Year 9 Ardeche Adventure – August 2017.
Deanna Ashton writes a diary of the recent trip to the South of France.
Forty Year 9 pupils set off from school on Monday 21st of August, and began to travel down to Dover to catch the ferry to France, it was an eight-hour drive but it was amazing. We had all of our friends around us and they had TVs installed on the coach so we could watch films all day.
When we got to the ferry we had dinner at Burger King (not healthy eating) and then boarded the ferry and sailed for one and a half hours. On the ferry, we had free time so most of us went outside to watch the ferry sail.
After the ferry, we got back on the coach and drove for another fourteen and a half hours until we reached the Lou Valagran PGL site we were staying at. We stayed in chalets of 6 for the girls and 4 for the boys; we had bunk beds to share and a small place to hang our clothes.
When we arrived the PGL staff took us in the River Ceze to get used to getting wet and played games. After this we had time to unpack and get ready for our meal. The food during the holiday was okay if you aren’t picky. At the night, we had an exciting river talk about our next two days on the Ardeche River. To cut a long story short – we got soaked!
For the next two days, we went kayaking down numerous rapids on the Ardeche. Rather than going back to site we camped out under the stars and it was amazing! A real back to basics experience! Even the wild boars stayed away. The next day we continued on the descent and completed numerous rock jumps, wombling down rapids and fun games in the water.
Two of our favourite activities whilst we were there was canyoning this was very exciting as we did lots of different activities whilst descending down the river e.g.- there were many slides and jumps to do. To end the excursion, we had to go on a zip-wire across the valley to get back to the start. Another favourite of our days was going to the Aqualand water park in Cap D’Agde. This was amazing because there were different varieties of water slides and a wave pool.
Other activities on the holiday included Mountain biking in the French countryside near to the site, sit-on canoes on the River Ceze and the High Ropes, including the Leap of Faith.
At the end of our fantastic holiday none of us wanted to leave Lou Valagran and the PGL staff as it was one of the best holidays we have ever had! A few of our favourite staff were… Ali, Ushma, Logan and Luke.
If we had the opportunity we would all go again!
We must thank all the staff for this fantastic holiday and a message for the present Year 9 – get involved!!!
