After a great deal of last minute organising, it was finally time for the GWC Torridon Project 2010 and my first year in charge of the trip. I hadn't exactly had an ideal amount of preparation time, due to being 'stranded' in South Africa because of the ash cloud. But now none of that mattered because we were off - 6 boys, 6 girls, 4 staff, 12 days.
The kids seemed like a really good bunch and after meeting them all a few times over the past couple of weeks I knew that they were going to be good fun on the trip. I also knew that I had a good team of staff in James, Laurie and Margot. Hopefully the weather would be kind to us - May can be an unpredictable month in Scotland.
After a long drive, and a lunch stop in Dingwall to stock up on fresh supplies for the week, we finally turned off the road at Kinlochewe and along the windy road to Torridon. It had been raining for most of the drive but as we wound our way along the single-track, the clouds lifted and the kids were given their first glimpse of the impressive Torridon Munros.
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| A rather wintery scene on arrival in Torridon |
I had been keeping an eye on the weather and I had noticed that the temperatures were quite low in the last week - but I hadn't expected quite so much snow on the hills! As we arrived at the hostel and unpacked the van, we all looked at Laithach and it really felt like winter. The forecast for tomorrow looked chilly and a little stormy, but it looked like it would improve in the next few days. I knew the weather might effect what we were able to do with the kids but after scouting out Torridon and Gairloch last October, I was confident that I knew the area well enough to keep us occupied.
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| A rather wintery scene on arrival in Torridon |
Matt and Steve gave us all a very warm welcome and we all got settled in to our rooms before I divided the kids into their duty groups before we got the grub on the go. I didn't want to give the itinerary away, because I wanted to keep the kids on their toes, so I just told them all to assume that we would be walking each morning - unless I told them otherwise.
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| The lads were clearly surprised by the snow in Torridon |
I decided to see what the weather was like in the morning, before making a plan for the day - bring it on!
