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ACTIVITIES IN AND AROUND APPIN

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

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WALKING - click to the WALKS section of this site.

FISHING
    Not being a fisherman myself, I will not try to advise anyone on that subject.Instead I will re-direct you to http://www.f-deans.freeserve.co.uk where you may something of interest.

BOATING andRIDING
     You can hire a boat or a hill pony but the owner of the place where you can do this declined my offer of a free listing on this site so I'd better respecthis wishes and keep his location a secret (I expect you'll find it easily enough).

DIVING andCAVING
     I don't know much about either activity but there seems to be a good deal of diving hereaboutsand I know that the local band of Appin limestoneholds the deepest cave in Scotland (The Cave of the Skulls). I even know where it is but that kind ofinformation is best kept away from children. I refer you to the websites of the experts.

TRIPS
    If you are not into strenuous activities like walking, then taking trips by car or boat around the area is the norm.In the summer season (until the end of September 2001) there are wild-life boat tripsfrom Port Appin Pier every day 10.30am and 2.30pm. (Saturday mornings excepted).Otters, seals, etc. are usually visible.the boat holds 50 passengers. Phone 01631-730-202 (Jimmy Thompson) for details and confirmation.Special parties can be accommodated.
    Glencoe on a fine day is popular. There is a visitor centre which explains the geology and a video performance tellingall about the massacre. Glen Finnan has a visitor center and various displays which explain the flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie through the heather. Fort William has a folk museum and at both the Fort and at Oban there are distilleries with visitor centres. From Oban you can take a boat trip to Mull and thence to Iona to see the Abbey which impresses everyone (even me) with its stillness. Oban is the place for boat trips (see the Calmac website for time-tables and the unofficial Calmac site for a map showing routes) but once per year there is a special paddle steamer trip from Fort William to Oban. It's worth checking out.

GOLF
     The Dragon's Tooth Golf Course at Ballachuilish has 9 holes set in very beautiful park land. Near the bridge. On the A828. You can't miss it. Pay by the round. Its not expensive.

CASTLES
     We have a lot of them. See elsewhere in this site for the story of Castle Stalker (under HISTORY) It is open on a few special days each year.Dunstaffnage Castle is open to the public and is an interesting place.Elsewhere on this site (under WALKS) you will find some notes of the castles on Lismore.

INDOOR ACTIVITIES

ENTERTAINMENT
     If night-life is an important aspect of your holiday plans then Appin is not your place of choice. But here goes ...

Classical Music
     The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO), The Royal Scottish Orchestra, The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Opera all do Highland tours. They often use Marcos in Fort Wiiliam, The Ballachuilish Village Hall and The Corran Halls in Oban as venue. These events are not particularly well advertised which is a shamebecause they are cracking good musicians and there is something extra special about sitting just a couple of yards from the leader of a world class orchestra. The down-side is that the acoustics are not too good and thatthe programme tends to be unadventurous. The SCO comes maybe a couple if times per year. We usually see only one of the others in any given year and the big orchestras tend to bring only a sub-section (like the brass or the strings). This year past (1999) we had a terrific performance of Don Pasquale at Ballachuilish. The music was provided by a single pianist who got a spontaneous round of applause.During the interval everyone moved outside for a cup of tea (it was a fine evening) and wehad a chat with the cast who were obviously enjoying themselves as much as we were. My advice, however, is totake some cotton wool for the ears. These professional singers always sing as if they were in the New York Metropol.

Folk Music
    Some well known Scottish Folk music specialists do a similar Highland tour usually in the early autumn.The MacCalmans provide an enjoyable evening of strident singing and eccentric patter. Ali Bain and Phil Cunningham also turn up from time to time. Both are brilliant instrumentalists (fiddle and accordian respectively). The patter is lively and the music is foot-stomping good.

Bar Music
     T he Clachaig Inn in Glencoe has live music every Friday with less well-known groups doing the spot. This tends to be a McHairy Haggis kind of performance with much singing of Flower of Scotland etc.

Drama
     From time to time Ballachuilish gets a group of professional strolling players. The sets are usually quite good. Again intimacy is an attractive aspect of the performance.You will find notification of all these things at Ballachuilish in the notice window of the (Ballachuilish) general store and advance tickets can be bought at the (Ballachuilish) craft shop.

The Stray Theatre Company
     is a local group based at Taynuilt. Every year they try to put on a big performance in the middle of the tourist season and they do it in the most attractive locations.They often bring in a big name to head the cast but they also have a policy of using local talent.It is an event not to be missed.One year they did McBeth at Dunstaffnage Castle and the following year they did Romeo and Julliet at the same location. For the audience seating, they built the kind of stand you see at small sports groundsand for a stage they use the close-cropped grass. The castle itself forms the backdrop. For McBeth they used the castle staircase as the battlements and for R&J they used the Castle's North wall. I thought both performances were stunningly good. My advice is to wrap up well against the cold, bring a cushion to sit on,a travelling rug to snuggle under and a thermos flask to warm you at the interval (there is a tea tent but it gets very crowded). Oh ... and take a bottle of anti-midge juice. It is best if you approach the evening in a pioneering spirit. You will admire the performance and also the hardiness of the cast who act out the whole thing in skimpy costumes. I don't know how they control the goose-pimples. The play starts at about 8 o'clock and ends after dark. That makes for a spectacular final scene. In R&J the footlights lit up the cast in their multicoloured cloaks and threw huge shadows on the castle wall. It was a night to remember.What happens when it rains? I think the cast soldier on. We've been lucky.

Mull Little Theatre
     The home base of this group is on the island of Mull and (as the name implies) it has its own tiny theatre. They also do tours in this locale. The performances tend to be small cast affairs (a cast of one in one instance) and the plays tend to be Scottish in flavour. The performances are also good.As Woody Allen said (I paraphrase) the world is full of cracking good actors you've never heard of.Intimacy and the ingenuity of the sets are also attractions.


LOCAL EVENTS

     I don't know how else to describe them. The thing is, Appin (and the Highlands in general) is NOT a theme park.When we hold a ceilidh, or a dance or whatever, we do it for ourselves and not as a tourist attraction. These events also tend to happen in the winter when the tourists are away.

Country Dancing
     The local country dance society meets every Tuesday throughout the winter. They do not indulge in the kind of Flinging on a Crummock (as Burns put it) which you may have encountered at a wedding or some other kind of event where the people don't actually know what they are doing. The local dancers do know what they are doingand each dance is a sequence of very intricate manoeuvres in precise time. They don't mind people dropping in on them but if you want to join in you had better know what you're doing or sign up for a course of lessons.

The Gaelic Interest group
     also meets weekly throughout the winter and speak Gaelic to one another. The ones whocan do it well teach the others. Beginners are welcome at the start of the series.They have an annual ceilidh where everyone is invited.

The History Society
    Meets monthly and publishes a bi-annual newsletter. They have a wide international membership. At the meetings an invited speaker presents some aspect of local history. There are also a few STORY EVENINGS when several members give some smaller and less formal account of some local tale and invite discussion.

The Art Group
    Holds regular lessons and workshop sessions. Every summer they have an exhibition in the Port Appin hall.It's not bad at all - unpretentious and well presented. Other local art societies have exhibitions too, at different times throughout the high summer period.

And then, every now and then some one gets married and holds a dance in the Appin hall. And then everyone gets drunk. Well ... nearly everyone.

I'll add more when I think of something to say.

Gardening
    I forgot about gardening. If you're a gardening enthusiast, the Kinlochlaich garden centre will give you a happy hour or two looking at (and maybe buying) rhododendron and azalea bushes. The time to see the wild rhodies along the roadside, in full bloom, is in June. Quite an eyefull.

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