In the morning we were greeted by a variety of foods and everyone was buzzing for today’s activities and wondering what would come of us by the end of the day. We split into two groups, four boys in one with Mr Alderson and the other four girls and a boy with Keith. We began the day singing on our little trip to the start of our journey of Navigation. (Keith’s was the best! (our group))
Now it was a race against time, well between the groups, 3 maps were given to each group and we were charge of navigation instead of the adults leading us. We started in Beddgelert and Mr Alderson’s begun in Pont Bethania. We started our journey heading towards Gelert’s Grave. Then using our mapping skills we navigated our way down the river bank, past gushing water which was very cold! But no one fell off! We also passed a steam train which was very noisy and made us jump.
The awesome group (us) begun the Cwm Bychan walk which was equally as relaxing as challenging, stopping for needed water breaks and to take in the scenery; it was a once in a lifetime experience.
After a good few hours of walking and climbing over a variety of different terrains, we beat the boys to the middle spot where we had lunch and met other climbers, surprising because some of us lagged behind but still persevered onwards.
After lunch we continued on our journey, using the maps and relying on our abilities to make a decision on which way to go, Keith’s group, walked quickly and efficiently heading down the mountain, we came across a large lake called Llyn Dinas and posed for a few pictures. One person decided to wade in a little further and almost ended up falling in face first (she also slipped a lot, more times than everyone else combined in our group!)
Finally we were so close! We felt like we could beat the other group and Keith and the rest of us, continued onwards, only to get stuck in the mud. We waded through the slushy brown stuff and even came across poo a few times. Nasty! Our boots sunk into the slush as if it were sinking sand. A few of us got our foot stuck and needed help getting out. Later on, we had the choice of going down a muddy path or a nice path, one girl made the decision to head down the muddy one with the saying “let’s be Peppa Pig enthusiast” followed by the group making many pig snorts and jumping up and down in muddy puddles. Followed by Keith who just looked at us as if we were crazy people who escaped from the nut house.
After a little longer, mud covered (Angel and Tayla had a mud fight!) Ryan spotted the van and started leading us to freedom, boarding our sacred ride, we discovered we had to change mini buses and that we were to head to the boys ending point, our starting point. Instead we were beaten by a mere 15 minutes and drove straight past them, Keith and Mr Alderson, switched mini buses followed by their respective groups and headed back to the Centre. Music, singing and mud, it was rather fun actually!
(Mr Alderson on arrival crashed his minibus into the wall of the lodge…creating a terrible bang! Luckily we weren’t in there!)

By Candice Dennis and Elizabeth Allen