Harton Away
Year 7 four day trip to The Opal Coast France, 2009
Eighty Year 7 pupils enjoyed a trip to The Opal Coast in France 5th – 8th July, 2009 with Miss Mallaby, Mrs White, Mr Pine, Miss Sprouting, Miss Gray, Mr Smart, Mr Currer and Humphrey - the newest member of the languages department who enjoys travelling the world and having his picture taken in famous places. He wore his special ‘France’ outfit, made by some of our Year 7 pupils, for this trip. We met at Temple Park at 5:30 in the morning for the journey by coach and ferry. A VERY early start!
The accommodation was great! We had the whole place to ourselves and had some fabulous views of the beach as we were located right on the coast.
Our first day was jam-packed! The day began with a visit to a snail farm where we learned all about these creatures as well as how tasty they are! We tried a cold snail pâté on toast, snails in a raspberry and blackcurrant sauce and some hot ones in garlic butter! Lots of us were surprised at how nice they tasted and we’re sure our parents appreciated the snail pâté that we brought home for them!
After that, we were off to a traditional, home-run bakery on a nearby farm. The lady there demonstrated how she baked bread and made delicious tarts and biscuits in a big old oven. The best bit was the tasting, though! Mmmm! The chocolate factory was just as ‘mmmmm’, too! One girl spent 45 euros on chocolate presents!
That same night, Miss Mallaby had booked us into a bowling alley. It was great fun and we beat Miss Gray, too! After that, it was to the beach for fun and games in the sunset. It was just lovely. We had great fun burying each other in the sand, challenging the teachers to gymnastic moves, beating them in races and striking ‘Littlewoods’ poses for the camera! We laughed so much!
We didn’t laugh so much the next day, though, when one of our coaches broke down half an hour away from Bellwearde theme park! We were only an hour delayed and were really patient while we waited for the other one to come back to rescue us! Our poor driver, Peter, had to spend all day on his own in the coach without any food, though. We felt soooo sorry for him as he was really nice and had taken us wherever we wanted to go.
When we did arrive, we had great fun. And the rain didn’t bother us at all as we all made a bee-line for the fastest, wettest rides!
We ended our stay with a disco and LOVED Mr Pine’s dancing!
