Fire, foraging and shelter-building skills on Monday

Monday started at 7 a.m. with a jog along the vehicle track. An opportunity to get the blood flowing and sleep out of their eyes before sitting down for breakfast at 8 a.m. The girls and boys have been out on the Ardbeg peninsula today looking at all the survival skills that they will need for the island. For some, this started with learning how to forage on the hillside for tinder and kindling to light little fires with a striking flint. They then built the fires to a stage where it was possible to cook damper bread over embers and also to cook a mackerel from yesterday’s sea fishing.

For others, this started with looking at tying knots and building shelters from old yacht sails and small military bivvy tarpaulins. We looked at the bivvy bags that the boys and girls will use along with their sleeping bags on the island.

By the end of the afternoon, all four teams had covered all the skills needed and had an opportunity to sit down with their team instructor and look at maps of the island and talk through the brief, a series of conditions of their time on the island.

With some wild weather due in from Wednesday afternoon onwards, we plan to head to ‘survival’ on Tuesday afternoon. The boys and girls are all well, working hard and learning many new things. Lots of hands up for tomorrow morning’s pre-breakfast swim which is a great sign.