The torch-lit walk was accompanied in turn by stunning starry skies and swirling mist.
We can confirm that the Dolbadarn Castle is still there and still haunted (but only by other members of our group).
Everyone is looking forward to their first day on the mountains in a thing called sunshine.
We’re making very good time. Just passed through the Conwy tunnel so about half an hour to go.
We will be very busy this evening so don’t expect any more posts until Monday evening.
The meeting to decide dormitory allocation will take place
in C3 at 10:45am on Thursday 22 October.
I now know the numbers and sizes of dormitories for girls and boys:
Girls – 2 rooms with 4 beds, 2 rooms with 5 beds and 1 room with 8 beds
Boys – 1 room with 2 beds and 2 rooms with 6 beds
Those present at the meeting will decide their own groups within the limits shown above.
Anyone unable to attend should contact their friends going on the trip and ask them to keep a place in their dormitory where this is possible (if you are unable to contact your friends, please email me using your school email account with the message and the name(s) of the participant(s) you would like me to pass it on to).
Please note
It is inevitable that some participants will not end up with their ideal room mates. This is far less of a problem that people imagine.
If individuals are unable to reach agreement at the meeting, I will allocate the remaining places.
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
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!
By Eva and Katie
Sunbeams: Eva, Katie,Torin,Charlotte,Leah,Izzy,Orlaith
After a very smooth journey from Kent, we have had a hectic couple of hours issuing kit and eating dinner. We finished off the evening with our traditional walk to Dolbadarn Castle (a great opportunity to test the walking boots and take in some fresh air after being stuck on a coach for hours).
Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow and our first day in the mountains.
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A reminder to parents that payments for this year’s visit should currently total £130.
The next payment is due on 9 September 2013 (see below).
| Please pay | On or before |
| £100.00 (total £130.00) | Monday 1 July 2013 |
| £100.00 (total £230.00) | Monday 9 September 2013 |
| £100.00 (total £330.00) | Monday 7 October 2013 |
Please note that;
(Read in a suspenseful manner)
Our day started off with breakfast, we had bacon, baked beans and waffles (that were a quarter of the size of normal waffles, which was disappointing). After breakfast we collected our lunch boxes, which contained sandwiches, Jaffa Cakes, a piece of shortbread and dried grapes. We then went to get properly ready for a calm and relaxing day of walking, or so we thought. Interrupting our relaxing day was a huge bell that told us to come and collect our flasks. If you had not chosen the easier choice of hot chocolate you were forced to do child labour and make your own. We then had a meeting about what we’d be subjected to today. It was brutal, the sheer horror of what we were going to do was evident on our faces.
We would be walking, they would then leave us half way round the trail, with nothing but a map and our own knowledge. It would be a difficult trek back to base. We knew that we would face terrible dangers on the way. We ran into a tribe of wild sheep not accustomed to the usual sheep ways of gentle grazing, these sheep hissed and baaed and scratched with their hooves. Mitchell, our new found leader fought off the sheep with his backward summersaults that he had learnt earlier in the day from the Tyrolean Traversing. Whilst earlier trekking over pine needles and rocks, Lou and Mr White had given us some important additional knowledge on squirrels and mushrooms.
Squirrels- Red squirrel are usually located toward the north of England and the North of Wales. The South of England and Wales, has already been dominated by the grey squirrels a.k.a “The Grey Pack”
Mushrooms- The reasons why mushrooms are popular party attendees are because they are……………”FUN GUYS”. Also red Mario mushrooms are only found under birch trees and inside mysterious yellow question mark boxes in Mario games.
We used this knowledge wisely although one of our own still ate one of these deadly mushrooms, red squirrels would have devoured her body if we had not fed her a 1up, the Mario controller was being generous this time. Or so we thought.
We could see the base, we were desperately trying to fight through undergrowth we had nearly made it, when we found…..the swing. We believed it to be a good idea at the time, little did we know it was a trap. Set by the notorious James-enerio and his faithful sidekick Sally-enco who had been secretly travelling with our group disguised as James Caps and Sally Warren. The innocent Princess Grace had fallen into this trap due to her trusting nature. She had been trying to save an injured bird when James-enerio and Sally-enco sprung into action. The others in the group did not know what to do. Their loyalty to the Princess was lacking and in the frenzy they chose food over the Princess. If it was any other Princess they may have not been as forgiven to their subjects but as it was Princess Grace she forgave all taking into consideration her own never ending hunger. After giving James-enerio and Sally-enco a secret potion made out of the finest Robinsons orange juice in the whole of the land, they transformed into James Caps and Sally Warren. They had returned to their normal selves.
We may never really know what truly happened on this horrific journey, some of the of group may believe it to just be a dream or a figment of their imagination but Grace Mitchell and James Caps will also know what really happened.
By James Caps and Grace Mitchell
Some of this content may be real but other scenarios have been set up for your entertainment.
