FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Yes. Our professional staff are qualified through Mountain Training UK and British Canoeing.  Ridgway Adventure holds a license issued by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA). AALA lay down specific requirements that all license holders must meet in terms of their staff’s qualifications for the activities that they offer. Above and beyond AALA’s recommendations, we run an intensive induction course for our staff focusing on the environment that they will be working in, the company operating procedures, health & safety and risk assessments. We complete background checks on all of our staff through the Disclosure Scotland PVG scheme. We work with high ratios of staff to ensure the best possible experience.

Our summer camps are phone-free environments away from the internet, apps, and social media. Once you are here, we will collect your phone and other valuables for safekeeping. Our instructors will take lots of photos of each team on the summer camps, and we will share these with everyone at the end of the camp. If you want to take your own photos, please bring a dedicated camera, which is not a smartphone. Should you need to contact home during the summer camp, you can have your phone back for this purpose on an appropriate evening or, for the two-week expedition summer camp, upon return to the Adventure School from an expedition.

Our Norwegian style wooden long building, on the edge of the sea loch, houses a spacious sitting and dining area with a wood-burning stove, commercial kitchen, bunkrooms with hand basins vary in size to accommodate 2-8 young people, male and female bathrooms have 8 showers and 7 toilets with separate facilities for our staff.  A number of other wooden cabins are home to our cook and instructors and we have an efficient drying room for kit and equipment.

Our bunkrooms are spacious, clean and well lit, all with windows to let the fresh air in and glorious views. All rooms are on the ground floor. Some rooms are in our main building and others are cabins, a stone’s throw away.  All bunk beds are made up with clean sheets and duvets when you arrive.

From experience we work on similar age, same-sex and suitability basis. We remain vigilant to make sure that the groups in the bedrooms are happy and get on well together. We will change people if this is not the case.

Some evenings young people are out on expedition, camping in their teams with their instructors. When at the Adventure School, each evening they will either be learning something in preparation for the next day’s activity or enjoying supervised social time. Volleyball, table football, card games, chess, backgammon and more. We do not have mobile phone signal, television or wifi.

As well as money for travelling, I suggest £30-£40 sterling + kit hire cash for the time here.  There are no cash machines.   We collect and keep safe – wallets, travel documents and mobile phones.

We live in a remote area of Scotland, off the main road, at the end of a gravel track. We ask that passers-by do not come into the adventure school or close to our buildings when we have guests staying with us. We suggest that valuables or items of significant sentimental value are not brought on the holiday. Passports, travel documents, money and mobile phones are kept safe by us when you arrive and can be accessed when needed. There is always a duty instructor who will be available at any time of the day and night.

The food is delicious, home-cooked, nutritious and plenty of it! There is a cooked breakfast, packed lunch and 2-course hot evening meal either soup and main course or main course and dessert each day.

Yes. We have a nut-free kitchen and can cater for most special dietary requirements, as long as we know about them well in advance, as we are not near the shops. Please enter all details on your booking form and speak to Rebecca, she will be happy to help.

We are masters at looking ahead at the weather forecast!  If it is not suitable to run an activity, usually because the wind is too strong, we will either change to an activity that suits the conditions or in the event that the weather conditions are hazardous, we have a range of suitable indoor activities. Ridgway Adventure’s activity programme has been developed to suit the varied weather conditions during a Scottish summer.

Young people are never forced, but we do encourage them to attempt all parts of the activity programme, which is specially designed so that everyone can achieve and have a fun time during their time with Ridgway Adventure.

We supply all the technical equipment for the activities that we offer. We also hire waterproof jackets and trousers, walking boots, sleeping bags, sleeping mats and rucksacks if required. We do need to know requirements prior to arrival. Please see the kit list, which will be sent to you once you have booked.

There is no need to bring your wet suit as we supply good quality, clean wet suits. If you have a skin allergy you may like to bring your own.

We wild camp in the mountains, not in a campsite. We ensure that the toilet facilities at the camps are hygienic and that everyone is familiar with the routine of keeping themselves and the facilities clean. There is a ‘long drop’ style toilet on survival island.

Ridgway Adventure’s staff are first aid trained and full first aid kits are taken on all activities. When away from our base a support vehicle is available. We are situated between our two local Doctors surgeries; Kinlochbervie 8 miles north and Scourie 8 miles south. The Doctor will come to the adventure school in an emergency. There is an ambulance at Kinlochbervie and air-ambulance available if needed. Inverness is our local Hospital.

Midges are tiny flying insects that can come out in very calm summer weather. They are an irritation rather than a danger. Midges usually appear sometime in June, depending on how warm spring has been. We will lend everyone a midge head net. A charge will be made if it is lost or damaged. We also have ‘child-friendly’ insect repellent and will encourage the pupils to share a bottle amongst their group if it is needed. There are ticks in the Highlands, as there are in many other parts of the world. We will talk to the children about preventing tick bites when they join us and encourage them to check themselves regularly. We have special tweezers for their safe removal and our staff are well trained in this. Some ticks in the UK can carry Lyme’s Disease. We haven’t come across any cases here in 50 years but parents should be aware of it, and its symptoms. It is easily treated with antibiotics if the symptoms are spotted early and there is a link below with more information; NHS advice on Lyme Disease

Items of clothing sometimes go astray, it is best if all kit is named so that it can be identified. Please take everything home with you. We are not close to a post office and there is a charge for any returns.

You can fly, come by train or car to Inverness Airport, where we meet everyone at a set time at the start of each Summer Camp and return at the end of the camp.  There are suggested flights on our ‘Travel’ page.  Do contact Rebecca for any advice.