| The Expeditionary Society - 2004-5 | |
TAILLESS MACAQUES AND CUDDLY TOYS
The way up? Clearly the stone steps. A bit crumbly and barrierless
in places, however, perfectly scaleable but not with an enthusiastic
primate family occupying the area! The nervous were directed up
the rocky scramble beside the steps. Monophobic, vertigo sufferer
Miss Lola was hauled up by Miss Becky. A real achievement for both
of them. Lydia raced up like a true mountaineer to avoid the apes
and then faced her worst fear head on at the top! A beast stole
Annie’s camera, another Marcus’s ice-cream. Moving on,
an off-piste section led to a little-visited decayed observation
post, our high point. Most of the team visited the caves and soon
we were heading on down, Bradders, Chawkee and co. encouraged by
the thought of . . . Tony Rudall Postscript: No Mehdi, Gibraltar is not an island! |
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BIKE CLUB EXPED(AL)ITION'From little acorns . . . ' someone said last year when Jerry Wallace and myself accompanied Carlos - our lone student - on our first Thursday evening trip. Now 16 students and 4 staff have become involved but only 6 of us tackled our first Saturday expedition. A bit of a shock to Zareena Fitchett's system. Her first session and she had to survive three and a half hours in the saddle! Jerry nearly didn't survive a near vertical descent but his well-padded frame cushioned his dive over the handlebars. Carlos Nuttall and Conor McCarthy led the way from school, under the motorway and way, way beyond. “Is that gunfire sir?" asked Carlos. "Yes, but they're not aiming at us!" The going got tough . . . and the tough got going. Miss Anna Fitzsimmons shouldered her bike up un-pedalable hills. Soon after lunch we reached our highest point, well, it was all downhill after that! Tony Rudall
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Bike Club Expedition Feb 2005
Soon, however, we were zooming downhill again. Ginny hit a bump, lost control and flew about three metres through the air. A kindly Spanish man stopped to help but tugged at Ginny’s bike wrapped around her leg. She cried in pain and Mr Rudall tried to explain with his limited Spanish that she had an ‘almost broken leg’! Soon we were on our way . . . only to discover Mr Jerry in a heap too! Further on we all met up at a venta for a drink. On again past houses and lots of friendly holas we arrived back at Oli’s - exhausted! Mrs Zabell had laid on a super BBQ with ribs and couscous. Can’t wait for the next trip. Ginny & Zoe |
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Year 9KS, up a mountain?
Mr Rudall had a back up mountain, the Cruz de Juanar. Accompanied by Mr and Mrs Rudall, Mr Liley, Mr Don Carlos and Miss Vera from the reception, off we went. As usual all the lads were raring to go and legged it up the mountain with Mr Carlos. Us girls held back a little and tried (key word being TRIED) to let Sir teach us how to juggle!
We took the same route down and everyone took off. Not by choice you understand. When a mountain is muddy, it’s hard to stay on two feet, let alone keeping those feet from surfing down the mountain without you. At the bottom a few of the lads and Mr Rudall decided to balance tree trunks on their fingers, chins, feet, noses . . . I’m happy to say we all made it down the mountain in one piece and everyone enjoyed the day. From Annie’s insane earmuffs, Clara’s bottle of milk, Mr Carlos, Harold and Marcus’s rugby weapon, Lottie constantly trying to bring everyone down the mountain with her, Sophie and Courtney’s ‘Laura Croft’ impressions, everyone had a great laugh and we did something active for once! We will all look forward to the next trek. 'Bradders' Year 9 |
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Keep on Trekkin’
There are quite a few of us 'crocks' in the society of varying shades of fitness. The Gibraltar trip was quite leisurely compared with the other one and we all really enjoyed it, even Miss Lola once she’d made it to the top. Those Barbary apes can be quite scary in certain circumstances! I must say some of the staff do not take notice of Mr. Rudall’s check list, which may contain what we think are unnecessary items such as a shower proof jacket and a jumper when the temperature the day before reached 30 degrees! However, these items became more valuable than gold dust when we were on the top of the mountain in the wind and rain. Moral: Mr. Rudall knows better than us! The trek up Sierra de las Nieves was wonderful, the 'pinsapo' pines
are being well-looked after (they are on the list of endangered
species.) There were all sorts of wild flowers & shrubs, even
at the top of the mountain and the whole area was free of rubbish.
The students gamboled up and down, we oldies kept to a more modest
pace and even then I had to stop several times to put water over
my head to cool down (it was hot on the way up and down). Annie Green, having the throwaway camera she had just bought, nicked, as soon as she came out of the shop by another ape who raced off down a steep slope. Climbing three flights of stairs (489 steps in total) straight up, with not much to hold on to and apes darting out at us. Pablo (our bus driver) realising what a mistake he had made by joining us on what he thought would be a gentle stroll in Sierra de las Nieves! Helen Mackie |
Every
member of the newly formed EIC Expedition Society knows the psychological
value of a cuddly toy, so where was yours Miss Helen? And I’m
not sure who are worse; kids, staff or monkeys! It was difficult
to slow down Marcus, Josh, Connor, Adham & Harold as they raced
across the runway, and the slog up to the siege tunnels barely blunted
their energy. The going eased a little as we traversed across to
below the cable car where we had a snack . . . and the macaques
made their first appearance! Always prepared, Mr Liley sipped hot
coffee from his flask. An eager ape grabbed his cup, burnt its fingers
and . . . you might have felt sorry for the beast John, but you
still don’t offer them sweets!!
Mr
Rudall and Mr Jerry took us on an expedition into the hills below
Mijas. We met at Oli’s house and he had worked out a route
for us. Nick, Thomas, Oli, Conor, Carlos, Brian, Philip, Zareena,
Ginny and Zoe set off up the hill, past two motorcyclists who were
showing off! We made friends with two dogs barking madly behind
a fence and continued up and up. 
This
year 9KS were offered the opportunity of a day out trekking with
Mr Rudall. Surprisingly 13 of 9KS and Josh Aldridge were all up
for it. We met outside school with our rucksacks and a cuddly toy
pinned to the back of them. Yes, a cuddly toy, requested by Mr Rudall.
If we got lost it would be something to hold on to. We set out to
trek in the Sierra de las Nieves, but it had rained the day before
and if we had gone up there we would have been up to our arms in
snow. 
We
got to the top with reasonable ease to find the boys and Mr Carlos
tossing a rugby ball around, and their faces stuck in their lunches.
We took a rest and, before walking back down, Marcus and Josh managed
to climb to the top of a cross on the mountain and pin their cuddly
toys to the top of it.
I
have been asked, as one of the senior (in age) members of the society,
to comment on the two treks I have been on so far. The first was
up to the top of Gibraltar and the second to the top of one of the
peaks in Sierra de las Nieves (Ronda).