Category: Activity Groups 2014

Sunbeams’ final day

Posted on 7 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

After running down the steepest road in Wales, jumping off a cliff with nothing but a rope to keep you from falling and climbing a rushing ice cold waterfall, we thought nothing could scare us.
But little did we know Mr Alderson and Keith had a last little surprise for us.
We started off the day with a half hour drive to a town called Capel Curig. From there, Torin and Eva were nominated to take the map and navigate us to a forest area. On the way we passed fields and fields of sheep with the longest tails the world has ever seen! After a long walk, we eventually reached the forest. Mr Alderson had turned back to drive the minivan to where we finished. The forest reminded me of the movie EPIC. On one side of us the forest was green, bright and full of life, whilst on the other side there were no green, no flowers, no leaves, just dark bare trees reaching out to you. We carried on walking, bursting for the toilet, for another 10 minutes until we reached a road where we found Mr Alderson with mud all up his boots. Apparently he parked the minivan and walked through a bog to the road. Thanks to Eva and Torin we managed to find another route to the minivan and, after a long wait, the toilets! We sat at a bench where we had our chicken tikka sandwiches, jaffa cakes and our hot chocolate. It quickly started raining so we grabbed our bags and jumped in the van to drive to the next of the day’s activities.
We waited at the bottom of a bank to put on our ‘nappy’ harnesses and our helmets. We could hear water but we didn’t know where it was coming from. Mr Alderson and Keith disappeared up the bank whilst we waited nervously at the bottom. After about 10 minutes we were called up to the top.
The Tyrolean. Crawling upside down across a waterfall attached to a rope by just a karabiner. I (Orfhlaith) volunteered to go first. I was attached to the rope and told to walk backwards. Naturally, I fell over not once but two times. But I still got up and carried on. When I got to the edge of the cliff I had to swing my legs up and start to pull myself along the rope. I looked down all I saw was water and rocks. The rope swung around but that only made me move faster. I finally got to the end where I placed my feet on the ground and unclipped myself. I was closely followed by Charlotte and Torin who started singing James Bond as they pulled themselves along the rope. It was an amazing final activity and I would definitely do it again.
Our evening activities were a little different today. Instead of the outdoor group activities we normally do today we stayed indoors. Firstly, we all arrived in the dining room and were split up into six groups. We started off with a quiz which got extremely competitive when we found out the winning team got cake! The final round was by far the most amusing as we all listened to Mr White’s amazing singing! Afterwards we all went to the dining room and watched a slideshow of the week’s events which included a lot of mug shots and selfies! We then all got given personal awards which included the Bravery Award and the Smiliest Award. After many laughs we finished the day off with an episode of outnumbered.
Today has been an amazing day to end an amazing week.

By Orfhlaith Roberson

Snowflakes on their own

Posted on 7 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

This morning we woke up early in the morning at about seven o’clock. We woke up to another delicious cooked breakfast that we got every day. After breakfast we got all our activity wear and equipment ready for another exciting day packed full of fun. Today we done navigating, we got left on our own most off the day to work out how we were going to get to our destination. Our first part was walking up part of a mountain up a footpath but it was a main one so it was pretty easy to follow. All the time we were walking we were also singing, dancing and rapping. We all made plenty of noise on our walk. We all made up own little raps and made into another song. When we got to the finger post we sat down to eat and debated about which way it was. We got told to go a way which wasn’t even on the post!! But eventually we worked it out. We had walked about 2.5 kilometres and we then met Mary (our leader) to tell us where to go next. We next had to walk next to this stream with Mary so she could make sure we don’t fall in!! The view around us was outstanding. When we had got out onto the road the snowflakes were on another mission on our own. Our next point was
Gelerts grave. On the way we all continued to sing and we had a really good time. When we got to the grave we found out about him and found an old ruin with a metal dog that related to the grave. We all called it Robbie’s dog because he really liked it.
Then we all walked to then town to see what was there. We all had a little rest and a drink, and before we knew it we were off again for the last stretch of the journey. But this part went a bit wrong. Mary, Mr white and Robbie drove off in the mini bus and all we had to do is follow a path that had a sign saying footpath. We just walked straight past it. We didn’t realise and were walking for a while until we retraced our steps. Mary couldn’t see us so she came and pointed us in the right direction. When we finally got back on track we walked for about another half an hour. Until Robbie came to meet us up a long stretch of track. This meant we only had a little way to go. Then we saw a really nice fire on top of a mountain it was really bright. We kept walking and singing until we got to the copper mine. We decided to pull a little trick on Mary and Mr White. Robbie hid in the bush hiding and our group said we hadn’t seen him. So we all got on the bus and was about to leave when Robbie jumped out and pretend he couldn’t find us. But we were already were in the mini bus!!
On the way back to the centre we went to a really nice café. We got given free hot chocolate as a treat. It was an amazing hot chocolate. Everyone enjoyed it a lot.
Our day was amazing and the evening was even better. After dinner we all got put into groups for a quiz. There were four rounds, general knowledge, geography and music (that Mr White sang the lyrics). The prize for the winning team was cake. We all participated and all laughed at Mr white’s singing. The next activity was watching outnumbered it was a great laugh and a lot of fun. After we then watched a PowerPoint of some photos that had been taken throughout the week. This was great (embarrassing for some). The final activity for the evening was another episode of outnumbered. This was even funnier than the last one.
This was a great day and night.

By Geena Bowen

Raindrops mix

Posted on 7 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

I’m sitting on the coach with the rest of our group, on Saturday and on our way back to Broadstairs as I type this… I don’t know where to begin about Friday, our last day. I think all of us were sad that our time at KMC was drawing to a close, so yesterday we all tried our best to make the most of it.
My group, The Raindrops, spent the last day orienteering. Our group leader, Jez, split us into pairs and we had to find certain places on a basic map. On the back of the map were clues, which made it a bit easier, although some of the clues were a little bit vague, such as ‘On a tree’ which may have been helpful if we weren’t surrounded by trees in every direction. Still, it was great fun nonetheless. We also went to the slate museum, which taught us about the slate quarries and the people who worked there. The quarries were usually named after places the workers wanted to visit but never could, such as Australia, or names after women like the one we visited; The ‘Vivian’ Quarry.
Whenever she had the chance, Lily would be asking the members of our group for food. Spare sandwiches, Jaffa cakes, cookies, she’d have the lot. It was quite an astonishing sight to watch her perform such a feat. Although, to be fair, the food provided was veeery tasty. Edward also had a stomach like an endless cavern, constantly munching away at apples at every opportunity. He even ate the core and all!
During the afternoon, there was a quiz about things we learned during our stay and general knowledge. Everyone enjoyed it, especially during the music round when Mr. White had to sing the song lyrics to us, karaoke-ing like a boss. Some of the girls, mainly Megan, joined in with the singing, creating a brilliant harmony.
When the raindrops had to say goodbye to Jez, we all got quite sad. Jez had been lovely to us the entire week, providing encouragement and helping when we struggled with an activity.
Mentioning no names, a certain someone may have laughed so hard that they peed themselves! This was hilarious to everybody because although you joke about peeing yourself laughing, no one actually does it. Nobody except this person, apparently.
We all went to bed late, and had to get up early the next morning. I’m sure this is a tactic by the teachers, so we’ll all be tired during this coach journey and be quite quiet and subdued. If it is, it’s working. A few people are napping, and the others aren’t being loud or boisterous, although Lily, Megan and Hannah appear to be singing a split harmony version of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star‘.

By Maria Munnich

Freezing gorges

Posted on 6 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Today we went to the Afon Ddu gorge (meaning Black River), we went gorge walking. Before we left to go to the Gorge Mr Alderson celebrated his 50th trip to Kent Mountain Centre- which is where he received a golden boot, on slate (unfortunately it was, and we have seen enough of it to last a lifetime as you have heard). It was also Beccy’s birthday which was hugely celebrated by everyone here- we had chocolate cake as well! We had a fifty minute mini-bus ride there which many people in our group did not enjoy as sickness took over from us (Leah, Katie and Charlotte)! We then eventually arrived at Afon Ddu Gorges however, it isn’t just get off and go- we had to kit up which included; nappy look alike harnesses, helmets, over the shoulder rope carries- because we are so helpful and it kept us alive! Then we had the cow tail ropes with karabiners attached to the harnesses, we also needed to gear up with the oversized waterproof trousers and coats with the damp green wellies.
We then did a 150m walk uphill to the start of the trek up the Gorge but……. We saw lots of people on the Gorge at that part so we decided to adventure further uphill to begin our long journey to the top. To start we had to abseil down a small cliff luckily we abseiled on Tuesday so we were pros, Keith walked up further to set up some ropes and Mr Alderson abseiled ahead and completely disappeared for about ten minutes, the whole group thought we had been left to go down after but clip ourselves on and manage to stay safe and get to the bottom of the rather vertical cliff face but then an extraordinary sight came about which was Mr Alderson who had arrived at a different way and was fine like nothing had happened although, he was soaked as he must’ve fallen in the waterfall  then we all took it in turns to abseil down except this time we had been told what to do with help. We then landed on a rock and climbed over onto a big rock where Keith pilled us up when we were climbing next to a powerful waterfall where everyone but Leah and Eva managed to stay upright unlike the rest of us who decided too venture off the path which was given but slide into a chest deep pool of ice cold water (bearing in mind it was at the start and was ice cold) the water then filled our wellies but cooled us down.
We continued our journey up the Gorges then we came across 2 massive boulders with a very claustrophobic tunnel which only fitted the width of our helmets through it. Keith decided to take some horrid mug shots of us as we crawled our way through the tight space with some of the worst facial expressions which was mostly terrified mixed with the excited emotion, but Charlotte made time for a pose (of course)! After everyone had gone Orfhlaith started, then we saw her little head suddenly pop out of under the rock with a huge smile on her face! When she was finally getting up from the rock a sudden horror occurred where she dramatically slid back down into the boulder where she came from, and her head seemed to have appeared in a muddy, leafy puddle which dunked her chin! After we found a pool off a waterfall which pushed us down a slide like hill. Some of us went backwards some went headfirst into the numbing pool.
After a long scramble up the gorge we got to the top of a waterfall that split in two as it went down, Keith needed to take the rope he was carrying off. But dropped one of the very important and expensive karabiner into the waterfall, he did not realise. Then, Mr Alderson came to the rescue and abseiled down the waterfall to collect the fallen item, it was right at the deepest part of the pool at the bottom. He eventually handed the £20 prize back to the butter fingered Keith, who seemed relieved at the sight of his dropped karabiner.
We then visited the plunge pool which was freezing cold but we still jumped in twice with hope and enthusiasm, Orfhlaith’s first words after resurfacing were ‘I think im going to lose my wellies’ she said panicking! We then told Keith he had to jump in because he dropped the karabiner so that was his punishment even though we found it- but that didn’t matter. We then got changing out of our soaking clothes and went back in the minibus to a lovely roast dinner and banoffie pie!

Written by Izzy Smith and Katie Burton
To make all this happen was: Mr Alderson, Keith, Orfhlaith, Izzy, Leah, Katie, Charlotte, Torin, Eva

Gorgeous gorge scrambles

Posted on 6 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Today was Rebecca’s birthday and also Mr Alderson’s fiftieth visit to Kent Mountain Centre! In the common room before the day’s activities were announced Mr Alderson was presented with a golden walking boot to commemorate this anniversary; 50 visits is definitely a special achievement. Beccy’s, arose early to accessorise the room with celebratory decorations. We woke her up by singing happy birthday to her, throwing balloons and shining head torches towards her; she was not happy at first.
After this early start and a hearty breakfast of potato smileys and bacon (!!!!!!!!!), we were informed by our instructor Jez, that we were going gorge scrambling at Afon Ddu, about 40 minutes’ drive away from the centre. This involved us bringing a full spare set of clothes, a towel, waterproof equipment, wellies, harnesses, buoyancy aids, helmets and a lot of energy!
Eager to get going, we arrived at the gorge and got straight into the gushing downward stream of water. A gorge is a water course (river or stream) that has cut into the land creating a narrow, rocky and often steep path down which the water flows. We spent our day climbing up this, which was challenging but totally exhilarating.
Our first optional big challenge, was to climb over a pool of water via the wall of rock containing limited foot holes. The key for this part, and for many other parts, was to have large stretching legs to reach the far grips to place our wellies to not fall into the thigh high pool of water. We all got the choice to go through this, or walk through shallow water to our close goal. The whole team chose to accept the challenge, we were all very successful, even though Mia (a short-legged one), had to take a few attempts. The gorge was hugely busy; almost entirely clogged up with the thick traffic of excited children kitted out with waterproof clothing and wellie boots.
Moving further up the gorge, we jumped and slipped from rock to rock, frolicking in the natural playground of Afon Ddu. Ed face-planted a water-fall, and Maria fell waist deep into a pool, resulting in soaking clothes less than half way up the gorge! It was surprisingly difficult to move along the gorge, as water was constantly gushing against us. This also made it tricky to hear instructions from Jez, however an upside of the constant flow of fresh water was that we never went thirsty; the water from welsh waterfalls is far better than your average bottle of Buxton!
We came across an obstacle Jez nicknamed ‘The Elephant’s Bum’; this involved struggling up yet another upward stream and then between two wedged boulders through a narrow gap. Miss Hodgett took some exceeding attractive pictures of the slightly befuddled emerging students.
Approaching the top we faced the largest water-fall yet. Most members of the team took the opportunity to go for a swim; we splashed around at the base of the water fall, and even climbed behind the wall of water and looked through down the gorge.
Whilst climbing across the log, past a water-fall, we glanced up to the grey angry sky and saw the familiar friendly faces of the sunbeam groups! The brave members of the group balanced on the log, whilst others decided to bum-shuffle to the amusement of the on-looking team. The two groups shared some brief, but fulfilling banter at the top of the water-fall.
Our final and maybe most enjoyable obstacle was the plunge pool, but before this we had to climb up a nearly vertical rock using the assistance of Jez, a pink rope and some very strong carabineers. The plunge pool was a very deep pool the water fall had worn into the rock. Every member jumped from the ledge above the pool; Miss Hodgett and Brian once again took the opportunity to get some action shots. It was completely worth half freezing ourselves to death for the sheer rush jumping gave us all!
Shivering and exhausted, we made our way out of the gorge and down the ridiculously steep hill back to the car park, where various other groups had gathered to get out of their sopping clothes. The girls scampered to end of the woods to get into dry clothes, and came across lots of annoyed teams who’d had the same idea.
We finally managed to board the bus, at least half dried and famished (Hannah’s posh vocabulary). Lily, as usual, snatched up any spare food and ate at least four packets of raisins.
Now, whilst we are all blogging, we are slightly distracted by very pretty fireworks lighting up the sky (which seems bigger than ever here) over the mountains outside. We have convinced Mr Alderson that these are for him to celebrate his fiftieth visit- of course they are nothing to do with Bonfire Night being yesterday…

By Lily Finch and Hannah Francis

Snowflakes survival

Posted on 6 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

We woke up in the early hours of the morning with terrible bed hair (some more than others)! Forcing ourselves out of bed we got dressed very slowly and went downstairs for a delicious cooked breakfast. After we finished getting ready everyone met up in the common room to wish Beccy her 14th birthday and to say thank you to Mr Alderson on his 50th trip to Kent mountain centre. After we packed our kit including harnesses, helmets, waterproofs and many warm layers as we had already experienced many different times of weather. Our group snowflakes with our leader Mary, humorous teacher (Mr. white) and Robbie, travelled in the mini bus on the way to our first activity listening to music all having a little sing along and some snoozing. We arrived at our destination at the side of the road and trooped along to find a slippy slate “cliff”. The birthday girl was the first one to abseil down and found out how slippery it really was! We all managed to get down safely although Emma tripped and went the other way into the slate wall. Then Geena managed to get to bottom without mistakes but at the very last second she slipped on the wet grass and landed down on her back and Ella made her first few steps and made it to the middle she turned to smile at the camera with a terrified look on her face and turned round to finish going down and she slid and screamed!!
Unfortunately we had to leave to make time to do other activities so we all piled onto the minivan and half way there our song came on – “It’s all about da bass”. Where we sang along but with our own version we made “it’s all about Da Mountain” we made the day before. After about half an hour we arrived at a car park with a toilet block. To discover that the females toilets were closed. So awkwardly we had to use the men’s toilets not forgetting we all had harnesses on which things even worse.
Finally we made it to the beach only to find it was extremely windy! Not only that but we discovered that Mr White had picked up the wrong size shoes for Robbie. Not only small but a whole three sizes smaller. Robbie is a nine but had six size wellies. Instead Robbie had to wear some of his trainers which looked relatively new. It was really windy, so windy in fact it was hard to walk in a straight line. While we were waiting for Mary to create a really cool and scary Tyrolean Traverse we watched all the surfers trying but continuously fell off because it was so choppy. As we were watching, Amy suddenly spotted a head of a seal bobbing along in the huge waves. We all turned and stared until it disappeared into the deepness of the murky waters. Mr White being the man he was volunteered to test it out to make sure it could hold our weight. It was a horrific moment because one minute he was there the next he wasn’t. We all thought he had died, but luckily he bounced back up to the other side to prove it was safe. Then it was our go. Olly the man he was keen and volunteered to go first. All the girls were sat there still scared until we overcame our fear and braved the Tyrolean Traverse. As we got near the end of the Tyrolean traverse we had to attempt to flip. Only two people managed (Amy and Olly). We all hysterically laughed when it was Mr. White and Robbie’s turn. They attempted to flip over and over again but continued to fail miserably. Despite their effort neither managed to succeed, but they finally climbed across on the rocks to finish crossing it in defeat!! When we had all managed to cross to the other side we had to climb down some slippery rocks. After we made it to safe and secure land we collapsed onto the grass in exhaustion only to find the grass was as soft as cushions and I think I can speak for our whole group when I say we could have all easily gone to sleep at that moment.
After going back to the minivan for a quick lunch (including some yummy chocolate cake) we trenched along the beach to find a vertical wall we were expected to clamber over. Firstly we practiced on the edge of a stony cliff. We had to practise many different ways. We started just climbing along normally and then went to the extreme where we were expected to use opposite arms to leg and were not allowed both arms and legs on at the same time. Practise over, we turned to the wall and had to work as a team again to get all eleven of us over the wall safely. Which we done quickly and safely. It looked really difficult but as we done it we realised it wasn’t as hard as we thought. After we clambered over the wall we scrambled back to our minivan. When we arrived back at the centre we had kept our winning streak of getting back first.

By Geena Bowen and Ella Boswell

It’s all about da mountain

Posted on 5 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

We awoke in the ungodly hours of the morning to a knock on the door. We hurried to get dressed before tripping down the stairs to a scrumptious breakfast. At 9 o’clock we assembled in the Lecture Room where we found out our day would be spent hiking up Mount Y Garn at 947m high with incredible views of our surroundings.
Around 10ish we set off in the minivan with our bags full of waterproofs and jumpers (we had learnt from yesterday’s freezing gorge walking- extra clothes are needed!) and parked near Llyn Ogwen (lake). After changing into all our waterproofs and extra jumpers, we embarked on our adventure. Scrambling up the rocks we arrived at the bottom of the lake, and continued to walk through the squelchy mud- trying not to lose our boots, until we approached the towering mountain.
Rather daunted, (and the instructors unnerved by our silence) we began the trek up the unsteady stone path. However, after about a minute, we stopped to remove our unnecessary garments- already drenched with sweat. Eww. Unbelievably, Olly sported jeans and a checked shirt! (since his joggers were still soaked form yesterday’s activity) We regularly paused to catch our breath and have nibbles of lunch. Legs like jelly, we were only a third of the way up the steps at 11 o’clock. The sole thing that spurred us on was the spectacular view.
The heavens opened. We whipped our waterproofs out of our bag and put them on. Despite this, it was only a drizzle, and we proceeded to boil again in our many layers for 20 minutes until the rain subsided. Just then, when we were losing all hope, a dazzling rainbow appeared and the sun came out. This quickened our pace (that and another menacing rain cloud was bearing down upon us) and we soon came to the end of the stairs. Slumping down on the spiky rocks, we had a quick snack and a drink from our Thermos flasks.
Now two thirds up Y Garn, we stripped off more layers and carried on. The layers of slate proved a very slippery surface and many of us stumbled. During the journey, Mr White managed to think of a song for every situation. (Number One Hit- I’m on top the world, eh!)- dearie me. Fingers in our ears, we encountered 2 funny gentlemen who couldn’t believe that: 1) we were teenagers willingly walking up a mountain and 2) we were from Kent.
A chill was in the air, so we stopped to put on a jumper and finally arrived at the summit. We admired our progress and the breath-taking views of surrounding mountains- including Snowdon and the very reflective lakes.
Our relief at going downhill started Megan, Emma S and Becky (with a little help from Emma L) off with greatly improving the lyrics to “It’s all about da bass”. They changed it into “It’s all about da mountain”- (rest of parody below). Everyone got the singing vibe, and the song was soon known throughout the group.
Now at the Devil’s Kitchen syncline we used our main technique- bum shuffling down the steep rocks! Amusing nicknames were made during this climb down:

Geena Bowen- Gangsta Gee
Ella Boswell- Female Boss-well
Olly Fentinman- Fenty
Megan Short- Shorty
Emma Laffargue- LaThug
Becky Rawson- Awesome Rawson
Amy Chapman- Chappy
Mr White- Mr-Know-It-All
Robbie the Irishman- Robster the Lobster (on account of his alarmingly orange coat)
Mary our instructor-Little Lamb

Eventually, we arrived at the minibus and began the journey home.

By Emma Laffargue and Amy Chapman.

Lyrics to “It’s all about da mountain”
It’s all about da mountain, no fashion x3
Yeah it’s pretty clear you wanna stay warm
But when you’re up high, there’s gonna be a storm
I’ve got boots, boots and all the right kit
And all the right food and all the right bags
We see the mountain tops
Rocking the snowy look
We wanna throw ice at Olly, but he makes us stop
If you’ve got banter, then use it all up
Cos every sense of humour is perfect, when you’re on a mountain top
Mr White told us not to worry about fashion
But he whips out the camera and takes some really hot mug shots
Then tells us they’re going on the Dane Court KMC Blog
For everyone to laugh at, but we’re like “Hey what about da mountain tops!”
(Et cetera et cetera.)

Stairway to Snowdon

Posted on 5 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Our group, The Raindrops, were faced with the daunting challenge of climbing Mount Snowdon, THE BIGGEST MOUNTAIN IN WALES!!! “It’s really pretty” was all I could say when I saw the gorgeous blue lakes and lovely scenery (Molly’s been saying this all week…)
After assembling at the mini bus at 9:15am we set off on the short journey to the starting point. Just as we were about to set foot on the miles long (no kidding!!) miners track, Jez, our group leader, realised that he left ALL of his equipment back at the centre. This included all of the spare hats, gloves, balaclavas and, most importantly, his LUNCH! To great amusement of the team he had to venture back to the centre to collect his lost belongings. Meanwhile we trekked the first few hours towards the great summit.
Soon after we reunited with Jez and his EXTREMELY important equipment (don’t forget the lunch) we stopped for a snack. This gave us a chance to take in the amazing scenery around us, at this point the top of Snowdon was hardly visible! All around us was history, from the ruins of buildings to the tracks left in the rock. One particular ruin was known to be the old washing house for the iron collected up on the mountain.
Unbelievably we came across many people walking their dogs along the stairway to the summit for a casual morning stroll. There were also a group of soldiers in the army setting a record, that at that moment stood at 48 minutes up and down. As well as this, to our amusement, there were sheep munching away at the luscious green grass on the steep slope. I wondered how they managed to keep their balance.
It was getting harsh, people were doubting their ability to reach the top. This was definitely one of the lower points. But we pushed on. Today was definitely a tortoise day, not a hare day. We carried on plodding…
At one point Mia (that’s me!!!!) got so hot from the exercise she picked up a massive handful of snow and rubbed it all over her face (what a weirdo!)
Before we knew it, we had reached the top of the rocky staircase. It was a great achievement and we hadn’t even reached the summit yet! Just as we stepped foot on the ridge, the heavens opened and it began to snow!! It was great because we met another group from our trip at this point, what a pleasant surprise. We felt revitalised.
After a quick natter we scrabbled to the imposing summit, taking pictures along the way. It was so cool because we were inside a cloud and there were patches of snow (I guess that’s why it’s called Snowdon – badum tss) #creditstomia’samazingcomedy
During that awkward joke Mia had a nice conversation with an elderly member of the Welsh public that we were from Thanet, on a school trip not on a “Morning stroll” as he put it. I (in brackets Mia) almost gave him our school name.
Moments later, we found ourselves on the very top of Snowdon (how did I get here!?!!?). The views were breath taking, it was crazy to see how far down the lake we had taken our first break at was! Amusingly, I (still in brackets Mia) had my attention drawn to a seagull that was purposely walking along the very edge of the mountain which was a pretty rebel move!
The next part of our adventure took Molly to the train tracks where she found herself liberatingly going up against the elements in a bid to empty her bursting bladder, along with three other girls. We then carried on the descent down the mountain. But not to forget Jez and the boys that also needed to wee. They just had to find a less visible point. Sorry about the gory details.
We then slightly boringly finished our trek home along the long winding path back to the mini bus.
By Molly Rennie and Mia Jacobs

Sunbeams on Snowdon

Posted on 5 November 2014 | By Mr Alderson | No comments

Today we climbed from the lowest point of Mount Snowdon to the summit in 3 hours (bearing in mind it is 1085m steep- or 1km vertical). Our day began at 7:00am when we woke up and got ready for breakfast; eggy bread, sausages, spaghetti hoops, toast and croissant with jam.
We set off at 10am to go to the start of the long journey to Snowdon, we looked up to see the mountain. We knew that the hike would be daunting because we crossed a rope with a sign saying “Danger unauthorised access” Mr Alderson was unfazed by this (he’s a mountain climbing ninja) we then had to get across this stream as we needed to get to the other side, luckily rocks were and we managed to stay upright. Whenever we would think we are near we would see just more and more heights of mountains above us. It was huge and extremely steep, it took a lot of effort to make it a quarter of the way- although Torin still managed to look cool in his sunglasses when we reached the top. Even when we experienced hail, rain, sun, sleet and snow, it did not dampen the spirits off us marching up! We had a really really nice lunch it was good.
At one point we had to scale a minor cliff face to get around a small waterfall, it was really slippery and scary, Torin lead us and nearly fell. We then encountered the steep vertical side, which was meant to be a skull face, which you can see from further down (although, I couldn’t find the skull from one angle- however, I did see a dog face….). Charlotte has a fear of birds, at the summit we discovered that seagulls must of followed us from Broadstairs, she was not happy. We had learnt to climb steep and slippery surfaces throughout the walk which thankfully came in handy on the way back because we seemed to have found never ending rock stairs, which were dangerously slippery. We all fell over one time this trip; either on the way up or on the way down. My favourite part of the trip to the top of Snowdon was seeing everyone slip and fall over in the snow also the whole team enjoyed knowing that we were faster than the other groups, we were the supreme sunbeams.
During the whole trek we thought a pig had joined us on the upper slopes of Crib y Ddysgl, Torin got ready for bacon, but unfortunately it was a dodgy looking crow which we think had a chest infection or a fetish for pig meat. Then, at the summit of Snowdon we encountered a stunning view looking down upon a mountainous terrain scattered with gorges and lakes. We could have followed the easy old miner’s path back to the mini bus but we decided that Keith and Mr Alderson had not endured enough pain so we took the rocky route over the side of a boulder filled hill.
After that we basically ran to the car park because Eva and Charlotte needed the toilet, the journey ended with a dash to the showers and toilets at KMC, luckily no one in our group wet themselves.
After all this we all felt like we had achieved something spectacular!