Soon, we hiked more to La Martse, Paccot, Pontet, and finally, petit Caudon, our campsite with a small 
rushing river beside it. After walking the seemingly never–ending distance of 11 km, we were pleased 
to be able to take off our massive rucksacks and rest our shoulders. It was surprising how light our body 
felt!! While we started boiling water and putting the tents up, deafening noise of thunder was heard. 
We hurried to finish cooking our pasta or rice and stuffed everything in the tent to avoid anything getting 
wet. Mr Lineham had told us that the worst thing that could happen was getting wet.  Some of us were lucky 
to have fully prepared for the night before the storm came, but others were not. The least fortunate of all 
was Maya and Janelle, who had by mistake, placed their tent in a small dent, where all the water from the 
rain ran into, soaking the tent dripping wet. As if that wasn’t enough, Janelle’s macaroni, which she had accidentally left outside, was covered with mud and leaves, which lead her into losing her appetite as well as getting a little sick. At the end of the day, everyone was so happy to get some rest.

2^nd day, 14^th June

During the whole night it rained and rained making us feel the icy cold weather while we slept. But, as we 
woke up at 8.30, we were pleased to find the weather much better, the sky now clear. Soon we stuffed some 
food into our mouths for a quick breakfast, packed our rucksacks and departed to face the adventure once 
more. Each group got their maps and direction sheets out and was ready to set off.  From the tent we took a 
very pleasant long road to Gros Gaudon, which only took 45 minutes. We were excited when we arrived at 
Gros Gaudon as we had a little rest and had several minutes to check the map, as Mr. Lineham no longer accompanied us in this walk. We were delighted to realise that we were on the right track and kept on 
walking. 

The path got very complicated and we were no longer sure if we were on the right track. We had to literally 
climb up a very steep hill, with a sense of confusion whether we were on the right track or not. The lost of orientation wasn’t due to misreading the map, it was mainly due to the thick layer of fog that had started to 
form, not permitting us to see the objects in the distance.

Finally we arrived at Col de Soladier and then mistakenly, took the wrong path. We walked for 30 minutes 
up the hill in the wrong direction and finally gave up deciding to treat us with lunch. It had soon started 
raining and we had to put on our waterproofs to keep us dry and warm. Many people have already got upset 
as we were lost, but Mr. Lineham’s voice brought us back to life. He told us we took the wrong path and 
instructed us to come back to the signpost. We finished our lunch and set off. The path downhill was much 
harder as the ground became very slippery and there was a greater chance of falling down.

As we arrived at the signpost, we took the right path to Col de Jamon. The rain got heavier and numbers of students had water in their walking boots making it unpleasant to walk.  On our way to entertain ourselves, 
we began counting the salamanders we spotted, the number extending to 49.

By the time we finally reached Col de Jamon, we were very tired. Thanks a lot to Izumi and Midori, due 
to their 17th birthday, we were allowed to stay in the restaurant and get a hot drink and something to eat. 
The warm drink, the warm atmosphere and the delicious cake brought our energy back. We sang ‘happy 
birthday’ to the twins and ate an apple pie.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lineham departed to check if the campsite wasn’t flooded and came back with the bad news 
that it was. After such a great break in the restaurant, it was a bit of an effort to set off, in search of a campsite, which wasn’t too wet, and could accommodate five tents. We headed towards Les Avants and finally found a very pleasant campsite. The rain still hadn’t stopped, but luckily there was shelter where the cooking 
was done. After the dinner, we planned our route back to school and decided to wake up at 8.00 am. 

3^rd day

The last day seemed the toughest for most of us, due to the bad knee, bruised ankle, or painful blisters 
that had formed. Although our bags should have been much lighter by now having eaten most of the food 
that we had brought with us, the weight on our shoulders did not seem a single bit lighter.

Today, the teachers had decided to completely leave us, which made all of us experience the great 
responsibility in constantly reading the maps so as not to get lost. The first couple of kilometres to Les 
Avants were quite straightforward, but being downhill put extra pressure on our legs, increasing the pain. 
Though at Les Avants, we were able to fill our nearly – empty water bottles and go to the toilet that 
flushed!

To get to Sonloup, we had either the choice of going on a wide tarmac road or a path. After a small 
discussion with the group, we chose the path. It was quite a steep hill, which was particularly tiring too, 
but we never gave up and kept going at a steady pace. To get to Blonay was a little more of a hike, but we 
just about managed it. At a river nearby, we had a very brief rest where we tasted some more sweets and 
candies to keep us going, as our lunch was not very appetizing, having eaten only while we walked.

The weather that day was the best, plenty of sunlight shining on us, but walking along a river was extremely
hot, making our t-shirts wet, this time, not with rain but sweat. We were all very desperate for a shower, 
so we quickened our steps to the Basset bus stop where we met Mr Lineham and Ms Beckett waiting for us. 
But that was not the end of our camp, as there was that terrible hill up to the school awaiting us. To our 
relief, we managed it fine, and after sorting out some things, we were able to go back home or upstairs to 
have a long relaxing shower that we so missed!

Overall, the trip was both challenging and adventurous and we must say we did learn many things from it. 
We also encountered many wild animals as well as the ordinary animals, such as lama, salamanders, snails, 
cows and goats.

By: Izumi Kurokawa & Maya Kudryavtseva.