On Friday 17th June at 7:00pm, Year 7, Year 8, Mrs Goddings, Mr Conway and Mr Hooker boarded a coach and left Barrow Hills for a nine day adventure. Not the best start as the M25 was closed! We made the ferry, all got through immigration and avoided COVID documentation being checked as this would have meant a very long wait. After a lengthy journey we arrived at La Savane, our home for the week. The sun was shining, we had a quick lunch and spent the afternoon in the pool; just what was needed.
On Sunday, we went to the Adventure Park at Grospierres. The highlight was climbing in the trees, then launching on the 500 metre zip wire across the river to the crag on the other side, and back again. An amazing thrill. After dinner we had the ‘barrel talk’ and found out what we needed to pack in our barrels for the guided descent through the Ardèche gorge.
The one disappointment on our trip was the unfortunate accident the Emilia had on the first night when she damaged her knee and then exacerbated it the next day. Very sadly, we said goodbye to her and she was sorely missed by everyone.
The next morning, we packed our barrels, boarded the coach and drove to the canoes. We put barrels, sunscreen and four litres of water in each canoe. We paddled about 14 km to the bivouac site and had such fun through the rapids. We then enjoyed lunch on the beach. That night, we camped under the stars. The following morning it was a swift pack up and back to the boats. Luckily, this wasn’t such a hot day as it was hard work to the end.
We all made it unscathed and felt a great sense of achievement having made the full 24km. Most of us fell fast asleep on the coach trip back to camp, we had a refreshing swim in the pool, played badminton, basketball or just chilled.
The next day, we went into Vallon Pont d’Arc, a small local town where we shopped. Then we visited the Aven d’Orgnac Caves which were spectacular. It was a restful day with no watersports.
On Thursday, we split into two groups, Year 8 went caving while Year 7 stayed on site, climbing on the wall, balancing on the slack line and traversing the wall. In the afternoon we swapped activities. Despite some having reservations about the caving, all conquered their fears and successfully got through.
In the evening we went to Ruoms for pizza and ice cream to celebrate Leon’s birthday. It was a really lovely evening and there were lots of compliments for the children’s use of French! On the last morning, we woke up to a tremendous storm with thunder, lightning and torrential rain. Thankfully, it stopped in time for us to walk into Ruoms and visit the market for a few souvenirs. We then returned to camp to clear out the tents and pack all our things. Just before we left, Mrs Goddings returned our devices (fully charged!) for the 16 hour journey home from the Ardèche.
It was great to see our families waiting for us. What an amazing trip it had been; many of us faced our fears and conquered them. Thank you to Mrs Goddings, Mr Conway and Mr Hooker for making sure we had such a fantastic residential.
