Lobster creels, survival skills, sunset kayaking and a birthday

It is just after midday on Thursday, and the girls and boys are on the beautiful white sandy beach at Oldshoremore. A chance to chill out, relax and reflect after a full-on week of great endeavour and big adventures. They came off the island at 7 am this morning after a successful night, peppered with a couple of heavy downpours in the small hours of the morning. Lots of bright and cheery faces at breakfast. They have done brilliantly.

It is also a chance to catch up on some photos from the last few days. We have had pretty good weather, lots of sunshine, always a breeze and none of the hailstorms that we’ve been hearing about on the grapevine from teachers back at school. On Tuesday evening, the Red team took to the water in sea kayaks under the warm, low evening sunshine. Really beautiful.

We’ve used the workboats not only to lift lobster creels and see the 1966 Atlantic rowing boat, but also to land the teams on remote headlands for their survival skills training, a real perk of the settled weather. We’ve celebrated a birthday, handled velvet swimming crabs and lobsters from the creels, and orienteered independently on the rugged Ardbeg peninsula. We’ve been out running or swimming every day before breakfast, getting stuck into washing and drying up and had music blasting from the kitchen at duty time.

The boys and girls have been super throughout and a real pleasure to spend time with.