Glenshee

Four Bawbags, a Royksopp and Two Naan Breads (by ra way!)

Well, the Westies’ Glenshee weekend went off with a bang. A superb turnout of around 25 converged on a hostelry that, in comparison with Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, was more like a hotel. The atmosphere was one of relaxation. For those who arrived on Friday night, the atmosphere was compounded by the excellent entertainment in the hotel down the road. Never has there been such a joyous rendition of ‘I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts’. The westies partied on all night with the visiting bus party.

On the Saturday, everybody was up nice and early to prepare for their respective ventures. Best preparation of the morning wasn’t from Big Al II, studiously following his pre-race formula of porridge and a boiled egg. No, it was from Steffen, who also had an egg…………….fried; with a full accompaniment of bacon, tattie scone, black pudding, mushrooms, chips, toast, sausage, tomato, white pudding, french bread, two naans and a couple of pots of tea to help him rehydrate. This obviously paid dividends going by the look on his face after ten miles running in the Clachnaben hill race later that afternoon. (So take note all you budding racers/Damon etc.) As it turned out, Clachnaben was treated to warm and dry weather for most of the day, in direct contrast to Glenshee; blanketed in low cloud and misty rain. Some adventurous runs were cut short or altered as a result.

The relaxed ethos eaked it’s way into early evening, with everybody very laid-back about organising dinner. Most of the men were just waiting for the wummin to take their rightful place in the kitchen. So the wummin (Gillian, Steffen and Helen) glady appeased and served up a right cracker of a banquet. The food was top class, however Pat’s tomato sauce and Gillian’s cheesecake deserve a special mention.

After dinner, and before the dancing started, a very serious issue was dealt with…..the curry issue. The instigators of the debate (Manny and Jim) were conspicuous by their abscence. The decision to stick with tradition or reflect the new era represented by Glenshee was hotly fought over. The result: a combination of both! Curry nights alternating between traditional city centre fare and those undiscovered gems within our own backyard, the west-end. Details will be posted on the website very soon.

At last, the dancing started, and it didn’t take Super Mo and Gillian long before they got into the swing of things. Key moments included, Gillian jiving with the Couch; Ian S. shoogling about rather niftily; Steffen demonstrating a nice stiff type of dance-move; Big Dave treated us all to an extreme form of belly dancing, while wearing a lampshade on his head, and Captain Charsel did a fine DJ-ing job (just think what the man could do with two decks!). Most enjoyable moment was the impromtu and rapturous rendition of ‘Mabawsa Ritchie’ when Tony entered the fray around midnight. On a sad note, and I’m sure I speak for many others on this topic, was the lack of ear-splitting harmonising usually provided by Big Al I. WHERE WAS BIG AL I? We missed him, ra bawbag.

GOSSIP TIME…….in the early hours Muffy was seen leaving the building……….to go for her long Sunday run. On her return she gave Charsel a big whopping kiss through the dining room window!

After breakfast, all those still up for a run, competed in a wee relay race organised by Big Dave. Some headed off early though, to get in another 40miles and 10,000feet ascent before lunchtime.

Great weekend……………lets do it again!

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