Scotland can be cold! With the coldest ever UK temperature of −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) recorded at Altnaharra, in the Highlands, on 30 December 1995, Scotland is the coldest place in the UK.
Today it is pretty chilly too. Around -6 Celsius in the Stirling area and much colder further north we really do know that we are in the middle of winter. But we do love this weather! Blue skies and crisp clear views.
This is one of the reasons the sport of Curling was invented in Scotland. Now a Winter Olympic sport it is popular in many countries across the world. Scotland has a fantastic record in international curling and the Scottish Curlers have played for the GB team, winning gold (2002 women), silver (2014 men) and bronze (2014 women). Scotland also has produced world champions in Curling and so provides great motivation for more people enjoying the sport.
In winter 2018 Sublime Scotland owner and driver/guide Susan decided to take up the sport for the first time! After four weeks as a “beginner” she graduated to “Improver” class. With Olympic medallists as coach it is hard not to enjoy the sport and to benefit from the challenge each week.
There is so much to learn about curling – the technique of throwing the stone, the names of all the lines on the Sheet (of ice), the scoring. Each stone comes from one tiny Scottish island and is carefully manufactured to be Olympic standard. One very important message – never try to lift one of these stones – they each weigh 20kg or 44lbs!
