A challenging but fun week

Cruach Tairbeirt, near Arrochar

It has been a busy few weeks, I have been doing a lot of associate work recently for Blairvadach, a Glasgow LEA centre. 

Primarily it has been P7 groups and last week was certainly a challenge but a fun week none the less. Whilst not 'bad' kids they just had a shorter attention span than normal and it really was limited to 3-5 seconds. I was glad that climbing was scheduled for the end of the week where their listening skills had slightly improved!

It was also an adventurous week for me as I got to discover a couple of venues I hadn't been to before. An exploration of the gorge which branches off to the right proved interesting early in the week, as it involved a relatively large walk back around via the top of the hill as the gorge to the left is uncrossable until quite high up, I wish I knew that before hand! But in the spirit of adventure the group enjoyed it and got to meet some horses and friendly pigs which got up close and personal and followed us up the hill.

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Rainbow spinnaker over the Gareloch

An enjoyable hill day with the group on Cruach Tairbeirt was had, more in hindsight than at the time for some! A hill above Arrochar at 415m should be ideal for this group, but having never been there before and no marked paths on the map higher up the hill through the forestry plantation, some experimental route finding and bog hopping was required to lead us clear of the trees. The short steep ascent led to some groans which dissipated as we cleared the trees to find another of our groups and a fantastic view over Loch Lomond.

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Ben & Loch Lomond from Cruach Tairbeirt

The weekend brought with it some late teens for some fun, bonding and teamwork focused ropes course and climbing activities, as part of a Malawi Young Leaders group who were undertaking a customised programme. During the day they also helped contribute to a film for Glasgow schools about Fair Trade so it was also a school day for me. A nice relaxed way to end a week.

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