Thursday 13 January 2011

Vole Adventures

The weekend saw us travel to Glenrothes in Fife for the first of the Orkney Voles’ Scottish Division 3 polo fixtures.  After an early start, we set off on the 9am ferry to embark on the 300 mile journey south in the Orkney Voleswagen.

IMGP0392 Voleswagen

Coming off the boat, we encountered some very heavy snow and the journey down to Latheron was very slow indeed.

IMGP0391Weather on the A9 (that’s the main road sooth!)

Eventually we arrived in Brora and were very hungry.  We noted a cafe on the high street which transpired to be most excellent and we had good selection of sanwiches, toasties and soup.  After the savouries, we made our way to Capaldi’s for ice cream!  We compared it with Dennis’ of course!

IMGP0394 Voles like ice cream 

After our ice cream we had a whistle stop tour of Inverness shops before heading on to Aviemore where we were staying for the evening.

Taking advantage of our location and the suitable weather, we made our way to Cairngorm on Sunday morning for a spot of skiing.  I don’t think I’ve skied since I went to a dry slope twenty years ago and needless to say I spent a lot of time on my arse!

 IMGP0395 In the Cairngorm mist

IMGP0397  Waiting for the funicular

IMGP0399 The Voles after their session

In all the excitement, we left the mountain late and after a few false starts finally made it to the venue in Glenrothes.  We were meant to be playing second so we literally ran in with our stuff, got changed and jumped in boats!

We (well I) was pretty pumped up for the first match because I hate being late for things.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect against St Andrews but we soon settled into the match.  We took the game 4 – 2.  Next we faced Lochwinnoch and they proved to be tougher opposition, we fought well but lost 6 – 0.  Disappointed, we went into our game with Dundee University and again gave it our best shot.  We came out on top 4 – 0 which boosted team moral.  Finally, instead of a match against Strathclyde University, we played a friendly against St Andrews.  The score sheet recorded a draw but we’re pretty sure we took the match 3 – 1.  For a full match report see http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/KIRKWALLKAYAKCLUB/news.asp#a1777.

Photos below from the Dundee University game.

IMGP0413 Christina gets stuck in

IMGP0417 Colin goes for the ball

 IMGP0419 David on the attack    

IMGP0425 David shoots  

IMGP0429 Christina gets ready to shoot 

IMGP0430Goal mouth action 

IMGP0431 Team Vole

After the matches we made our way back to Aviemore to our welcome beds.  It was a very early start on Monday morning to get the first boat home.  The conditions on the road up were very poor and we had to phone NorthLink Ferries to get them to wait for us to arrive!  I think we made it to the ferry with about 3 minutes to spare before departure. Thank you NorthLink!

All in all, a very enjoyable, if rather tiring, weekend.

final_vole

Saturday 1 January 2011

Uppies and Doonies

Today was the New Year’s Day Ba game.  The Uppies and the Doonies met at the Mercat Cross just before 1pm to await the throw up.


IMGP0282 Throw up


 IMGP0288 The scrum pushes up


IMGP0310                                                           Hairyaker considers the game from the edge of the scrum


IMGP0314                                                                     The scrum breaks onto the Kirk Green


IMGP0327 Penned in down Castle Street


IMGP0341 The scrum pushes down in Junction Road


 IMGP0348                                                                    The Doonies reach Bonny Kirkwall Bay and begin deciding on their Ba winner


For more about the game, have a look at this video from a few years ago.  It features an Uppie win.  Sorry Hairyaker!