This was definitely the 'Anniversary Weekend' just past. We had a big family and friends celebration all day Saturday for Mr Donald and Mrs Lydia Morrison from Inverness celebrating 40 years together. After a splendid afternoon-tea and get-together the party went for a cruise on Loch Ness then returned for dinner, speeches and dancing to the nimble finger playing of Mr Tom Cruikshank on the accordion. By all accounts it was a fantastic evening and our congratulations go to Donald and Lydia.

Also celebrating an anniversary were William and Nadine Johnston of Washington in the north of England who stayed with us for 3 nights. They are a delightful couple who are deeply interested in our local history and apart from touring all around the area they spent a full afternoon at Culloden Battlefield and were more than impressed with the new visitor centre. They were so impressed with their stay at the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel that they are coming back with their daughter next year to hunt for Nessie!. They also pointed out that they are avid readers of our blog 'Craic from the Clansman' !

Last week we also had Joanne and her fiancee - she was celebrating her 40th birthday and Kristian, our waiter created much hilarity at her table when he let the cork of the Champagne take off on it's on accord. Thank you for your e-mail Joanne and all your comments are deeply appreciated.

The media rose to the occasion again last week when we featured front page of the local Highland News with a story about Mr Ray Leaning - the gentleman who sculpted our Loch Ness Monster which sits in the car-park - dare I say it... nearly 30 years ago!

Ray was holidaying' in the Highlands last week and got the shock of his life when his wife pointed out his creation from all these years ago sitting at the end of the car-park - a great story.
We also had 'Stig' from Top Gear doing a photo shoot for Google. This raised quite a stir locally as a recent poll put him No.1 above Nessie as one of the UK's greatest mysteries - 'who is Stig?' Nessie was not amused! ...but once his identity is revealed Nessie will be back on top.

This weekend coming up is the Loch Ness Marathon and we would like to congratulate Malcolm Sutherland and his team for their stalwart efforts in growing this event. As the hotel is full this weekend with competitors and their families - we would like to wish them all the best.

Coming again next week is our very good friend Mr Steve Appolinari and his golfing chums. We extend them a warm welcome, hope the weather's with them and the greens are not running too fast.

The hotel is quieting down after a hectic season - so this is the time for you guys to come for that quiet chill-out that you've been promising yourself and you to can do an 'anniversary waltz' at Loch Ness this autumn.

Sliante WC

Double Blog this week as we missed last week with so much on. Anyway we will fill you in with what's been happening here at Loch Ness.
Autumn is almost upon us and another great 2 weeks has been had by our guests at this iconic Highland location. The last 2 weekends have had fantastic weather, great company, brilliant food, excellent drink, a little bit of music and a lot of laughs - is that not what chilling-out is all about.
Total relaxez-vous!!

First of all we had, for the second year the annual tournament of the 'Gemini Cribbage Club' who's members come from all over - even as far as New York. They had 3 full days organised again by Angus and Ann Beaton - a delightful couple who live locally.

A week past Saturday, we had the FIRST MONSTER CHALLENGE - a team duathlon which is going from strength to strength. Celebrity competitors Nell McAndrew and Gavin Hastings couldn't praise the event high enough. Rory and team supplied 240+ competitors with hot tea and coffee at the Castle jetty on Loch Ness.
This jetty is to be renewed next year with a splendid oak replacement courtesy of Historic Scotland.

Rory then changed from sporting gear to kilt and all the trimmings to host a wedding at Urquhart Castle with a drinks celebration on the Jacobite Legend on Loch Ness before the wedding meal was served at the castle - the weather was magnificent - what a day for a wedding.
Meanwhile back at the hotel we catered for an extremely busy lunch followed by an equally busy dinner followed by a cracking Ceilidh with Stuart andWillie (The Murphy Brothers). Really good Highland 'craic' with some malt whisky tasting thrown in.

Many of our guests did the Applecross trip last week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This is a must excursion when you come to stay with us. Some of the other places to visit are Cairngorm Mountain, Culloden Battlefield, Castle Stuart Golf Course, Dolphin Watching and Plodda Falls. There is so much to do in the Highlands in the autumn - so spoil yourself and get away for a 3-day break. Good deals on-line or telephoning will secure a room for you.

Our congratulations to Daniel Campbell who trained as a waiter here at the Clansman before going on to the Cesar Ritz Hotel School in Switzerland. Daniel has won through to the UK final of the young waiter of the year to be held in London on October 6th. We are all very proud of him and wish him all the best.
One of the disciplines he was judged on was creating a cheese-board and presenting it to the client with a story and history of all the cheeses selected - a cheesy task!

This reminds me of an incident which happened 2 weeks ago - 2 lovely guests asked a member of staff to deposit some wonderful Caithness Smoked cheese in the fridge overnight prior to departure the next day. At breakfast next morning, they asked Jay, their waiter to fetch the cheese - on close examination it was noticed that the packet was opened and a considerable hunk had been removed. Unknown to our dessert lady Joyce, the cheese had been placed next to our hotel selection and duly used on the previous nights cheese-board. They took it all in good faith and we had a chuckle - them knowing they had supplied this speciality cheese to our dinner guests the previous evening. The gentleman remarked (tongue in cheek) that on his next return visit if we told him in advance, he would supply us with some of his own local delicacies - and by the way the Caithness smoked cheese was very tasty!

That's one thing about the Highlands - we have a great selection of cheeses - what a lovely way to finish off your meal with some Connage Cheese or some Fine Highland from Tain complimented with a glass of our GRANT BURGE AUSTRALIAN TAWNY PORT. Who says that's cheesy! - well it is Loch Ness.

So why not make a date with cheese this weekend - there will be a fantastic selection on show at Cawdor Castle for the LIVING FOOD EVENT -a wonderful celebration of organic and slow-food from the Highlands. A great experience for all you foodies.

And finally if you have any friends or relatives competing in the Loch Ness Marathon, please drop in to see us and have our afternoon cheesboard with a glass of Red Cuillin Real Ale from the Isle of Skye Brewery.

We are now in September here at Loch Ness and although historically this is one of the nicest months of the year it certainly has come in like a lion with really wild wet weather and blustery gales, however this week has started off very well.

Although the weather is unpredictable it is still a good time to come touring the Highlands - less visitors, quieter roads and staff have more time to speak with guests.

Another successful relay swim on the loch took place last Friday when a team of 5 London fire brigade operatives completing the 24 miles from Ft Augustus to Lochend in 11hours 5 minutes. Supported in his RIB boat and a good friend of the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel is local businessman Mr John Robins - an excellent guy to have on board if you are at attemping any water based venture in the Highlands www.highlandrib.co.uk

Here at the Clansman we are lucky to have a vast array of facilitators we can call upon to assist with any project you have in mind here at Loch Ness or further afield. All you have to do is send us your shopping list and we will oblige.

We have been involved in lots of projects from swims, rallies, walking events, film projects and many other events.
This, as I always say is an ideal base for your venture.

Again this last week Loch Ness has been in the headlines. From Nessie getting knocked off the No. 1 spot of the 'UK Mysteries' being replaced by 'Who is the Stig' www.highland-news.co.uk - to the world famous film director Ken Russell playing the 'Loch Ness Master' in a new spoof film about Scottish Myths.
A travel feature in the Sunday Mail on the 6th September to the Press & Journal covering the fireman's swim. As I've said before, Loch Ness is always an 'in story'!

If you have never been here, now is the time to come and try it out. You don't need to have a project in mind but if you have... give us a call.

P.S. This is the last few weeks of the salmon fishing season - so give Rory a call for that small corporate day outing - a days fishing on 'The Time Bandit'.
Also if you have not booked accommodation for the LOCH NESS MARATHON or FIRST MONSTER CHALLENGE - don't forget about us - give us a call or go online to www.lochnessview.com

Whilst you're reading - why not make a date for our big 'Casino Night' in October in aid of the Highland Hospice. A great night for an extremely worthy cause - details, again on our website.

Just before going to print - our Home Baking company - COBBS has just been shortlisted in the Highlands Food & Drink Awards. Congratulations to Sheena and her dedicated team and all the other nominations!

Yes - we've been Googled!
Last week Nessie was spotted on Google Earth on the surface of Loch Ness - so all you guys out there take a look at http://www.google.com/ and see what you think.

Also we are one of the iconic places in the UK to be photographed for Google - so it all helps to promote the area. You can go onto Google and see where you are coming to for that weekend break or holiday. What would we do without the Internet?.

For an area like Loch Ness the media is the life blood to getting our message across and like all good mysteries and stories media attention comes and goes like the weather. The last few weeks has seen a lot of media attention over and above the Google story - 2 weeks ago the Guardian section covered a review that I was asked to submit called 'My Inverness-Shire'. Last week Diana Plater from 'Australian Associated Press' stayed with her sister and cousin at the hotel and interviewed me about the Loch Ness story. Last weekend, Charles Miranda the London bureau chief of 'News Limited Australia' covered the whole story for both press and Internet for News International.
That well known personality and journalist Bill McAllister interviewed myself on tourism for the local I'mag. To add a little more excitement to the area Nigel Coles and his team of swimmers swam Loch Ness in relay over 2 days as the weather on Saturday night was atrocious. Our congratulations to the whole team for such a stalwart effort under such extreme conditions and hopefully they raised a lot of money for the 'Rainbow Children's Hospice'.

So as you can see there is always a story here at Loch Ness.

At the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel, we are used to catering and accommodating the media. In our previous hotel we entertained nearly all the film crews and documentary makers that have covered this story for the last 20 years - so we know what you require and we are flexible enough to provide it for you and so don't go past us

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!!

Let's roll by phoning 10456 450326 and ask for Willie or Rory

Let's make movies! Write a story! Create a feature! or just Blog -it and base yourself at the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel.