TY Mount Melleray Trip

We left the school for Mount Melleray at 9:00am on Thursday 26th of April and arrived at around 11:00am.  As soon as we arrived, we were surprised with a military style bootcamp. We were ordered to drop our bags and do ten pushups. The bootcamp was run by ex-militants which meant it was intense, but still enjoyable! Firstly, we were sorted into our rooms. Once we had organized our belongings, we reassembled in the half-acre (a large hall in the scout centre) and the leaders gave us a short tour of the centre and also showed us around the grounds of the monastery.

After lunch, we walked for 15 minutes to a forest with a river. Here, we played a game called snipers which is similar to hide and seek, did a river run, learned basic survival skills and did a blindfolded challenge.

Once we had dinner, we went out to a field behind the scout centre and played archery, except we were split into teams and we shot at each other instead of at targets. To end the day, we had a campfire, where we sat around and chatted, sang and played games.

The next day, we woke up around 8:30am. We went for a three hour hike to see the viaduct that brings water to the monastery. It rained the whole time so when we got back everyone was cold and tired. We ate lunch and then were  allowed to relax until the buses came to collect us at 4:00pm. We arrived home around 7:30pm.

 The trip was a good way to end the year and was a great bonding activity for us all as we prepare to conclude Transition Year. 

Report by Julianne Kenny, Aoibh Gavin, Abby Leahy , Avril O’ Sullivan