Each night, in addition to the blog, one group of students is able to go to the climbing wall whilst the remaining two groups stay on site and complete team work and problem solving exercises. Here are a few pictures of each – the local climbing wall is an excellent facility, which we are very lucky to be able to visit!
Hello, George and Eilish here,
Today was our last activity day and we went gorge climbing as well as having training on an abseil and cave laddering. Our day started with an abseil off a very very very very whack bridge. Eilish went first and did it in 13 seconds compared to my 3 and a half minutes of which 3 minutes and 27 seconds were spent standing at the top, LOL! Next to get back to the top of the bridge we had to use a caving ladder which required excellant balance. Trouble (Eilish), was kicking leaves onto bully (Mr. White) as he was climbing with grace and pure strength (he told us to write the last bit).
We left the centre heading to the gorge for a 12 o’clock start. Jezmund told us an interesting story about pixies that come on holiday to the gorge to ensure Whack in the water is had by all. Our first real challenge was the elephants bottom which required us to squeeeeeeze through its bum cheeks (it wasn’t actually an elephants bum LOL), it was a tight space with water rushing through it. Mr White lead the way followed by the rest of team Whack. Jezmund kneed us through the cheeks whilst Mr White ensured our last moments would be captured on film forever. Fortunately we survived and moved on to the next whack (exciting) challenge which involved a short abseil across fast flowing water. We zipped down the line, well, George moved at the speed of a sloth. We then traversed across the final piece of water. All was going well until it came to me (Eilish), Phoebe and Mia met some pixies on holiday who pushed us off the rocks into a swirling void of exciting water, deep enough to emerse the larest pixie you will ever find!
Our final challange of the day came after a quick waterfall walk, it was the dunk. One by one Jezmund stuffed us under the water and through a hole, after which we enjoyed a refreshing dip in the water. Back at the minibus, we had a water fight with the water in our wellies with Mr White ensuring plenty went on “Irish” for all the times she said LOL.
On the way back we stopped for hot chocolate and then Mr White did a presentation to each of us….
Me (George) and Phoebe won the courage award, 2 rulers to measure our courage by
Mia won the stacking it award, another ruler to measure the depth the of the river
And we can’t remember the rest….eeerrrhhh Liam and Craig won balls as did Georgie, I got a pen along with Steph and Alicia a sheep…..we have got to go now and eat and have a quiz and watch a film and pack. A big WHACK to Jez our main whack, Thank You
Today was our last activity-filled day we where all extremely excited about finding out what we where supposed to be doing, when we where told in our daily morning meeting that we would be doing sea level traversing we were so unbelievable happy and no-one could wait!
It was about a 40 minute drive in the mini bus to the beach where we would be sea level traversing and the drive seemed to take forever so Elise and I (Lauren) decided to enlighten everyone with our amazing singing of ABBA songs!-I am not too sure everyone was too impressed to be honest! When we arrived we got into our waterproofs put our safety jackets on and strapped our harnesses on. We first followed Mr A to the side of the cliffs where we began to traverse along. It was so fun and everyone was enjoying themselves so far and even better know one had fallen in YET !! As we walked around the other side of the cliff we had to make a rather large leap also known to Lucy as the leap of faith! Toppo was the last person to make the jump and unfortunately timed his jumped just as a massive wave came crashing over the leaping rock. As the wave came crashing over Toppo was swept off his feet and thrown into the cold sea below, as he was pulled out by his dear friend Wellsey everyone else stood and did the only thing they knew how to do, LAUGH !! 🙂 🙂 🙂 !!
We then climbed through some tight gapes to get up to the cliff top and get back to the mini bus so we could eat lunch. After lunch we did some Tyrolean traversing it was great fun and it really showed who the brave people were, the braver ones out of us tried flips and fancy tricks like hanging upside down by our ankles it was so fun and extremely hilarious! Most people managed to do one flip but I managed to do 3 in a row 🙂 it was so exciting but it made us all very dizzy!!…
Afterwards we made our way back to the mini bus and then began our drive back to the centre for our last evening meal.
We had traditional fish and chips with mushy peas for pudding we had chocolate sponge and cream-I personally really enjoyed this (of course)!!
This evenings activities are still a surprise so we will have to wait another 15 minutes to find out what we will be doing.
Everyone had a great day and are now exhausted everyone is looking forward to going to bed!
See you tomorrow…xx
Helloooooooo… Ellie & Maddy here!
Today was our last day of activites so we decided to go ‘Sea Traversing’ at ‘Cable Bay’ which was on Anglessey. First of all we started walking on the beach, then we came across a tiny hole which MIKE MADE US ALL FIT IN (9 of us). After that we went up a wall, across the grass and through a cave! When we got to the bottom of the cave we walked across the rocks and had a look in the rock pools. We found red things that felt like jelly 🙂 Then we got told a very interesting fact about barnacles 😉 On our way back to the van for lunch we were discussing what we thought we were doing later on in the evening. We both thought that we would have fireworks so Ellie started shouting “fireworks…..fireworks” whilst running down a very muddy hill, because this is Ellie we are talking about she slipped, and fell straight on her BUM!!
After lunch we used ropes to get to one rock from another which was sehr gut, we had three go’s each… trying to flip over in mid air! (VERY HARD)
After trying and not succeding we moved to another rock where we had to crawl across the top and it was quite painful!
We then went back to the van and were first home(:
…………………..
Hi Everyone… We just had fish and chips for dinner :)yummmm.
because its our last day the teachers have told us that we are going to do a fun night activity, but we still dont know what it is:\
This is Ellie&Maddy saying good bye for the last time (because we are going to pack our bags:)
Byeeeeeeeeeee!!
You Know You Love Me xoxo Gossip Girl (Maddy&Ellie:)
Bye for the last time blog we love you, and KMC…BYEEEEE xxx
We set off in the mini-bus in the morning with our wellies!!!(very exiting) 45 mins later we arrived at the ‘black river‘ and immediately it started raining :O once we got out the mini-bus we kitted ourselves out with helmets, harnesses and buoyancy aids and walked a little way up the gorge as it was really busy at the bottom. As soon as we started in the gorge we filled up our wellies with water on the first crossing and they never dried out again… Oopsie 🙂 we had to attach ourselves to the rope that Mr. A secured for us and drag ourselves through a freezing cold waterfall. Although it was really chilly it was the start to a great day. Afterwards we abseiled down part of the side of the gorge and into a supposedly shallow but actually waist deep gush of water. Once we were all successfully across we carried on up the gorge and found a fairly dry cluster of boulders to sit and eat lunch on. After an episode where Elise accidentally kicked over Mr. A’s ‘special’ tea and the photo shoot with some funny faces we set off again. We had been walking for about 10 seconds and Mr. A asked us all if we wanted a challenge….. we were all a little scared. So Beaver (James Topping) decided to step up to the challenge and, once finished with his task, immediately regretted it as he was shivering uncontrollably. We then ventured further and were asked again if we wanted another challenge. Suddenly, everyone wanted to step up to it. After 3 or 4 goes each on the most amazing water slide EVER (but also the most painful (hips still hurt!), we had to unfortunately leave and clamber up to the waterfall at the top of the gorge. At the base of the waterfall there was a pool of water that was over waist deep at some points and we all jumped in! 😀 It was extremely cold but very funny indeed. Once we were done in the pool, we started to climb down the gorge. On our way down we stopped at the slide once more and had another go on it each. After walking down a little bit more Mr. A gave us one more challenge. We had to squeeze through a tiny little gap between some gigantic boulders and try and make it out the other side. Harder than it sounds! We then walked (and slid!) back down right to the bottom of the gorge and were finally allowed to change into some dry clothes (heaven!) After we were done changing we piled back into the mini-bus and had another 45 minute journey back to the centre whilst singing lots of songs and terrorising Beaver when he was trying to sleep…… poor Beaver. All in all we had a very good day at the gorge and, although we got many bumps and bruises, we had loads and loads of fun! 🙂
Yo yo yo Steph and Eilish here lol, today we started off in the room of whack talking about our whack adventures! Jez asked everyone how their energy level were, most of us said we were low in whack. So we started the day off with some orientearing and learnt how to use a map! I (steph) took a really long time and ended up coming last in this task 🙁
When we finished the orientearing we set off on our next task, climbing a small mountain on our own (no Jez and no Mr White). We were showed how to use the right equipment and a special safety tent. While Jez talked to us Mr White set of ahead to a check point which would show if we were going the right way or not.
Craig started off as our ‘group leader’ ,with the help of Alicia, and navigated his way around the mountain with the use of a map and compass. As we trecked along everyone started to doubt Craig’s navigation skills, but as we reached closer to the top we soon saw Mr White’s red coat in a broken down house, we were as safe as whack! We stopped to get a bite to eat and a drink but soon set off, Mr.White left to go get some “KFC” as we carried along on the rocky hillside.
As we got closer to the top the wind picked up and we all had to scramble down the rocky path and through small streams. The grass got thicker and the water got deeper, we had to watch our step; but Mia decided to do some more of her ‘Mia style tricks’. She tried to run down the hill but instead ‘stacked it’ in a grassy stream. Me (steph) being the hero decided to run after her and save her,but instead fell on top of her…Whack.
We carried on along the stream but soon had to stop as George needed a pee, so he stopped on a hill and did his ‘business’. We walked further on through a stream but soon had to stop again seeing as Eilish and Mia now needed a pee! Soon we were back on track and carrying on at a fast pace with Phoebe leading the group! As we reached a waterfall we were soon met by Jez who jumped up from behind a wall and scared us all! We then saw Mr.White treking behind us in his red coat. When he caught up he decided to take a picture of us at the waterfall. Eilish, being the most whack climber of us all, climbed up with her walking stick and managed to fall head first into the waterfall!
Jez and Mr.White then left us again and we carried on, passing the other group on the way. We all saw a sheep, and in a moment of excitment (danger) decided to chase it. It ran away! LOL.
More to follow in the morning, with some pictures…. time to eat
Hi – it’s Vicky, Izzie and George K here!
When we found out that we were off to Afon Ddu Gorge, we were so excited because we had been waiting to do it the whole week. After a 45-min journey we arrived and started to don out 20kg of gear each – waterproof jackets and trousers (Eden spent 10 minutes looking for her’s in the bus, absolutely certain that she had brought them with her but they were not to be found anywhere!), buoyancy aids, helmets, wellies, harnesses and Karabinas. We finally started up the hill towards the gorge.
To start off our ascent we first practised a little bit in the lower end of the gorge, where the water wasn’t too deep and the current wasn’t moving too quickly. However, Izzie still managed to fall in! Then we climbed around a sheer rock face after Anne had demonstrated it – most of us managed to get around except George and Joe … everybody was gradually getting wet 🙂 even through our waterproofs!
Vicky’s trousers (aka the puddle-lover) actually filled up until she looked like the Michelin man and when she squeezed them out, we were seriously killing ourselves laughing as she had a hole at the very top of her trousers where it all spurted out! 😀
The next challenge was to scramble around a deep pool, where there was some really smooth, no foothold rocks in the middle. Anne gave the group a choice an adventurous route or an easier one, Eden, Izzie, Joe and Miss Hodgett watched the rivine below the ledge they reached and saw George flailing his arms around trying to catch a disappearing Anne! We were all in hysterics at his funny face 🙂 Poor Clover was the last to participate in getting to the ledge and whilst trying to put her foot up, she unfortunately slipped and was swept away down stream! Everyone was cheering her on and Clover managed to regain her balance and joined us on the ledge.
We carried on our way up the rocks, and whilst taking a breather Vicky was dared to sit down in the middle of a pool, which because of her love of puddles, she immediately agreed to do it! We took another, more grassy, route to have a snack, and after about 10 minutes we set off, waving at the other group as we ascended once again.
All week our group motto was “think of the showers” which kept us going up all the mountains more quickly, and today, with the amount of water involved, just as we were steeping under a small spout of cold water, it was quickly changed by Vicky to “no showers tonight!”
When we finally got the top of the waterfall, we were offered the choice to jump like a pencil into a large, deep water pool of a rocky ledge, into the middle where it was deepest. It was so scary but everyone managed to overcome their fears and all jumped off the ledge twice. Josie (the smallest but makes up for it with her determination) jumped of the highest ledge there was.
We all sloshed our way down the really steep hill covered in really slippery leaves until we discovered that we could slide down faster on our bottoms. When we got to the corner we had to stand up again but Eden’s feet ended up running away from her as she couldn’t keep up with her speed and she stacked it! LOL unfortunately she hurt both of her knees – but not too badly. We have all collected a load of bruises in various places over the last four days! 🙂
The highlights of the day for us were Vicky sitting down in a puddle, Bartek singing ‘Barbie doll’, George’s various faces that he pulls, Izzie’s constant falling over, Vicky’s hole in her trousers and jumping in and watching other people jump in the really deep pool at the top of the waterfall. It was amazing to watch Anne and her skills and all the stuff she can do with ropes and climbing. One of the best activities of the week.
Loggin’ off for hot chocolate now! LOL
Hi, becky and katie here!
We abseiled of a bridge, after breakfast, it was really high but it was exciting once you built up the courage to let go!
Then we walked over some hills near aberglaslyn river, it rained, not alot for Wales, but alot compared to what we are used to! We did a self lead walk, that means we lead ourselves, we didn’t even get lost! We saw lots of fantastic Welsh countryside (through the thick foggy cloud!) and played pooh sticks over the many bridges we travelled over. We also found a swing that Maddie wanted to spend lots of her life on! And katie, (this is Becky at the moment) stacked it on her butt and is going to have a rather large bruise there tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! (OMG lol)
now we is goin xoxoxox
It’s Eden and Izzie here!
Today we went to Porth Trecastell – (Cable Bay), on Anglesey Island to do some sea level traversing! It was a 45 minute journey, but it passed quicker than we expected 🙂 We were kitted out (HEAVILY) with helmets, harnesses, cowstails, short jackets, buoyancy aids and all our waterproof gear.
We got there about half ten and went down on the beach to do some practice rock climbing and scrambling. It was slippy and wet but fun and necessary. Next we went to a large wall, where we had to plan our own route up the rocks to reach the top of the wall, which wasn’t easy! We all helped each other and used teamwork to our advantage :).
Then we went back to the minibus where we sat with all the air blowers going trying to warm us up to eat our lunch and put on our harnesses and cowstails. We all put one item of food in Anne’s first aid kit in the waterproof bag to eat later on the rocks.
We then set off on the rocks to scramble and climb our way along the beach. As we were scrambling across there was a drop, with rushing water below and jagged rocks on the side. Three of us made it to the other side, including the instructor, but then suddenly, Josie’s foot slipped so she was hanging on to this rock by just her hands, using an incredible amount of upper body strength, and with Anne’s help, she managed to clamber back to her feet again! Vicky was really excited about jumping into the sea at the end, and at every available puddle or rock pool she jumped in, soaking her feet and waterproof trousers. Later on she jumped in a big one though and slipped and fell over, and me and Izzie couldn’t stop laughing! She was actually really happy and laughing about it though 🙂
After about an hour scrambling we stopped at a big drop to eat our snacks and have a drink while Anne set up loads of ropes to form a Tyrolean traverse – which is sort of like a zipwire across the waves in the gap. All of us were really excited to cross over the zipwire, apart from Eden who was really scared to do it. Anne went over first and we sorted out the order we wanted to go in. Miss Hodgett helped us to clip on our Karabinas in the right way and one by one we slid over the waves on the rope. Then it was Vicky’s go. She started off okay but then managed to get her ‘behind’ stuck on the rock that you needed to push off to get started. She was stuck for ages and everyone was laughing, including her, but then eventually she un-lodged herself and managed to drag her body along the rope. Then it was Eden’s turn to swing along the rope. She was really frightened, but she gathered enough courage together to push off. She screamed halfway down but everyone was really supportive of her and she made it to the other side. The others clambered across until Miss Hodgett had joined us on the cliff face. We then clipped our Karabinas to an orange rope that ensured we would not fall off, and we scrambled up to the green rope, where one by one we swung back to the other cliff top.
We climbed straight up the steep cliff face to reach a muddy grassy path, which is where we started to descend. There were puddles. Lots of puddles. Muddy puddles. Vicky went crazy, and decided to jump in every puddle we came across, but then near the minibus she jumped in one, slipped, slid for 10 metres then fell down. It was really funny, especially when Izzie had to use all her might to jump out the way to prevent getting splashed. We then finally reached the minivan, were we took of our equipment and played games all the way home.
We got back first, which was a great surprise because we thought we were last. We were all cheering in the minibus;) We got first dibbs on the showers AGAIN!:]