Auchinleck House 2007

On Tuesday 29th May 2007, a group of 13 people from 7 different countries (UK, USA, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Belgium and Taiwan) set off from Coventry in the Heart of England for a 6 day tour around the South and West of Scotland.

Tuesday 29th May

Departed from Coventry and travelled up to Auchinleck House in East Ayrshire via Newcastle (passing the Angel of the North) and stopping off at Chester's Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall.

Wednesday 30th May

We explored the estate around Auchinleck House, learning useful skills such as 'how to turn a blade of grass into a musical instrument' and 'how to put up a deck chair', before heading over to nearby Ayr for an afternoon on the beach.

Thursday 31st May

Most of the day was taken up with a trip to Glasgow, parking the minibus at a park & ride facility linked to the local metro network, which allowed everyone to explore Glasgow in separate groups - with some simply using the time for shopping. A birthday party complete with 'pass the parcel' and 'bubble blowing' rounded off the day nicely.

Friday 1st June

After a wonderful three night stay, the group reluctantly left the splendour of Auchinleck House and headed up to Fort William, the town at the base of Ben Nevis - the highest mountain in the British Isles. Unusually, it was actually possible to see the top of the mountain - which is covered by cloud for 343 days of the year! Half the group went on a tour of the local whisky distillery - a requirement in any tour of Scotland - while the rest went shopping or enjoyed a short rest period.

Saturday 2nd June

A very long day - particularly in terms of driving - had us head off in the minibus from Fort William to Mallaig, where we caught the ferry over to the Isle of Skye. After a wonderful lunch, we drove over to Portree in the pouring rain, before heading back to the mainland via the controversial "Skye Bridge". Several hours later, we returned to Fort William to collect the car with the luggage and then continued on to the next stopover at Falkirk, finally checking in to the hotel after midnight.

Sunday 3rd June

With the late arrival, we had a leisurely breakfast, leaving Falkirk at around 10:45. A stop at Gretna Green allowed a final sampling of Scottish culture - particularly the bagpipes being played for the tourists - before crossing the border back into England and heading back down to the Midlands.

Some of the group knew each other in advance, but all got to know each other very well over the 6 days of the trip and parting was quite difficult. A particular feature of this trip was the participation of Ella Chen from Taiwan, who came along to pilot the idea of adapting the formula into a fully fledged "Youth Exchange Camp/Tour". This seemed to work extremely well, with Ella spending a highly successful 13 days in the UK. We are grateful to the Rotary Club of Solihull St Alphege for funding Ella's place and, after the success of this pilot scheme, we will now scale things up for 2008.

If you are resident in the UK and would like to know about opportunities like these that may be available to you in other parts of the world, just visit the Camps & Tours page on the website for Youth Exchange in Great Britain & Ireland.