Thirteen Wallace High School students, along with 4 leaders, headed off to the Pyreneese Mountain Range yesterday to complete their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme gold Expedition. The 13 A Level students were selected to take part in this exciting expedition over eighteen months ago and since then they have taken part in a rigorous training schedule.
Expedition training has taken place in the Mourne and Wicklow Mountains to prepare the Lisburn teenagers for their strenuous two week hike through the mountains separating France from Spain. In recent months the focus has also included a stringent physical training programme.
The pupils’ final examination – a synoptic Physics module, took place just hours before they headed off yeasterday (Thursday 26 June) in the school minibus for Dun Laoghire to catch the ferry. Last weekend was spent as a team, packing food and clothing and checking equipment.
Their well planned gold routes will take them over 9000 feet high mountian passes and down through breath takingly beautiful valleys. They will also cross Vignemale, the highest peak on the French side of the Pyrenees, before finishing the expedition in Spain near the mouth of the spectacular Ordesa canyon.
A trip to Disneyland Paris on the way home will give the Wallace group some well earned relaxation before they return home to Lisburn in mid July.
Expedition leader Mr Bill Wilson commented, “this will undoubtedly be the trip of a lifetime for our young people and is the culmination of 18 months’ hard work. We’re all really looking forward to it.”
All at the school wish them a very successful trip.
Last modified: February 24, 2016
