Christmas at Loch Morlich

We ended our first year of motorhoming (is that a word?!)by returning to our favourite camping spot at Loch Morlich below Cairngorm. Fully expecting to find snow on the ground we were disappointed to find none! The weather hit us with everything else mostly howling gales and torrential rain!! We still had a wonderful and totally stress free Christmas....apart from Mike forgetting to pack my 'Miranda'DVDs...He did of course remember to take his 'Bad Santa' DVD!! I had plenty of books on my Kindle....also managed to knit 3 pairs of gloves!! No painting though...the light was too poor......
Despite the weather a lot of time was spent walking with Hannah and taking photographs. In fact we enjoyed our Winter stay so much that we're planning to stay  for Christmas and New Year in 2012.

We were presented with a real Christmas tree on arrival. This was just as well since I failed miserably in the decoration department but managed to cobble together a mildly festive tree
Hannah is pictured here sitting in her favourite spot so she can keep an eye on all the goings on.
There was a cat in the van next door and Hannah enjoyed Grrrrring at her

The ski slopes were the barest they've been for yonks. I suppose the skiers were the most disappointed!
We don't ski so no problem there and the weather didn't stop us from enjoying walking.

Despite the weather Loch Morlich always has a beautiful side to her. The ducks are never far away even in Winter. This is sunset and the only one we saw during our week long stay!

Mike and I in one of our many attempts to communicate with family. You can't really see what the weather was doing! We were halfway up a mountain path in horizontal rain and at one point we almost took off over the mountains it was so gusty! Incidentally...Mike's fetching hat is actually mine!

Completely forgot about Christmas decorations so had to make do. Here's our Christmas tree and some pressies we took with us for Christmas morning.
'Moira' was wonderfully cosy and Mike cooked us up a gorgeous Christmas dinner of Halibut in white wine with loads of roasted veggies.

Mike took some wonderful photographs including this dramatic one of our hardy next door neighbour kite surfing in a Winter gale! It was bitterly cold....
Loch Morlich is fantastic for water sports but this was the only person we saw enjoying perfect weather for his particular water sport!!

Another of Mike's photographs.
This is the same sunset as my earlier picture but Mike remained on the beach longer than I was  prepared to wait. This was his reward for patience.....a simply stunning Winter sunset.
Hannah had to get into the picture. Freezing cold water does not put her off swimming!