LTR hosted the most remarkable Press Trip for 7 highly respected travel writers last week, where they experienced the hospitality of 3 of LTR’s Elite properties in three days. From the most northerly tip of Scotland at Ackergill Tower via Aldourie Castle on Loch Ness and onto Corrour Lodge near Fort William which is set in a 60,000 acre wilderness estate.
The daring journalists braved chilly spring weather to swim in the North Sea, Loch Ness and Loch Ossian on three seprate days! At Ackergill Tower we were entertained to a sumptuous 11 course dinner by their renowned chef and when we could eat and drink no more we were piped down to the beach below the Tower where the bonfire and their ‘beach bar’ were in full swing with pipers and squeeze box players to keep us enthralled. Fortified by more than a few drams, many of us summoned up enough courage to take a dip in the North Sea before a well earned and good night’s sleep.
The next day it was up early for another quick dip and then off to John o’ Groats where we leapt into waterproofs and jumped aboard a 25′ Rigid Inflatable Boat for a bracing 46 knot spin round the dangerous waters of the Pentland Firth. Not much time to change but after hot cocoa and shortbread, provided from the back of an Ackergill Land Rover, it was off to the nearby Castle of Mey, home of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother for a private tour to see some of the historic memorabilia.
Then it was across to Loch Killimster on other side of the Ackergill Estate, where a recently refurbished bothy played host to the most delicious lunch, once again conjured up by chef Kevin Dalgleish. We were royally entertained over lunch by Charlie Simpson on his squeeze box and he regaled us with wonderful stories of his childhood and his time on the now deserted island of Stroma where he was born.
We were very sad to leave Ackergill but it was then off to Aldourie Castle on Loch Ness….
Photography by Margaret Soraya.