Weaseling, abseiling, ice cream and packing

We set off out to the rocky terrain of Stanage Edge. Rumour has it that Robin Hood and his merry men once lived in the caves near here and that Little John is actually buried in the small cemetery in Hathersage, his grave was actually excavated at one point and was found to contain a 7'8" skeleton. 

Weaseling is a great activity squeezing yourself through the tightest of gaps, twisting and turning through muddy puddles trying to find an exit. Dominic was an expert weaseler along with Joseph, Perry, Ellen, Louie and Anthony.

 

 

Our final activity is abseiling,  we always save the best til last!  This is a truly hair raising activity.  We are harnessed up and then expected to climb over the side of a viaduct and lower ourselves 70 metres down over a river!  Students are always great at supporting and encouraging each other on this activity.

 

After abseiling it is another West Heath tradition that we go to Litton for ice cream.  This is another of the most difficult challenges of the week......deciding which flavour to have!!  Banana and toffee was the favourite this year. 

Our final evening was spent packing and preparing for the journey home.  Later in the evening we all sat and chatted our about our week - what had we done that we were most proud of, what had someone else done that had impressed us and what was our favourite activity.  It is always interesting and quite emotional to hear the students talking about their achievements and to see the pride in themselves.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students who have overcome personal fears and have helped us all create some wonderful memories  this week and the West Heath staff - Kris, Elliot, Alex, Lucy, Charlotte and Deb for giving their time to support our students and enable them to have this opportunity.  This group have been the best group we have ever taken to Edale and I cant wait to take them all to Cornwall next year!

Caving, canoeing, leap of faith and Bingo!!

The week is flying by.  Everyone is happy and enjoying the trip.  Nerves are kicking in amongst staff and students alike as we set off caving.  This is always a tough activity even for staff who have been coming to Edale for the last 7 years.  Our instructor Robin is a geologist who always makes this an interesting activity, he knows all the tight spots that students can squeeze through on our underground journey.  At one point we all sit down and Robin tells us all to turn off our head torches, he then turns off his light and we are in complete darkness.  This is real darkness and is a massive challenge for students and staff.  The groups handled this challenge extremely well and we continued into the cave finally reaching the cathedral cavern with its limestone walls and waterfall.  There are no pictures of this activity as we could not take the ipad into the cave.

After lunch we were off rafted canoeing at Bugworth Basin.  This is always a very wet and fun activity.  Sadly this year we were not allowed to push each other into the canal so had to settle for splashing each other. 

 

 



Leap of faith is a pole with a tiny platform on top, students are expected to climb to the top stand on the platform and jump off!!  They were all amazing and this is the best leap of faith session I think we have ever had at Edale.  Joseph was hilarious and had everyone in stitches with his antics.  We were all impressed by Louie who has overcome his fear of heights, Perry again was excellent, Keirce is our new spiderman, Ellen who threw herself off backwards and was trying to come up with new ways to launch herself off the platform, Z who backflipped off (a first for the instructors!), Lucy who wobbled more than anyone we've ever seen and Anthony who was extremely brave.

 

 

When we got back to the cottage we settled down for an evening of Bingo, this is now a tradition on West Heath residential trips and is a favourite amongst students and staff alike.  

High Ropes, Climbing and Archery

Our first activity of the day was the high ropes course at Edale.  We were all harnessed up by our instructors Pete and Kirsty.  This is a hard course and definitely not one for the faint hearted!!  Perry was first up and for someone who had never done this before he showed no fear and was fantastic!!

After lunch we were out rock climbing. There are some beautiful sites to climb in the Peak District and we are lucky to have the expert knowledge of the Edale instructors who take us to some of the most beautiful spots to climb. Ellen and Keirce impressed everyone with their climbing skills and determination. 

 

 

Our evening activity was archery.  We divided into 2 teams and competed in the rain.  Elliotts team won but we think this was down to the weather rather than skill!!  Dominic and Ben proved themselves to be skilled archers with the instructors commenting that Ben should take up archery.  We all returned to the cottage very wet and cold, Elliott made us all hot chocolate and marshmallows which was a very welcome treat before bed.

We're off!!

We had a good journey up to Edale from school. After unpacking we did some team building games. In the evening we went for a hike up Mam Tor, this was a cold and windy walk but it was great to get to the top and take in the views.