post #1
17 October 2005, 11:04 UTC#1
Before I start, read this only if you have time, and very, very bored. It's just a short recap of what I got up to this weekend.
This weekend I spent the most physically exerting 'trip' of my life in a place called the brecon beacons in South Wales. I applied through my school to go on this 5 week expedition to a place called the moonlands in India, the physically 'highest place' inhabited on the earth. But to do this shit I had to take part in a selection weekend, if I surivive and do relitevaly well I get through, If I drop out or fail, I don't. So you can guess the scenario of the weekend. Basically they push you to your absolute limits, both mentally and physically. I can't put into words how hard this weekend was, no honestly, I have just took a day off today to rest.
So we get there after a 3 hour car journey, a group of 20 or so of us, and within 30 minutes, they throw all of our kit into a river and tell us to go get it. Now, this is Wales. The water is literally below freezing. Anyways, after collecting or kit back we have to walk 20 miles up and down hills over varying terrain with 20% of our body weight on our back. For me this was 17.5 kilos. Sounds easy right? Or not. I left my bag unatended when I went to the toilet,so they decided they would swap my bags for one filled up with rocks. Thats a 30 kilo bag. Not funny. After completing this we get back to camp and they get us in a circle and tip all our nicely-packed kit out and mess it all up, ripping packets, destorying food, ruining shirts you name it. Then we had 10 mintues to sort it out, everything not sorted was confiscated. After this we went into the forest and built shelters to sleep in, which was a load of bullshit because we had to come back and organise tents to sleep in, in which they gave us 1 hour to sleep.
So, onto the second day. After getting our 1 hour sleep they woke us up and told us to run and keep up with the minibus. We had to jog, stiff in every place 2 miles up a hill and down a path which led us to anoth river. Here they threw everyone, one by one into a river and told us to cross the river 3 times and come back before treading water for 1 minute. Sounds a breeze again, right? No. This water must have been the coldest I have ever been in in my whole life. I could hardly breathe and move it was that cold. After that, another nice jog up the hill with our backpacks on our backs to the camp, where we ate our rations before doing some team-game exercieses. Oh and I come back to find all my clothes and kit and things I needed to live through the weekend were soaked, not just damp, properly sodden. Then on for another 5 mile walk in the roughest terrain you could think of. By this time 5 people had dropped out.
Come the second day we had to eat some unusal food for brekfast. This was easy for me, the only bit I did find relitavely managable during the course. Then finally we went on a walk that must have been somewhere around 10 miles, with our backpacks on. The last activity of the weekend was to make it to the top of a mountain within 12 minutes otherwise we were out. When we got there they told us wether we were through or not and stuff.
This is where I was told that I had got through, w00t! I hope you tried to enjoy the story, trust me it really is unimaginable how hard it was, it was truly the most tiring experience of my life and I'm glad I will never have do it again. Peace out.
This weekend I spent the most physically exerting 'trip' of my life in a place called the brecon beacons in South Wales. I applied through my school to go on this 5 week expedition to a place called the moonlands in India, the physically 'highest place' inhabited on the earth. But to do this shit I had to take part in a selection weekend, if I surivive and do relitevaly well I get through, If I drop out or fail, I don't. So you can guess the scenario of the weekend. Basically they push you to your absolute limits, both mentally and physically. I can't put into words how hard this weekend was, no honestly, I have just took a day off today to rest.
So we get there after a 3 hour car journey, a group of 20 or so of us, and within 30 minutes, they throw all of our kit into a river and tell us to go get it. Now, this is Wales. The water is literally below freezing. Anyways, after collecting or kit back we have to walk 20 miles up and down hills over varying terrain with 20% of our body weight on our back. For me this was 17.5 kilos. Sounds easy right? Or not. I left my bag unatended when I went to the toilet,so they decided they would swap my bags for one filled up with rocks. Thats a 30 kilo bag. Not funny. After completing this we get back to camp and they get us in a circle and tip all our nicely-packed kit out and mess it all up, ripping packets, destorying food, ruining shirts you name it. Then we had 10 mintues to sort it out, everything not sorted was confiscated. After this we went into the forest and built shelters to sleep in, which was a load of bullshit because we had to come back and organise tents to sleep in, in which they gave us 1 hour to sleep.
So, onto the second day. After getting our 1 hour sleep they woke us up and told us to run and keep up with the minibus. We had to jog, stiff in every place 2 miles up a hill and down a path which led us to anoth river. Here they threw everyone, one by one into a river and told us to cross the river 3 times and come back before treading water for 1 minute. Sounds a breeze again, right? No. This water must have been the coldest I have ever been in in my whole life. I could hardly breathe and move it was that cold. After that, another nice jog up the hill with our backpacks on our backs to the camp, where we ate our rations before doing some team-game exercieses. Oh and I come back to find all my clothes and kit and things I needed to live through the weekend were soaked, not just damp, properly sodden. Then on for another 5 mile walk in the roughest terrain you could think of. By this time 5 people had dropped out.
Come the second day we had to eat some unusal food for brekfast. This was easy for me, the only bit I did find relitavely managable during the course. Then finally we went on a walk that must have been somewhere around 10 miles, with our backpacks on. The last activity of the weekend was to make it to the top of a mountain within 12 minutes otherwise we were out. When we got there they told us wether we were through or not and stuff.
This is where I was told that I had got through, w00t! I hope you tried to enjoy the story, trust me it really is unimaginable how hard it was, it was truly the most tiring experience of my life and I'm glad I will never have do it again. Peace out.