students | Adventure Guide

On the Long Mynd

Monday 29th October - King’s Himalayan Club, Indonesia Group, meet on the school playground at 8.30am for the journey to Church Stretton for a day’s walk on the Long Mynd, Shropshire. This will involve walking through woods, pasture, open hillsides on good paths and across rough heathland, without paths. Total distance will be 22.5km and the walk will take approximately 7 hours, returning to school at approximately 6.00pm. Full walking kit will be needed and enough refreshment to get through a full day’s walking. OS Explorer 217

“If you go down to the woods today…..” Radnor Forest

Tuesday 30th October - King’s Himalayan Club, Indonesia Group, meet on the school playground at 8.30am for the journey to New Radnor, Powys. From New Radnor we climb up on the hills of the Radnor Forest, climbing to the high points of an unnamed peak (660m), Black Mixen (650m) and Bache Hill (610m). Total distance is approximately 16km (10 miles). The same kit and refreshment requirements as yesterday are required. We should be back at school for about 6.30pm. OS Explorer 200 & 201

February Half Term – Monday 18th – Friday 22nd February – King’s Himalayan Club, Indonesia Group

Day 1 Monday 18th February – Orienteering Treasure Hunt (1) - Meet at North Quarry car park at 10.00am. You will work in three teams and your aim is to solve as many clues as possible. Each clue has a monetary value so the aim is to accumulate as much money as possible. Some clues are multipliers and are essential if you are to beat the other teams. The day will finish at the car nearest to the Wyche Cutting at 4.00pm. You will need walking boots, warm clothing, waterproofs, a packed lunch and liquids, and a determination to win.

Teamwork

Day 2 Tuesday 19th February – Orienteering Treasure Hunt (2) - Meet at the Wyche Cutting car park at 2.00pm. Still working in your teams, you will focus your efforts in the afternoon on the middle section of the Malvern Hills between the Wyche Cutting and the Malvern Hills Hotel. On this section you will have to develop a different strategy to achieve maximum reward. On completion of this section, you will eat a packed tea, provided by you, before embarking on the final and most difficult section, the southern third of the Malvern Hills in the dark. (Please make sure you have a head torch) This will bring you round in a circle so that you finish at the car park opposite the Malvern Hills Hotel at 9.00pm. Make sure you have your full walking kit with you.

Day 3 Wednesday 20th February - The Cotswolds Meet in the school playground at 9.00am. We can organise a pick up in Broad Street, Pershore, at 9.30am for those living in that direction. You will need full walking kit, a packed lunch and water. We will drive to the car park at the top of Fish Hill, above Broadway. The walk will take us through woodland to Snowshill, climbing to the crest of the Cotswolds before dropping down to Stanton. From there we walk across pastureland above Laverton and Buckland, skirting around the edge of Broadway before rising again to the Broadway Tower and back to the car park for about 4.00pm and back to school for 5.00pm with a drop off, for those who request it, in Pershore at 4.30pm. 16km OS Explorer OL45

Day 4 Thursday 21st February -Photography Course with Simon Watkinson. 10.00am – 4.00pm This course will be based in school, using a classroom for the morning session. The afternoon session will be practical based, experimenting with the morning’s learning. This is a fabulous course and will definitely help you to take superb pictures in Indonesia. Visit www.swinfocus.co.uk to see the quality of Simon’s work. Simon leads all Classic Journeys photographic expeditions.

Evening light on the Black Mountains

Day 5 Friday 22nd February – Honing our photographic skills. Meet at 11.00am in the school playground. The minibus will take us to the car park at the Gullet Quarry, off Castlemorton Common. From here we will be able to wander around the quiet southern slopes looking for photographic opportunities in woodland, on open hillsides, with water and rock. It is important that we stay out as long as we can to make the most of the changing light as day turns into night. Sunset is at 5.28pm. We will have a laptop with us so that we can download our photos and assess them instantly. Anticipate being back at school at 6.30pm. You will need warm clothing, as there may well be some standing around, waterproofs, a packed lunch and snacks, plus plenty to drink.

Student Trips Overseas

Annual expeditions to a variety of destinations. In the early days all expeditions went to the Himalaya in the spring, but with changes to the education calendar, trips have latterly been during the summer, when parts of the Himalaya are monsoon affected and not suitable to visit.

All expeditions have a community project, which can last anything from two days to a week according to the nature of the work, the needs of the community and the amount of flexibility within the itinerary.

Before any expedition takes place there is a training programme, which gives group members skills in the outdoors, navigation and camp craft, develops the team and gives each member leadership opportunity and skills. The team members are also given fundraising challenges, which contribute either to the expedition funds or to the community project.

Past trips:

Future trips:

2013 Indonesia (summer)

For details of any of these trips please CONTACT US.

Young and Visually Impaired

Share the Vision – These are joint expeditions with New College, Worcester, the college for blind and visually-impaired young people. They tend to be shorter in duration, up to a maximum of two weeks, and involve a short trek in mountainous terrain along with a more tactile activity i.e. in Morocco riding camels, in Nepal riding and bathing elephants.

Each NCW student is paired with a King’s student so that they enjoy the experience together, with the guides giving voice to what they see around them.

The training for these expeditions focuses largely on the guides understanding the needs of their partners and coping with the responsibility of their roll, as well as the blind and visually-impaired coping with the physical challenge. There is also an emphasis on the social development of the group.

Previous trips:

Future trips: