Starting on Friday morning, we prepared ourselves for the day ahead, not knowing what was in store. After having breakfast we gathered in the lecture room for our briefing. After a weather check we were told that because our amazing teamwork in the gorge, our instructor was telling us we were climbing a mountain on our own; with our teacher and instructor a few miles behind. We were quite surprised that we were given the trust to carry out the activity.
Before going out onto the mountain, we had to practise using and reading maps by doing some orienteering. We were given maps with points to go and find and stamp, we all rushed away to be the first back. We later returned with the majority of our numbers stamped, and our instructor was happy with our mapwork.
We set off in the coach. When we got there we were given roles; Josh the medic, Holly the manager and the rest of us map readers. We set off knowing that it would take about an hour to reach the peak, in single file we travelled on now familiar terrain (not nearly as hard as other things we’ve done). After climbing a stone staircase we had a simple break having a simple snack.
After that we marched on to the next point and when we got there our instructor was there before us, we were so surprised. We carried on with our instrutor scrambling to the peak of our mountain. After reaching the top we were too cold to have lunch, so we decided to have it on the way down; we stormed it down as we wanted to get out of the cold!
On the way down we found an abandoned mine shaft and then a river. In the river Amelia, Josh and Holly were happily getting soaked, while Olly, who was at the back, carried on at the front of the group down to the railway. When we reached the railway we met our instructor again and had a bit of lunch. Carrying on, we walked down a dangerous fast flowing river, to the end.
In all, the day was very good, as we were given the trust to climb the mountain successfully and safely. Our instructor ended the day with a story about a dog called Gelert and some advice that you should know the facts before you make any decision.

By Freddie Sutton