 |
| Golden Eagle Year 7 2011 |
|
Year 7 Golden Eagle Week 2011
Monday 20th June 2011 The travel gods were kind and, despite Brendon and Henrietta choosing to lose a tooth each on the way, we arrived in West Wales in good time and in good shape. But as we approached and met up with our friends from Adventure Beyond, the dark clouds were gathering on the Preseli Hills, preparing a treacherous welcome for our party. With a misty rain sweeping across the landscape the boys and girls headed out on their 12k walk. The children appeared to fall into two distinct character types: ‘special forces’ and ‘girls in stiletto heels’. The weather deteriorated rapidly and while the military section were all for pressing on, I found myself siding with the latter group and we headed back to the vans. This was just as well as some of the less well equipped walkers were already soaked through. We pressed on to the bunkhouse and the children disembarked, dried themselves off and headed to the dining area. The scene in the girl’s hostel at this point was taken directly from Macbeth and the mood was less than positive. But after a few words of encouragement, a good meal and a few songs, smiles broke out and all was sweetness and light in St David’s.
Tuesday 21st June 2011
The groups had their breakfast, washed up and prepared their lunch packets before heading out to Whitesands Beach to try a little surfing. The rain relented as we arrived and half the travellers walked out to the headland to climb and abseil the 80ft crag. Some scampered up and down like lizards, others needed a few reassuring words and it is great when you see those characters confront and overcome their fear and finish the activity with a huge smile. Meanwhile the other children had donned wetsuits and were out in the surf with their long boards. All went well and there was a brilliant dance party in the car park prior to departure in the evening. There were even a few moments of sunshine. Wednesday 22nd June 2011
After a quick trip in the mini-bus to Cilgerran, the boys and girls had lunch on the grass by the River Teifi and were given their equipment along with basic canoe / kayak instruction. They set off downstream on their 4 hour paddle to the Irish Sea at Poppit. It is a marathon session and there are usually some spectacular ‘dunkings’ en route. Mr Brimacombe was the first to be ‘chatting with the fishes’ losing out to an early rapid. However, all the children negotiated this hazard successfully, many going back for more. Few remained dry throughout the journey. Gilly and Sven, in a three man canoe, were sabotaged by Tom Gray stretching out to reach for a bottle of sun tan lotion, and turning turtle. This, of course, delighted everyone except the two innocent victims. Matthew and Michael discovered that boats whose crew paddle on the same side tend to go round in circles, while Brendon and Caitlin both got stuck up to their calves in the mud of the shallows and had to be salvaged by our instructors. There always seemed to be another bend to this river and the stretches where the wind blew hand threatened to send a few floppy paddlers back to where they came from, nevertheless, the flotilla arrived in good time and I thought the crews all worked really well together.
Once they had disembarked the children hiked a short walk to the dunes at Poppit where we pitched camp and went off searching for driftwood. Ed, who had already exhibited his Tiger jumpsuit, treated us to his Frisian number. I don't know how it is possible, but this guy managed to look immaculate the whole week - brilliant. Tom and Megan were King and Queen of the Bonfire bringing some mighty limbs that would keep us warm all night. This was just as well as the 'staff accommodation amounted to three handkerchiefs flapping in the wind tied to a tripod of oars. I am now on intimate terms with every star in the sky. We all had a fantastic barbecue dinner with sausages and meats from our chief guide's farm - it all tasted super fantastic as everyone was ravenous after their efforts during the day. Later on there was singing and camp-fire chat before the children all got into their cosy (super cosy) bivouac shelters and the adults braved the elements.
Thursday 23rd June 2011
The party break camp, tidy up and carry the equipment back to the buses. It is a very sleepy group that arrive back at the farmhouse for breakfast and many can't believe they are going to have to go out on the water again today. However, once they get into action they really prove that they are up for it, with coasteering & kayaking proving to be the most popular activities on the trip. The kayaks had to brave the surf and head out to sea before negotiating the tide through a narrow channel into the Blue Lagoon.
The coasteerers followed a similar route around the headland, finding lots of things to do as the picked their way through the shallows and over the rocks before reaching the 'dropzone' where people choose to hurl themselves from a series of natural platforms the highest of which is about 50ft at low tide. It was great that so many pushed themselves beyond their perceived limitations - these varied for each individual - but most left this site a little more confident than they had been prior to their activity. The brave souls who made the mightiest of leaps were Crazy Dom (first off), Mad Max, Mad Michael, Loco Jose-Luis de Mora, Dangerous Daisy and Mad Miriam. These kids are seriously 'hard core'. (Miriam wishes to dedicate her leap to her brother Adam)
Once we returned the children had their supper and made a series of presentations to our instructors expressing their gratitude for the help and guidance they had received during the week. The final day will be taken up with packing and travelling so the groups have a late night chatting. It has been a very successful week. Understandably, not everybody is super keen about 'outward bound' activities and we would be foolish to judge individuals only on their performances this week. Nevertheless, I believe that this week provides an important balance and perspective to the work the children do at school and it is fantastic to see different characters emerge with strengths that perhaps nobody knew they had. The children have, lived, worked, played and grown together in a fantastic environment, and I think that many will remember this week as being a very significant time in their life. (More photos will follow as they are accessed)
|
