Its a little known fact that this year Santa subcontracted the delivery of Christmas to UPS. Why you may ask? Santa wanted a change - he is always working over Christmas and this year he wanted to join SMoG on their Christmas trip to Scotland - walking, biking, and eating and drinking. While in Scotland Santa gave me this interview...

Loch Trieg, The Easians and Stob Coire Sgriodain from Ben Teallach

RC: Santa, thanks very much for agreeing to talk with me. So - an outdoor sports holiday in Scotland. Is this your first holiday of this type, what did you get up to?

Santa: Thank you Rachel. Well, this is my first holiday of this type - in past years I have been whizzing around the world - just me and my reindeer - delivering Christmas presents to all the good little boys and girls. You know this is quite a tiring job - year after year - and I just wanted a change. What better than to get outside into the fresh, clean, and cool air of Scotland.

So what did I get up to? Well, over the five days we were there I had a couple of days biking and the rest of the days walking and munro bagging. Originally my plan was to go skiing as well but the snow was all washed away by the rain so I left my skis behind in Lappland. After a day out on the hills we all spent very pleasant evenings talking and drinking beer and whisky around the fire, often planning the next days walking.

RC: An an all important question - how was the weather?

Santa: We had a mixture of rain, wind, and sunny/overcast days. It was very mild for the time of year with temperatures getting up to 12 or 13C at times. When we arrived you could see snow on the tops that remained from the big fall in October, but by the time we left it had almost completely melted or washed away. On the tops it could be very windy - gusts up to 60mph. However, down in the valleys, protected from the wind, it was mostly pleasant walking, if wet underfoot at times. Apparently it hadn't rained for 3 weeks prior to our arrival - I am thinking of shifting Christmas next year to take advantage of this!

RC: You were there in Scotland with quite a big group. What did everybody else do?

Santa: Oh - lots of different things - here is a day by day list:

Saturday 21st December 2002

• From Loch Arkaig ascending up Gleann Cia-aig to Meall an Tagraidh (761m), Meall na h Eilde (838m), and Meall Coire nan Saobhaidh (826m), descending down Allt Dubh.

Sunday 22nd December 2002

• From Loch Laggan we cycled 5.7km and left our bikes. We ascended Beinna Chlachaie (1087m). There we met up with the next group (see below) and over to Geal Charne (1049m) back to the bikes for a hair raising ride down the road in the dark (MR, ML, SN, DF).
• From Loch Laggan walked up to Beinna Chlachaie (1087m) where we met the previous group, from there over Creag Pitroidh (924m) followed by a less than hair raising walk down the road back to the cars! (DS, IW, RH, RE, DN, RW).
• From Loch Laggan a leisurely cycle up to Ardverkie (better known as Glenbogle Castle from the BBC's TV series Monarch of the Glen) over to Lochan na H-Earba followed by a great descent in the daylight hours back to the cars at Loch Laggan. (RC, NL)

By Loch na H-Earba

Monday 23rd December 2002

It was very rainy and horrible weather so there was less walking and more tea drinking.

• From Loch Laggan, a very wet and windy walk up Creag Pitroidh (924m). (ML, MR)
• Glen Loy to small bothy where it was colder inside than out! And back again with two taking a high route over Druim Fada. Back to Cafe Chardon in Fort William for tea (highly recommended for their cakes too). (RC, NL, DN, IW, RW, DS, RE)
• Mountain biking in Leachanan Forest by Fort William. Mostly forest roads with some single track. The tracks were very soft so it was hard going at times. (DF, SN, RH)

Tuesday 24th December 2002

An epic SMoG trip from Courror station back to Tulloch station. An early start for all as we were aiming to catch the 8am train from our hostel to the next station up the line (Courror). We all made it with minutes to spare! We started walking at around 8.30am - still in the dark. Some of us might admit to still being in bed at 8.30am most days so this was quite an achievement.

• From Courror over Beinn la Lapp (937m). This takes the award for the earliest munro at 10.15am. From here we followed the ridge down into the forest and for a final bash on the railway line back to Tulloch station. Following the "tissue trail" on the railway track had some concerned, so all were required to wash their boots before coming back into the hostel! (ML, MR, DF, SN, RH, RE, DS)
• From Courror over Meall Garbh (973m) and Chno Dearg (1047m). As we descended below the clag line we got some fantastic views out over the Spean Valley (RC, NL, DN, IW).

Wednesday 25th December 2002

Possibly the best weather with sunny bright periods.

• From the hostel, following Allt A Chaorainn north to a col, climbed the ridge to Beinn Teallach (915m) and back down to the hostel in time for Xmas dinner. (RC, NL, IW, RW, DN, Santa)
• From Fersit to Stob Coire Easain (1116m) to Stob Coire Mheadhoin (1106m). We even had a brockenspectre - everybody was arguing as to whose image they could see in the spectre but of course everybody only sees their own! (RE, DS, ML, MR, IA, IA)
• Over to Glen Finnan where we biked 5km up to road. Left the bikes and walked up Sgurr na Coireachan (956m) over to Sgurr Thuilm (964m) then back down to the bikes. Fantastic views, and also the distinction of being the only people in Great Britain to have a white Christmas thanks to a brief snow flurry. There was an excellent descent down the road on the bikes. (RH, SN, DF).

Ben Teallach on Christmas Day 2002 (915m)

Thursday 26th December 2002

Most people headed back down South in order to get back to work on Friday. Those of us that remained had a fairly easy day of it.

• Over to Inverroy to get lost in the forest and to finally enjoy a view of Ben Tee. Followed by whisky tasting and tea drinking at Spean Bridge Mill tea shop. (RC, NL, IW, RW)

RC: What was your best day out?

Santa: That is a tough question Rachel. My first munro on Christmas day was definitely a highlight with great views. I also enjoyed the walk back from Courror station because it was committing - there was no turning back it was a one way trip!

Santa's First Munro - Ben Teallach (915m)

RC: Where did you stay?

Santa: We stayed in an independent backpackers hostel called Tulloch Station Lodge. Alan and Belinda, who run the hostel, are fun and friendly as well as being excellent cooks. The hostel itself is well equipped with probably the best drying room ever - even Santa's boots dried out over night!

RC: I know you must have been missing Mrs Claus and her Lappland cuisine, however I am sure the Scottish hospitality made up for that. What culinary delights did you sample?

Santa: Three course cooking every night was much better than Mrs Claus provides (but don't tell her that!). It was the first year I ate vennison before Christmas - usually I wait until after - its tricky delivering those presents without a full complement of reindeer! We also had a traditional Xmas turkey and deliciously creamy home made icecream on Christmas day. There was even vegetarian nut loaf for the non meat eaters amongst us. In summary yum, yum!

RC: I know this is rather a personal question, but could you tell me what you got for Christmas?

Santa: That's OK. Its funny you should ask because my alter ego - Secret Santa - gave us all presents on Christmas day! I personally didn't get any presents but due to my background and experience I supervised the handing out of the presents that were there! Thanks to everybody for joining in!

RC Would you go again?

Santa Definitely! So much to do and so little time! On my return to Lappland I will be reviewing UPS's performance over Christmas. I am sure they did a good job and I will be able to retire to enjoy another Scottish Christmas with SMoG.

Last Updated: 13 Oct 2005	© Slough Mountaineering Group	contact us