Sunday - The beginning of the adventure

We have arrived and are very happy to be off the bus at long last after 8 hours! We stopped regularly to stretch our legs. As we got further and further into the journey we got more and more bored... until we got to Wales where the scenery was absolutely breathtaking with endless rolling hills, picturesque villages, numerous stunning scenes and lots and lots of sheep!

Once we arrived we used our remaining energy to drag our heavy bags upstairs, much to the amusement of the teachers. We then went for a walk up to the disused slate mines, and saw Mount Snowdon in all its glory. We wandered back down to the minibuses watching the sunset warm the sky.  

Rosy Kelvey - Rose Heslin

Monday

Today in our 3 groups we unexpectedly climbed Snowdon as the weather was so beautiful. The scenery was absolutely astounding. We could see lots of other mountains, lakes and villages.

Once on the summit it felt amazing to have climbed all the way up, it was easy and difficult at times.  At the summit was a café.  There was also a train that some people could take to get to the top.

 Mrs Campbell’s group went up Snowdon on the “miners”trail and down the pyg trail while Mrs Yates and Mr Marsdens groups did the opposite. - Rosy Kelvey

Tuesday

Kayaking. -  Mr Marsden’s and Mr Stover’s group went kayaking.  Our leader was Stuart.  We were all shown how to use the paddles and then we went into the lake.  Georgie was the first to capsize.  After a while of more practicing on the small lake we went out onto the bigger lake.  Georgie then capsized again! 

It was fantastic to be kayaking in such a beautiful place, the scenery was amazing.  For the last half hour we played some games, and some of us decided to capsize on purpose.  It was a great afternoon. - Maisie Peel

Rock Climbing. -  We went Rock Climbing with my group, Mrs Campbell, Mr Grunnell, and Connor.  Our instructor was called Nick who knew everything about rock climbing.  The climbing looked really hard and I wasn’t sure if I could do it. 

We had to learn how to connect our harnesses to the ropes using  a caribina.  It was really important that this was connected properly.  We had to do a push check first. 

We were in a team of three, one climbed, the second person made sure the rope was taut, and the third was a safety person called a tailer.  I climbed all four of the climbs, and was very excited about achieving this.  To come down the cliff you had to abseil, which was quite scary at first.  We all had a really great time. - Emma French

Caving - group Alpha went caving in a slate mine that was shut down 70 years ago, our instructor was Gerry.  We went down a tunnel and into the amazing hand dug mine. 

We firstly were connected to a steel cable against the wall and we had to lean back in our harness and walk along the wall. When we all got across we had lunch with candles! 

After lunch we went into a chamber where ligh shone through; it looked like a projector.  We abseiled down into the chamber where they had put left over slate.  We then walked out of the river which led us to the light. - Anna Harrod

Wednesday

Gorge walking

Today our group (Mrs Campbell and Mr Grunnell) went Gorge walking. It looked really hard at first but it got easier as we went on. Our instructor was Nick and he kept singing spider pig. We climbed up about 1000 ft. At the end we jumped in the water including Mr Grunnell. We had our lunch on a couple of boulders near a waterfall it was really fun. We had to wear a helmet and buoyancy aid. Tomorrow we are caving, it has been a good day, in our opinion it was the best day so far. - Daniel and Jack

Bouldering  

Today we went Bouldering with Mrs Yates and Mr Greenacre. There were big rocks where you had to climb underneath and over the tops, squeeze through small spaces and jump off them.

There is a real story of a circus family who kept a lion in a very small place where it would be kept for the whole night and day when it wasn’t doing the circus show. One night it managed to climb out with its big claws and killed a family nearby. That is why it’s called the Lion Rock. I had a great day and I would want to go there again. - Annabel Young

Kayaking

Mrs Yates and Mr Greenacre’s group also went kayaking.  Before we went on the water we did some exercises which we learned how to kayak.  Then we played a game where we had to keep the paddles vertical.  Then we put on our life preservers and went on the water. 

We had a few practice runs and then we went further out into the lake.  After that Stuart the instructor said we were the best group. - Ricki

Caving         

Mr Marsden’s group went caving today. Before we entered the cave, we put on full waterproofs, harnesses, helmets and head torches. When we first entered the cave it was incredibly steep and it was easy to slip. Once we were further into the cave, Gerry, our leader, demonstrated how to clip onto the wire and get across the ledge.

Once we were all across we had lunch in candle light then carried on. When we were almost at the end we turned out the lights and felt along the wall until we could see the light at the end. -  Maisie and Georgie