And we’re back! An early start on Monday morning allowed the team to do some final packing before commencing the 5 hour drive up to Johannesburg Airport. Having dropped off the vans, all in good order, we started the check-in and security dance with the rest of the Palma team, before grabbing some last minute sushi and doing some shopping. We then boarded the plane for our flight back to Heathrow, only 12 hours after leaving the hotel in the morning...

To our valued readers, The last couple of days have been a movie. With shooting sorted and R&R underway, we begun our ‘touring’ phase appropriately by driving over to the astonishing Amanzi game reserve, not far from where we have been staying these past couple of weeks. This place is hard to describe as it ...

We gathered for our last early start of the tour and first shot at 800M despite some of the team thinking we were shooting at 700M. Jemima scored the only 75 for the team with Miles, Toby, Tom and Henry close behind on 74s…

Today was the penultimate day of individual shooting here in Bloemfontein. The course of fire was 2 and 15s at 700, 800 and 900 metres. The morning started with very steady winds, with the majority of shots hitting the bull and v-bull. 75s were achieved by Jemima, Toby C, Christina, Tom and our captain Harriet...

Today marked the first full day of the World Championships. With temperatures reading up to 39 degrees, and three shoots involving 2 sighters and 15 counting shots, today was a true test of shooting in the toughest conditions...

After the amazing match yesterday and a late night celebrating, the team had the morning off before the opening ceremony and first World Long Ranged Championships shoot in the afternoon. The team gathered for a late breakfast to debrief and discuss the previous nights adventures and eat away any sore heads...

Well…what to say about yesterday. After three years of preparation, the day that has been marked in everyone’s calendars was finally here. The team woke for an extra early departure with tension in the air...

Today was host to the final of the State Presidents and of the State Championship. Our whole team qualified (bar one owing to injury) for the morning shoots (State Presidents), although a few decided to forgo them for some R&R before the world championships team match tomorrow. Those of us who chose to compete had another early start, as despite the shoots starting at 9am, the blow off range closed considerably earlier...

Today was the day of the Protea match. The second of our three team matches involving two sighters and ten counting shots at 300, 600, 800 and 900 metres. This prompted a slightly later start, 9am, and the General De Wet rifle range was filled with the sounds of Shakira and the Lion King as the team did their morning stretches and prepared for a long day of competition...

With the grand aggregate and our individual world championships coming to a close, the pressure was on for all to have a good finish. Still conditions following a rainy night meant for a calm and humid 300m. Having only 2 points dropped between all 12 of us sights were set to 600. Avoiding the changing winds Jemima, Miles and Henry came away with 55s and Toby, Alice and Luca 54s...

The team made their way to the range for their sixth consecutive day of shooting to shoot the States President second stage (similar to King's II) and the Municipal Cup at 800m...

The drive to the range today featured a lone giraffe. It was a very exciting sight for all, and one team member was lucky enough to see it twice (owing to having forgotten their plot book in the hotel and having to make a mad dash back to retrieve it before the start of shooting)...

The Grand Aggregate kicked off today and so a few buses ventured to the range slightly early in order to get acquainted with what turned out to be a rather fickle wind. The first match was the Free State Cup which was 10 counting shots at 300m and 11 counting shots at 600m, a bit different to the our normal courses of fire at Bisley! Congratulations to Luca on placing 19th, the highest in the team, with a 105.8...

Day 3 on the range. Today started tunefully with bagpipes and a presentation of the Scottish Sword, the individual competition for the day. 2+7 at 300, 600 and 900 with changeable winds and warm temperatures meant the team had to work hard to come away with some competitive scores and a better understanding of the range...

Today saw the first day of competition with shooters from around the world shooting the Free State championship, which consisted of shoots at 300M, 600M, 800M and 900M. The team made it to the range with plenty of time to hear the morning prayers lead by the legendary General Mac and a warning about Puff Adders before starting at 300M...

Today marked the first day that the team shot at the General De Wet range, which is home to the upcoming competitions. Having spent a whole day at Peter’s range on Tuesday, some of us chose to value one last morning of R&R before joining those who had woken up rather early to get some shots down range first thing…

The day started a multitude of different ways for different members of the team. Some indulged in a later breakfast, some were in the gym at 8am and some caught up on some much needed sleep by having a leisurely lie in...

The excitements of traveling and settling in have passed, today the hard work has started. After an early start and some bleary eyes we made our way to Peter Bramley’s private range on his estate…

After the mammoth journey we underwent yesterday, the team have had a much needed day to recover at the hotel, get settled in and begin to acclimatise. Wake up times were varied by priorities, with one half believing in getting used to early rises and getting some exercise in, whilst the other half prioritised a long and well deserved nights sleep after a couple of days of travelling...

After a full night and day of travelling ahead of them, the GBU25 team having settled into their flight after changing into their pyjamas and cosying up under their complimentary blankets. A surprise dinner was then served, although missed by a couple of the team who had prioritised their shut-eye soon after boarding...

With anticipation at its peak ahead of our flight, the team gathered at Bisley to pack, re-pack and then pack again all of our personal and team bags as well as rifles. The NLRC laid on a fabulous lunch to fuel our travels and quicker than a flash the coach arrived to take us to the airport...