Friday was unfortunately the final day of challenges of our action packed and adventurous week. We were instructed, by our instructor Mike, to carry out a set of tasks. We were given maps and had to undertake roles of leader, navigator and back-marker; only this time with a twist! Mike wanted both our independent and team-working skills to shine through.
The first activity was both exciting and heart-wrenching at the same time. The group was tasked with abseiling off the bridge adjacent to the location of the KMC. Mike set up some tricky and spectacularly tight knots, which gave the rope a certain tightness to it. The group geared up and clipped on their harnesses before abseiling down towards the ground beneath the rusty bridge. Once we had reached ground level of the bridge, Mike waved us off before we set out on our journey towards the first marked point on the map; the coal mine museum.
We had decided between ourselves that Jake would be our leader, with Cobi and myself as the back-markers, and Sophie as our sophisticated navigator. We journeyed on a path towards the museum, slumbering past rocky roads and back- woods covered in foliage, with scattered leaves and animal defecation aftermaths.
We reached the first point a little over twenty minutes after we had set off and Mike stood eagerly with orienteering maps for us to acquire. The task was to find landmarks in a certain surrounding area of the coal mine museum from which we were able to collect letters that coincided with the numbers given out. We explored top to bottom with the aim of collecting further information for our task and uncovering a secret message/code. Due to the fact of our time limit to perform each activity, Mike frequently checked our progress on finding a fair ‘chunk’ of the letters. He told us we were to meet him at the ‘land rover track’ indicating a point on the map with certain landmarks on that route, such as the morgue and hospital, which were famous due to their ancient history.
Our journey started again with Tom as the head of the pack, as well as the navigator, and myself as back-marker, once again working alongside Cobi and Jake, ensuring no male or female would be left behind. The traverse started up a secret, meandering path in which the whole group had to work as a team, ensuring the right route was to be taken, to meet Mike. After a long, sluggish and stretching saunter towards the destination, we met Mike waiting, in a smug fashion, as he sat in the boot of his Mercedes.
The third and final activity tasked us with the challenge of rock scaling and climbing. With tight ropes fitted once more and harnesses strapped and ready for use we ascended a great boulder, in a tight fashion, with two going up at a time, until we had all reached the top and from which we would witness a marvellous, majestic view of the surrounding landscape; mammoth and mossy mountains, tight and compact roads where vehicles daringly drove past and an eerie and misty sky which masked the tip of enormous mountains.
Mike instructed us to return back to camp, giving us precise instructions on where to go, the whole group started to walk home in a bedraggled but satisfied manner in the knowledge that the activites behind and the experience of KMC, as a whole, were at an end.
Mike complimented but also constructively criticised each one of us on where we needed to improve. Overall the day was amazing and definitely a great way to bring to an end our fantastic time, of this amazing adventure, at KMC.

By Theo Athinou