Camping Trip
On Wednesday the 13th of September, we got our Junior Cert results, and we went straight on a camping trip. I'm not going to lie, I was very nervous the night before but when I got into school, the positive energy made me feel relaxed. At 9:30 we went into the LRC to get our results. Mr Drummy handed me the white envelope with the results inside and shook my hand. I went to show my mum and then went to find everyone. We piled our endless bags of clothing, food and camping equipment into the hold of the bus before getting on. At first everyone was talking about the results but by the time we reached the camping site, the results were a thing of the past.
As soon as we arrived we set up the tent, the moment of truth to see whether the tent was full of holes or not. Thankfully, to my surprise, and everyone else relief, it had no holes and so we quickly set it up. I shared the tent with Alex, Colin, Adrian and Conor, although Sean swiftly joined our tent because of the lack of room in his. Unfortunately a small pond started to form in the tent when it started to rain. We only figured out that we set up the tent incorrectly, but it was too late by that time.
Our first walk of the trip was only 5km but felt like 10km. The weather wasn't on our side for the 2 and a half days we were there. It rained during the walk but thankfully I brought my emergency puncho which saved the day.
My favourite times were at the campfire because everyone was socialising and mainly because it was actually warm. Unlike the tent at night, I was freezing when I was sleeping even though I was in a sleeping bag and a warm liner.
The walk the next day was not as bad as I expected, and surprisingly the weather was nice, the sun was in the sky and luckily I wore shorts because it was very warm. During this 19 km walk we all took a few well deserved breaks. Towards the last 6km there was a river we had to cross because we couldn't walk around it. As I already got my shoes soaking, a few of the lads and I gave piggy backs to those who didn't want to get wet.
For some reason five or six of us ran back to the campsite. We thought it was a short run but we were wrong as it turned out to be a long and treacherous. There was one benefit of this and it was that we were hot and sweaty which made the swim in the freezing lake even nicer. After the swim it was race to the shower, luckily I got a bit of a head start which allowed me to have one of the four showers. After relaxing in the hot, steamy showers I was pleased to see that Jason and the teachers were cooking burgers for everyone, which was extremely nice and thoughtful of them.
Once everyone had finished dinner, we all gathered round the campfire for an hour or so until until it started lashing. I had never seen so many people run in one direction so fast. We all ran into 'The Barn' and most of us stayed in there for the rest of the night. Finally the teachers somehow managed to get everyone back in their own tents, except for Steven who stayed the night in our tent. I was dreading sleeping in our cold tent but I actually just fell straight asleep as soon as I got into my sleeping bag.
Most people didn't get a good sleep on the second night but fortunately I did, until I was woken up at 6am by Ella and Maisie. I didn't feel like going back to sleep so instead I decided to have a shower with a few of the other lads who were awake. I cooked up the last breakfast for the tent, I made 24 sausages, a few pieces of bacon and 2 tins of beans. I considered that a feast during those few days as I basically lived off Koka Noodles. After breakfast the cleaning had to commence. Both the tent and the rest of the campsite was left spotless.
The camping trip was one of the best, if not the best school trip I have been on. I have learned a lot about my capabilities and have become friends with people I didn't know very well before.
As soon as we arrived we set up the tent, the moment of truth to see whether the tent was full of holes or not. Thankfully, to my surprise, and everyone else relief, it had no holes and so we quickly set it up. I shared the tent with Alex, Colin, Adrian and Conor, although Sean swiftly joined our tent because of the lack of room in his. Unfortunately a small pond started to form in the tent when it started to rain. We only figured out that we set up the tent incorrectly, but it was too late by that time.
Our first walk of the trip was only 5km but felt like 10km. The weather wasn't on our side for the 2 and a half days we were there. It rained during the walk but thankfully I brought my emergency puncho which saved the day.
My favourite times were at the campfire because everyone was socialising and mainly because it was actually warm. Unlike the tent at night, I was freezing when I was sleeping even though I was in a sleeping bag and a warm liner.
The walk the next day was not as bad as I expected, and surprisingly the weather was nice, the sun was in the sky and luckily I wore shorts because it was very warm. During this 19 km walk we all took a few well deserved breaks. Towards the last 6km there was a river we had to cross because we couldn't walk around it. As I already got my shoes soaking, a few of the lads and I gave piggy backs to those who didn't want to get wet.
For some reason five or six of us ran back to the campsite. We thought it was a short run but we were wrong as it turned out to be a long and treacherous. There was one benefit of this and it was that we were hot and sweaty which made the swim in the freezing lake even nicer. After the swim it was race to the shower, luckily I got a bit of a head start which allowed me to have one of the four showers. After relaxing in the hot, steamy showers I was pleased to see that Jason and the teachers were cooking burgers for everyone, which was extremely nice and thoughtful of them.
Once everyone had finished dinner, we all gathered round the campfire for an hour or so until until it started lashing. I had never seen so many people run in one direction so fast. We all ran into 'The Barn' and most of us stayed in there for the rest of the night. Finally the teachers somehow managed to get everyone back in their own tents, except for Steven who stayed the night in our tent. I was dreading sleeping in our cold tent but I actually just fell straight asleep as soon as I got into my sleeping bag.
Most people didn't get a good sleep on the second night but fortunately I did, until I was woken up at 6am by Ella and Maisie. I didn't feel like going back to sleep so instead I decided to have a shower with a few of the other lads who were awake. I cooked up the last breakfast for the tent, I made 24 sausages, a few pieces of bacon and 2 tins of beans. I considered that a feast during those few days as I basically lived off Koka Noodles. After breakfast the cleaning had to commence. Both the tent and the rest of the campsite was left spotless.
The camping trip was one of the best, if not the best school trip I have been on. I have learned a lot about my capabilities and have become friends with people I didn't know very well before.