2nd Year Trip to Delphi Adventure Centre

On the morning of Wednesday the 12th of October, the Second Years all met up in the dining hall to get ready for their exciting trip to Delphi Adventure Centre in Co. Mayo. The rolls were taken before students began their long, four and a half hour bus ride towards Delphi. About half way through the journey, the three buses stopped at the Galway Plaza just outside of the city where students took a well needed break to stretch the legs, get lunch and go to the toilet. Forty minutes later, the buses began the second half of the journey along the Galway countryside until they eventually arrived at Delphi just after one in the afternoon.

Next the students, all delighted to have arrived, were brought into a hall to be briefed on the rules and then were split into eleven groups in which they would be doing their activities in. There were four different sets of activities in which the students would be doing over the coming days, the first of which began at 2 p.m. of that day. The activities that the Second Year would be partaking in were kayaking, archery and bushcraft, tag archery and boulder climbing, and lastly rock climbing, abseiling and tunnelling. The students thoroughly enjoyed their first activities which finished at five. After they arrived back, everyone was shown their rooms and were given time to unpack and settle in. They were allowed to explore some of the facilities such as the basketball courts and the games room. Hungry after a long day, the students tucked into their dinner of a hearty beef stew.

After dinner, the whole year was split in two. Half of the students went on an evening walk along the natural countryside where they got to experience the world at its finest. The other half lit a campfire where they all sat around toasting marshmallows and singing songs, special mentions to excellent solo performances from Ewan MacAdam, Fearghal Dunne and Mr. Timlin. The whole year came back to a supper of a delicious chocolate-chip cookie. Afterwards, the students were left to themselves where they could enjoy a nice sleep to round off a long and tiring, but still very enjoyable first day.

Day two began as everyone was woken up bright and early at half seven in the morning. Everyone was given an energy boost after a scrumptious breakfast of a selection of cereals or a fry-up. This meant the Seconds Years were ready for their morning activity, a rotation of yesterday’s afternoon activity. The year came back to a lunch of soup and a sandwich and then were straight into their afternoon activities. When they returned, everyone was treated to a special dinner of chicken goujons and chips, which was extremely popular amongst everybody, with a lot of students going back for seconds. This enjoyable dinner led the year perfectly into their evening activity of a walk or the campfire. A supper of a chocolate-chip muffin rounded off an action-packed second day.

To the students' dislike, they were woken up even earlier on the Friday morning at seven so they could clean up after themselves and pack so that they would be ready to go after lunch. When the students were ready, they got breakfast, which was the same as the previous day, but still thoroughly enjoyed. Next up was the morning activity, the last activity before heading. The students came back to a lunch of soup and a sandwich, their last meal at Delphi. Afterwards, the whole year, very disappointed to be leaving but looking forward to seeing their families, began their long journey home to Greystones. Between the journey itself and the stop at the Galway Plaza, the trio of buses arrived home at around seven thirty on Friday evening, ending the action-packed adventure.

Overall, the trip was a huge success and thoroughly enjoyed by the students. Some of the highlights were the kayaking, the chicken goujons and chips on Thursday evening and Mr. Timlin singing by the campfire.