Day 1 – we have had a wonderful time exploring the nearby area, walking in the woods, up a stream and to the crag. We have been amazed at the spectacular scenery. It is a beautiful place.
Tonight we’ve had a delicious tea, played some games and we are looking forward to going in the barn and taking on the teachers at table tennis and air hockey.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to climbing, canoeing on Coniston Water and a mountain hike!
Day 2 – Another great day here at Thurston
Yewdale group have walked from Hodge Close to Cathedral Quarry, they had to follow the route carefully and took it in turns to take the lead. They used their teamwork skills to walk through the tunnels in complete darkness. After that, they went ghyll scrambling where they had lots of laughs.
Grizedale group have been walking in the mountains. We aimed to get to the top of the Old Man of Consiton but the wind made it too difficult. Instead we opted to explore the mines, the rocks and tarns and we even attempted the “Squeeze of Doom”, which was easier for some than others! A great day had by all.
Langdale group have been on the lake. They had to make their own canoe boats with wood planks and ropes, they headed onto the water. They had a pit stop on the other side of the lake and enjoyed a snack. To end, some of them were brave enough to jump into Coniston Lake, it was freezing!
We are now enjoying some chill time in the lounge before tea.
Day 3 – Yewdale group visited Tarn Hows, they went on an adventure looking for money trees. Along the way, they seen lots of Belted Galloway cows and were very sensible when they had to walk past. They climbed Black Crag and enjoyed the amazing views. They all returned to the Thurston site where they tackled an obstacle course using teamwork skills and played some games in the climbing wall. A very busy day!
Grizedale group have been ghyll scrambling where we walked through a stream, up slope, to a pool where we had a swim and then walked back down. This afternoon we have been in the back woods, building dens, making our own mini-fires. We topped it all off with toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate. Ready for tea now!
Langdale group have also been ghyll scrambling – traversing the rocks and obstacles on the way up and down the N we had a dip and plunge into the ice waters. This afternoon some of us braved the heights of Thisthwaite Crag. We absailed down 5r cliff face. Great teamwork and resilience shown.
Langdale group today achieved a great feat – they reached the summit of the Old Man of Coniston!! They worked so hard to scale the mountain, celebrated at the peak and enjoyed exploring various slate mines on their descent. They should sleep well tonight. Congratulations. Super proud of you all today 
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.Yewdale group went onto the lake this morning to canoe. They had to work together as a team to navigate across the lake, the wind made this even harder! They stopped off to have a snack and a hot drink for jumping off the jetty, it was so cold but everyone joined in. The group spent the afternoon climbing trees, again using teamwork. Another very busy day.
Grizedale group have been to Cathedral quarry where we planned and followed our own routes. We spotted a lot of wildlife on the way. We saw inside an old mine and followed the tunnels to a huge room. When inside, we located a geocache and left a trinket in exchange for another. We scrambled up a rocky slope to look down into the cave. Later on, we navigated our way out of the tunnels in the absolute darkness-no torches. In the afternoon we canoed across Coniston and learned about Donald Campbell. We finished with a dip in the lake. It was awesome.
We have sadly come to the end of our Thurston journey this year. We have all had an amazing time filled with happy memories and fun adventures. We are looking forward and sharing some of our stories from this week. We will be in touch as soon as we have an arrival time. See you all soon!
St. Bede’s S/S Primary 116 points 
St. Aloysius Federation
