Archery, beer and dogs

The archery was brilliant.  Neil the instructor was very personable and referred to us mostly by our individual names - quite a feat with 12 in the group, and had some inventive games for us to play. One was 'bake the cake' where you have to get an arrow in the white, blue, red and yellow but if you put one in the black you have burnt your cake so have to start over. Martin was overall winner of the highest score round and Ryan beat Kath in a one arrow play off in another game. Jess and I enjoyed ourselves even though we didn't score highly, nor successfully 'made a cake'. The weather was just right and we played for over the allotted time.

After lunch Martin and Ryan went on a tour of the Cairngorm brewery which, they later reported was good although the guide was a bit mechanical - quite unlike the chaps at the Hogs Back. But the beer was great!

Jess, Kath and I went to a farm for a sheepdog demo. Kath was in her element with 12 sheepdogs and some puppies to pet. Even Jess relaxed when she realised that none of the dogs jumped up at people. There was also a manual shearing demo and the opportunity to feed lambs (who were as big as sheep). The sheepdog demo was really good - most of the dogs were totally focused and on point. One, Mel, who is in training had a bad habit of nipping the sheep and she was told off a couple of times.

Jess, Ryan and Kath are all in one room in bunk beds. After one night Ryan has taken to sleeping on the sofa bed downstairs to get away from the stereo snoring of the girls!