Mini Clan Skiing Trip

February 11th - 13th, 2000

This was a great fun weekend for all involved, even though there was no skiing and not as many turned up as we'd hoped!

Friday 11th

The plan was to meet at the Garfield House Hotel (our usual Glasgow club meeting location) at 8:30pm and then head on up the road to the Blairgowrie Caravan park arriving at about 10pm where we were to be met for the keys but as usual things didn't quite go to plan....  Event organiser Adrian's better half, Alison, had her "leaving do" from her work and was therefore running late - and a little the worse for wear!  Finally, we did set off just a little behind schedule.  This was when we hit real problems - Keith's Ford Sierra was almost invisible in the dark, and even with lights flashing we often didn't notice him passing us or vice-versa which made the mini-convoy a bit difficult to keep together!

The other problem we had to deal with, was that there was no snow at any of the ski resorts - but we decided to go ahead with the event because we were sure we could think of something to do!

After a relatively uneventful journey, Adrian, Alison, Arno, Keith, Dave and I arrived at the park at about 10:20, found our nice caravan (Clanavan?) and crashed out around the fire - it was a cold, stormy night!  

Much drink was drunk (of course) although some people drank more than others, and some people had a head start already and had to retire early!

Saturday 12th

Calum and Shairen were due to arrive at 10am, so most of us made the effort and got out of bed in time for their arrival... 2 hours later no-one had decided what to do yet, so I decided to go and visit my Mum at my family's cottage in Glenlivet - a route that involves the infamous cockbridge to Tomintoul road - a road famous for getting blocked at the first hint of a snowfall! 

I set off at midday, and the roads were perfectly clear.  At Glenshee there was some snow, although not enough for skiing - I reported this back to the troops in the caravan and carried on.

At the Lecht, the road was much less clear - slushy and a bit icy - but I carried on to the cottage because the weather was gorgeous.  The next photo is taken just at the road that leads to our cottage...

And here's one taken just under an hour later...

I decided to leave immediately before the Lecht road was closed...a very wise move as it turned out!  The warning sign said that the road was "inadvisable" - I didn't stop to take a photo but pressed on in an increasingly strong blizzard...snow was also being blown off the fields and onto the road.  By the time I reached the bottom of the steep Lecht road - the snow was fairly thick on the road.  Minis are fairly good in the snow - having the weight over the driven wheels - but I was still nervous and started up the hill as fast as possible....as I passed the 12% sign, the wheels started to slip and spin - at 50mph - I held it steady and made it to the top - just. 

I pressed on down the other side, which was just as slippy.  At this point the rest of the Clan were at Glenshee having a bite to eat - they phoned me and we agreed to meet at Braemar.  30 minutes later, I was only about 10 miles from Braemar, but was ploughing through deeper and deeper snow which was packing up at the side of the windscreen.  Corners had to be taken with great care although the car, of course, handled perfectly.  Calum phoned to tell me that Adrian was returning towards Glenshee as he was worried his Mini with its extra-wide tyres would get stuck in the snow.  I pressed on, not wanting to be left alone in the blizzard!

I made it to Braemar and the others fortunately had waited for me.  As soon as I cleared the accumulated snow off Charlie, we set off after Adrian up the road to Glenshee.  Again the snow was heavy and the road slidy but we made it without incident and met up with Adrian on the other side to deice our wiper blades - which had all frozen solid!

Once we got back to Blairgowrie, Keith headed back to Glasgow and the others headed to the pub (with a snowball fight on the way) for a bite to eat and a drink or two... continued back at the Clanavan minus one certain individual who retired to "Boo boo" a bit earlier than the others...(10:30)

Sunday 13th

On Sunday we awoke to find deep snow all around the caravan.  We had to be out by 10am which we just about managed - then we wondered what to do for the rest of the day.  There was still not enough snow at the ski centres.  We decided to to cross-country to Pitlochry via Bridge of Cally.  No-one had been on this road before, but we were all gobsmacked at the beautiful scenery that it gave us of the snow covered mountains contrasting against the blue sky.

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I stopped the convoy at this picturesque bridge for some photos.  Charlie had lots of luggage and Arno and Dave on board and his new RC40 exhaust was dragging through the snow at this point so I ejected them and drove on to the bridge for more photos...

...but Adrian decided not to risk it with his big wheels...

...and started chucking snowballs at everyone instead.  This is Alison, Shairen, "Big" Daev and Calum.

Charlie on the bridge...

...and again...

...and again!

A bit further on we came to this amazing panoramic view stretching right across Scotland and just had to stop to take some photos.

But still Dave and Arno stayed in the warm!

After a nice lunch in a tearoom in Pitlochry with lots of squint picture frames (Calum!), we headed home.

I took this photo from the back seat of Charlie while Arno was driving.  Stirling Castle