The adventure begins..

As the rest of the school returned to the classrooms after the Easter holidays, Mr B, Miss M, Primary 7 and I headed off on our week long residential trip to the Abernethy Adventure Centre in Ardgour.

This is the first time I have a) been to an outdoor adventure centre and b) accompanied a school trip.

I admit, I was pretty anxious about it, even down to the silly things like will I be able to sleep in a strange bed? will I like the food? what if I end up sharing a room with Miss M and Mr B??

So the bigger anxieties like, what if I lose one of them? (the kids) or what if someone gets seriously hurt? were just too big to get my head around.

The kids were in great spirits on the bus journey, and time actually flew pretty quickly. By early afternoon we were crossing Loch Linnhe at Corran, only to be meet by breathing views of Ardgour.

The centre is set in a beautiful 3000 acre estate on the shores of Loch Linnhe and is teaming with wildlife and stunning landscapes.

On arrival we split into groups and set off on our first activities. My group went off on a hill walk and I was very impressed by Dave our Instructor had about the local wildlife and ecology.

He had the kids tasting spruce needles, identifying rocks, splashing around in a stream, identifying which trees had been pecked by Woodpeckers and tasting popcorn he made for them whilst we stopped for a rest. The popcorn was a little burnt, but the kids loved it.

So far so good, all seems to be going great, kids happy, staff friendly, lodge comfortable. Now all I need is a good night's sleep.

This is the view from the ferry when we crossed Loch Linnhe from Corran to Ardgour.