*Apologies for the lack of pictures on Day 3’s blog. We will make up for it on day 4*

Day 3 –

In the morning we got up, got dressed and walked into the clubhouse where we were met with delicious aromas from a variety of different foods. WE ate quickly as we were keen to get on to our next activities.

This morning we took part in bubble football, the ‘Leap of Faith’ and mountain biking. All of which were fun but the majority of people liked the Leap of Faith the best.

At the Leap of Faith most people gave it a try but some people were not keen to go too much outside their comfort zone. Other people attacked the climb tenaciously and courageously and enjoyed the challenge of making their ascent to the summit.

The mountain biking was good fun and their were a selection of various challenges similar to the ones we talked about yesterday. The most fun part of the mountain biking was going over the wee ramp and doing a little jump.

At bubble football today their was a momentous event. Harry ‘The Legend’ Bryson was on a mission to knock over as many people as possible especially Mr Graham. His elusive target claimed to never have been knocked over at bubble football by any children. Then, cometh the moment, cometh the hour, cometh the man, Harry stepped up to the challenge. With great speed and determination Harry launched himself forward towards his prey. He viciously propelled himself in the direction of Mr Graham. Like David toppling Goliath Harry was victorious as Mr Graham lay on his back seeing stars. Harry then proceeded to do a victory lap of the whole camp and tell everyone about his victory. He wanted to contact STV and our good friend Sean Batty to tell the world, but we managed to talk him out of it.

After lunch we went back to do some water sports. These included wind surfing, sailing and raft building. These were new activities this week and required a good deal of concentration in order to master them.

At the wind surfing we learned how to put the sail up and how to let the wind control our movements. It was tricky to balance on the board and many people fell off as a result of that. Although when you got the hang of it it was great fun.

At the raft building it was quite hard so we had to work together as a dream team in order to complete our task. We used rope, wood and big blue barrels to make our rafts. But we failed epically and none of us managed to make a raft. Even though it was not successful we had a blast having a go at the challenge.

The sailing was quite difficult to get the hang of for some of us whereas others like James Morton and Jamie Crumlish grasped the basics quite easily. We started off by assembling our sail boats and unfurling our masts. we then connected the various parts of the rigging and learned about the tiller. Once we were out on the open loch we traveled across to the other side of Loch Ken and had fun learning to adjust our sails as the wind speed dropped and picked up.

We also took part in the last rotation from the previous day so everyone has had a chance to try the slip&slide/water park, the kayaking and the stand up paddle boarding.

Day 3 has been awesome. We’ve had a really good laugh and learned some new and interesting skills. We are loving getting comments from home so please do reply to our blog. Your messages get read out at breakfast and it has made us very happy to know that you are still thinking of us even though we aren’t at home.

By Harry ‘The Legend’ Bryson and Jamie ‘The Genie’ Wardrop

Today we started off with a lovely filling breakfast. There were a variety of different things that you could pick such as cereal, toast, croissants, yoghurt and fruit.

After that we went with our groups and completed the last activity that we hadn’t done from yesterday. So one group did archery, the other the climbing wall and the last group went to laser tag.

We then moved on to some new activities. Some of us played bubble football where we were strapped into a big blow up ball and tried to score some goals.

Another group went up to the field and practised our mountain biking skills. There was a course set out by the instructors and we had to go round it without hitting the sides. There was another task with a slight ramp but not all of us chose to try that.

The remaining group had a go at the ‘Leap of Faith’ where they had to scale up a wooden pole using wooden slats positioned up the side of it. From the ground it looked really high but all of the kids in this group had a go at the challenge. Once we reached the top we needed to throw ourselves off and try to touch the pink buoy.

Following this we stopped for lunch. we had either cheese, tuna , ham or egg mayonnaise rolls. Followed by some soup, crisps, fruit and shortbread. We then went round to the store cupboard to collect our wetsuits for the exciting water activities ahead of us.

The most exciting thing that happened today was an STV television crew arriving at the centre. We were all very surprised when we discovered that  Sean Batty was with them and that he was filming for his new show. He was very friendly and he even stopped for a photo and chat with the kids. Mrs Bathgate and Mrs Morgans very particularly pleased to get a photo with him.

After lunch one of the activities was kayaking. We could either go in twos or threes and we had to work together to paddle our way out to the moving pontoon. Once we got to our destination in the middle of the loch some of us had fun jumping  into the icy waters while the remainder of the group watched from the safety of the pontoon and their kayaks.

The second activity that some of us did was stand up paddle boarding. We had to kneel on a big board side by side with a partner and make six rows. The twelve of us then paddled out into the loch and our destination was also the pontoon. We had great fun working together and trying to coordinate our movements so we were paddling at the same time.

The last activity that we participated in was the water slide and water park station. We started off by climbing up the slope to the top of the hill and then washed off the mud from our feet. We then had races with partners down the slippery slide. Although there might have been some cheating from time fun was had by all involved. After this it was out into the loch to brave the Chilly water  and have a go at the inflatable assault course. The instructors told us to lie back in the water to allow ourselves time to acclimatise to the temperature of the water. Once we did this we swam the short distance out to the first obstacle the ‘Irn-Bru’ pyramid. With the help of the instructors we made our climb to the top where we were allowed to slide, jump or flip back into the water. Some of us also went over and had a go at the water seesaw which required us to split up on the different sides of the inflatable. The instructor (Ross) then jumped from side to side and helped us to bounce about in the water. It was great fun.

At dinner we had chicken goujons, fish fingers and one crazy person (a teacher, but we’re not saying who) had vegetable fish fingers. This was followed by some tasty ice-cream with chocolate flakes. In the evening we had a competition to come up with a design for a new invention. The winning entry was a pair of anti-gravity boots which could be used to escape from natural disasters.

Day 2 has been a resounding success. We can’t wait to find out what tomorrow is going to bring.

by Laura and Scott

      

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Welcome to the Lock Ken blog 2019. During our trip the blog will be updated each night. Please feel free to leave comments and messages of support for your child. We look forward to keeping you up to date with what we are getting up to.