the ice factor »
February 2005 and some dear friends of ours from London are coming to stay for the weekend.
They caught the Friday night sleeper from London to Fort William and got off at Tyndrum.
Geraldine (Gerry) and her 11 year old son Luc are game for most things but like most kids of his age Luc has a fairly low boredom threshold so endless motoring and scenery gazing was not an option.
Instead, we opted for two activity visits for them, first an Isle of Mull Safari with Richard from 'Wings over Mull' to spot the wild life and birds.
Secondly a slightly more active was a visit to the Ice Factor indoor rock climbing centre at Kinlochleven with an hours climbing lesson.
Both were great successes!
The Ice Factor is the biggest indoor ice climbing centre in the world.
It is a very impressive facility housed in a disused Aluminium smelting hall at the end of beautiful Loch Leven in Kinlochleven about 8 miles from Glen Coe village.
Frankly the drive to it is so beautiful even if you don't climb it is worth going just for the views all around you.
You can either go over the Pass of Glen Coe or past Castle Stalker at Appin from Oban (my favourite view in Scotland).