Gaisce hike (mini Carlingford)

Over the weekend a group of 16 students went to Knockrea in Wicklow to undertake a 25km hike as part of Gaisce. At first i was a bit apprehensive as 25km did seem like a lot to walk over two days but i was looking forward to it anyway. We left the school at 2 pm on Friday accompanied by Ms H and Mr K. We all had our bags packed to the brim with food and we were ready for the hike. We arrived in Knockrea youth hostel at around 3 pm and we met our instructor Bill. We were then given our room keys and we headed off to the rooms to get settled and ready for the hike. We couldn't believe our eyes when we walked into a state of the art bedroom with two bathrooms but not only that we walked in to find there were two floors!! After we got over the excitement of our 5 star rooms we went downstairs to start our hike. Everyone had their hiking boots on and we set off on our hike. The hike was surprisingly good fun it wasn't as gruesome as some of the ty's last year had said it was :L and the scenery was just beautiful we ate our lunch overlooking powerscourt waterfall it really was spectacular. After 3 hours walking we had completed 20 km which was a lot more than was predicted we would walk and Bill said we were one of the fastest groups he ever had. This also meant we wouldn't have much to walk the next day which was great. We arrived back at the hostel at 7 pm and we then made our dinner which was fun and then chatted for awhile. After that we watched 50 first dates which was funny and then we headed off to bed. The next day we woke bright and early to a spectacular view of the valleys and mountains outside our bedrooms. we had breakfast at 8 40 and then we were told that we were going orienteering and then going to do archery and then team games we were all delighted and the rest of the day was filled with people falling off logs and hitting bullseyes in the archery area. The trip was finished off in the best way with everyone buying a 99 and eating it on a sunny afternoon in Enniskerry! :D