Mereside Academy

Over three weeks Kestrels have been doing some adventures on colossal climbing indoors and outdoors. Outdoors was set in Grinshill and the indoor was set in Short Wood activity Centre. Arthog was hosting it (Andy, Martin and Paul) It was full of adventure, determination and a lot of numb fingers. Outdoor: When we went outdoors we went to Grinshill. Kestrels were split up into 3 groups and all had a brilliant time! First there was the Bus trip – which was eventful. Now onto the climbing bit, first we went down the steps and we were greeted by the rock faces! Three brave people took up the job of showing everyone what to do. Then we split up into 2 groups, one group on the hard wall and one on the easy wall. The easy wall was like steps but before that, group one did climbing up banks with rope tied to a tree, we then started climbing the rock face. On the way back, we abseiled down after everyone in our group had had a go; we had lunch in a mini hollow. Then we ventured into a very long cave. After lunch we swapped groups (some people got higher than others with their climbing). There was a funny moment When Mr G was abseiling down; Kate was flying because he was so heavy! Will G tapped some sand rock with a stick and it fell apart revealing a nest of Wood Lice!!! Indoor: We went to Short Wood Activity Centre where group 1 did a really big climbing wall. It was more intimidating because it was very vertical. The climbing wall was split into parts, some courses were harder than others. We put our stuff in the store room where there were lots of supplies. Then we did some games outdoors involving lots of teamwork. Next we went indoors on the climbing wall. We didn’t climb it at first but we did some activities by it including only a little climb on the wall. Then it was time to do some real climbing! We split into 2 groups and the first person was clipped onto the rope with a caribeena, we held the rope! The front person was clipped onto the sand bag and held the rope straight. The others pulled the rope when they went up to make sure it didn’t flop. After that, we swapped climbing courses. Most people made it to the top – but some didn’t. After climbing we had lunch, then we went outside and did some more games. The low ropes course was next. We had to be careful not to slip as it was very slippery. After we were really cold and wet, we went back indoors and did a couple more games, one included jumping onto the wall – the last person was out. When it was time to leave, we drove back to Mereside, said ‘thanks’ to Martin and went home for a well-earned rest! We learned that if we push ourselves when scared, we can do anything.