Westbourne teams return from the mountains

The Westbourne teams are back from a night and a day in the mountains. We left the adventure school just after 5 pm on Sunday afternoon for the 20-minute journey to the foot of Arkle. The old stone stable at Lone has been the launchpad for our trips into the mountains for over 50 years and provides the perfect base camp.

The Year 8 teams pitched tents close along the banks of the two streams that run from the mountains into Loch Stack before cooking their dinner on trangia stoves with their instructors.

The plan for the Year 9 boys was to cook their dinner at Lone, rearrange their kits and then head off onto the side of Arkle to sleep in bivvy bags partway up the mountain. With a friendly overnight weather forecast and stunning evening light, they reached their bivvy spot at 9 pm. The boys laid out their bivvies and enjoyed the last of the evening before settling down to sleep out under the stars.

The Red teams (Year 9 boys) pushed on from their bivvy this morning after cooking breakfast on their stoves, reaching the western summit first by crossing the crenellated ridge. The Year 8s took a different route from their tented camp up the eastern flank of the mountain to the first summit before tackling the ridge to the second/western summit.

The mountain day is not designed to be easy, but to challenge the young people that come to us. Arkle may not be the highest of mountains in Scotland but with two summits and a combined height gain of 1000m, it provides a full-on day in stunning surroundings.

A great achievement by all.