HSG's trip to Comrie Croft

S1 Outdoor Education Trip to Comrie Croft (May 2008)

Our time at Comrie was full of fun, excitement, and a lot of mud! We had to brave the cold waters of ‘the Puddle’ in kayaks, survive the gruelling orienteering course, and weather the pain and adrenaline of the mountain biking session. Then there was the rock climbing, the abseiling, the archery, the crate climbing and the explore round the forests above Comrie too.

Of course, while we were not being bashed or smashed by the activities, we got to sit back, relax, and sleep on the couch! That said, we had plenty to do at all times, whether it be playing football in the barn or watching a DVD in the lounge. The teachers were great and all the pupils thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to get out and about in Perthshire.

By Mark Provan (1O)

Silver Linings and High Points

Every cloud has a silver lining, that seems to be the best way of summing up this years happenings. With the “big house” being closed on Raasay and all groups going to Comrie croft for activities it’s been quite different from the last four summer seasons spent on Raasay. With most of the work ( how can you call instructing work!?) being with school groups it’s alowed more time off for us guys to go out and do our own thing….

Having finished work with the first block of kids from Glasgow I found myself with a week to play with. The first two days saw me up on Skye doing a Sea kayaking course, in glourious weather and flat calm seas! The day after the course myself and another course member decided to take full advantage of the weather and go for a paddle. It was soon decided that we would paddle from Elgol (south Skye) under the Cuillin ridge and across to Soay. With flat calm seas again we set off in earnest, and within a short time were rewarded with a couple of pourpose on our way to Camasunary bay. A short stop for a drink and a stretch of the legs, also look at the bothy on the beach for future adventures. From there it was a paddle out to Soay, passing by the Cuillin. Paddling under the Cuillin is an experience I will never forget! On to Soay and a look at the old shark fishery, some strange looking machines that would have extracted the oil from the basking sharks some 60 years ago. A quick lunch and it was back on the water for the leg home. After paddling around the south side of the island it was a 7km open water paddle back to Elgol, with one or two stops in the middle to rest the arms, other than the sound of the boats and paddles there was no other sound, no waves, cars, birds or even the wind. A truly rare experience! All was left was to get back to land and get the boats on the roof rack. A trip that every one who has a slight interest in sea kayaking should do, for lack of a better word, a “perfect” day on sea.

The following day I travelled to Inverness to meet up with Maurizio and change the game, Climbing would be the theme for the next couple of days. After a day of single pitch climbs (10 meters or so) we then decided to do a multi pitch climb down near Laggan. Ardverekie wall is the classic climb in the area and one which Maurizio had done before, good news for me being more of a water based person! This time it was 6 pitches one after the other straight up for 180 meters. With the weather holding and a steady breeze to keep the midges away it was set up to be a great day. Maurizio being the experienced rock climber he led the rout and I followed him up. The last pitch was made more interesting by the wind; shouting was no good so we communicated through yanking the rope a certain number of times (climbers don’t tend to txt msg on the rock).

A long walk back to the car and another great day in the outdoors ended.

Matt.........

Welcome to Our guest Book..

Hi all, we thought it would be a great idea to enable our visitors to post about their experiences and the great times that they have had on the isle of Raasay and at Raasay House.

If you would like to add a post please contact our web administrator and he will invite you to become a contributor to our guest book.

Email him on info@raasay-house.co.uk

Don't forget to keep on checking out the development blog at http://raasayhouse.blogspot.com/...and get posting...