We headed out for our Annual Activity day, we were going to camp on Eilean Gorm on Loch Ard but the Island had two groups of adults there, so we switched to a planned alternative on the shoreline. Last year, we had 25degs weather and camped on the island. The group had two paddlers and girls who had camped out last year and the rest were new to camping and canoeing.

A good effort to canoe across the loch and were setup and enjoying the BBQ. The girls were scared of nearby highland cows, but they are vegetarians (no, not the girls, the cows !). That night after midnight the winds -not forecast at 6pm when we left school – came and they were constantly gusting at 45mph, one gust at the nearest Metoffice weather station, about 15miles away, recorded 67mph. As we had good quality Mountain rated tents – used up in the hills by the school DofE groups – all was well. The tents are 3 yrs old but still perfect condition, they are made by VANGO.  Although the S3’s tent was flapping most of the night, so not much sleep for them. The S1 pupils slept through, good for them as they had never camped before. They had onesies and fleece sleeping bag liners, so were warm through the cold night.

The morning dawned sunny, lots of dawn chorus. The pupils were told the night before they could get up whenever they wanted, as long as they got up before 10am. The S1s enjoying hot porridge and cooking sausages for breakfast.

Group cooking area, Army Tarp used as a windbreak.

We packed up, did a quick litter check – leave no trace – and headed home, hot weather across the loch and brown faces back at the beach. Last, but not least, a compulsory Ice Cream stop in Aberfoyle.