Craig. I started of the day with a beautiful croissant, it filled me up for the day ahead. We all piled into the minibus, however we had to wait for 10 minutes for Rebecca to sought some things out (her hair, *sigh*) We set out in the van passing some stunning scenery, however Dan was too tired to take it all in and had a quick nap. We finally reached a rather remote destination, shadowed by the huge mountain we were about to climb.
Charlie. When we exited the minibus the weather suddenly changed for the worst and we immediately started to put our waterproofs on (which took a long time to do and eventually we had to take our shoes of in order to put on the waterproof trousers). As we started of the long winding, and may I mention steep, road to the base of the mountain. In a matter of fifteen minutes we were completely and utterly exhausted. Yet the mountain seemed ever taller.
Craig. Our group moved on and gradually made progress on the mountain, the terrain got harder and we had to watch our next step carefully. I paused a moment to look up and I realised how far we had to go. There were rocks everywhere! I had no idea how it was possible to climb such a thing. Soon after some more hard work we stopped for a hot drink break. As I sat down the entire Welsh countryside presented itself before me. It was stunning! However we couldn’t stop for long, and the next part of the journey was the bracing bog. Dun dun duuun……
Charlie. As through the harrowing trudge through the bogs. It was becoming ever harder to move though the syrup like ground. Part way through we heard ecstatic laughter from Mr White I turned around to see Rebecca laying, smothered in mud, she had tripped and collapsed in the unforgiving bog. “Wait there don’t move” called Mr White.
Instead of helping her up he pulled out his camera and took a photo of Rebecca knee deep in mud.
Craig. Filled with laughter and joy we carried on, however this adventurous spirit lead to a change of route. We decide to scrap the registered path and try our own. This could only go badly……
As we got higher the 40 mph winds started to take effect, I am personally a very light person, and I struggled to stay on my feet. There was a very drastic change of scenery and the rocks I had previously puzzled over how we would pass got a lot closer. The climb was very difficult and we were all exhausted, however we could not stop on the open grass, as we were vulnerable to the wind. Eventually we found our way to a lovely alcove with a phenomenal view, it was amazing to eat a jam roll 650 metres up with such a beautiful landscape beneath me.
Charlie. After a well needed lunch we set off again with energy replenished. But that didn’t last too long, as ahead of us was a steep, rocky and dangerous climb to the summit. At one point we had to cross a death defying ledge with a sheer drop below. After I crossed I stepped up but a sudden gust of wind caught me and I nearly fell off into the foggy depth, but luckily I kept my balance. Shakily I moved on with Mr Alderson’s warnings of even harsher winds ahead. We kept asking where the summit was but every point revealed an even higher one.
Craig. Finally we were a mere 15 metres away from the top of mountain, sounds easy doesn’t it? I can assure you it wasn’t. The wind got progressively worse, apparently down to some sciency thing, obviously I ignored that bit as I was on the mountain to climb! Not to learn…. Regardless we fought through the ferocious mini hurricane. At last we crumbled around the summit, avoiding the sheer drop on the other side. Filled with a sense of pride we cheered in escalation!! The group cheerfully made our way over to a small shelter of stones and I had one of the best hot chocolates of my life.
Charlie. So after a seemingly quick break we headed back down the mountain with legs like jelly from all the climbing and suddenly back down again. At this point everyone had fallen over at least once, apart from Mr Alderson, however his luck was not to last. A few minutes later we heard a muffled shout, we ran over and saw our respected solemn C.D.T teacher lying on the ground smiling. Mr White helped him up and we moved on.
Craig. We gradually moved down the long winding route, the wind still followed us and I had my first major fall. The blasting gusts pushed me forwards and I bumped into James and we rolled down the mountain for about 5 metres. Eventually the van came into sight, however much to our distress it was the wrong van. After some more painful walking we finally got to the right vehicle. We quickly stopped off for Dan’s toothbrush and then slumped into our rooms for some lovely rest.
Friday morning was a morning like any other, wake up at silly o’clock in the morning to make sure you get that first place in the shower. Then would be a trip to the drying room to pick up the clothes wrecked by the day before. Finally a sit down for around 3 seconds before the bell goes for breakfast. Once all the beautiful cooked breakfast had been hovered away we got into our groups and found out it was going to be another “rest day” do not be fooled, it doesn’t mean sleep and relax this only means it is going to wet, cold and mud just not as high up. So after a brief explanation on what the day would bring by Mr Alderson and “Whitey” we set off to the gauge. Slippin’ n slidin’ up a difficult route to the top (we had to fit through gaps smaller than Charlie) we then saw the most amazing waterfall, after a quick picture we started a long decent. Due to already handing in our KMC rucksacks, soup stops were not an option which proved very stressful for the group. Even Mr White was struggling without his daily 18 Jaffa cakes. While on our way down we all decided to pointlessly go down the stream because “yolo” and we all got very wet and cold especially Dan and Lewis who decided to go head first. All the boys did it proving their supremacy, just saying. This was closely followed by a climb down the elephants bum (two big rocks with a small hole in the middle) we then finally got back to the mini bus changed into clean-er clothes and sung our way home. Dinner an American theme of burgers and a muffin the evening brought us a hilarious quiz won by the “pundits” lead by Ronan. However after his efforts on the dance floor Craig was definitely worth a mention for his exceptional moves and points he won which quite frankly without, his team had no chance. We all then sat in the common room and watched outnumbered, a really funny day and definitely worth the wait.
