Today group 5 went on a 5 and a half hour mountain walk. First of all we started off by going to our dorms to get all our stuff and snacks. We added our lunch to our bags and went to the tuck shop. After that we went outside and put on our waterproofs and wellies and waited for our mini bus. We got dropped off at our destination and started our walk. The first part was through a path and into the forest 🌳 we all started of really quickly so we got tired and had a break. After a while we stopped halfway up a waterfall and had half our lunch and played in the water, we had so much fun throwing the rocks in and making huge splashes. We kept going on and started climbing over big rocks. Then we went up this slope and Eva and Catriona kept getting lost and having to catch up with the others. Eventually when they had caught up with us we had our first lunch. We really wanted to try the water from the waterfall…anyway before we knew it we had blueberry juice all over our faces!!!

Time for chicken curry 🍛
By Amelie 🙂

Today, Group 3 went Weaseling with Joe, Graham and Mrs Macmillan.

First we headed to the boot room to get our waterproofs and wellies.Once we got kited up we went to the mini bus. After a few songs we arrived. A short trek later we arrived at the first boulder, it was called the coffin. Then we moved on to the Dragons belly. After a quick photo we clambered through the tail of the dragon. A few squashes and  squeezes later we made it to the RIB CHRUSHER. This was one of the scariest because it just kept on getting smaller. (a LARGE sigh of relief later) we made it to the next hole. Few weasel seconds later we finaly made it to the end, then headed  back to the bus. By the time we got back I fell alsleep. My favouirte was probably the ‘jounrey to the centre of the earth’. At the end of the day we had had lots of fun.

by Niamh

The first thing we did after breakfast was head to the boot room to get prepared for Weaseling! We put on our waterproofs and wellies, made sure we were warm enough and rushed to the mini bus.When we arrived, we started walking through the muddy path and very large puddles. The first hole was quite a squish but ok, it was called the coffin. We crawled throug many dirty holes but the muddiest had to be the rib crusher. Time passed very quickly because we were having so much fun! The very last hole was my favourite because it was a mixture of everything: sliding, crawling and climbing, it was called the journey to the centre of the earth.  We walked smartly back to the mini bus a drove back to Ardmay house quickly. As we got out the bus we could smell the food so we ran to the boot room, took our stuff of as quickly as possible and went to the dining room. Thankfully when we got there was a nice hot bowl of soup waiting for us. It was a fun day but tiring!

By Sophie

Dorm inspections…probably the scariest experience out of all  Ardmay. Tidying our dorm is easier said than  done especially when half your things are lying across the floor , sweetie wrappers are attached from the ceiling (DON’T ASK). Running up the stairs like Usain Bolt , once we open the dorm door we were in utter shock we didn’t think we would make it out alive ! Few minutes went past we heard the door slowly open…Could it be? the teachers couldn’t be here already …could they ? Half of us were planning to evacuate out of  the window .Luckily it was just a friend warning us that dorm inspections were only in five minutes! Oh no  everyone was on the urge of fainting … I shoved everything in my suitcase but  I ran out of time  . KNOCK KNOCK… this  moment could change my life forever …

BY NIKKI

Finally they opened the door I almost peed myself but luckily I did ‘t phew! anyway it was time to be inspected the teachers came there expressions were like they just saw a ghost maybe the performance would impress them or not…a few minutes later it was time to preform but unluckily the performance went terrible we were all out of time and I almost fell over but luckily the draws were clean-ish so we could of possibly got 1.5 hooray! well at least not all our hard work was for nothing. Anyway I’m late for abseiling  I better go…

BY LUCY

Today, group 2 went climing and abseiling in the afternoon. Previous to that we had gone canoeing and it was LOADS of fun (see video on twitter!)

After lunch they had gone to to the dry store outside with their instructors-Steve and Kenny and Mr. Henderson to get their waterproofs, some ropes and other tools. They headed to the mini-bus to set off on the 10 minute journey. Once they had arrived at the hill they walked up a short path, then went up a grassy verge to the rock. Kenny and the pupils got ready by putting on their harnesses and helmets. At this time Steve had walked up the back path to the top of the rock that they would be climbing to set up the ropes and make sure that they were secure.

Now that the harnesses were secure they could start climbing! Jay did a demo climbing up with Katie as the head beeliner. At this point it started to rain! They all got really cold and wet so it made it really hard to grip on to the rocks and they all kept sliding!

Two ropes had been set up to climb, one with the pupils that hadnt been climbing pulling the rope and one where Steve held the rope and you abseiled down yourself. On the second one, one section of it was really smoothe and only ahd a few small holes to put your hand in! About 30 minuutes before they finshed everynse staerded to get very cold and were really tired. A few people were even chittering! It was nearly time for dinner so they had to head back but it was real struggle to take off your helmets because you couldn’t grip on to anything and thier fingers were numb so thry couldnt feel what was happening.

Thankfully, they are all now safe back at Ardmay and are all nice and warm!

By Katie 😃

We got up early in the morning, covered in sweet wrappers and got dressed as usual. After some time having our breakfast we went out for our daily adventure… Today we went mountain climbing, we were enthusiastic at first however by halfway through we were as slow as slugs!!! We were a absolute pain! After every step I got closer to the back of the crowd! Although in the end we were very proud and got in the bus with extremely muddy faces…

By Reet 🙂

In the morning I went climbing and Abseiling with my group. I got to the top every time and so did Gabriel and David. Isla, Tajveer, Lara and Avery got half way and Iona just got I got quarter of the way. At the same time some of us went abseiling. We had lots of shots and it was a great experience.

By Rory

Then we had lunch and got ready for canoeing. When we got in we learnt how to stear the canoe. Then we had a race – our group lost. After that, we played a few other games. Later we had a snack on the other side of the beach, we played some more games. To finish off we turned a canoe upside down and jumped  in Loch Long. It was freezing

By Lara

The highlight of today was when we were playing a game in the canoes 🛶. The aim of the game was if the instructor said chocolate cake, Victoria Sponge or strawberry cheesecake  you would have to get up and shout your name and move to the same seat with someone else with that name across the two canoes. David somehow slipped on his side and fell halfway into the water 💦 (he was fine though!!) My brother Aaron asked me to throw Iona into the freezing cold loch but I didn’t thankfully because at the end here face was priceless as she went into the water in a creative way!

By Isla

Today I went hill walking. It was VERY tiring, we walked up to the top of a giant hill called Cruach Tairbeirt and then went back down again. My favourite part was going down a very very very steep hill.

By Sofia

Today we went hill walking and me,Reet and Sean were always left behind so they made us go at the front but then we ran and the were all left behind! We went up loads of hills and it was Exhausting!🏃🏼😋We had our lunch on a big rock and there was a dog called Dotty! We went through a field of 🐮 cows!!! We walked about 6 miles. We are all very tired. My favourite part was definitely laughing so much😅😂🤣!ANDY IS THE BEST INSTRUCTOR!😃

BY EMMA🏃🏼‍♀️

Today at Ardmay, group 5, went canoeing. 2 canoes were put together to make one stable raft.We were mainly focusing on practicing the basic skills. Turning, accelerating and trying to keep the boat steady. After that we did races between group 5 split into two halves. A lot of people fell over by trying to use the oars in the fastest way possible. After the races everyone wanted to play a game. The game chosen got everyone fired up. We played the game in the same teams for races and each team wanted to win. The game was for each boat to defend a slipway each whilst at the same time trying to get a hoop, which was thrown in between each slipway, and each team had to get the hoop to the opponents slipway. A person in one group, Amelie reached too far, in attempt to get the hoop, and fell completely overboard. So canoeing was fun for everyone. Hopefully.

One of the teams got swept away to sea because of high currents as we were trying to get back to shore.

By James and Catriona 🙂

Our hill walk up Cruach Tairbeirt was fun but tiring and we made to the top, covered in mud because we fell in puddles that went up to our waist.Afterwards we were tired but happy and we went straight to the showers.

On the hill walk we saw an old fire that had a burnt sock in it. We saw old trees that had all fallen over together and there were seven of them

The views from the top were beautiful but it as very wet and windy. Our instructor brought out a big yellow and green tent because we were soaked through our clothes. In the tent we drank warm juice and put on our hats and gloves. Then David used his magical meditating powers to make the wind calm down – it actually worked!! We were all laughing!!

Finally it was time to go down the hill. We were very creative in our methods with some of us developing a new found love for mud!!

All of our efforts today have made us very hungry – sausages tonight!!

By David and Iona