Journey to France:
We set off at 9:30am from Mounts Bay Academy to start the journey to Les Orres. We caught the ferry from Dover to Calais, and then the following afternoon arrived at the Les Orres resort and checked into our hotel, the Hotel Portette.
The students then took part in the bike test ahead of the activities for the week, and we had a trip to the outdoor pool by the hotel, which overlooked the alpine landscape! We then had dinner and headed for a well needed sleep before the first day of activities.
Activities during day 2 and 3:
During the first two days, we took part in the first four activities, which included:
Via Ferrata – A mountain transverse, hundreds of metres high, that required huge amounts of mental strength and determination to complete, the students were so encouraging and supportive of one another to complete the Via Ferrata challenge. A shout out to James and Oliver for their great support towards others during the challenge.
Mountain Biking – through the alpine woodlands, we took part in a downhill mountain biking challenge, with the routes putting the students skills to the test, we stopped for the most amazing Panoramic view. We had a few falls across the two days, but the students were very resilient, and got back onto their bikes ready for the next section of the course. A big shout out to Toby and Ollie for providing some memorable moments during the mountain biking, they both received the ‘Tour de France’ awards at the end of the week!
Jungle High Ropes – The students hiked up into the mountains to take part in the jungle adventure, with varying difficulties of courses the students put their balance, strength and coordination to the test. Lots of the students enjoyed the purple zip line route, and well done to those students who managed to concur the black route – shout out to Corrin, Darcey, Eia and Richie for their epic performances on the black! The funniest moment on the high ropes went to Zahra, who forgot to put the zip line clip over the wire, which meant she didn’t travel very far!
Rock Climbing – with a long uphill climb into the mountains we then reached the mountain climbing destinations with a range of difficulty climbs, it was great to see students progress throughout the climbs, and support each other with their next footings, as well as some great belaying! Shout outs to Nyah, Malia, Corrin, Maya, Izzy for their very impressive rock-climbing skills.
Some students were not prepared to end the activity there, as they then went swimming after the day of activities and hiking. Shout out to Alex for winning the Seal Award for the week!
We then participated in Mr Lawrence’s epic quiz night, with Harvey and Dexter taking the victory of the first Alps Quiz Champions!
We then had a movie night during the second evening, to rest and recover ready for another busy day.
Day 4:
On Wednesday we had a further action packed day, as we headed to the river for the white water rafting. The students thoroughly enjoyed this, as they entered their team rafts to take on the rapids, although there was plenty of opportunities for boarding others rafts, to cause mayhem! Shout out to Ethan for winning the human salmon award! Words can’t describe how epic this activity was and the fierce competition between the rafts!
We then headed to the Embrun plage, where we had a quick lunch break sat over looking the lake before heading onto the aqua park. The aqua park was epic! With students and teachers taking the opportunity to push each other in and completing the obstacle challenges. Some very impressive back and front flips were displayed!
After this, we then chilled by the lake, and had some ice creams, waffles, crepes and churros. Later we then headed into Embrun town, which was a beautiful French town, which gave the students a chance to do some shopping and buy some souvenirs and gifts from their visit.
Day 5:
On Thursday we completed our mountain hike, we took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, which was 2500m high, with spectacular views across the alpine landscape. It was much cooler up at the top of the mountain, with some ice and snow still in some places. We then hiked down with our mountain guides learning about the formation of the landscape, and the nature within the alps, we were also fortunate to see some Marmottes and learn about their life cycle within their natural habitat. We then stopped for lunch a Lake ‘Sainte Marguerite’ and took in the breath taking views, before hiking back down to Les Orres.
We then had the classic French dish Tarteflette for our evening meal, which was then followed by our disco and karaoke evening! Shout out to Oscar, Sevi and Emily for their amazing singing during the evening!
Day 6:
Students had the choice to visit Les Orres town, and another trip to the pool during the final morning, we then headed back to the hotel for our final lunch, and presented our hosts with some thank you gifts. Tony and Nat the hotel owners, and Bertie and Evie the reps from Elemental were exceptional throughout our stay. We then had some funny awards from events during the week, before we then started the journey back to Mounts Bay Academy, where we arrived on Saturday evening.
The students had such a great time, with new friendships made, challenges conquered and putting their resilience to the test. They were a fantastic group to take away, and we know that they have made memories that will last a lifetime!
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