Caiplie House Goings On

In the early and mid-eighties I spent a great deal of time on Cairngorm mountain. With great snow winters we skied from Christmas to Easter and sometimes beyond.

It was a great place, a friendly place, a fun place. So it has been with some sadness I have watched as the industry has dwindled in Scotland.With a little guilt I have taken off to the Alps every winter for the last fifteen years

When I got the chance to work for The Ski School on Cairngorm last week I was delighted. However it was like going back to a house you used to live in and the new owners have made big changes! No chairlifts some old t-bars gone, some new lifts and a TRAIN!

What a week as good a snow cover as I have ever seen (As good as Easter 1983)

We could ski all over and I made the most of the light, dry snow, climbing up towards the summitt after work to ski The Coronation Wall a couple of times. The last time I did that was at Easter 1983 on April Fools day and our little group skied out of an avalanche. Our ski instructress had some explaining to do!

What a great week visiting old nooks and crannies we had enjoyed as kids. All the old jumps are in the same places. Children I knew stared out of forty year old faces.Eyes twinkling.

I love Fife but it really is flat after a spell in the Alps! I look at the Lomonds with longing and even Largo Law excites me.

So it was with great excitement that we charged off into the Perthshire hills on Monday. We purchased a new OS map, filled the flask with soup and set of for some high ground.

We found ourselves in the little known Glen Artnay.A trudge up a hillside found us above 600m and snow patches! We startled a herd of red deer who looked more than surprised to find humans on their hill!

With views up to a white Ben Vorlich, the buzzards circling and the stags roaming the hillsides you couldn’t ask for much more.

Now where is the coast?

I headed up to Pila on Sunday to play at The Burns night. 1807 m asl, my highest yet!

Earlier in the day Dad and I had headed into Aosta town for lunch (Trattoria Praetoria, very nice)

At the end of lunch a paraded started to pass the restaurant and we were treated to a fabulous display of folk groups, medieval groups, bands and dancers!

This was the warm up for Feria Sant’Orso taking place in town this weekend, celebrating evrything wooden! Oh and some vino caldo

Of course there is a clash with Aosta Burns night!!

The Quo to play Bogbain

As denim clad teenagers Status Quo blared out from our cassette decks. Now my mate Bruce is to host The Quo in his back yard!
1st of May 2010 at Bogbain Farm

We can hardly believe it and of course are all offering our services back stage!

This is always in danger of falling into serious rant category when I start on about the Scottish football team!!

So here we are again looking for a new manager, new direction and some new ideas.

I was never a Burley fan but I would say his departure has been badly managed, surely the time to let him go was after the failed world cup qualification? Now the executive look like they are making it up as they go along and are surely a much a part of the problem.

But what is the solution?
I am….and you are!!

For Burley to be axed is probably correct however I think we are really treating the symptoms and not getting to the root cause. There is not the quality of players available to the Scottish manager to produce a consistently good side.

This is due to a number of issues but mostly due to the relatively small numbers of players. Less kids play football in Scotland than used to. We need as many boys playing football as possible.

That means YOU and I have to make sure our sons, nephews and neighbours kids are playing football! Don’t get them a Wii for their Christmas….get them a ball!

Secondly we have to make sure those people involved in running teams are good coaches, that means developing skills from an early age.

We do not all have to be out with a tracksuit forcing our kids out for early morning runs. Enjoyment still has to be the focus!

If every body who is interested in Scottish footbal helps a little we may see progress in 10-15 years time.

Until we all try those that choose to boo Scotland have to have a look at themselves and ask what have they done…….travelling to Cardiff and paying for a ticket is not enough guys!!

One of the classic statements I hear when people arrive at Caiplie House is ” I don’t think we took the fast road”. Well there is no fast road! I guess that is part of the charm, however the downside is waiting for late arrivals. A good time from the Forth Bridge to Crail is 55 mins but for those that don’t know the road or have trouble with signs and road maps 90mins is not unheard of.

On Tuesday night we had a couple of guys who started calling at 1930hrs from Lochgelly (good trip 47mins) It became apparent they had no map no directions and no clue. My promptings using points of the compass were quickly rejected.
Their only technique seemed to be to drive in random directions for twenty minutes and call us to tell us where they were. What with language difficulties and phone reception these two guys visitited Leven twice (2030hrs and 2130hrs) and also Lethan for good measure (2000hrs) From phone call number three I was actually giving the directions to the Travel Lodge at Glenrothes but seemingly driving past it three times they failed to stop and check in!!

At 2300hrs after 90mins silence (a good trip to Leith) I called to enquire as to their location.

“Just checking in to a hotel in Upper Lardo” came the reply

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