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CO-CURRICULAR 17
Sicily 2018
Dami Ogundiya, U4N
What better way to while away
the Easter holidays than parading
the streets of Sicily, exploring three
of the seven Aeolian Islands, and
exhausting our blood-orange fuelled
energy climbing 924m high Stromboli
volcano? On the 16 April a pack of
twenty-one students, accompanied
by Mr Foley, Miss Jones, and Mr Lee,
embarked on a once in a lifetime trip,
ready to witness some of the most
unique things that Italy had to offer.
After we had settled down in our first hotel,
the day had a hydrofoil trip to Vulcano
Harbour in store for us. Once there we left
for a guided hike to the top of a volcano
crater where we saw its spectacular inside,
got choked by sulphur fumes, and slid down
the sandy sides of the crater.
As good as the whole experience was, I
conclude that the most rewarding part of it
was seeing magma erupting from live volcano
Stromboli, which we visited the next day.
Being elevated at almost 950m high and in
the middle of the night the group could see
a perfect sky full of stars, as well as frequent
and vivid eruptions from the volcano. I’m still
coming to terms with how we witnessed one
of the earth’s wonders, considering that most
people only ever experience this through old
folk tales and the internet. Granted, it did
take around six hours of climbing precarious
stones and sand to reach the summit, though
with incredibly knowledgeable tour guide
Francesco, and enthusiastic pupils willing to
take the treacherous hike, the whole journey
went smoothly.
Fortunately, the final two days of the trip
were much more relaxed, consisting of
admiring black sand beaches, visiting the
ice-cold Alcantara gorge, and enjoying gelato
in the sun. This trip was incredibly educative,
challenging yet breath taking throughout,
and I would recommend that anyone who
has the opportunity to go on this tour should
do it. A huge thank you on behalf of all the
travellers to the staff who helped this trip to
be such a success
We got there but were greeted by an angryWelsh lady
Who was strict and rude and seemed pretty crazy.
She wouldn’t unlock the toilets but we all needed to pee
So we quickly put up our tents and started making tea.
After dinner we got into bed and were glad
That the forecast for tonight wasn’t going to be as bad.
But Laeticia didn’t like the passing lights
Or the creepy noises of the nights.
“Lily said the noise would go
But it didn’t disappear though.
There was something rustling in the corner
Don’t say I didn’t warn her.
I don’t know if it was a sheep or something fromwhich we ought to hide
Either way I was much happier that it stayed outside.”
We started day three with lots of singing,
Full of energy at the beginning.
Then we stopped andMaisy did a wee
In order to mark her territory.
10k in and our feet were failing
And the rest of the day was looking draining.
We ate lunch, though it wasn’t yet noon
But we kept spirits high, we’d be at camp soon.
It was the last night and we were quite tired
And weren’t looking forward to camping wild.
We wrote this line when we reached final camp
And yes, our feet were still very damp.
“I didn’t like the bitter cold.
Sleeping outside was getting old”
But we woke in the morning and despite the cold weather
The beautiful landscape made it all so much better.
We came out of our tents and were pleasantly surprised
By the beauty of the gleaming stars before our very eyes.
Day four: and finally we had reason to hurry
Craving Burger King, fries and OreoMcFlurry.
We started the day with a slight wrong turn
But that didn’t cause us much concern
As we had TimBird just behind
Who walked with us up the mountainside.
And so, we began the steep ascent
Up and up the hill we went
But little did we know
The hills made us slow.
Soon we felt the burn in our calves
So, we stopped for a break between the two paths.
Finally, we reached the peak
Water and snacks we did seek.
The first mountain we roamed and nobody moaned
The second was longer, but our spirit was stronger.
At the top there was a hut where we stopped to eat
And have a breather, rest our tired feet
Before we continued down the other side fast
Where we met G2 and walked on past.
We then met the teachers, who foiled our plan
To shortcut the last 2k to the van.
But now at least the end was near
And soon we’d all be outta here.
We’d almost finished and so we were calmer
Until we got shouted at by an angryWelsh farmer.
We saw the van come into sight
So, we paced down the road- we’d finished alright!
And here’s the line that will always sound cliché
But we’re now all closer friends at the end of the day
And yes, it was definitely a long hard week
And at times our moods were a little bleak
But with feet now dry and expedition through
We can look back on our experience with a much lighter point of view.