Lobster creels, rock climbing, survival skills and more
Busy few days since returning from the mountain on Monday afternoon.
It has been all go at the Adventure School over the last few days with this ever enthusiastic Twyford team. The weather over the last few days has been mixed, quite overcast with banks of drizzle drifting in off the Atlantic but it has done little to dampen any spirits as we crack on with a busy week.
On Tuesday we rock climbed and abseiled on the hilltop above the Adventure School and used the super-remote Ardbeg Bay to look at the fire and food elements of the survival skills needed for the island. Quite a quantity of winkles and limpets consumed by some, and we haven’t even got to the island yet.
Yesterday we used our two workboats for the first time this week to lift lobster pots in Loch Laxford and Loch A Chadh-Fi. Lobsters, brown crabs, velvets, a few dog fish and a sea scorpion. A good catch in comparison to the slim pickings we have had so far this summer. We handled the creatures, learnt a little about them, returned them to the sea and used the boats to take a closer look at survival island.
On the return journey we stopped at Ardmore to see the Atlantic rowing boat that Rebecca’s father used to cross the ocean in 1966 and Rebecca’s Cape Horn sea kayak.
While teams were out on the boats, others were up on ‘search to survive’, our wilderness orienteering course. A chance to operate with independence from the instructors for the first time and to make real decisions for themselves.
With a drizzly night in store for last night and a later than usual departure on Friday we have decided to push survival island back. The forecast looks like it will give the best available weather this evening. That means that we will spend today (Thursday) at the beach before returning in the afternoon for the island. With a steady swell rolling in Laxford yesterday we should get some surf at the beach.
The team are on great form and we’re enjoying their company. Get ready for 24-hour sleeps and bags of muddy clothes back down in Hampshire!
