Dundee U3A Wee Adventure Group

Another go at walking ourselves off a cliff edge, although most of this group of six had not been on the previous abseil.  It was a lovely day to be in the forest and we thoroughly enjoyed the morning, feeling perfectly safe in the hands of skilled and experienced leadership from Ancrum Activity Centre.  After a few abseils down the rock face, we were given the opportunity to climb up another face - most agreed it was far easier to come  down than go up!

On a beautiful autumn day we began our Elie scramble at the Warning Notice above the cliffs and took a big gulp. Darren, our instructor from Ancrum Outdoor Centre had us all too quickly sorted out with harnesses and helmets.  The first part was an 'easy' decent down a short section of links to introduce us to the hand over hand art of clipping our harness to the chain.  Finding footholds below, and out of sight, was a bit tricky but with a lot of "right a bit" or "left a bit" we were on our way.   A few more chains and, with an improving technique, we were soon half way round and opted to stop for lunch at a sheltered bay and enjoy the sun, sea and rocks.  Next was a scramble across a boulder field, passing ever so quickly by a towering outcrop said to be ready to topple sometime between now and the next few years! The vast basalt cliffs would certainly look the part for a Jurassic era movie.   Now feeling a lot more confident we opted for the n...

After getting kitted out into our wetsuits and helmets we were in our rafts and paddling away.  All too soon we crossed our first weir and were swirled and swayed through the water - the first rapid over, we relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  The river was very kind to us, with just a few ruffles of turbulence and irregular waves breaking over the raft - an easy Grade 1-2 glide as promised.  On a warm day it was lovely to see the river from a different vantage point; passing the historic Stanley Mills; seeing heron and otter; and to hear from our knowledgeable guides the ways of the salmon and its fishing.   Photos: Mike Taylor

Everyone knows the Tay Estuary can be a very windy place, however, not today where it was flat calm with nary a breeze blowing.  Not great conditions to try a bit of sailing.  Only two sailing dinghies were put to water.  The first was large and white and, I'm sure, I wasn't the only one who heard Duran Duran's Rio play in their head as the sun shone.  The other yacht was a much smaller craft that caught, what little wind there was, more easily.  Instead of heading to the bridges and the V&A as planned, we headed further out of the estuary to try and catch a breeze. It was great when we did;  the boats lifted and we hung out over the sides looking every inch real yachting people.  Pity it was for such short periods as the wind and the tides fought hard to keep us becalmed.   If the wind wouldn't play at least a boat with a motor would.  The powerful ribs bounced over the water and it was a very different type of fun to take ...

On a calm day we set off for Loch Clunie clutching our wet shoes and flotation vests.  Heaving 5 kayaks to the lochside we were paired into our Canadian canoes, although one of our number had brought their own green inflatable. After a safety briefing and some instruction from Jamie, our instructor from Ancrum Outdoor Centre, we were on the water.  The canoes were  very stable,  easy to paddle and steer; although co-ordinating with our co-crew was a little harder - some of us may be a little challenged in telling our left from our right! We practised our paddling techniques with Jamie giving us various points on the loch to reach.  After lunch we headed to the little island that houses the ruin of Castle Clunie once used as a hunting lodge by Kenneth MacAlpin,first King of Scotland.  We were sad to see how ruinous it had become in its thicket of trees.   Re-launched, we headed for a narrow channel to see how our skills had improved.  S...

OUR FIRST WEE ADVENTURE For our first wee adventure 6 met to abseil outside Dunkeld via Ancrum Outdoor Centre.  To settle our nerves, we had some fun with a few spins on a tree swing. After larking about we were ready to begin the day's real adventure.   Gulp! Our first challenge a mere 30ft drop down a smooth rock face.  there were nerves but after a safety briefing, the first person was over the edge, smiling all the way down.  Yes, it really was simply walking backwards - no problem at all as long as one didn't look down!  Everyone loved it and there were universal cries of "let's do it again!"  And we did, several times. Our next challenge was a 100 foot cliff face.  This time it had lots of nooks, crannies and ledges to provide more of a test.  No matter how nervous some were, we all rose (or should that be descended) to the challenge, with everyone completing at least one descent of the big one, and some had numerous trips. As t...