Ardeche Adventure

My school has an annual Yellow Week (last week of the school year), where students go off timetable and enjoy a range of fun activities such as: visiting local fairgrounds, making chocolate, surfing in the North Sea (FREEZING!) and so many more. In addition you can go on a trip to Italy or even America for about ten days. As I am new to the school, this was my first Yellow Week and I went on the Ardeche Adventure. We: kayaked, canoed two days down the Ardeche River, rock climbed, caved, mountain biked, built rafts and visited the nearby city of Avignon. Also, most of my friends were going: Charlie, Matthew, Ben, Chris, Roxanne, Katia, Jasmine, Andrew, Joey, Finley, Elliott and Dan. It sounded great but how were we going to get there?

Unfortunately, a 26 hour coach ride was the answer but it was made slightly better by the fact that all my friends were there. Once we had arrived at our PGL site we were absolutely exhausted from sitting and fell asleep instantly! The day after was our first activity, kayaking. It was brilliant! Everyone fell in and one of the instructors sneaked up on us and capsized the boats before paddling away and choosing his next victim. We did a few rapids and also swam. Canoeing was up next and was almost the same as kayaking but each boat had two people. I went in the same boat as Matthew and it was awesome. These boats were a bit more cumbersome than the kayaks but it meant that the crashes and capsizes were even better to watch. We arrived at our bivouac site without capsizing once. The bivouac was quite basic, with our sleeping bags on top of carry mats with a massive tarpaulin as a roof. I slept in a ditch! At the site we saw a wild boar and also a scorpion. The next day we set off to complete our two day river descent. After, laughing a lot at others falling in, the tables turned as Matthew & I capsized twice but it was obviously the boat's fault and not ours! We then made it to shore where we waved goodbye to the river but hello to rock climbing and caving.

I had never done caving before and the idea of crawling through tight spaces underground sounded quite daunting, but boy was I wrong! It was great and really thrilling. It was also quite slippy so a lot of people fell over. We then switched over to rock climbing which wasn't too technical but quite tough in about 30 degrees Celsius.

On the last full day, we went to Avignon. It was a lovely little city to explore. Best of all we explored on our own. It was a very old, picturesque city that loved theatre more than anything else-apart from tourists. It was great especially when we bought ice cream from a small parlour whose owner we had assumed to be French but actually, he came from Bristol. He told us quite plainly our French was rubbish! The last day had arrived and so had Elliott's birthday. We woke him up around 6 o'clock and gave him ridiculous presents such as: a recorder, a leopard print clutch bag, a bright purple belt and a Tintin book in French. We then mountain biked and built rafts but we knew it was soon time to leave. Around 5 o'clock we left for home but we brought back awesome memories and experiences.

Here are a few pictures and videos of what we did.

Helvellyn

If you read my last post you know that on the 29th of June I took part in the Cyclone event in the North-East. The day after I decided not to rest after a full-on, tiring day but to camp and climb Helvellyn-one of the most famous mountains of the Lake District- with my dad, Charlie and Tony. The plan was to drive up to Glenridding; (a nearby town) take all of our gear on our backs; (tent, food, clothes, cooking utensils) walk up to Red Tarn (halfway up Helvellyn) and then pitch our tents and eat a dinner of dehydrated couscous and dhaal (lentils). The next day-a teacher training day (Monday)-we would get up early, leave our tents, take only necessary gear, climb up to Helvellyn's summit via Striding Edge, enjoy the view and then descend to where our tents were pitched via Swirrel Edge. We would then pack up and hope to be home by about 3 o'clock. Well, that was the plan...

Upon arrival, it absolutely chucked it down, so we hot-footed it down to the local pub where we spent about two hours sitting and hoping if we waited long enough the rain would just disappear! Alas, the rain didn't stop but it did start to recede so we grabbed our packs and were off before it decided to reappear.

It took us half an hour to get to Red Tarn but it was getting late and quite chilly. We hurriedly put up the tents with the backdrop of the beautiful Lake District behind us and the magnificent yet imposing peak of Helvellyn in front. Once set up, I instantly jumped inside to warm up whilst dad rustled up a three course meal of couscous and two different dhaal dishes with hot chocolate to wash it down. The dhaal dishes were slightly tasteless and to be honest not very nice probably because they were dehydrated! I then fell asleep immediately.

On Monday, we awoke to an almost perfect, clear day. As we ate breakfast and prepared for today's climb, we were in awe at how lucky we were to have such brilliant weather. We waved our tents goodbye and started the ascent of Striding Edge. Striding Edge is a brilliant scramble with quite sheer drops down both sides and a glorious view of the surrounding hillside. It was hard work but awesome fun. Once we summmitted Helvellyn, we began the descent.

Swirrel Edge is nowhere near as dangerous or technical as Striding Edge but it was probably the best way to come down and good to experience both edges of the mountain. We arrived at base camp, packed up and set off, arriving just after lunch in Glenridding. It was a fantastic end to an awesome three days that I won't forget it in a hurry.

Passing the time whilst waiting for the rain to stop

Striding Edge

Cyclone

Every year, mid-June, there is an event in the North-East called the Cyclone. This event is a chance for any cyclist to challenge themselves to complete 33, 63 or 103 miles in one day depending on how committed they are to cycling and if they practice professionally or if it is just a hobby. It can be quite a social event as everyone is so friendly and easy to talk to, especially about bikes.

Last year I attempted the Cyclone for the first time but since I had done no training I completed the 33 mile ride at a leisurely pace on a mountain bike. Using a mountain bike is a lot harder on the road because there is unnecessary grip on the tyres and the frame itself is bulky and heavy-not ideal for climbing steep, smooth, tarmac roads. However, this year I was more prepared and attempted the 63 mile challenge on my grandad's (Poppa) vintage road bike which had slicker wheels, a lighter frame and altogether a more suitable bike. I also trained a bit before the ride and did three forty mile bike rides over separate mid-week evenings. In addition, I was doing the bike ride with my dad, Paul, my friend, Charlie, and Charlie's dad, Tony.

It was a first for us all and especially Charlie and I who had never ridden more than forty miles in one day. Whilst we were preparing to set off, one of the officials came over and was instantly on top of Poppa's bike taking photos of the frame, brake discs and old fashioned gear levers. He even brought his mates over to discus how such a retro bike had got into the hands of a teenager! As this strange event was taking place I was thinking how chuffed Poppa would be if he could see this too. When we eventually set off, on the 29/06, we were excited and nervous about the journey ahead and as we set off, semi-professionals and competitive riders whizzed past us on lightweight, tailor made bikes desperate to achieve their personal best. Apart from this distraction, we really enjoyed the first forty miles of our ride and were making good time by the time we made it to Wallington National Trust. We had a calorie-packed lunch and rested before we hit the road again.

For the next ten miles or so after we set off, Charlie was starting to feel very tired and was running on empty. It was looking quite bad until he had several Geo bars and a few energy chews then he was back on track. The only question was whether the energy boost would last...

With only fifteen more miles to go, we only had one more challenge to overcome before the easy downhill finish. These were the Ryals. They were two short but extremely steep hills on top of each other. Luckily they had a short downhill gap between them but it was still ferociously hard work. In the end, we managed it and we stopped shortly afterwards at Stamfordham before we finished the event in a time of seven and a half hours. Overall, it was a tough but fun experience and I would love to do it again next year. The Cyclone website is https://virginmoneycyclone.co.uk/.