PHOTO GALLERY: Adventure in the Ardèche

Years 7 and 8 students enjoyed a series of watersports adventures in the Ardèche this summer. Discover what they got up to here

WE walked back to school after Commemoration service ahead of everyone else at the end of term, got changed and headed off on the coach. Forty students and five teachers set off on the long journey to the Ardèche in southern France. We caught the ferry from Dover to Calais late at night and then drive down through France arriving at the camp site the following afternoon. We got settled into the camp site and into our tents, had tea and then played some team challenge games that first evening.

The following day we spent time on the river. We spent some time paddle-boarding, including one giant paddle-board that loads of us could go on (and all fall off!), and some time raft-building. Some rafts were better than others! We also had a lot of fun leaping off rocks down into the river (under the careful supervision of the Ardèche instructors).

On the Monday, we set off on a long trek on foot, walking mainly along the river gorge. A highlight was crossing the river where we had to hold onto to our partners to stop us falling into the river. The gorge was stunning!

On the Tuesday, we spent some time practising in our kayaks, including some games. In one game we had to get our whole group of eight onto one double kayak and make it across the river. That afternoon, we started our long trip down the river, having to get through several tricky rapids. A highlight was kayaking through Pont d'Arc.

The following day, we carried on our kayak down the river, completing over 20 km that day including many more rapids. We stopped at times, including some stops for more rock jumping into the river.

On the Thursday, we got up early to drive to Wave Island which was about an hour away. This was a big water park with all sorts of massive slides. We spent the day trying out all sorts of exciting rides. We had an activity each evening, with a disco on our last night.

On our final day, we spent the morning walking/climbing up a small mountain near the camp site. At the rocky top, we could see the river gorge and our camp site. We came back down, had lunch and set off home.

We had a great week and felt very fortunate to have been able to go. It was a brilliant water-sports holiday!