A warm and sunny (for a change!) mid morning at Cluny Clays was the venue for the first Field Archery training course this year. Archers young and old gathered to find out what all this "bunny" and "fan" and "walk up" stuff was all about.

We took our places outside on the range first of all, to get some sightmarks... not your standard 30/50/60/70/90 meters here... oh no... everything from 10 yards to 80 yards, in 5 yard increments was to be needed on this course... Once we got 20, 40 and 60 yards, Bill Mackay demonstrated how to extrapolate and interpolate the sightmarks (work the out with a clever bit of paper!)... very ingenious!

After the safety and guided tour of the range map, we had a quick lunch at Cluny's excellent facilities and headed off to the course. Splitting up into several groups, we set up our kit, were designated a coach and disappeared in groups off into the woods. The setting was magnificent... not too challenging, but beautiful surroundings. It was probably the most calming days shooting I've ever had! The wakling was sometimes as challenging as the shooting as we negotiated the burns and avoided the branches...

Just listening to the birdsong echoing around us and seeing the shafts of sunlight streaming through the branches made me wonder why I'd never done this before... it was fun, interesting, relaxing and peaceful all at once.

Will I do it again? Definitely!
Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely.
Was it worth the money? Undoubtedly
What would I change? A better set of sightmarks!
What would my advice be to potential attendees? Don't hesitate, go for it... take stout walking boots and only as much kit as you need and can carry...

A big thanks to Bill, Bill and Billy for organising it and helping us novices!!

Click on the images below to enlarge