Our weekend preparation started on Friday when we began loading up the minibus with sleeping bags and mats, all ready for the start of our big adventure.

On Saturday, we headed down to Glentress in the glorious sunshine and on arrival, we stretched our legs, taking in deep breaths of the fresh Tweed Valley air. We then started the task of pitching our tents, which proved to be more difficult than expected as the wind was blowing fairly strongly. After this, some of us explored and others relaxed in their home-away-from home for the night.

After a delicious supper of sweet and sour chicken, we all had a quick shower before heading back into the tents, and drinking our hot chocolate. Once the sun went down the evening sky shone with the light of thousands of stars and we had a wonderful view of the Milky Way. Most of us got a good night’s sleep, though the occupants of one of the tents were awake rather early!

The clear night was a cold one but we were sprang out of our sleeping bags to enjoy a full breakfast before breaking camp. Just as we stepped onto the minibuses the rain came down but undeterred we made our way to the Glentress Mountain Biking Centre. Here we were split up into two groups swapping over during the afternoon. We alternated between mountain biking and forest activities, which included building dens, making clay faces for the trees and whittling sticks. The mountain bike trails were varied and there were plenty of thrills to offset a few spills. We all had a wonderful time, the afternoon whizzed by and before we knew it, we were heading back onto the buses for the journey home.

We would like to thank the biking and woodland instructors for teaching us how to not fall off our bikes and survive in the woods and to Mrs Scott and the accompanying staff for a fabulous weekend adventure.

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