Thursday, 22 July 2010
Day 1
At 5:30am, Mum woke me up. I washed and dressed, and packed the last things into my suitcase, before loading it into the car boot.
We had to be at school by 6:15am, but we arrived a short time earlier. After transferring my suitcase from the car to the coach, I took my seat at the back of the bus, ready for the drive ahead.
The P&O crossing wasn’t until 11:45am, and with the coach’s air-con turned off, the beating sun turned the bus into an oven.
Finally, though, we were allowed to roll up onto the boat. We were all shown exactly where a member of staff would be seated at all time, before being allowed to go off in our self-determined groups of three to five. Me, Ali, and Rory went off together, and then sat down and ate our packed lunches.
Situated just off a motorway, the accommodation boasts a large field for sport and leisure activities, plus a games room, shop, and – for the teachers – a bar! After dumping our bags and cases in the designated dormitories, we went for a quick guided tour of the site, and then sat down for dinner. The first course was soup, and to be honest it was less than delicious, but the rest of the meal was alright.
After dinner, we had a couple of evening activities to do. One involved crossing from one side of a skipping rope to the other, by taking it in turns to skip, but should any of us ever get caught in the rope then the game stopped and anyone who had successfully made it to the other side already had to go back.
After this, we had around 45 minutes of free time, and then settled into our rooms for bed.
Friday, 23 July 2010
Day 2
We woke, washed, and dressed, before making our way down to the communal dining room for our first breakfast together.
Following an opportunity to handle the snails ourselves, we were invited to taste some gourmet snail snacks. Firstly we were offered snail pâté, then snail and cheese mini-pastries, followed by a garlic dish. Happily, Jason had a packet of Tic-Tacs, making him the most popular person on the bus, as we travelled to a small cheese factory.
Like the snail farm, the owner spoke in French, though his personal translated was on-hand to assist. However, while the owner had a good sense of humour, making jokes like “the windows are made of sugar-glass too!”; his translator was far less interesting to listen too, and was described by Mr Neill as “the female version of Stephen Hawking”.
“She [the translator] is like the female version of Stephen Hawking.”
– Mr Neill, drama teacher on the trip, 23 July 2010
When the factory’s own sweet shop was opened, we were allowed to spend as much as we like on the man’s produce. However, the prices were really quite high (€4,50 for a smallish bag of boiled sweets ≈ £3.75 at the time), so I only bought one assortment.
It was then back onto the bus, as we hit the road for a French supermarket. Bearing in mind that the last time I’d visited a supermarket in France I had accidentally crashed the drivers for one of the new touchscreen computers, I vowed to stay away from the technology department. Instead, then, I bought myself a packet of biscuits and sat myself down in close proximity to the nearest Wi-fi connection, and used my iPod to keep me in contact with the outside internet world that I had missed so much. Following a tweet, an email, and a check on my Facebook, it was time to return to the coach, and drive back to the accommodation.
Unfortunately, our brilliant pirate idea had been shared by another group; but other superheroes included Rory as a topless ‘Monsieur Français’, and Leah as an ‘eco-witch’.
Then, we were given free time, before settling into bed.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Day 3
Morning broke, and after breakfast we drove to a market in Arras. Like Ypres in Belgium, much of the architecture has been rebuilt following extensive damage during the first World War, but looks as it would have before the war. Specifically, the Battle of Arras unfolded in mid-1917, and resulted in 158,000 Allied casualties and 125,000 German casualties.
Things became serious though, as we made our way to Vimy Ridge – another site of a World War I battle, which took place at the same time as the Battle of Arras. A striking thing as we drove to the area was the number of tress in the surrounding countryside. We were told that the reason for so many trees, considering the land would have been devastated by the end of the battle, was that at the end of the war a tree was planted for every one of the 3,598 Canadians who died.
Following our look around the trenches and tunnels, we visited the nearby, recently-restored Vimy Ridge memorial. Two towering pylons are made of 6,000 tonnes of Croatian limestone, and represent France and Canada – bearing maple leaves and fleurs-de-lys. Figures around the pillars represent Peace, Justice, Truth, and Knowledge. At the bottom of the monument are carved the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France but whose final resting place was unknown.
Following a rather poignant and thought-provoking day, we drove back to the accommodation for dinner, the evening activity, and some sleep.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Day 4
We were woken quite early today, as we had to get out and on the road. After breakfast we started driving to a theme park in Belgium, called Bellewaerde. It was very busy, and despite arriving before it opened at 10:00, by the time we’d sorted out tickets and the meeting point, the crowds were allowed in. This meant that I couldn’t do my usual sprint to the first ride of the day! However it wasn’t too much of an issue, as the ride we queued up for first didn’t open until 10:30am anyway.
The first one was a rapids one, with the dinghy made of four connected bits. This meant every time you went down a rapid, you’d each go down sort of individually but together. It’s hard to explain, but it was good fun!
The other rides we got to go on included a Ferris wheel, a log flume, and a great rollercoaster called ‘boomerang’.
This coaster starts by backing you up onto a near-vertical section. It then releases the brakes and sends you onto its 267-metre track, with a top speed of 90 km/hour (55.9 mp/hour). At the highest section, you’re 38 metres off the ground, giving you an exhilarating, hair-raising, 2-minute ride.
As we pulled up on the drive of Le Chateau d’Ebblinghem, we were all tired and ready for dinner. Following dinner, we all seemed to gain a new lease of life, and a game of Capture the Flag was organised by the boss of the centre. He was really quite an angry chap though, and appeared – ironically – to hate children. He seemed to lack any experience in teaching the game, which resulted in many children wondering what on earth they were meant to be doing.
Admittedly, some of his yelling was perhaps justified; like the time when Rory tied his bib to the top half of his leg to stop it from being taken by any of the other team. But even still, the ban from the rest of the 45-minute game that Rory was issued was deemed to be a little over-the-top.
Even still, it was a good end to the week, as everyone saw the funny side of the angry man. After lining up on the stairs for a group photo, everyone was given a certificate. And then, with most of the rooms tidied, Ali got out his now fully-portable iPod dock and played British-Indian musician ‘Punjabi MC’ at full volume. Everyone was dancing along in a Bollywood-type fashion, as we marched through the site, following Ali with the music and me with the costume (my pink bandana).
All of the dancing, however, took its toll on our tiredness, and made us all rather enervated. So we headed to bed for the last time on the trip.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Day 5
Once there, similar to the other tours, we were shown exactly how the artisan chocolate is made – from bean to box – and then a chance to buy from the shop some posh chocolates made on-site. While the talk was very interesting, the products were really very expensive (far more so than even the sweet shop). As a result, I bought just a couple of small bars of chocolate to take home.
Then the coach pulled up outside the bakery, and we drove to our last stop before Calais – the vast ‘Cité Europe’ shopping centre in Coquelles. Ali had organised a collection for Mrs Hales (whose last trip this would be), and dispatched himself off to go and sort out a bottle of wine with Mr Sheppard, and some girly smelly stuff with Miss Tomlin.
Some people bought just general junk, but with just a Coke, I was happy to go with the rest of my group where the wanted (we had to be in groups of 3 or more).
And then, the time came to return to the rendezvous, and make our way onto the coach.
As we drove to Calais, I remembered the great, great times we’d had across the trip, and this was summarised when Ali presented the gifts as we waited to board the ferry.
At 7:30pm (BST) we arrived in Dover. The driver had to get off at Folkstone and change, thanks to the Coach Driving restrictions. He kept fishing for a tip – and whilst one had been set aside in the budget – because he was so bad and was constantly getting lost, it was decided that he would not receive any additional money.
The new driver got us home safely, and we arrived back at school just five minutes behind schedule. We were welcomed by a massive crowd of parents and siblings, bringing a fantastic end to one of the greatest holidays of my life.
To Mum and Dad for paying for me to go, and the staff who gave up their time organising and running the trip itself, thank you.
Andrew Burdett, July 2010
If you would like to download a PDF of the diary with images, click here (10.4 MB).