What a day! Truly memorable, and not just because of the hideous sunburn. Having booked onto a Rough Runner event only for it to be cancelled due to lack of interest, (relief could be seen pouring out of some of us!), The Colour Works team still wanted to do something fun for our HQ get-together.

At The Colour Works we regularly make time to be together outside of the office, (even instead of work in this case), because we know that maintaining close and authentic relationships with these people with whom we spend a huge amount of time and place a high level of trust is incredibly important. Within our personal lives we tend to choose our life partner on that basis and many of us spend equal if not a larger chunk of our week working than at home; it’s a no-brainer!

It was Amelia, our fabulous Client Support Manager, who came up with yet another brilliant idea. Sea kayaking!

And so it began. We all met at 9.30am to get the ferry from Sandbanks to Studland. The sun was beating down already at this point and even though one of us HAD actually packed the sun cream, (well done Ann!) , I wonder if you can guess how many others actually used it..?

Having collected our buoyancy aids and paddles and sporting our all-new cerise pink TCW t-shirts, we got onto the water at 10.30. It didn’t look too far at this point, the sea was relatively calm and it was a beautiful day — easy peasy. Six of us had paired up to even out our level of ability (or inability) across the board, leaving Giles to his own devices on a single, and it was the quietest we’d ever heard him!

25 minutes in we’d made it across the bay, and what better way to reward our efforts than with a picnic of prosecco and crisps we’d carefully stowed away in a couple of rucksacks. The shore did seem further away afterwards, but the break was truly glorious.

After breaking the rules with a quick paddle around Old Harry and through a couple of archways it was time to head back. It looked FAR, and it definitely was not going to be easier on the way back as we’d been advised by the experts back at shore… But though we ached, it was impossible not to enjoy the absolute serenity of the sea, and we were back safe and sound and ready for lunch before we knew it.

STILL no sun cream was applied as we sat in the Banks Arms’ stunning garden for a long afternoon of cold drinks, good food and better company — you can imagine the state of us the next day!

A brilliant adventure with brilliant, now rather red co-workers. We wouldn’t have survived Rough Runner in that weather… Don’t you just love it when things turn out better than expected?