smiles all round & a friendly welcome guaranteed.

Get Real!

Have you noticed our "Customer Promise"? Take a peek at our web site and you'll find it there beneath the business name. It's a kind of "Ronseal" message; it tells you what you're going to get; does what it says on the tin. You'll notice that it features heavily on the 'real'. That's because for the last, er 27 years (yikes!) it's been the driving motivation behind our business. Good, honest, straight up hospitality.

 Clachaig & Carriages

So why do we mention this now? Well, have just been looking at an invite to a trade dinner in London. Not really our thing, especially as it'd mean a day missed on the hills/slopes at this time of year. But in reading the running order for the evening at the swanky top class hotel we noticed that the proceedings end at 2am with "Carriages".

 Now we might be country bumpkins after a quarter of a decade in the glen, but do folk in London really go home at the end of the night in Carriages? Get Real!

Clachaig. Real People, Real Hospitality Real Craic. And if you can't be bothered walking to your tent at the end of the night, book a taxi!

It's the little things that take the time

Finally, after what feels like months, our two and a half week simple refurbishment job is somewhere near what we might call complete. Despite getting off to a flying start, it was the little things that take so long to finish off. Even now we're still in need of a carpet repair and a couple of other details which are probably so small that you'd not notice them unless we told you. But being perfectionists...!

So here's a taster of the finished product. We think it's turned out rather well, and from the feedback so far, so do you!

 Room 6, Ossian Wing, Clachaig Inn, Glencoe

For a reminder of where we started from see our blog post from 8th December. And for plenty more pictures of the finished item, see the gallery pages on the Clachaig web site.

Did you miss all the drama as the refurbishment progressed? Feeling left out? Keep up to date with all things Clachaig and join us on either Facebook or Twitter.

Great chieftain o' the Puddin-race!

'scuse me, haggis coming through!'

Piper John MacCallum squeezing through a packed Boots bar on Saturday night as Clachaig paid tribute to Scotland's national bard in our own inimitable style. 

Following a few of the usual formalities (but not the boring bits) including the humane culling of a local wild haggis, White Rose carried out a ceremonial 'claymoring' of the beast much to the delight of the masses.

'His knife see Rustic-labour dight'

 

Dougie & Kevin were in fine voice as they addressed the haggis under the watchful eye of our Head Chef, Davy.
Rumours of several vegetarians seen heading for the toilets to the sound of  'trenching your gushing entrails bright!' as everyone raised a glass of uisge beatha.

A great night was had by all judging by the late, and missing breakfast guests this morning......obviously the free haggis is to blame!

For Auld Lang Syne

Whiterose bring in 2011 to the masses
(Photo by Ashley Duckerin)

  Why settle for one hogmanay party when you can have two! Whiterose duo Dougie & Kevin play to a packed Boots bar whilst........

Boots Bar revelers
(Photo by Ashley Duckerin)

......meanwhile, through in the Bidean Lounge, Bonnie & Jim entertain a select audience of residents & old friends 'til the wee sma' hours!

If there's room to sit, there's room to dance
 (Photo by Ashley Duckerin)

What to wear....Kilt or Lederhosen?
(Photo by Ashley Duckerin)

A picture says a thousand words and judging by these pics everyone had a great time during the New Year celebrations.

A big thank you from all at Clachaig to the many visitors & guests who graced our humble Inn over Hogmanay. We wish you a Happy New Year & all the very best for 2011.

Some of our front line troops...still up for a party!
(Photo by Carol Harper)

Of course all this fun & frivolity would not be possible without the care & attention that our hard working staff lavished on our customers & guests to make this years celebrations a bit special....Thanks for all your efforts.

Ossian Bedrooms Refurbishment

How are you liking our new feature bathrooms. Why hide your bath in a little en suite when you can have a bath right slap bang in the middle of your bedroom?!

Room 5 with a new look

We're now half way through our project to completely refurbish our 4 bedrooms in the Ossian Wing. Chaos rules. Despite working inside, the wild winter weather has been taking its toll, mostly because many of our trades are coming up from the Central Belt. Or not, as the case may be!

We've gone right back to the guts of the building on this one. We've found some very old original panelling, and some very wacky wallpaper which would probably be quite fashionable now if it wasn't so faded by generations of being hidden away. Much of that is now disappearing again as we start to put it back together.

Room 4 - from this...

As you can see, the bathrooms are being completely rebuilt. New baths, fully tiled throughout, heated towel rails... And the bedrooms also get a complete once over with new furniture, new radiators, 26" flat screen TVs, new carpets and some fairly bold wallpaper.

 

 ... to this. Room 4 at the moment!

 Meanwhile chaos also reigns at The Grog & Gruel where we're also midway through the makeover. Only another week and this will all be a distant memory, and it will all be calm and peaceful again. Or so we're told!

Room 5 bathroom - minus bath

The wee resident's lounge is also getting a bit of TLC too. Stone walls, bold wallpaper and some timber panelling will give it a completely new look. We're also creating a little book corner - more news about that later. The only slightly worrying thing is that we still haven't selected a wallpaper for the corridors!

Winter has arrived!

There is no escaping the news that Winter has arrived in Scotland and with that the ski season is about to kick off. Being located close to Glencoe Mountain Resort they provided us with the following information to share with you.

View from the summit at Glencoe Mountain

Glencoe Mountain Resort, the UK’s original snow-sports destination is now gearing up for the 2010/2011 season. With heavy snow falling all over the country Glencoe looks like it is on track to have it’s earliest ever opening. For details about the opening date and to receive weather and news updates from the centre please go to www.glencoemountain.com/signup.html

Over the summer there has been lots going on at Glencoe including the creation of a brand new beginner’s area with its very own tow exclusively for the snow sports school. This will make the learning experience even better than before. Work is also ongoing with creating a brand new terrain park. This park will have exciting new features for advanced riders and also a brand new beginner’s area making the park accessible to all levels of skier and snowboarder. Freestyle lessons will be available on a daily basis through the snow sports school. If you need to hire skis or a snowboard then you won’t be disappointed – 70% of all our boards and skis are brand new for this season. We also for the first time ever have top of the range Trespass ski suits available for hire. This is on top of what’s always been available at Glencoe – namely the amazing off piste opportunities, the steepest black run in the UK, great natural gullies and features and some of the best beginner’s terrain in the country. Combine that with one of the best ski schools in the country, friendly staff and a great community feel and we are confident you will have a great time whatever the weather.

See you soon at Scotland’s original and best ski area www.glencoemountain.com