Yesterday evening we went to the climbing wall and there were 2 walls that we climbed with manual b-layers and I managed to climb to the top of both walls. After those walls we went to the crazy climbs which were great fun as there were all sorts of climbs.

Today we were woken up to a new day full of new activities and knowing it was our last. We started of the day when we went down to breakfast; this is when we were told that we were going to have to tidy our rooms after activities. We then went to our rooms to get ready and came down to the common room; from there we went to our meeting rooms and were told we were doing sea level traversing. We got a list for what we needed to pack and wear. We retrieved to our rooms to fetch our kit. We then walked towards the mini bus when everyone was ready.

When we reached the place for the sea level traversing, we went and checked the conditions and they were too rough for our plan so we took a walk around the area and back to the minibus.

We then went to the centre to get some new kit for rock climbing. So we had some lunch and drove towards the rock climbing venue, which was conveniently close. The venue had 2 routes to climb and they were challenging in some ways. We climbed up and down them twice. We drove back after.

When we reached the centre we had to give everything back that we borrowed and said our last goodbyes to our instructors. We then went and got ready for dinner, and were told the routine for the evening. So we tidied our room until we went downstairs and had a choice for a movie, sitting and talking or reading. I chose to sit and talk, and play cards. After this we went to the common room and were given certificates based on our personality and best moments. As we progressed through the evening we were shown all the pictures of the trip. The day was finally concluded when we went up to our rooms and went to bed.

By Shaheer

Last night, we did problem solving in two groups. The first task was a complicated, hanging ball maze. We had to roll a ball through a maze whilst going over the numbers in chronological order whilst dodging the holes. The second task was creating a square with rope whilst being blind folded. We failed the first and second time but the third time we sort of succeeded. Our strategy was to use a member of our team to lie on the floor with their hands and legs out making a square. We decided to use grace as she is the tallest and the longest member of our group. We then drew round her with the rope whilst trying not to get tied up in the rope like Paddy (Patrick) did. Our last task was to build a structure that when we stood on it; it made us all ½ meter above the ground. To make our structure we were given 6 logs and 6 ropes. We lost miserably because our knots weren’t tight enough causing the logs to collapse all the time. We ended up standing on the logs and trying not to fall off them whilst they were being moved about.

Amelie was woken up really early by Mrs. Webster speaking softly through the door because someone in her room was on duty that morning. Paddy got woken up 5 minutes before he was supposed to be downstairs in the dining room for breakfast because Mr. Alderson forgot to wake up his dorm making him moody for the rest of the morning.

We had to leave an hour earlier than the other groups because our instructor was worried that we wouldn’t have enough hours in the day to climb the mountain. Sadly because of weather we weren’t able to climb up Snowdon. We went up Mount Glyder Fawr and it only took us 5 hours to get up and down.

We walked up the natural steps going up the mountain (near the devil’s kitchen) that was formed by falling rocks. There were 3 lakes along the mountain; one at the bottom, one in the middle and one at the top were we sat and had lunch. The top lakes looked a bit like an oasis because we were in the clouds and it was very quiet.

On the way down it was really steep so a lot of students bum shuffled down the slippery rocks. Whilst going down, Paddy slipped on a rock and grazed his leg and bashed his arm, making it hurt when he put pressure on it. Amelie was very steady on her feet that our instructor made her help other students climb down the tricky parts and lead the way after all of the scrambling.

Over all, we were all very brave climbing or bum shuffling down the mountain; especially Paddy and Shaheer who are very unsure about climbing up and down mountains and who struggle on the scrambling. We all managed to climb the mountain without having to stop several times and without being separated into three groups.

By Patrick and Amelie

Yesterday night Archie and a few other classmates went to the ‘beacon’ climbing wall with our instructor Jez. We brought with us harnesses and climbing shoes that we got from the store room just outside the main building of the Kent Mountain Centre. We drove over in a ford transit with around 9 other people (excluding Jez) it was a large building in an industrial park, when we went inside we saw that it was very popular with around 40 people in there. The walls were 20 meters high and they were packed with multicoloured routes. All of them had manual belays because all the routes went to the ceiling. I had fun as I went on some of the harder routes but they were descent. After that we went on some fun routes using auto belays they were called CrAzY cLiMbS, they may sound babyish, but they were so much fun.
In the morning, Aiden and four other members were woken up early as we were on duty; it felt too early for me. Fifteen minutes before breakfast (breakfast is normally at 7:45), I had to be at the centre’s dining room for duty (duty means serving everyone else and helping the kitchen staff with the washing up). It went very smoothly and all was well when we were briefed for the day. Our instructor Mary told us that we were going to go to a great mountain called Bwlch y Sygyn and then go past a beautiful river and woodland. Everyone was feeling ready to go when we finally were on our way.
Our first stop was a lake named Llyn Dinas (meaning Fortress Lake). Here Mary told us that we were going to have to fend for ourselves. She gave us some maps and gave some short but much needed directions then drove round to the other side of the mountain to meet us at the top. She also left us a tent like parachute for when we got to the top (as there were high winds) and a first aid kit. Our Teacher (Ms Webster) was meant to wait five minutes but then follow just in case we needed her help.
We set off with our maps and food we followed a rocky trail that zigged and zagged. When we were following the path, we had many stops to have a breather as it was very steep. We kept going until we found a ‘throne’ (a large seat shaped boulder) and Stopped as one of our group mates was tired and twisted his ankle. We then continued on after a long break and then stopped at a ‘building’ made of rocks. From here we could see Ms Webster but we soon moved to the signpost where we finally met back up with Mary. After having most of our lunch in the yellow parachute, we then continued to the summit of the mountain where it was very windy!
After that cold experience, we went back down the mountain where we begun the second part of the adventure. From here, we followed a path to a derelict copper mine where we used rocks to ‘mine’ through to some copper nuggets. A few of our group, including ourselves, found some and we were very pleased with ourselves when we were allowed to drink from the river. It was great and we didn’t want to stop, however we still needed to follow the bulk of it to our final destination.
After following the river for a little while, we reached a small village called Beddgelert. It was named after a famous dog that protected a duke’s son yet the duke thought the dog had killed his son and slayed the dog. Here we did a little shopping and headed back to the coach for a trip back to the KMC.

By Aiden and Archie

Last night, a group of 8 went to the local rock climbing and did various challenges. These included bouldering, free climbing and top-roping. This activity took around 2 hours to finally complete. After the group arrived back at the centre, everyone went to the dining room and had a hot drink with a biscuit of their choice. After an hour of talking everyone went back to their dormitories, some had a shower and some got ready for the night.
As Mrs. Webster pounded down the door, we awoke for the morning. We scrambled out of bed at 6:45 and it was tiring. We searched through our suitcases to find clothing to wear for the adventure ahead of us. Our bodies felt like someone had pulled and pushed on all of our muscles and we felt like mushy peas. Our feet dragged along the floor as we went down to the dining room.
Breakfast began at 7:45, where we were greeted by the staff and the duty group. We ate until our bellies were full, as we didn’t want to hungry on our activity. We were all very curious about what we were doing for the day, as we had different options for the week. After we had finished our breakfast, it was compulsory to collect our packed- lunch boxes and fill up our water bottles for the day.
At 9:00 we gathered in the common room to meet our group leader (Mary) that we have for the week and soon after went to our assigned meeting room. We discussed what we were going to do for the day and what we need to pack and wear in our KMC backpacks. Mary told us where Afon Ddu Gorge. Afon means river and Ddu means black. In welsh you swap it around and so it means black river. We had 20 minutes to go to our rooms and get all the equipment we needed as were told we were going to get extremely wet. The drive was about 40 minutes and had some incredible views along the way.
We started off at the gorge climbing rocks and not getting wet at all. Slowly but swiftly, there were more rocks to climb and more water to go through. A lot of the group slipped over along the way until the very end. Just over half way there was some of the most pure and unfiltered water you will ever taste from the mountains that we could drink. We had to harness up at some points to climb through and over waterfalls, and we always had to help each other up and down. Towards the end we had all soaked through our many layers and were dripping from head to toe. Our wellingtons were as good as waterfalls. We worked our way down a steep hill back to the mini bus and got out our spare clothes. We changed into dry, and comfy fleeces and jogger, then hopped back onto the bus and finished our lunch. We were all so tired. It was such a picturesque day and was filled with natural life.

By Rhiannon and Amelie

With the alarm clock beeping continuously in my ear, I and Mei desperately scrambled to turn the lights on. As we didn’t want to wake the others up, we tried our best to be quiet! Cleverly, the night before we had planned to wake up early so we could be the first to have a shower. However when we finally managed to get to them, it didn’t turn out to be as pleasant as we hoped [it was either to hot or too cold] When getting ready, we struggled to know what to wear as we were still getting used to the new experiences.
Gathering the breakfast at 7:45, as instructed we all filled our stomachs to the brims. We didn’t want to get hungry up in the mountains so some of us even had seconds! We all agreed that the food here was better than Germany. Soon afterwards, we gathered in the common room to find out our groups. Nervously, we all opened our ears and listened intensely, however, soon after Mr Alderson had spoken, Mrs Webster announced that we would be in a group with herself and an instructor Mary. Pushing and shoving into a new room we had never seen before, we were then told that today we would be climbing a ring of three mountains. We were also told the equipment we needed, what we needed to wear and more information about our day.
Luckily, we were in a group where we all got along and could conferee with each other about what we needed to do and when. We got our things, shoved them into our bags and walked downstairs to the place we were told to meet Mary. We then promptly changed into our mountain boots and toppled into the minibus. From then on it was only the 10 of us.
Getting out of the mini bus after a short 5 minute journey we were soon greeted with an amazing display of mountains [3 of which we were planning to hike]. We stared of strong but quickly got tired but Mary then explained that it was completely normal and we would get the pace soon. It was a nice journey up the mountain even though some people struggled. There were many pauses and stops when people could catch their breath and have a quick drink or snack; however we tried not to guzzle our drinks because sooner or later we would run out. Working our way up the first mountain called Carnedd y Filiast, many people tripped or slid down the muddy hills. The weather was great but the nearer we got to the top, the wind got stronger. Finally, when we reached the top of the mountain, it was an amazing feeling and the picturesque view could not be better. However, the hike wasn’t over yet, there was still more mountains to climb…
The second mountain of the three was called Mynydd Perfydd and it ended up being a lot easier than we thought as we were energized after eating our lunch. When we got to the top most of us were feeling astounded by the fact that we had climbed 2 mountains. On the other hand most of us were thoroughly exhausted so Mary made the prompt decision that we would head back down. This upset some of us because it wasn’t as great of an achievement as it would be if wed climbed all three, although it turned out to be the correct decision. Over all it was a great experience and we both can’t wait for tomorrow.

By Hazel and Emily