This year’s Oundle School Combined Cadet Force Adventure Training Camp took place over the Easter holidays with fifteen pupils and five teachers travelling to Snowdonia in North Wales.
Pupil, Juliette Carmichael (15) commented, “When we arrived at Capel Curig Training Camp, we set up our tents and got kitted up for night orienteering, which was really exiting!”
On the first day the cadets woke up early, had breakfast and kitted up to climb Snowdon.
Juliette added, “The view all the way up was stunning, the two lakes in the middle were very blue (due to the copper in the water) and looked exquisite in the sun. Only a few clouds were in the sky as we were walking up. However as we neared the summit, the path was covered with snow.”
When the cadets finally reached the 1,085 metre summit they couldn’t see much through the thick cloud. However as the cloud parted the whole valley became visible before them.
The next day, despite the high winds and rain, the group went hiking again, this time through the Elsi Forest.
The remaining days were spent climbing, kayaking and mountain biking.
Juliette concluded, “Due to the traditional Welsh weather (rain) we were unable to climb outside, but we travelled to an enormous climbing wall (the Beacon at Caernarvon), which was one of the many highlights of the week.
I am sure we all agreed that the zip-wire was by far the best activity we did all week. We went to the longest zip-wire in Europe (about 1.8 km long) and it was the most amazing experience ever! We flew across an old slate mine with speeds up to 97km/h! It really did feel as if we were flying!”
Trip organiser, Walter Holmstrom commented, “The purpose of the trip was to introduce/re-familiarise cadets with more advanced Adventure Training skills than is possible to experience on a weekly basis in Oundle and to apply them over a period of days rather than hours; enabling them to experience a more remote and mountainous area and more meteorologically challenging climate than is normally encountered in Northamptonshire.”