Fluorescent

Posted on | By DGoodbourn399 | No comments

Hello, it’s Dan and Scarlett (Will Scarlett) here, and today we’re going to talk about what we did today (Tuesday.) Our day started at 7, and we got ready and had breakfast. Afterwards, we had a little meeting in our groups, which told us what we were going to do for the day. However, our group leader, who’s called Jez, wasn’t here today, so we had a supply called Poppy (who was equally as nice.) We were told that we were going to climb Mount Snowdon, which is also the highest mountain in England, Wales, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Maldives etc.

After leaving at 10, we drove 400m, and then we started our ascent. At first, our climb seemed not so difficult, but as we progressed, our climb grew increasingly harder. It didn’t help that we had blisters on our feet (especially Scarlett,) so our journey was even more difficult. One of the most challenging parts of our ascent was climbing up the steep stairs. Also Scarlett’s complaining about her feet did start to get a bit annoying after a while. Another bit of excitement was Greg doing an impression of a sheep dog, where he was running ahead of us and we had to whistle to get him to come back to us. A memorable part of the climb was Mr White’s fluorescent yellow hat (where he got his name ‘Mr Bright White,’ even though he claims it’s his intelligence.)

After about 3 hours, we reached the top of the mountain. All of our exhaustion didn’t matter for a while as we got to the peak. After a few quick photos at the summit, we ate our lunch (it was really misty and cold!)

Afterwards, we started our descent. Our pace was much slower but more steady, as we could slip easily. We also didn’t take many breaks, but on one of them, Mr Bright White took Will Scarlett’s hat, but as she took it back she high fived , which she has avoided so far (although we know it doesn’t count, because there was a hat in the way.) On the descent we were quizzing each other about random things, e.g how many football clubs start and end with the same letter and which country Timbuktu was in. Our journey downwards was more enjoyable as we were talking more and we weren’t in a rush to get to the bottom. After a quiz and talking we reached the lake, where we were skimming stones although some of us still couldn’t skim them (us two.)

The next part of our journey was possibly one of the most challenging. We were exhausted by this time, and our blisters got even worse. We walked on the path around the lake, but even though the ground was much flatter, our rucksacks and our waterproofs seemed heavier than they were before. There were many hills which blocked our view so we didn’t know how much longer we had to walk before we got back into our mini-bus. Around each corner we got more disappointed as we saw more pathways. Along the path we saw a building – possibly a church in ruins. Greg counted 14 glassless windows overall.

Even though we were exhausted and barely able to walk, Greg still ran between all of us even though we were like 20-30 meters apart. If he had the opportunity, Greg would run everywhere. After what seemed an eternity of walking, we reached the end, and our Mini-bus. We were so slow in walking back we were about an hour behind the rest of the other groups, so we had about 15 minutes to get ready for dinner.

Overall today was a brilliant day; it provided a challenge getting to the top and getting back down again without falling over. It was an amazing achievement and we are all pleased. The shenanigans between Will Scarlett and Mr Bright White were one of the highlights of the day.

(In the making of this journal Will Scarlett air high-fived Mr Bright White, which according to her still didn’t count because she wasn’t meaning to high five him – which is obviously a lie, because who wouldn’t high five him?) By the way our favourite words are mediocre and jigsaw and pudding! Also, try saying pudding without smiling (impossible?)

Our Day On Snowdon

Posted on | By EWatkins870 | 1 Comment

Hello this is Emily Watkins and Kirsty Miller. And this is our day up mount Snowdon. The day began with a filling breakfast which prepared us for a tough day. Next we had a meeting with Mr. Alderson. This is where we found out we were climbing mount Snowdon. Little did we know how hard this day was going to be. Mr. Alderson, us (Emily.W and Kirsty.M), Molly.D, Maria.L, Dan.VH, Will.T, Ben.H, Ellie.T and Esme.V all piled in to the minibus and drove about 15mins along the road.

When we pulled up we couldn’t see the mountain but as we trekked up the gravel path we saw the mountain looming above us. The top was covered with cloud. We walked for about 1 ½ hours until we reached a lake. We then faced a large ridge made of jagged rocks. Climbing up was rather tricky and challenging because there wasn’t that much grip. As we climbed more and more it got trickier with large drops below. Everyone seemed a bit anxious because one wrong footing and we would surely plummet to our death!!!!! However with jelly like legs we carried on. After a while we stopped for ½ of our lunch on the ridge.  Finally we were coming to the top of the ridge, but still between us and the top was the rocky, wet, muddy trek to the top.

On our way up we faced rocky paths, slippery rocks and steep paths. Will Taker found interest in chasing the sheep! As we were approaching the summit we were entering the clouds and could no longer see the bottom. Finally we stumbled up the last few steps we saw the final point. A small stone column. At the peak it was below about 4 degrees but we couldn’t feel it. We were the first of all the groups to reach the top even though we took a longer and rockier rout, therefore proofing we are clearly the best group!! We then started our descent (a LONG track of ups and downs).

On the way we saw all of the other groups still trying to reach the top. Mr. Whites group (Mr. White with a fluorescent yellow hat on) had made an elephant train and were holding onto each other’s bags.

We were about 1/3 of the way down the mountain when Mr. Alderson decided to have the other half of our lunch. He had also decided that we would sit in a special shelter which is used for safety. It was very cramped in there.                Will Taker had however decided he didn’t want to be in there so he went outside. After, we carried on slipping and sliding everywhere!

We had today walked and climbed up to a height of 1083 metres above sea level. We had also finally reached the car park. Everyone was tired and had achy feet and legs but everyone had a feeling of achievement and was proud of them self’s for reaching the summit of the highest mountain in England and Wales. This was a very challenging but fun day and we will never forget it. When we finally got back to the house we were all glad to have a shower and a sit down.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow and are all ready for a nice rest. This entry of our day up mount Snowdon is by Emily Watkins and Kirsty Miller. xxx

Pink Wafers Lunch Box & Yellow Hat

Posted on | By Mr White | 1 Comment

Hi All

Just a note from the staff to say all are having fun and enjoying themselves. Although Mr A is very worried about the fact pink wafers seem to be vanishing very quickly!!! Matthew 🙂 Talking of food all is good, especially Mr Whites lunch box, which always seems to be over flowing with extra breakfast food, however again someone seems to sneaking their way into the kitchen to get extra food also????? Molly :)….. Oh and thankfully we all made it up Snowdon thanks to a yellow hat, shining through the mist and clouds…. more to follow later when the blogs get up loaded at about 9.55 ish

Thanks

Scenery, Sheep and Success

Posted on | By HWhite918 | 1 Comment

Heyy people.Today was our first day here! we started off on a half hour minibus ride. then We climbed a 400m mountain. it was really hard because the mountain was so steep. Elliot suggested tomorrow we tackle Mount Snowdon. WE were just like noo because today’s mountain is 400m & Mount Snowdon is just like 3 times the size. Today’s was hard enough. The walk was worse than the climbing though. the way up was really hard. we had to walk through rocks & stuff & i fell over like 500million times. there was a stream running down beside the paths at some point. the scenery was sooo pretty:). it wasn’t raining so we could see the scenery better. there was loads of mountains & little streams it was just amazing. we saw loads of sheep & prudence did her weird sheep noise & creeped everyone out. the walk was really steep and wet. i kept slipping on wet rocks & stuff. we kept having breaks & at one point we were just eating & exchanging penguin jokes. after that there was a less steep walk and then we had to scramble for a bit. Abigail kept managing to get her hands caught on the prickly bushes. the scrambling was the most fun bit of the whole day. it was very challenging though. everyone helped each other we had good co-operation thankfully. after that we were at the summit. the feeling was really rewarding by the time we got to the top. everyone was soo glad and we spent ages taking pictures & checking wind speed & stuff. the best scenery was the most pretty on the summit. we could see the little village Beddgelert in a tiny valley down the mountain.

the whole thing was amazing.

Of course, what goes up, must go down. The journey down the mountain was harder than going up. This was because at the part where we had to scramble, we didn’t have as many handholds.After this though, everyone was pleased to finally be going downhill! we had gone quite far from the mountain when we came across a rocky river path. This was one of the hardest parts of the day, but I thought it was the most fun part, because the rapids were beautiful and viscous. Some of the rock pathways were really thin and small, but the people who looked after this part of Wales kindly provided handholds. After we emerged from the ‘Rapid Path’, we had a clear pathway the the village of Beddgelert.

With a cry of “CIVILIZATION!!!” from Abigail, we set off. On the way to the village, we came across a small memorial ruin and a grave. This was Beddgelert. Not the village. Beddgelert is the welsh for The Grave of Gelert.

The tale of Gelert…

In the thirteenth century, in wales, there was a man named Llellwyn. He was the prince of wales, and was known as the greatest huntsman for miles around. His best friend was his hunting dog, Gelert. The pair were inseparable, the most fearsome hunting team in the kingdom. One day, Llellwyn could not find Gelert anywhere. He was very worried, but went off hunting without Gelert, assuming he was at home guarding Llellwyn’s baby son. Llellwyn returned home after a hard day’s hunt, and at once knew something was wrong. The house was deathly quiet. Llellwyn entered the house, and saw his son’s cot, overturned, the sheets torn and blooded. Suddenly, Gelert walked into the room, tail wagging and blood dripping from his mouth and paws. Llellwyn was overcome with a surge of anger, he thought Gelert has ripped his son to pieces. Llellwyn drew his sword, and struck the dog dead in one mighty blow. The dog screamed and died. Almost like an echo, Llellwyn heard the familiar cry of his baby son. He looked under the overturned cot, saw his son, and the corpse of a massive wolf. Gelert had defended the baby from the wolf, and Llellwyn had killed Gelert, his lifetime companion and best friend. Llellwyn was said never to smile again.

Quotes of the day

Matthew- no matter what injuries i have, no matter what the weather, as long as i have food i will be OK
Elliot- its the best day ever
Martin- this mountain water tastes funny
Miss Hodgett- you’ve already fallen over 500 times holly, are you trying to break the 1000 mark?
Abigail- CIVILIZATION!!! we are saved

by holly & martin 🙂 xxxx

Mountains, Mud-baths and Abseiling!

Posted on | By MDawson892 | 4 Comments

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy parents and other random people reading this:). It’s Molly and Maria here, reporting from North Wales after day one.

Travelling to Kent Mountain Centre
So we finally arrived at Kent Mountain Centre after an extended journey thanks to awful traffic on the M1-_-! When we arrived we tucked into dinner then went on a 2mile walk around the grounds and past the lake. Mr White decided to scare everyone with a ghost story that was complete lies. Then we all went to bed for a well deserved sleep:).

Navigation activity
Today, we got into our groups to start our first activity, navigation. We arrived at a small village to the north of the national park. To start off the fun we saw a boy fall off his bike when he was trying to show off hahahahhaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, to start with the proper fun Mr Alderson explained to us what we would be doing today. He told us we would be using navigation skills to go on a hike, which turned out to be 5 miles up and down mountains and hills :O !! When we established whereabouts on the map we were, we headed North to start our journey. We continued walking until we got to each wall, when we would change which 2 people would be in charge of the map. After about an hour and a half of walking, through muddy-slushy-dirty-water-logged- rocky fields, we stopped walking and started to eat our lunch and Mr Alderson then told us we would be climbing the mountain next! He claimed it was an easy and small mountain to climb but it definitely didn’t feel easy and small!!!!

Climbing the mountain
We set off and realised how strong the wind on the mountain was which made the task even more challenging, but it was fun all the same. After what felt like hours of walking we reached the top of the mountain and were facing 50mph winds, but we managed to have a nice group photo and then headed down the mountain a different route.

Mud bath for Molly and Maria- 🙁
Then our luck (Molly and Maria’s) got even worse, bear in mind we had already slipped over in the mud about 20 times already! We were walking along flat ground just through all the puddles and mud, because there was no other option, and I (molly) managed to get my WHOLE right leg stuck in sinking mud! Maria didn’t realise that my whole leg was stuck and tried to help me out but managed to get her own leg stuck in the mud also! No one decided to help us, instead everyone got their cameras out and decided to start taking a load of pictures of us stuck:(! Even Dan van Hinsbergh who claims he is the ‘muscle man’ of the group decided not to help us out, and that trend had be going on all day. He just laughed and walked on like most other people in our group, even though he claimed to be sooooooo strong! Anyway, after about 10 minutes of struggling we managed to get out and walked on. We used our natural instinct to guide our way back to the minibus where we finished our lunches and gathered the equipment for abseiling which was next.

Abseiling
We put on our harnesses and helmets then walked to the rocks that we would abseil off of. After Mr Alderson had set up the equipment we raced up to the top of the rocks, not realising until we were at the top how high the rock was:S! Everyone was slightyly anxious about the height but, Dan was sooo scared of heights and was shaking at the top, ahhh haha! Also, Ben tried to show off and didn’t see the crack in rock and slipped in it hahaha!!!! After we’d all abseiled we made our way back to the minibus and then back to the centre..

Overall it was a great first day and we are all excited for the rest of the week! But I think for now we all deserve a nice, long sleep:D!

Night night:)

Love Molly Dawson and Maria Loftus. X

How many mug shots?!!!

Posted on | By SFletcher363 | 1 Comment

Hi this is Jess and Suzannah typing the first blog for Jez’s group 2011! Bring it on!

Today we went gorge walking (when we say walking, we really mean wading through water, knee deep and climbing up waterfalls). The gorge was called Affon Ddu… IT WAS EPIC!!!!!!!!

We started at the bottom, at something that seemed rather small, but as we got further up it was going to be a greater challenge then we thought it would be.

The first challenge we came across was squeezing through the elephants bottom! Two rocks close together and as you got through the gap you had Mr White taking mug shots of you! Yeah it was embarrassing! (Wasn’t the best pictures ever but funny to look at!)

Next Jez made us walk along this small ledge, that went down at one part and on to a rope swing (Tarzan would have laughed at most of our efforts) Even before we reached the rope swing people were falling in (Hmm, hmm Jess) Mr White went first then took even more mug shots of us all failing (I (Suzannah) did not fall in at this point)

Then we had two clips on one rope, we got with partners and then heaved both of us up; me (jess) and Suzannah went together 😀 I really failed and had to have Suzannah pull me up… with as you guessed saw Mr White taking more mug shots of us all for the blog!!!

We then had a chance at another challenge; this one was one of a kind! We got to slide along a naturally made water slide! IT WAS AMAZING! (Really wet) Mr White was at the end not to help us out but yet again taking more mug shots of us all!

After that we challenged ourselves to a scary but fantastic walk along a waterfall!!!! It was so cold, but it was so amazing! The force of the water was so powerful, one wrong step and you would fall!!! But luckily no one did… yep and Mr White was taking more mug shots of us…

Then Jez set us another challenge, we had two choices going the wet way or the dry way! Everyone obviously chose the wet way where we had to get on to this rock and slide down. (Jess couldn’t get up so, Jez and I had to help her by pushing her it was well funny)  Then we had slide in to this gap and squeeze through this gap! Then we had to climb the waterfall part as usual Mr White was taking mug shots! Jess won creepiest hand of the day (see pictures)

Next we had to make our way to this massive fall while we were ahead Mr White supposedly saved Jez’s life, when he was attacked by a pixie! We all took it in turns to slowly but carefully step on to a rock and step under the waterfall and say ‘hello goddess

of the gorge my name is (insert name) and thank you for keeping me safe today, then we had to carefully climb out but knowing me (jess) I lost my balance coming out and stupidly lost my balance and fell into the deepest part of the river type part and got drenched (even though was soaking wet anyway). Then we got into the pool while Jez took the mug shots this time because Mr White was with us! After the good photos, Mr White pushed me back into Dan and Scarlett (Will Scarlett) forwards this was caught the camera. Then for some odd reason Mr White went deeper and started floating and waving for the camera!

One of the last things we did, was clamber up onto this big rock and there was this big rock pool about 12ft deep and knowing me and Suzannah we were well up for itJ!!!! I jumped from the highest part you could and because I had so much water in my shoes my feet bent right up to my bottom :> and Suzannah jumped, her jump was a lot better than mine (Jess) her feet didn’t bend like mine did… This was the only activity Mr White did not do!

We then climbed some steps to a road which led down to the minibus! It was very steep and Jess managed to fall over again! When we reached the minibus, we were told Boys go and change in that part of the woods and girls in the other part! Overall the day was amazing!

After this eventful day we came back to the centre, everyone had their dinner and had showers/washed and we came in here to write the first blog of the year! J & S

One step from death….

Posted on | By PGreenstreet509 | No comments

Hello It’s Poppy Greenstreet & Lauren Rigney, 😀

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Today was our first day in Wales and also the day we nearly died!:O

Once out of the minibus we walked through a muddy field and saw the grave of Bedwellin & learnt the story of his brutal stabbing, leading to his death.(He was a dog not a dude) We then saw his statue made out of bronze. He was the size of a horse and we were told he was actually that size!

Next we walked through the grass & came across a train track. We didn’t know if it was a live rail or not, so we got Robert to test it out(sorry!!;)) Luckily, he didn’t die, meaning it was safe to cross:D Then our leader gave our a map (Poppy,Lauren&Charlotte). Silly idea if u ask us, but we made it through the ledge next to what we called the ‘Death Water’! We were told that if we fell we probably wouldn’t survive, as it was a strong current for grade 5 canooers that if they took one turn probably would drown!!!!!

Next we stopped for lunch, and told stories about Halloween and zombies, but soon after that we climbed a steep slope. We moaned the whole way up about how steep it was and how much our legs hurt, but once we got to the top we realised it was almost flat. We kept asking if we could drink the water but the leader told us you can only drink it at the top. This was our inspiration for getting to the top, we wanted to taste victory like Bear Grills!:D

The way up, was like torture! ‘Only 2/3 of the journey to go’ said ‘mister Sir Man’(As we call him ;D) at this point Me&Lauren were in tears& wanted to give up, but we thought of the water to put our minds off things. Our leader showed us an old gold mine, and in the rocks we could discover fools gold, which is fake but people used to trade it for money. Only Sam found a little, but it was worthless (Typical!) This is when Lauren let go of the map and the wind took it resulting in it flying to bottom of the mountain, slapping someone round the face, we were in hysterics!!!! 😀

When we stopped for the second time we got a perfect view of the Irish sea. There was a waterfall right next to us but we couldn’t drink from it because we were told there was sheep poo. in it- eww! Next we got told a story about the two dragons and our leader’s sound effects made me and poppy laugh so much that we felt a 6-pack coming on. I choked on my roll and thought I might die. The sound was something like this (ee-wee-wooo-ee-wooo-wee) LOL!

After, we finally reached the top through hard work and team effort! Our leader read us a story about the mountain opposite where the king built his palace. We were told we wouldn’t be able to drink water from the mountain today and felt heartbroken.

When we got halfway down we finally found water we could drink and were SO HAPPY! We ran to the water and filled up our bottles, we tasted the victory in the ice cold valley water. Robert ran to get his water and tripped over, spilling his coffee all in the valley water. We asked him if he was okay and got the reply ‘I’m fine, just casually sitting here chilling. OH NO MY COFFEE!’. He was okay.

When we got to the bottom, although our feet were aching and numb we felt proud of ourselves. Today was definitely better than going trick or treating. We don’t want to climb another mountain, but we’ve just been told it is one of the smallest mountains and tomorrow we have to climb Mount Snowdon… Wish us luck!

Oh Dear

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments
Queue on the M1 near Milton Keynes
Queue on the M1 near Milton Keynes

We’ve just had a shortened lunch stop due to a delay of about an hour caused by the accident mentioned in the previous post (see left).

Mr Bean’s Holiday now playing. Has a much larger audience than Gorillas…

By the way, if anyone recognizes the type of tracksuit worn by the girl in the photo (click the photo to see a larger image; we could only make out the word “England” on the back) please let us know as Mr (PE) White is keen to find out.

The travelling experience

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | 1 Comment

10:50am and we are on the M1 near Dunstable. All going very smoothly so far (although the orange signs are warning of queues ahead).

The coach is a very happy place at the moment with some playing cards, others watching Gorillas in the Mist (Mr White’s choice but he has now fallen asleep!) and bouts of jolly singing (funny how the singers are all at the back of the coach).

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