Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail

For anyone interested in traditional music of any kind if you're in Scotland one thing that should be high on your list is to attend at least one ceilidh during your time here. A ceilidh (pronounced cailey) is a social dance accompanied by traditional Scottish musical instruments - e.g. fiddle, flute, tin whistle, accordion, bodhrán, in varying combinations. Originally the term ceilidh referred to a social gathering of any sort, usually incorporating story-telling, poetry, ballads, and music and songs. Now a ceilidh has come to mean purely a gathering with traditional music and dancing. Many weddings will feature a ceilidh after the ceremony, as will a lot of village gatherings in the highlands.

For the past 7 years the Highland Council, together with British Waterways - who manage the Caledonian Canal - have staged the Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail. This is a series of events all along the Great Glen, from Inverness, down to Invergarry, and many points in between, over a period of 3 weeks. The event begins with the The Grand Opening Ceilidh at Urquhart Castle Visitors Centre on Monday 14 July starting at 7.30pm. The program can be found here - Ceilidh program - it's a pdf file, so you'll need to have acrobat reader installed to open it.

There will be a ceilidh on as part of this event at Glengarry village hall in Invergarry on Friday the 25th of July starting at 8:00pm, running until 10:30pm. Invergarry is only 3 miles from the Great Glen Hostel so it is a great base to attend this event. We're also only 10 miles from Fort Augustus, where there'll be a ceilidh in the village hall on the 23rd of July. Fort Augustus also hosts a number of open air sessions in the afternoon by the canal locks - it's always a great event.

So if you fancy attending some traditional music during your time in the Highlands remember to come up towards the end of July- you'll be made most welcome at the Great Glen Hostel, and all the other hotels, B&Bs and hostels along the Great Glen.