Surbiton High School Year 8 girls discover Snowdon - 07/07/2010

On the 20th of June 2010, the seven classes of Year 8 set off on a camping adventure to Snowdonia, a ten minute drive away from the 11th highest mountain in the United Kingdom - Mount Snowdon. Many of the girls who were embarking on this trip had never been camping before, let alone put up a tent. We all knew that this trip would challenge us both mentally and physically. There was a ripple of excitement as the first luggage bag was loaded onto the coach, there was no going back now.

When we entered the rolling hills of Snowdonia, we all knew that the long journey had been worth it. However, we were a little upset when we realised that the tents weren't pop up or five star! But once we settled down and had unpacked our sleeping mats and bags, we discovered that they were surprisingly comfortable. It was definitely a learning curve.

The morning came very quickly and although many of us would have liked to have slept for longer it looked like Mr Wiggall had other ideas. No one slept through his singing. Girls tumbled out of their tents throwing on clothes and wellies, it was breakfast.

Our week's activities were revealed and to many people's 'joys' we were told we were going to climb Mount Snowdon. We climbed up many steep inclines to reach the top of Mount Snowdon. But the sense of achievement at the top was the best feeling in the world. We all felt that we had really succeeded in pushing ourselves and in helping each other to reach the top.

We took part in many other fun activities. One morning we were given four barrels and 12 pieces of wood and lots of rope. After being taught simple knots we began to put together a basic raft. We had to battle it out on the water to see which group had built the best raft. This activity was a team building experience that worked really well. Some of us got very wet in this battle and so we made a plan; a plan to soak the teachers! As you could probably guess this ended in one BIG water fight! This included soaking Miss Brennan and many of the instructors. Miss Lockwood also got very wet!

We participated in many team games that made us listen to each other and share all our ideas. We had to communicate clearly and many of the tasks made us think about how we co-operate with our friends and other people around us.

The trip slowly came to an end and we were on our way home. As all the girls grabbed their second frappuchino of the week we couldn't help thinking that we had left something on the mountain.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Miss Brennan for organising such a fantastic week for us and to all the staff who came and supported us.