Sunday Sea Kayaking for the Dumpton team

Everyone was up and out at 7 am for a morning run along the track before breakfast with Mark and Charlotte. A chance to get the blood flowing and sleep out of the eyes before sitting together for breakfast. The Reds were out sea kayaking with their instructors in the morning with sea mist still hanging low over the sea loch, giving the day a wild and eerie feel. The water was glassy calm at times, and both Red teams managed a circumnavigation of A Chadh-Fi Island and paddled beyond to the shores of Survival Island. We added new skills as we went, saw herons and curlews flying close to the shore and we played some games before returning to the Adventure School.

Meanwhile, the Blues were on high ground above the Adventure School building and managing small campfires on exposed bedrock in the way they will be expected to on their survival night. They cooked winkles foraged earlier from the shore, made damper bread, and some had bog myrtle tea.

After a picnic lunch either on the hill or back at the Adventure School, the Reds and Blues swapped around. The sea mist had lifted considerably for the Blue teams kayaking in the afternoon, and it was pretty much dry all day, apart from the odd spit or spot.

With a flat calm and rainy night ahead have stayed at the Adventure School tonight with an early start planned for our mountain day. 6.45 am breakfast and then off to Arkle. We have a bit of a weather window before frontal systems roll in off the Atlantic by early evening tomorrow.

The girls and boys are doing really well. The summer sunshine of their arrival day has been replaced by more autumnal conditions and we’ll have to see whether conditions will allow us to reach both summits of Arkle tomorrow, or restrict us just to the first summit.