On Saturday 27 June, eight boys and four members of staff, all from the Shiplake College Combined Cadet Force, travelled to Snowdonia, North Wales, for an adventure camp. The trip promised to be an exciting one, with the boys trying their hand at climbing, mountain biking and zip wiring. Head of Outdoor Education Mr Steve MacPherson offers the following report:
‘The group started the week by scaling the North ridge of Tryfan. Not the easiest climb in the world; the ridge is exposed and tricky in places, but the boys made it to the top in good spirits! Unfortunately, it was too windy to make the customary leap between two standing stones on the summit – Adam and Eve – but there’s always next year…
Day two began with a morning of climbing on Little Tryfan, before heading off to the Marin mountain bike trail near Betws y Coed. The route, which the boys were looking forward to tackling, is 25km of world class trail, with intense climbs and difficult terrain. The trail, already challenging, was made even more so with the heat; the climbs were long and unforgiving. However, these were offset by the exhilarating downhill sections! Despite enjoying the experience, everyone was relieved to see the end of it, not least Mr Andrew White’s mountain bike that didn’t survive!
The third day of the trip dawned a glorious day, with the weather looking favourably upon our walk up Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. Walking up the less frequented Watkins path, it turned out to be a great route to the summit, missing most of the crowds. Progress was slow but steady, which was needed on such a warm day! Eventually, we arrived at the summit and, after a few pictures, we treated ourselves to some cold drinks from the summit café. Feeling refreshed, we headed back down along a fantastic ridge, before cutting back to rejoin the Watkins path further along. As everyone was very hot from the weather and the climb, a cool mountain pool was chosen as a rest stop. We took a very chilly dip!
The following day, we headed to another purpose built mountain bike trail, at Penmachno. The trail is split into two, with one 11km section and one 19km section. As legs were beginning to feel tired, we opted for the shorter of the two. The trail was a joy to ride; relatively flat, but quite technical – the total opposite to the Marin!
The penultimate day of the trip was the only wet day of the week, and fortunately the day we had arranged to visit Zip World in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The team were keen to try out the newly opened Zip World caverns, a high wire activity centre, perhaps best described as a Go Ape inside the old underground slate quarry. After a comprehensive safety brief and trial course, we set off into the depths of the cavern, scaling the cave walls and zipping across from wall to wall. The caves were huge, and drops were not for the faint-hearted! Luckily, everyone was up for the challenge and found it incredibly exhilarating!
Our final day saw us walking in the mountains again, this time taking in the sites of the Glyders, on a circular route overlooking the Ogwen valley. Once again, Snowdonia graced us with glorious views and, this time, a cooling breeze!'