Monday 5th September
After a slightly late departure we arrived safe and sound and all settled into our lodges. All had lunch – clean plates all round and now ready for our first activity.
First activities, Hill Walking, sailing and boat rides then back to camp for dinner!
After a dinner of macaroni or fish, the kids took part in their evening activity session. They will all try ‘Nightline’, ‘Night Slide’ and ‘Robot Wars’ over the next few days. Miss Taylor said the nightline walk was hilarious as the kids tried to guide each other over an obstacle course while wearing a blindfold. Courtney, Rebecca and Jo were the star ‘sliders’ on the water slide last night – the girls even managed to look elegant while hurtling down the hill on their stomachs!
After the activies we all went back to dorms as the kids were wet and tired. They are all finding it very exciting to be sleeping in the lodges with their friends. Mums and dads were missed a bit at bedtime but a few hot orange drinks helped everyone to settle down. They boys and girls are being really supportive of each other which is great to see.
Monday’s hero of the day – Ben C. Already showing his head boy credentials by ably dealing with an extreme spider situation in Miss Macrae’s room.
Tuesday 6th September
Everyone got up for a cooked breakfast at 8am – even Mr Ross. The ladies in the dining hall have commented on what a polite bunch of kids we have at Busby which is lovely to hear.
It was a bit of a damp, grey start to the day but we all headed out to either canoeing, a boat trip or the hill walk. Miss Taylor clearly checked the weather forecast as Miss Macrae set off in the rain with the morning hill walking group, while she headed out in her sunglasses with the afternoon group after lunch. We were all glad to see the sun as the ‘drying room’ is already very full.
We’re hoping to watch a movie tonight after dinner and evening activities. The kids wrote and posted their postcards so hopefully parents will receive them in the post tomorrow.
Everyone is having a great time and all pupils are being an absolute credit to Busby Primary.
Tuesday cont …
Afternoon activities went really well. They’ve all taken to canoeing like ducks to water – the activities on the Loch seem to be most popular with all the activity groups.
Before and after dinner we have a little bit of free time and the kids organised a big game of rounders last night because the sun was finally shining. We had chicken for dinner then evening activities. The John Muir award activities started yesterday and Sam gets a special mention for being super enthusiastic about starting on his presentation.
As promised, we all watched 25 minutes of a DVD at supper time and everyone settled down quickly when we went back to dorms.
Wednesday 7th September
The doors to the dining hall don’t open until 8am but some of the girls were out at 7.45am this morning to make sure they were first in the queue. Everyone has been great at getting up on time- I don’t think anyone has slept past 7.30am. No more excuses to mums and dads about not being able to get up for school in the morning!
One group is off on the burn run this morning, while the others have canoeing and the conservation project.
The sun has disappeared again unfortunately but hopefully the clouds will lift a little later on.
After lunch the activities are ‘Burn Run’ and conservation project again and one group gets to try rock climbing/abseiling which they are very excited about.
Mums and dads aren’t being missed as much as they were on Day 1 but a few of the boys have said that they will be glad to get back to their own comfy beds. The pupils are working really well in their activity groups and as a larger group when we all join up back at the site.
It’s all going swimmingly.
Wednesday cont
There is a new favourite activity for the group – the Burn Run (essentially walking upstream through the rocks, waterfalls etc). The abseiling was also a big hit and there was another big group game of rounders in the half an hour of free time they had before the evening meal. It was pasta for dinner and afterwards the children split up to work on their John Muir presentations again. They will present them on Thursday evening.
Mr Ross made a big splash on the slip and slide during evening activities and Carly was the final champion of the ‘Robot Wars’. Activity Group 3 (Pola, Amy, Bayley, Rian, Ryan, Angus, Sam, Laura, Zara, Brianna, Dane, Lewis) were very lucky as their instructor let them help build a fire and they boiled some water to make some hot chocolate.
After supper, we joined together to watch the end of the movie we had started watching on Tuesday then everyone went to bed. All four dorms settled down very quickly as the day’s activities had worn them out.
Thursday
We have woken up to the sound of very heavy rainfall. It is absolutely pouring. Group 3 can’t do the Burn Run this morning as the water levels are too high. Instead they are going to build an Ark … er… raft on the shore and see if they can get it to carry them on the water. Miss Taylor told them this was a really popular activity last year so they aren’t too disappointed. Also on the agenda today are sailing, Jacob’s Ladder and abseiling. Tonight we have the John Muir presentations followed by a Disco.
Everyone is looking forward to coming home and telling you all about their adventures.
Update: The raft building was very successful!
