Niamh Henshaw gives her review of the Watersports holiday – 22nd – 30th August 2016.
This summer the annual Crompton House PGL Watersports Trip was held again and in due course, we all arrived at school one Monday morning anticipating the week or so ahead of sun, sea and sand. We hauled our suitcases containing only the bare essentials on to the coach, took our seats and eagerly chattered, excited for our arrival at PGL Segries.
The journey as you can imagine was a minimum of 25 hours with 45 sweaty, tired people stationed about 3 millimetres away from each other.
Memorable to say the least, but after having what was 100% the best night’s sleep of my life to date on the coach, everyone was ready to tackle the day ahead of them; as we had arrived at Segries!!! Even though the coach journey will always be held in a special place in my heart (forever, believe me), we had reached our destination and now the real fun could begin.
A few hours later, following a crash course in kayaking and a traditional pain au chocolat, we found ourselves floating in tranquil on the Ardeche river. Even though not many of us had tackled ‘dangerous’ rapids and kayaking for 3 days straight before, we were all surprised at how amazing we were at this. I’d say we are all professionals at this now. The Ardeche is purely mind-blowing though, you should go and visit it sometime (trust me on this). Praise Mother Nature!!
Also, we faced our fears and went cliff-jumping and proved we were no longer scared of heights. Overall, being at Segries broadened my mind, not just on being away from home for a week but also on the hardships of water.
Returning home…the coach, we set off to our next destination, PGL Mimosa. After an interesting journey down to the Mediterranean (our coach broke down), we eventually ended up at Aqualand – time to soak up the sun and experience the water slides. At Mimosa we were sleeping in tents and personally I’ve never been in a tent before, so imagine the shock! However, we were introduced to many types of boats that I’ve never heard of before but they were… an adventure. Banana boating was the main activity we were all looking forward to and I must admit wearing hats that looked like raspberries wasn’t the least bit fashionable, but it was hysterical. Riding along the waves at top speed was so entertaining, like if only it was a sport. You might be thinking did we sunbathe? There was no need to because it was 30 plus degrees and our legs and face were visible to the sun most of the time. So sun cream was a must.
The food here is so healthy as well, like I forgot why we even need to eat chocolate for some reason. We really need to learn from the French!
Overall, PGL Watersports was a trip I don’t regret making my parents pay for and I advise and hope that your children too will encounter what we have experienced in the future. It’s a great way to become closer to friends and even people you’ve never really spoken to before.
Thanks to all participants on the trip and to all the staff on the trip.
