MONADH CHRISTMAS

The Christmas walk this year was at Monadh Mor on the Black Isle - not too far away from home. For those of you who don't know or didn't read the information board, Monadh Mor is a remnant of the forest that covered Scotland at the end of the last ice age. Having said that, the weather has been so cold we may well be entering another ice age!

The main tree species is Scots Pine, which is the most widely distributed pine in the world.

Enough of the natural history and on with the walk, which we were quite lucky to get to do, because it had ben very snowy and icy up until a few days before the walk day.

Anyway, we were soon striding out along the forest track, where , as you can see, Dave tried to show Agnes the way forward.

Meanwhile Hugh and Neil illustrated what the well dressed walking twins were wearing this season.


We soon came to a viewpoint which we visited, despite the warning notices not to - we know how to live on the edge. From here you could see to the Cromarty Firth and Ben Wyvis to the north....

....and to Munlochy Bay and the Nairnshire Coast to the south.

And this is us all posing for the group photo, there being no lunchtime photo as it was Christmas and we were going out for lunch.

Here are some of the girls walking away from the view - it looks like Sharon might have been having a bit of trouble with flies.

Just to prove that there had been snow and ice, here are some ancient remnants of the ice age - and you can see some snow and ice on the track as well.

However, no Christmas walk would be complete without a stop for a drink - mulled cider this year.

Janet back for seconds, or was it thirds?

Jacque did try and start a dance, but Sandra just complained that her glass was empty again.

Dave, on the other hand was acting the good samaritan, and gave a share of his to a passing cyclist, who had a camera on his helmet, which seems pretty novel to me. Someone did ask if he was a traffic policeman. When he said no, Robin downed his drink with relish.

We did not see any squirrels, and you can guess why from the first 4 words on the board and the fact that we had 9 women with us! The men on the other hand were a bit disconcerted by the last paragraph.

A photo of the bog area for which the forest is famous.

We had recently walked at Loch Ruthven and seen the Slavonian Grebes but we didn't see any Little Grebes here, probably because it was in the dead of winter.

We did, however, catch a glimpse of some nesting dinosaurs through the trees.

Then it was back to the cars and on to the North Kessock Hotel for a most excellent Christmas Lunch where a good time was had by all and even Santa (and David) made an appearance.

Then it was back to Maureen and David's for more nibbles, drink and fun and games - thanks to them for their hospitality.

It only remains to say Happy New Year and may 2011 bring more great walks with good company.