By Dan Pleace, 8T

Overall, our Wales adventure was a mix of excitement, unforgettable moments and people getting splashed in canoes too often. On the 24th of June, we kicked things off with a three-and-a-half-hour-long trip on the tiny school minibuses to Wales, so we weren't in the best mood as we approached the site (a three-hour long trip with members of 8T can change a person).

We had no time to properly unpack though, as we had to go to the river Wye and begin canoeing. We went on an exhilarating canoe ride filled with fun, competition and splashes. After a few hours, we paddled to the river’s bank and got off. We created bivouacs, which were just small little tents created by using our two canoes trip down to our campsite, where we set up our bivouacs under the evening sky.  The next day, we paddled downstream for the whole morning, eventually making a stop nearby a tiny village. We then got the minivans back to our site.

We then immediately went to Tesco’s, because we needed to stock up on food for the trip’s greatest event: the MasterChef competition, a fierce competition that would break friendships, create rivals and test some of our awful cooking skills. We quickly returned home from the shops, gathering everything we needed. The culinary showdown was intense, with everyone using their last ounce of strength to create mouthwatering dishes. After more than an hour, the first group were finished, and the judges began to grade everyone. Slowly by slowly, everybody was getting their marks. And in the end, my team came nowhere near winning, (probably because I was on their team), but we all had fun anyway.

One of the highlights of the trip was the next day. It was our climb up Pen-Y-Fan, the south of Wales’s tallest peak. Although we got a bit lost on the way, it added to the thrill and anticipation, making the reaching of the summit even more rewarding.  On Thursday, the mountain biking session was also another adrenaline-pumping activity, where we were tested on our biking skills and taught new techniques. This was followed by a refreshing dip in a small outdoor swimming pool, so that we wouldn’t all stink after all these sweat-inducing activities.

On the final day, we were all sad that our trip was about to come to an end, but we had one more activity: it was the choice between caving and climbing. I chose climbing, where I scaled new heights while others explored the depths of Wales’s caves. We wrapped up our adventure with a scenic drive back, we were all tired from such a long week as well as being sad that it was ending, but we all felt happy to be going home.