Archery and Den building

Yesterday we did some Team Building and a Nature walk with our 'Active Schools' group. Today we ran Archery for a big family group in the morning and then Archery and Den building for the 'Active' group in the afternoon. Great fun was had by all.

Canoeing

Not much to report for last week other than more sorting and admin. On Friday we ran an Archery session in the morning for a lovely family of 4 who were very keen to learn and improve. In the afternoon we were both canoeing for Loch Morlich Watersports. On Saturday we checked out the Spey from Boat of Garten to Nethy in a canoe raft, river running fast and egress for a wheelchair user would be difficult at the moment. Sunday we canoed from Lochain Uvie to Loch Insh with BT Alasdair, he in his 'Wee Gap' whilst we soloed our 158s to see what they are like. This is a pleasant section to paddle when the water is at a good level, not scrapey!!

This week we have a group of 6 - 9 year olds doing afternoons of activities.

3 Peaks Challenge

This weekend we were working for GB Charity Events helping a lovely group of folk from New Springs Church make an attempt at doing the 3 Peaks over 2 days. We spent Saturday on Ben Nevis where everyone got a thorough soaking then we drove down to Grasmere to try to get a couple of hours sleep before an early start on Scafell Pike. The weather was atrocious, the further up we got, the more the rain battered down and there was a cold wind too. Ian's group were well on the Corridor route before the decision was made to turn back, they were not going to summit in the time allowed and conditions were becoming dodgy due to the amount of water about, the cold and the fact that everyone was soaked! My group had already turned back at the Stretcher box together with Lorraine from another group who were making a try for it but they soon saw the error of their ways and were descending. There was nothing for it but to abandon Snowdon too as we knew the weather was as bad if not worse there and there was not a dry piece of clothing between them. Even boots were saturated! We are really proud of our group though as they did not complain about the weather and just plodded on. We know a few of them are keen to continue walking now and were already talking of improving their kit so throwing them in at the deep end did not put them off. Thanks guys, we did enjoy your company and hope to see you on the hill again sometime.

Canoe Rafting

Ian was with Loch Morlich Watersports this afternoon whilst I took the Active group Canoe Rafting on Loch Morlich. It really was great fun even though very windy. Parents Ruaridh and Emma came too along with Penny and our 2 rafts were evenly matched. 3 year old Chloe loved it! It has been a great week for us as these children have worked so well together, helping each other to achieve any task we have set them and putting in every effort to make sure we all had a good time. Thanks guys! We are really hoping to meet up with you all again very soon!!

Treasure Hunt etc

On Wednesday the Active group worked on a few map reading tasks before heading into the forest on a Treasure Hunt and great fun was had by all! Ian was canoeing with an American group. Yesterday, we did Archery with a group from Moor House in Strathpeffer in the morning, then in the afternoon I did some Team Building with them whilst Ian had more fun with our Active group with Archery and Den Building - these were works of art!!
Today we are canoeing!!

Boys Brigade & Active Schools

This morning we ran an Indoor climbing session at Glenmore Lodge for the 4th Fraserburgh Boys Brigade some of whom we have seen before and much fun was had by all! Keen to belay and tie knots they worked really hard. In the afternoon we did indoor climbing with our Active group who were also very interested in learning to do things properly and the 6 year old climbed everything we set him at including an overhang! His 3 year old sister came to watch and we put her in a harness and 1 of the guys offered to belay her and up to the top she went!
Just found out we are guiding on a 3 Peaks Challenge this weekend too!

Active Schools

We are running afternoons of activities this week for youngsters through the Active Schools Programme. 7 have signed up for this and are aged between 6 and 13. Today we did some Archery and Team Building and it was great for us to see how well they all worked together and how much the older ones were willing to help the younger ones. We will be Indoor Climbing at Glenmore Lodge with them tomorrow!

Ben Nevis

Yesterday we were on the Ben with a very pleasant group of people who were doing the 3 Peaks Challenge. This was the first time either of us had worked for Maximum Adventure too. Expecting poor weather but it held and we had a good if busy day!

Scouts & Boys Brigade

We really enjoy working with these guys as they are generally outdoor folk who can cope with anything and the scouts definitely had their work cut out coping with day after day of high winds at their very exposed camp at Sluggan Bridge. We had a day of Abseiling & Climbing on the Glenmore Towers and Archery on Wednesday with them. Yesterday Ian took the Boys Brigade Canoe Rafting on a very choppy Loch Morlich whilst I sent them off Orienteering, they had to work hard to succeed with the canoeing due to the weather!

Archery

Today I sat at the desk on admin whilst Ian did some Archery and Team Building with the Spanish group from Valencia. A good time was had by all!

Catch up time!

It has been a busy few days but it has all been fun! On Thursday, Ian was biking in the morning with GRA whilst I ran abseiling for Nikki, Emma and their children, the youngest of whom is 3! In the afternoon, both of us took the families to the Indoor wall at Glenmore where they displayed great belaying skills as well as being little monkeys. In the evening we ran Archery for Highland Council.

Friday and we were sorting and packing kit then driving down to Grasmere to guide folk on the Lakes 24 Peaks in 24 hours challenge over the Weekend for GB Charity Events. They managed 5 on the first day but as only a couple of them were active hillwalkers it proved to be too much of a challenge for them. The weather stopped play on Sunday with 80 mph winds and heavy rain. Hopefully 1 or 2 will be back for another attempt!

Monday we were both canoeing, Ian for Loch Morlich Watersports and me with our regular Spanish group.