Category: Activity Groups 2013

Friendly Bog

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

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.

Jez’s group – Tuesday

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Today was a great day filled with many exciting moments. We started the day off with a long drive to cable bay, on the way there James was laughing at the sheep. When we finally got to the beach our assistant instructor Dylan, helped us put our harnesses on. In no time we were on the rocks, Ronan kept the spirit alive with his great puns e.g. we are having a whale of a time and I’m rocking my new shoes, these jokes were all very funny until the 50th time. We got half way and the waves were very high and crashing very close to us. Ellie was unfortunate and got hit by a colossal wave and was drenched from the chest down, luckily her hair did not get wet. Tyrolean Traverse was one of our activities, this was the scariest thing that we had to do so far but it was also the most exciting activate. Hannah had the most trips and falls and it was so funny but at least she didn’t hurt herself. Then we had lunch, when we took our helmets off to eat we all had helmet hair, it was very funny. Jez, our instructor decided to go to the other side of the bay. We had to climb over a wall it was very hard, but very funny when Hannah tried to help James over but failed miserably. After we climbed over the wall we walked 50 metres to where we saw a cliff Jez said we were going to jump through it but when he said that we thought he was being sarcastic but he wasn’t, so one by one we lowered ourselves down into the crevices of the cliff with a little help from Dylan the instructor’s assistant when we got lower down we were hooked on to a rope in case we got stuck, we walked sideways though a very narrow crack in the cliff to which was ended by…yes you guessed it more ROCKS! This was where Hannah’s jokes started e.g. what do you get when you cross Hannah and rocks…Hannah rocks, what do you get when there is a sea and a lemon…a sea á lemony Ronan’s ended luckily, after this mike took a group picture of us leaning on the rocks we all looked great! Finally after a long and soggy day we all climbed back into the bus where most of us had a little nap then we came home to a nice warm shower.

Although we all had some difficulties today we all succeeded in the end as we grew a closer bond from Ronan’s jokes, Esme’s face first fails, Hannah’s trips and slips and Ellie’s calamity wave fails.

Nick’s Karma

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

This Lily and Courtney’s account of today. We started with a half hour journey to the mountain Cnicht, on the way Nick, Adam and Ed started singing the Friends theme tune with amazing harmonies. When we got there we looked at the summit of the mountain, and all thought that the day would be easier than yesterday. As we went along the day we realised this was true. The girls put their waterproofs on as soon as we got off the mini bus, the boys were complaining that we were taking too much time. We began walking up a steep stream, with a few breaks by the stone walls.  We used these for rests, shelter from the weather, drinking and eating. It then started raining and the boys were forced to put their waterproofs on, and they started to complain and took more time than the girls. We then continued up the mountain, which started to get easier. Along the way we had to do scrambling, sometimes there was an easier route to just continue our journey to the summit of Cnicht. Some people took the harder route and some the easier, depending on how they felt and if they were a bit more tired. The majority took the scrambling route. We stopped again roughly half way, before the journey to the very top of Cnicht. We stopped to eat, drink and rest. Just before we started walking again the typical Welsh weather decided to hail on us. We saw a man with a dog coming back down the mountain, so let him pass before we continued. Jasmine and Darcie then stroked him, which led them to missing their own dogs. When Lou started talking to the man, he told her that it wasn’t his dog. The dog was a stray that had led and followed the man to show him a safe way up and down the mountain. The stray dog then followed us part of the way up, then went back to the man in red. We found that climbing up the peak of the mountain was less tiring, even though the wind was very strong blowing us in every direction. We continued up and when we were at the summit of the mountain we all had a group photo. When you looked behind us, the drop was very steep and the wind was blowing us towards the drop. The walk back down was much funnier and more relaxed. It started off with a steep walk, but then flattened out and became very boggy, this is where everyone started slipping over, except Nick. Nick was laughing his head off whilst everyone was giggling in the background. We continued whilst everyone was slipping and trying their hardest not to fall. Lily, Courtney and Jasmine were falling over every 5 minutes in the bogs and the slippery rocks with the rest of our team falling over as well. We then started walking down more rocks, and this is when Nick’s karma began. He started slipping and fell over. One of the times when he fell he just stayed lying in the boggy mud until the rest of our team caught up. This was funny because his gloves had just dried, when he slipped and made them wet again. We continued walking, which Nick then rushed ahead in the wrong direction (Oops). We then saw some sheep and the first thing Jasmine said was “The sheep have their ears pierced” which was obviously a fashion statement. We then continued the trek downwards. When we got to the road Nick and Courtney had a race back to the mini bus, which Courtney won! Her first completed Mountain. On the way back we were all singing a trilogy of songs with amazing harmonies for Ed, and great songs to all join in on.

Jez’s group – Monday

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Miss HODGETT’S group – Sunbeams
The coach journey was very tiring, then everyone had to sit through a load of meetings about the drying rooms and the kit. After dinner, we all had to go get our kit and then Miss Hodgett wrote down all the codes in the coats, fleeces , waterproof trousers and boots.
Some people were angry that they had to go on a walk after dark. We split into two groups. The one I was in went along the lake. Mr White made us turn all our torches off, and there were some scary bits, like when we all stood on the weak bridge and there were some slippery rocks which we had to climb down in the dark.
Mr White and Keith told us about the Lady of the Lake, which is a Welsh myth about a woman who used to row across the lake to see her boyfriend. One day, the boat sank and she drowned. If you see her on the lake (all glowing and white and scary), then you have to propose marriage to the person you’re with. In the end, everyone was scared of her instead, and we all kept screaming.
We mostly had to have our torches off. Craig’s shoelaces kept coming undone (we had to stop, shout at everyone about the lack of team work and “man down”).
When we got to another part of the lake, there was a small slate house. Mr White told us about a toll keeper who would make sure people wouldn’t steal the slate from inside the mountain. If they did, he’d run out and slam the gate.
Keith slammed the gate in the dark and everyone screamed.
Highlight: Ed fell into the marsh. There were wooden walk ways, splitting in two directions and he fell between them.
Soon, we had to climb up some rocks (I shone my torch up, caught a load of sheep and their eyes looked like lazers. It was horrible) to the castle. Mr White said something about the layout and strategy, then he let us go up the steps. I was at the back, making patterns on the ground with my torch and everyone started screaming again. The other group had come around the other way and scared our group.
When they’d left, we all tried to go up to the top of the castle. Some people say there was a spider but I wasn’t concentrating. Mr White tried to tell us more and Craig held up a coffee cup he’d found and said there was another ghost.
The rest of the walk was pretty boring. We had to stop even more. I stayed in the back (we said it was because if everyone else died, we’d be able to run). Soon, we got back, with more biscuits. The girls in my room were angry because they said eleven minutes wasn’t long enough to get ready for bed. In the end, we did sleep (Lily is really loud and the bunk is creaky).
Next day.
We set off our long walk up and down the mountain at 9:30 we arrived at our mountain destination at about 10:00 it was very tiring but exciting as we managed to get all weather conditions in one including very strong winds lots of hail snow and rain the steep hills very made with slate which was very slippery and made our journey tricky and hard. Our instructor was called Jez and he was very helpful and kind. Most of the way up we all talked about Welsh and mountains we’d been on. Our team’s the Sunbeams. He said we all had to smile and bring sunbeams.
Half way up, it started hailing. And it rained really hard. Soon, it got harder as we went past a marshy bit and a huge lake. When you looked back, the view was very pretty and all the sunlight was coming down. You could also see more hail coming.
We were “scrambling” up a zig zag bit and the hail got worse. Sometimes, we’d stop to have a drink. It got really cold, and it got harder.
When we got the ridge, we stopped for ages. You could see the shadows of the clouds, and a few peaks. We were almost in the clouds, and we could see all the way to the sea. The next part was really hard, with the hail getting worse and a huge steep part of the rocks. Miss Hodgett told us that there was a bog, which a girl fell into a few years ago up to her armpits. At some points, we had to brace ourselves against the rock. It was freezing. I don’t know how the wild horses survive. When we got to the top, everyone ran around screaming and eating food. We got a few group photos and then started down. This was better—the rain and hail stopped, everyone started running down. Esme had been feeling sick, so a few people stayed behind. A few ran on really far ahead.
I (Hannah) was walking down the very steep hill and came across a deep and disgusting muddy bog it was horrible i walked over to it not knowing how deep it was going to be and fell into it and was covered in mud it was cold and wet.

Mr Alderson’s group – Monday

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Raindrops – Mr ALDERSON & MR WHITE’S group

Yesterday when we first arrived we were greeted by a rather excited Jez. When we had been shown around the old building we ate dinner and went for a hike. On the way we were told some ghost stories and one of the instructors decided to try and make them more realistic. When we were about half way through Edward Baker fell into a ditch (IT WAS HILARIOUS). At the end of the walk we came to a derelict prison. As we walked up the steps the other group was there and they jumped out at us. We then came back to the centre for a little supper and then to bed at 11 o’clock.

When we woke up the next day we got showered, got changed and had breakfast. For breakfast we had sausages and a hash brown. It was very nice. Next we watched some Formula 1 in our free time and found out our groups. In our group we had the challenge of climbing three hills which was very tiring especially for the first day. We had flasks of hot chocolate with us and a nice packed lunch to keep us going. When we summited the first hill, we had to climb up these slate rocks. You just don’t realise how far up you are until you get up there. We then had some drink and set off again. We then had to go to the next summit which wasn’t as difficult this time. There wasn’t as much slate this time but finally the first person fell! We then reached the summit which took us 3 hours from the start, but then we couldn’t stop at just one.

After having a quick tea break we leaped into action heading for the our highest summit of the day this was very steep and about 1 metre either side of us was a 1500m drop. We stumbled up the steep hill and stopped for lunch at the summit. We then went down a steep hill with lots of scree (loose rocks) sliding under our feet. When we were at the bottom we could see massive slate quarries. Then we went through one of them and found out how the slate was moved around the quarry from top to bottom. We then got in the minibus and headed back to the centre for a shower and some dinner.

Charlie BURGESS and James BULLARD

 

Mike’s group – Monday

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Mike and Keith’s group.

This is Jasmine and Darcie writing to tell you all about our fantastic day out to climb the colossal Glyder fawr. We started our day with a very chatty journey to the rendezvous, where we would start our exhilarating fight with the mountain to get to the peak destination; where later we wouldn’t be able to see our starting point from the overwhelming clouds.

As we had started escalating up what seemed like a mountain in its self, I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to make it but by pushing myself to the limits and made it to the stop. At this point I had been huffing and puffing but still had my hat on, I decided I would remove the hat my mum had gave me ‘the magic hat’ one that would keep me warm no matter what the weather, as I took the magical hat off my friend, Ella, burst out laughing as I had the WORST hat hair in the history of the Kent Mountain Centre hat hair entries in all the years Dane court had been going. After the ‘situation’ at the stop we carried on moving and as soon as we knew it, we were standing on the middle of the mountain wondering what to do with Courtney’s ankle as on the way up she had caught it in-between two very tight rocks. Unfortunately she couldn’t carry on so she and Keith had to return to the cafe at the bottom.

We triumphed up to the part of the mountain where the clouds seemed to swarm over us and we looked down for the first time in a while and there we were on the edge of the mountain staring at our soon deaths (Keith’s comment – a little bit extreme perhaps!!). We had the first cry of the day… Ella had an emotional moment as she was scared as she didn’t believe that Mike knew where he was going, we reassured her that the man who had been climbing since he was 11 years old, knew what he was doing.

No sooner we were sitting with a fellow climber on a block of rocks eating our lunch and a nice hot cup of hot chocolate from our flasks. We headed on straight to the peak, only 90 feet further up, and we posed for a photo. All sliding down the side of the mountain, we had reached the place where we started… the bottom as we, (meaning the girls) slowly made our way back to the toilets as we did not want to go on the mountain, only seeing the boys in their seats as they had decided to run back to the van (no idea where they got their energy from) and we had a peaceful return back to the house.

« Previous Page