Feat of clay
Mark Robertson is pleasantly surprised by the transcendental experience of clay shooting
The sensation you feel just before picking up a 12-bore shotgun is akin to the feeling you get before yOU sit behind the wheel of a car for the first time. There is a fear that you won't be in control and it'll explode in front of you or you‘ll career off into a wall as you put the keys in the ignition. A gun. like a car. is a tool. which. when used properly. can do a job. but which has the potential to hurt.
Going shooting is a surprising experience. The weight and beauty of a gun is as big a surprise as anything. A smooth. finely crafted object. it feels antiquated — given its pure mechanics — but foreboding. lt commands respect
Shooting is perceived to be the domain of the country dweller. in quilted coat and deerstalker. shotgun over the arm. But it is in fact a hugely pOpular pastime with a million people in Britain regularly shooting. be it clays or pheasants. according to the British Shooting Sports COuncil. The focus is very much on sport rather than blood. In recent years it has also become popular among stag parties and with groups of friends looking to get outdoors and try a sport that is a bit different.
My instructor leads me into a quiet
wooded area in the wilds of Fife. Tucked into various corners of the woods. high up in tree tops. in bushes and tucked behind rocks are little hides which house the clay launchers. Activated by remote control on my call — the opportunity to holler ‘PULLE' is one that should be seized as often as possible — the clays hurtle above my head with lighting swiftness. No amount of warning prepares you for the rate they move but it doesn't take too long to get into the groove of following them across the sky.
The recoil of the gun is sharp but brief. the rifle jerks back in my arms but never out of control. It is almost transcendental. the feeling of centralising all your energy on one task. an action which is actually strangely calming. The world is blotted out, with only a small luminous orange disc hurtling through the air to focus your attention on.
Out of the 25 shots I fired I hit ten clays. Beginner‘s luck perhaps but I was assured that was a very respectable score for a pure novice like me. I left satisfied. a little stiff round the shoulders (another hazard when starting out). and with my appetite whetted for a sport which is enjoyably different.
I C/uny Clays (www.c/unyc/ays.co.uk. 07592 720374). by Kirkca/dy. Fife. offers taster sessions from [322.
c "'0'..."
Crash course
Despite getting stuck in a stream, Claire Prentice enjoys a lesson in off road driving ‘More to the left. hard left. left!‘ When you're in control of a 225.000 vehicle. it's worth listening to your instructor. Mine clearly has nerves of steel. which is just as well given that l have just narrowly avoided driving his Land Rover Defender 1 it) into a tree. There's no time to count my blessings: we're currently half way up a huge mound of rubble and about to crest the top.
Before the tree threw itself in my path. instructor Mark Bailey had been
explaining why it's essential to approach a steep climb at an angle and to change from second to first gear at just the right moment. If you don't. you'll get stuck. seesaw—style at the top of the hill. like something out of a cartoon.
‘Women tend to be much better at off road driving than men.‘ says Bailey (rather generously under the circumstances). 'YOu can be the best road driver in the world and be terrible at this. Four by four driving isn‘t like other driving. It's a whole new skill and women are better at listening than men.‘
The driving school is in a former quarry in Crieff. where instructors put you through your paces on a ‘nursery' course of tiny mounds of rubble before letting you loose on the real thing. As I accelerate up a steep mound. boulders crunch under the tyres and rubble is sent flying. ‘Take your foot off the accelerator.” shouts Mark mid-hill. I do and. incredibly. the vehicle continues to climb. its diesel engine pulling us to the top of the hill. It gives a whole new dimension to hill starts.
Feeling like a cross between General Paton and Jeremy Clarkson l ‘wade' through a stream. driving the Land Rover up to its axle in water. It’s a thrilling experience. until I stall.
Although it looks like the ultimate adrenaline sport. off road driving is best done at a walking pace — the need for concentration at all times makes it surprisingly relaxing. Just watch out for the trees and put the £25,000 price tag out of your mind.
I The Activity Centre at Crieff Hydro offers off road driving packages from E 75—80 for an hour for up to five people (www. crieffhydro. com, 0 I 7 64 657 622).
29 Mar- 12 Apr 200/ THE LIST 15