2175 News 2010

2010

Silver Callander Hike

By Cpl Claire McKenzie

rob roy.jpg On Friday the 16^th of July, Cpl Fox, myself and two cadets from 2414 Squadron, Jordan Campbell and Jamie Blair, set off from Callander on our 3 day Silver DofE expedition. For me and Jamie it was our qualifier hike, while Craig and Jordan were on their practice. The main purpose of the hike was to visit Rob Roy MacGregor’s grave and to do some research on his life. The training for the hike involved learning map reading and navigation skills. Also Craig and I completed the route cards during parade nights.

We arrived in Callander just after 10 o’clock in the morning before using the public toilets (our last chance of civilisation for 3 days) and visiting the tourist information centre in Callander to see if they had any information on Rob Roy. After setting off, the start of the day went pretty smoothly. We were mainly following a cycle path for the whole day so there were no problems with terrain and in the morning it wasn’t too rainy. We followed the cycle path until we came out at a road. We were walking along the road when we spotted two caravans and a house, the next thing we knew the staff were walking towards us, eager to let us know about their Sky TV, tea and biscuits and what takeaway they were planning to order that night. Needless to say we weren’t too impressed. After stopping for a moment to put on waterproofs because it looked like it was going to rain, we continued on the hike. After a while everyone got hungry so we stopped on the banks of a loch to eat our lunch. The boys started skimming stones into the water before we had to move - it was starting to rain quite heavily and we wanted to get to the camp site as quickly as possible. They rest of the day went pretty well, even though the weather had got worse and worse all day, so that by the time we got to the camp site it was pouring. We were supposed to go see Rob Roy’s grave that night but it was getting late and we decided to go in the morning. It took us quite a while to get the tents up, partly because it was raining, and partly because we had never put up the tents that we had brought before. One note for improvement would definitely be to practice putting up the tents beforehand! After cooking dinner I just went to my tent and went to bed because I was shattered.

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and got the tents away without a hitch. We then went to visit Rob Roy’s grave and learn more about him. After that we set off for the second day of the hike which we knew to be the toughest. It started off alright but once we started to hike cross country, Craig had some real trouble with his boots. When I say real trouble I mean the sole was completely hanging off one of his boots and whenever we stood in the slightest puddle his foot would get soaked, which was especially bad as we had to cross rivers and walk through marshes and bogs. Understandably this held us up quite a bit and we ended up getting back pretty late. Another problem was the path had loads of cows. This might not seem too bad but according to two members of the group (who shall remain nameless) the cows would charge at you and impale you with their horns if you so much as went near them. Eventually, we had to walk past them as there was no other route, even though one person practically refused and said “Am no goin near them, nae danger”. When we did walk past the cows, they never bothered and just walked away from us. When we met the staff they told us roughly where the camp site was, it was next to a loch with a burnt out camp fire. So when we reached the loch, someone seen a burnt out camp fire through some bushes and assumed that it must be the camp site. When we climbed down the hill to get to it, it looked a bit rocky and there were tree stumps everywhere so I didn’t think it was the right place. However we were so exhausted we started putting up the tents. After we had managed to put up 2 tents and were about to start putting up the third the staff came along and asked us what we were doing and informed us we were in the wrong place – great! We ended up just staying where we were – we were too worn out to move. The biggest downside to that particular camp site though was the midges – I still have marks where I got bitten when I was trying to cook my dinner.

The next morning everything went well and we started off with no major problems. Today Craig took the wise decision to wear trainers instead of his boots, which made the hike easier. At the start of the hike we met some more “killer cows” and a detour through marshy ground was made, so his feet got a wee bit wet but the rest of the hike was mainly on road so he was fine. We never really took any breaks, as we all just wanted to get to Callander and then go home. When, eventually, the hike ended at a picnic site, we were so happy just to reach civilisation. We had a quick trip to the chippy and then the minibus home.

The purpose of the hike was to visit Rob Roy MacGregor’s grave and find out more about him. Rob Roy was a famous Scottish outlaw and is known as “The Scottish Robin Hood”. Rob Roy means Red Robert and he was known as this because he had red hair. Rob Roy joined the Jacobite Rising and fought to support King James. Later in life he became a cattle herder, but lost his money and cattle and became branded as an outlaw. He died in his house at Balquhidder on 28 December 1734. He is believed to be buried in Balquhidder with his wife and sons at the gravesite we visited although this is much disputed and he may in fact not be buried there.

To conclude, I think the hike was very successful. It wasn’t without problems but we managed to overcome most of them. The hike was by far the most difficult one I’ve done yet but it was a good experience and even though, at times, it seemed dreadful, looking back now it was very funny and worthwhile.

Erskine Collection

By Cpl John Porter

On Saturday 5^th June, myself and Cdt Sullivan arrived at Central station at 12:00pm. We met Flt Lt Callan and we received our visitor cards and cans. I got placed at the left side entrance (the quietest) and got in a good position to collect. Despite being on the quietest entrance, I actually managed to collect quite a lot of money as there was a few ex-personnel who donated large amounts of money. There was also a Cdt Sgt who donated out of sheer sympathy. After the two hours, I was exhausted and my feet were killing me but, I felt good knowing that I had done something for the Erskine Hospital and the ex-service men and women. It was also rewarding that I was representing not only my squadron, but also the ATC and the RAF.

Coaching

By Cdt McKenzie

Cadets McLeod Bradley (s) and I went to 2452 Shawlands Sqn for a days training at marksmanship principles with Flt Lt Gilmour. It started on a cold January morning at 0850 hours, we learned about the correct way to hold the rifle and how your position should be what you shoot best with. He also told how to zero your aim with the target and how to set your sights. Once we where told this we were to put on the shooting jackets and to practice firing with “false” ammunition the day was quite exciting but intense.

During the day I felt happy because it was exciting learning all of the new principles and different methods of target shooting and how very small adjustments can make extreme differences on your grouping and score.

When we were there there was other cadets from 2452 Sqn and were all really friendly and they told us what they had achieved during there cadet career and what there favourite part about there time during cadets.

I enjoyed the day it was very interesting and I feel I learned an awful lot although at points it was tough, I feel it will be beneficial for the next time I am on the range.

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