Heavy rain in the night cleared in time for a bright but breezy start. The wild life is evident, with kites gliding over head, midges in abundance and a prickly visitor wandering through our camp site during the middle of the night.
After breakfast, the groups set off for their various activities. A change in plan meant that groups 1 and 2 completed the gorge scrambling in the morning with Mrs Smith, Mrs du Preez and Mrs Hawkhead, while group 3 went caving with Mr Beevers. In the afternoon, Mrs Hawkhead and Mrs du Preez took groups 1 and 3 on the via ferrata and Mr Beevers took the final group (group 2) caving. Although being underground is not everyone’s idea of a good time, every single child completed everything that was asked of them. There were some notable displays of bravery, perseverence and ability including: Georgia, Nuala, Charlie, Frank, Layla, Clara and Harleen. Freddie impressed Mr Beevers by pushing through his tiredness to lead the way through the cave. A small selection of the photos can be seen below, with the rest of the gallery here.
The gorge scramblers all showed considerable bravery but during the abseiling section, Esa led the way while Logan’s descent was both confident and rapid. Maisie was really proud of herself for completing the abseil, and wondered what she had been so worried about once it was done. Once we were in the water, Zak A really impressed the instructors with his growing bravery. He said it was ‘cold, but fun!’. Most of the children chose to jump into a deeper pool of water (which was very hard to photograph!). Georgia and Dhruva weren’t sure initially, but gathered their courage and leapt into the river. We were very impressed with the whole group, and had a great time in the water. A full gallery can be seen here.
The via ferrata gallery is here. We all proved that we knew how to move along the via ferrata course on a short track, and then took on the beam over the gorge to the main course. Lewis and Fraser expertly led the way, with most of the rest of the group confidently following. Hadiya and Jeea worked really well to support each other through the trickier parts. Anaya and Maude kept Mrs du Preez entertained all the way around the course, while Saim showed off his fearlessness leaning out over the gorge. Owen took the whole experience in his stride and his calm presence was really valued by his group. It was a shame he was so far away from Mrs Hawkhead, who thinks Frank may have given her an extra few grey hairs with his daring deeds, resilience and strength – and all done with a huge smile on his face.
We finished the day by toasting marshmallows over a fire pit. Isabel managed to toast hers to perfection! Finley came up with a novel way of keeping the smoke out of his eyes by turning his hoodie back to front, while Zak R struck some amazing poses for the camera (all day!). There was a debate about what a perfectly toasted marshmallow looks like, swiftly followed by a discussion about the best kind of biscuit to go with our evening hot chocolates. We enjoyed some football, frisbee and cricket in the field by our lodges before a quick tidy up and room inspection. Well done to the girls’ lodge who managed to have the tidiest room even with the most people in there!
Tomorrow, the whole group will tackle a final activity, before boarding the buses back to school. We look forward to seeing everyone and sharing our awesome tales!
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