Swim a Mile, Gaisce Hike part II

This week we participated in the Ian Daly Swim A Mile with a Smile challenge. The task is to swim a mile (64lengths). You can go in a group or by yourself. I completed the mile by myself as i thought I could push myself as it is a worthy cause. The money raised goes to Our Ladys Childrens Hospital in Crumlin and Barretstown. It was a really fun day and after we got to go to Blanchardstown for food which was desperately needed as we were all tired and hungry after the swim

Two Fridays ago we went on our Gaisce Hike to the Wicklow Mts. It was a 25km hike. We left school at 2 and drove straight towards Kippure estate. We left our bags at our different houses and set off for a 15km leg of the hike. It was boggy, rocky and uneven terrain. It was very steep but we completed the hike and returned at 9. We then washed and made spaghetti for dinner. There was a forest fire the previous 2 days so all our clothes and shoes were covered in black ash. 

The next morning we woke at 7;30 and had to be out of the houses by 9. We had a mixed breakfast of pancakes, waffles, toast, cornflakes and fruit.

The first thing we did were highrope activities like the leap of faith and also things like archery. It was freezing and lashing rain. We went back to the one house with all our things and put on lots of extra layers. We were then split into 3 groups , slow, medium and fast. The pace of the group would decide when each  group would get on the shuttle bus to the starting point. I was in the fast group so we left an hour and a half after the first group and 45mins after the second. Méadhbh slept on the floor for that time.

When we got to the base of the mountain it started to lightly snow, even though it was nearly summer. There were sheep every where ( shout out to orla for  asking were the sheep). The ground was wet and it started to snow so heavily that everywhere was white and it was like a blizzard. IT was really boggy and amy and sinead both got stuck at points. The worst thing was that you wouldn't realise when it was bog and you would end up thigh deep in bog. The instructor was really nice and gave our group this little pop up tent and coffee which we had on the side of the mountain.

Overall I think this was one of the best experiences of TY, I would recommend it to anyone doing TY even if it seems miserable its really fun.

Anna Grylsssss

Anna xx