Loch Lomond

Go Ape’s Naturally Powered Adventures are designed and subsidised so that they’re accessible to all tribe members. In September 2022, Go Ape tribe members from all across the UK headed up to Scotland for three days of adventurous activities including, canoeing, wild swimming and beach yoga.  

Go Ape Operations Team Member, Dave Daborn, shares his experience:

We arrived at Loch Lomond on Monday afternoon, a ragtag group of the Go Ape tribe from all across the country – Southampton, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Aberfoyle. We set up camp and went off to explore the local village of Luss, finding a lovely little restaurant for dinner, getting to know each other over a burger. After dinner, we went back to the campsite for a game of cards before getting into our tents for our first night’s sleep.

On Tuesday we woke up to a breakfast of croissants and waffles, then made our way down to the lochside for our first activity, water sports. Everyone picked their vessel, either a kayak, paddleboard or canoe, and we made our way out into the loch, which was surprisingly choppy. After exploring a few of the islands, looking for the wallabies that allegedly lived on one of the, we fought our way back across the middle of the loch, back to the campsite in time for lunch. After lunch we went down to the beach for our yoga session with our instructor Isabella. Some of us were very good at yoga, and some of us thought we were doing alright until we reviewed the photos later! Either way, the sounds of the waves lapping up against the shore and the wind blowing through the trees made a brilliantly relaxing soundtrack. We then went back to camp and started on dinner, cooking a delicious chicken curry and veggie chilli on the camp stove.

 

On Wednesday, we started the day with a hearty cooked breakfast before rushing off for the big activity of the week – a climb up Scotland’s most southerly Monro, Ben Lomond. Our mountain guide Ellie met us at the start of the path and guided us to the top, sharing with us some interesting facts about the mountain and its flora and fauna along the way. Three hours later, everyone made it to the summit, earning some glorious views to look at while we ate our cheese and ham sandwiches, before making our way back down to the campsite to have a well deserved swim in the loch.

On Thursday morning we woke up early, packed down camp and jumped in the cars to go to Go Ape Aberfoyle on the way home, finishing off our week of adventures by flying down the biggest zipwires in Scotland. We met up at the end of the course and had some cheese toasties in the Aberfolye cafe before saying our goodbyes and making our various ways home. Everyone agreed it was a brilliant four days of adventure, blessed as we were with glorious sunshine throughout, and we all headed home looking forward to the opportunity to sign up for the next one!

Interested in working at Go Ape and enjoying benefits like this action-packed Naturally Powered Adventure? Discover our current vacancies and apply to join the Go Ape Tribe today.