Trip to Scotland

I had such a fabulous time in Scotland :) Walking, canoeing, drinking wine, chatting, laughing, singing, some Forest School CPD  ...you get the idea!

I had a slow and long drive to near Edinburgh to stay overnight with my friend Jan, who runs her own Forest School business near there .

Next morning we were up bright and early to set off to our mutual friend's house in Argyll and Bute.

We took the ferry and arrived at our friends fabulous house for wine and nibbles as the sun set over the Sound of Bute.

Saturday morning we had a lovely ( if wet!) hike into the hills in rather adverse weather conditions  (did you see the weather forecast for the Highlands last weekend?)

Trust me, it was very wet and very windy and very cold. We had sleet/snow where I was and that is quite unusual for the Argyll and Bute region as it is temperate rainforest ( yes really!)

Saturday afternoon we did a a 4 hour sea canoe expedition with some  other people ( also outdoor ed people!) in very challenging weather conditions. We were well looked after by  Ian from Argyll Voyageur Canoes who was really great and very knowledgeable of the local area, having been born and raised there.

We had a camp out at the half way stage where collectively we  managed to get a basha up and a Kelly Kettle lit and a brew up made in what even Ian the Canoe described as really, REALLY very challenging conditions!

Horizontal hail and vertical rain and a nearly gale and 2 C with a wind chill added to that!  But IT WAS FUN :) We sang to the seals as we canoed back  :)

Sunday we did some CPD on dissecting owl pellets.  Several of our group had to leave early  so Sunday night we had a quiet pot luck supper and an early night.

Me peering very intently at some vole bones.

Monday saw me heading back again to my friend's house near Edinburgh, we stayed overnight and then I picked up another FSL  friend and headed home. Deb runs Hallr Wood a fabulous FS site near Glastonbury and she stayed overnight with me at Moors Wood before heading home on Tuesday.

I loved seeing all my friends and catching up with them - and I  had a great long weekend away,  got some good exercise, gained some really good ideas for my own practice at Moors Wood and did a lot of useful CPD.