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Loch Ossian - Into The Wild 08

  

LYPP has started a New Year tradition of its own by hosting its 5th annual trip to Loch Ossian Youth Hostel. Eleven young people and six leaders set out for a weekend that held a few more surprises than usual.

Prior to the trip the young people met together to set collective ground rules, check their kit and decide what we would eat at mealtimes while we were away. The young people were given the responsibility of creating a cordon bleu menu, which consisted of a set number of calories, included any specific dietary requirements and was at least two courses. The young people were then given a budget and went shopping at Tesco for all the food items they would need.

Loch Ossian Youth Hostel is one of Scotland’s most ecologically friendly buildings, set within the beautiful surroundings of the Rannoch moor where it is only accessed by train and a kilometre walk. Therefore the young people had to take this into consideration regarding all the decisions about the weight and size of food items they carried in and waste items that had to be carried out on foot.

The weather forecasts for the weekend had indicated that there would be a lot of rain and strong winds however this was only a tiny flavour of the conditions that we would face on the way to the hostel.

The young people were met from school and travelled by LYPP minibus to Crianlarich train station. On the way we could see that Loch Iubhir was extremely high but had not anticipated that the water levels of all the lochs and water ways to be so full. It was only when we were 15minutes from the station and we came across flooding over the road and had to do a bit of ‘minibus fording’ that we realised it was indeed going to be a very wet weekend.

On arrival at Corrour station the young people hitched up their heavy rucksacks and as the train pulled out of the station, they felt the full power of the 90 mile an hour gusting winds.

After a blowy walk to the hostel the young people got to investigate the self composting toilets, settle into dorms and sample the first round of meals-shepherds pie and apple crumble, a Loch Ossian first!

 



Saturday was set to be a day out on the hills playing a large scale game of capture the flag but since all of the location points we had pinpointed on the map were either fully submerged in water or pretty inaccessible due to water logged ground, plans had to be drastically revised. So we set off on a land rover track to check if a new bridge had withstood the extreme weather conditions, or at least that had been the plan until the young people discovered the delights of ‘bog jumping’, moor racing, unblocking clogged water drains and generally being submerged waste deep in mud and water.

Saturday was rounded off by a belated burns supper, tales of the groups exploits out on the moors and late night sprint runs down the hostel track.

On Sunday we woke to a slightly dryer day and we could see the water level had dropped so we took the opportunity to climb up Meall Na Lice. As ever this was another opportunity to lounge in a few mud baths, jump off rocks into bogs and sprint to the top of the hill. The wind at the top of the hill was extremely strong so we took refuge in a dip in the hill where there was a smattering of snow- enough though for a snowball fight. Our time on the hill was rounded off by each of the young people finding a quiet spot to be alone on the hill and spend five minutes looking out on the beauty of nature, listening to the noises of the elements and reflecting on our time at Loch Ossian.

As we headed down the hill, thoughts turned to our six course Sunday dinner and getting ready to walk to the station for our return journey home.

Another trip to Loch Ossian was over but a new lot of memories had been made to take with us. Many thanks to all the young people, for all the ‘banter’ and the fun we had together.


Volunteers Needed!

 

Are you over 18 and would like to become a volunteer with LYPP? We have a number of opportunities for volunteer leaders including; Youth Club Volunteers, Music Club Volunteers and Climbing Volunteers.

 

All training is provide and your expenses covered - all you need is an interest in young people and a desire to help.

 

For more details get in touch with the LYPP office.


 
loch ossian

LYPP Annual Report 2005/6

  

The LYPP Annual Report for 2005/6 is now available for download. Please click the link below to access the report.

 

LYPP Annual report 2005/6 (pdf)

 

LiveWire Newsletter

  

The first quarterly issue of LiveWire is available for download. Please click the link below.

 

LiveWire (pdf)

 

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