Read below, four students sharing their unique experiences from their residential adventure.
We left school shortly after lunch preparing for a 3 day and 2 nights residential at Castleton. Once we arrived, we got ready for our first meeting at the hostel.
I had my first dinner where I was served jacket potato with beans (which was very filling) and it got me ready for my first activity. In the activity I took part in 3 activities as a member of the yellow group. First, we did Balls – how many times we can throw the ball around the circle without dropping it – and we earned 120. Our next activity was Ropes – an obstacle course in the dark in a surrounding of trees – we were able to do it in a quick enough time. Finally, we did Glow Sticks – who could throw their glow stick the furthest – one person was able to throw it to the other side of the area.
That evening was enjoyable and recommendable to be repeated with anyone else. The next morning, we woke up early for Caving and visiting Peveril Castle. We first went caving into a mine before the cave called Bagshawe Cavern. The cave was wet and muddy, and the water reached my ankle in wellingtons. We went crawling in the cave which I think was the best part for me. Once we finished, we came back to the minibus ready for the castle. We learnt a lot about the castle as it had never been attacked in its history because of where it was built. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter due to a missing piece and they were surveying it.
We prepared for our final activity with hot chocolate pack lunch and rucksack for hillwalking. It took 4 hours to arrive at Mam Tor. After arriving at the hostel, we patiently waited for the coach to arrive.
This trip is a memorable one and I hope other Shells in the future will enjoy this too.
Farooq (Shell)
From Thursday 10th October to Saturday 12th October, I went to Castleton where I went caving, hillwalking and looking at a Blue John cave. I enjoyed going to Castleton and would recommend it to anyone who asked me where they should go on holiday.
Caving:
On Friday 11th October after my breakfast (bacon, scrambled egg, toast and beans), I went caving in one of the old Castleton mines. We got very wet, almost to my hips, and I tripped a couple of times in the water – though it wasn’t that bad – after this we had to crawl underneath a very low ceiling which got my hands all muddy!! We had to walk down 96 steps just to get to the tallest part of the mine. Once we had finished caving, my boots were filled with water, it was like I had a whole ocean in my wellies. When we had to climb up the 96 stairs to get back into the outside world, I was double my weight due to my boots being so full of water!
Blue John Cave:
On Saturday 12th October, after breakfast – we went to the Blue John Cave which was not as wet as the cave we went to the day before, as it had a paved path to walk on! In the cave we saw lots of Blue John (obviously), some fossils and stalactites and stalagmites.
Hillwalking:
On Saturday 12th October, after the Blue John Cave, we went hillwalking, we walked for almost seven hours. By the end of the walk, my legs felt like jelly, and I could barely walk to my dormitory in the hostel! I had to wear my walking boots, which I had borrowed from the school, and I was glad. As it was so muddy at some points of the hike that my trainers would have been ruined.
Theo (Shell)
I really enjoyed our Castleton trip, with all the caves and hidden caverns. Especially as the rare rock, Blue John, which is found nowhere else in the world only in Castleton. The views were amazing, as we looked upon the village-which looked like a miniature world from above.
The castle’s history was fascinating, I enjoyed hearing the castle was taken apart by the pope, to recycle the bricks which wasn’t being used. Also, after a bit of research I did, I found out that William Peveril was William the Conqueror’s son. The valleys were like mountains, which were too steep to climb, no matter how hard we tried!
My personal favourite was the cave (Bagshawe Cavern), when the water reached up to our knees, and when we were doing a parkour run through the massive cave.
The hill walking we did was exhausting! We walked over the horizon of the mountains surrounding Castleton! I did not know how we walked it! But the view was rewarding.
Overall, Castleton was the best residential I’ve ever been to, it was just amazing. And we are only 5 weeks into KES! I can’t wait for the Shells Camp at the end of the year. Thank you Mr Boardman and all the teachers for this experience.
Ibrahim (Shell)
I want to thank Mr Boardman and the staff so much for arranging this residential trip! It has let me explore much of my interests and hobbies, such as hiking, caving, and historic exploration. At Castleton, I felt I could really express myself in ways I haven’t before.
Not to mention, we were able to play many games. My favourites probably being UNO and Lego.
When hiking, it was me and roughly around 3 other boys (all from my dorm), who were really taking in the beauty of the nature around us, it was definitely more peaceful, as we were at the front, so we weren’t bombarded by a bunch of other kids when trying to look around!
There were so many cool little trinkets you could find in the gift shop, some being crystals, which I really love! I have a massive collection! Eisa was kind enough to lend me a small shard of Blue John he bought. On the topic of Blue John, I found out so many peculiar facts about it, one of them being that the name comes from ‘bleu’ and ‘jaune’ the French words for blue and yellow, as those were the colours of the rock.
I would really like to go on a residential like this one a thousand times over.
Yusuf (Shell)