This year i have been helping out in an outdoor adventure centre in Ballinaglera, co.Leitrim. I have been doing summer camps there for the past five years and at this stage leitrim is my second home. This year though, i felt a little too old to be a camper once again but not wanting to waste away the summer i presented myself to Kevin (My besties uncle) who is the centre owner, and kindly he took me on despite any misfortunes with sinking rafts in the past. :)
So on monday me and my brother and sister set for the shores of Lough Allen where they would be campers and i would be their instructor!!! Mwahaha power over the siblings!
The first morning was rather slow and we had a few quick morning games before heading onto the lake for some kayaking!! We paddled over to the pontoons, played a short game of bib and bob and then paddled back for lunch. After lunch we played a few games with the windsurf boards on the water because the wind was off shore and not suitable for the kids.
On tuesday morning we did some archery in the morning which im truly atrocious at but we still had some fun and lots of people ended up in funny situations!! After lunch we did the lough allen raft challenge and of course the legends that were my team won and we had a victory jump off the pontoons!!
On wednesday we paddled the river shannon from Dowra to Lough Allen. It was a 6km river run and then a paddle back through the bays of the lake to the centre. It was a bit much for all the kids in the end and Tojo ended up towing at least 6 kids, and i towed my sister! The river itself was an easy grade 1 with a tiny set of low rapids and the kids all found it great!
That evening there was a community event, The Lough Allen Raft Challenge. This year there wasn't such a great turnout and with only three teams we set of for sit on top kayak island! After that you head to helmet island before setting off to nuclear reactor bay and then to the deactivator! Team O Lets Go! (My team) came second due to some sabotaging on Tojos part!
Today (Thursday) we started the day with fire lighting and now my clothes stink of smoke!! Gross! Me and tojos team were a joint second and kayle's team came first. My firelighting skills seem to be diminishing despite the amount of fires i lit last week!
After lunch we had a few different sessions going on on the water. I went out sailing with a few of the other girls and we ended up sinking a raft which was hilarious and very fun although ludo didnt seem to be too impressed. But we know deep down he loved it!!
He then decided to scrap the sailing session and let the next group just sink the boat seeing as it was on the cards since day one anyway.
On the way home there was more attempt of pirating on the other raft but some angry instructors set them straight.
Tomorrow we head to burger bay where i might get some proper kayaking done finally. Believe it or not i haven't been in my own kayak all week and its been lying neglected on the shore! It still only got a little paddle and very annoyingly the two Hannah's filled it up with sand which was a big pain in the ass and required an hour cleaning to get it out!!!!! I took everybit of outfitting out of my boat to try and get the sand!
Thanks so much to Kevin for letting me come and hopefully il be back next year, and to Ludo and Tojo especially for making me welcome even when i used to terrorize them as a kid! :)
If anyones around the Lough Allen area be sure to pay luch allen adventure a visit for an all round class time! (notice the use of bogger words in this post!)
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