Year 9 Activity Week in Ullswater!

After a very long coach journey up, as soon as we arrived at the centre we were split into two teams: Tenzing and Oulton, and I was put in Tenzing, named appropriately after the first person to climb Mt. Everest. On our first afternoon, we went to the lake and took part in some water-based activities, such as the very simply named ‘jog and dip’ and equally literally named ‘cliff-jumping’. We then rounded off the day by climbing ‘Little Mell Fell’ to enjoy the stunning view from atop it in the evening light. The next day, my group, Tenzing went canoeing down to some crags further along the lake where we went scrambling up them, overall quite a physically taxing activity. Next up on our action-packed itinerary was orienteering (micro-navigation using maps and the surrounding landscape), which proved very fun if a little tricky. The following morning, we helped out the local efforts by clearing out some Rhododendrons from the forest, and then hiked up to ‘Red Tarn’, next to Helvellyn. Our hike that day then took us up Striding Edge and ultimately to the top of Helvellyn, only for us to go down Swirral Edge, ending up back at camp. At ‘Red Tarn,’ we tried forming ‘bivouacs’ to combat the thunder and rain. On the way down, we were met with the jaw-dropping sight of fighter jets carrying out military training exercises in the valley below us. The evening that day, we all shared a campfire of course, featuring the absolute classic - awfully burnt marshmallows. After that, we did a number of fun team building activities, but in the end had to bid farewell to Ullswater and departed on the coach, thoroughly exhausted but nonetheless buzzing with stories.