The Peaks Of The Dales

Published by St James Senior Boys' School on Wednesday 29th of March 2023

Last Monday we arrived at the YHA Ilam Hall in Derbyshire. We unpacked our things and settled in. Whilst exploring the large house we discovered there were plenty of things to do; playing football on the large field outside, the pool table and a table tennis table.

After dinner we all headed out to explore the woods on a night hike where we encountered lots of noisy frogs. When we woke up on Tuesday morning after a lovely breakfast, we split into two groups for our activities. One group started with zip lining, rock scrambling and abseiling, which was great fun. The other group were canoeing and caving which was also really brilliant. On Wednesday the groups swapped activities and then in the evening, we had a table tennis tournament and built rockets to launch from the garden of Ilam Hall.

On Thursday we split into our form groups with teachers and we did team building exercises in the morning. Then we climbed to the top of Thorpe Top, which is a huge hill and a very big and exhausting climb. Our efforts were rewarded with a spectacular view of Dovedale which even the heavy rain and winds could not ruin.

Once we all got back and dried off, we had a really fun Quiz night on general knowledge, sport and guess the film from photos edited with the faces of our teachers. Then finally on Friday we went to Alton Towers on our way home. We went on all three rollercoasters; The Wiker man, Thirteen and Oblivion. Sadly, it was time to leave and go back to school, concluding our amazing activity week at Ilam Hall. And big thanks to all our brilliant teachers who arranged the trip.

Arian -Year 7