• About Bedales
  • Introduction
  • History of Bedales
  • Teacher Profiles
  • News & Media
  • Photo Albums
  • Alumni Profiles
  • Bedales Campus
  • Support for Charities
  • Bedales Jobs
  • Policies and Forms
• Admissions
  • Why Bedales?
  • Admissions Procedure
  • Feeder schools
  • Fees and Scholarships
  • Open Days
  • Parents' Handbook
  • Prospectus
  • Applying to Bedales
  • Admissions Policy and Terms & Conditions
• Alumni & Development
  • Alumni
  • Fundraising & Development
• Bedales Arts
  • Overview
  • Booking Information
  • Bedales Arts Calendar
  • Gallery
  • The Olivier Theatre
  • Quad
  • Professional Jazz Series
  • Previews
  • Venue Information
  • Directions to Bedales Arts
  • Event Photos
• Academic
  • Exam Results
  • Higher Education
  • Bedales Assessed Courses
  • Inspection Reports
  • Approach to Learning
  • Bedales Exam Information

• Bedales
  • Calendar
  • Overview
  • Policies and Forms
  • Bedales Parents Association
  • Approach to Learning
  • Subject Areas
  • Bedales Assessed Courses
  • A Day in the Life
• Dunhurst
  • Calendar
  • Overview
  • Policies and Forms
  • Approach to Learning
  • Subject Areas
  • A Day in the Life
  • Jobs
• Dunannie
  • Calendar
  • Overview
  • Policies and Forms
  • Approach to Learning
  • Subject Areas
  • A Day in the Life
  • Jobs at Dunannie

At the end of my Earthwatch two weeks I was taken back to Nairobi, where I met up with Mike and Adam.  On the 19 July we flew to Kilimanjaro airport.  We flew at 170000 feet which is lower than Kilimanjaro and so it was at this point that I started to get really nervous and during our flight we actually passed Kilimanjaro poking out through the clouds.  It was an amazing site and we couldn't believe that we would soon be at the top, higher than the planes.  Unfortunately we either lost our small camera or it was stolen and so unfortunately I don't have any photos of this.

From the airport we were transferred to Springlands hotel in Moshi.  This was a hive of activity with people returning from their climb or Safari and others leaving.  That evening there were a lot of tales to listen to and my nerves increased further.  We also met our guide Eli, he seemed very nice and we were surprised to discover that there were only the three of us in the group.  This was good as we could walk at our own speed.

Mike had brought out the Petersfield Post with our entry in it for me to read and I noticed that there was another couple mentioned as climbing in July.  Well you can imagine my surprise when they appeared at the hotel.  They were also starting on the same day as us but were doing a longer route.
We went to bed early and got a good night’s sleep.  The next day my mouth was dry and I couldn't eat properly.  We were taken off to Marangu gate (1800m) and after the paper work was done we set off.  Today we had to walk 8km and climb 1000m.  We set off very slowly to help us to acclimatise, our guide kept saying 'pole-pole', which means slowly slowly.  The walk was very pleasant walking through the rainforest and watching blue monkeys playing in the trees.  We stopped for lunch and then eventually arrived at our first overnight stop at Mandara huts at around 4.30pm. 



We were met by one of our porters (of which there were nine for the three of us) and personal waiter, Emanuel, with bowls of hot water, tea and popcorn.  After a short break our guide walked us up to see Maundi Crater.  Although the effects of altitude hadn't been obvious yet both Adam and I struggled to eat, which I put down to nerves.  We slept well and were woken up at 6.30am by Emanuel with tea and hot water to wash in.  Adam and I struggled to eat breakfast.  We had been warned that this was one of the side effects of altitude but were surprised that it had started so soon.  Luckily we had brought high energy isotonic powders to put in our water and so we got some of our calories this way.  Without this I don't think we would have made it.  Today's walk was to be 12km and another 1000m rise.  It took us 7 hours to do this walk but as we were doing it slowly we didn't notice any tiredness or breathlessness.  It was a relief to finally see our camp at Horombo 3720m.  We had a lovely hut with a great view of a valley.  Eating was again hard and we went to bed early.  Getting up in the morning I noticed the effects of the altitude and felt quite breathless.

 

Day 3, another 12km walk which was painstakingly slow.  Once you are in the rhythm though the breathlessness wears off.  We were now walking through alpine and dessert landscape.  All the time we walked we could see Kili peak getting closer and closer and we could eventually see the path we would be climbing later that night.  The last part of this days walking was very tiring as we made our way up to Kibo camp at 4703m.  We arrived mid afternoon and were advised to rest.  We were in a hut with 12 others and it was very noisy with people coming and going.  We were encouraged to eat some supper but again this proved very difficult and we had to force ourselves.  By 7pm we were changed into our climbing clothes and then tried to get a few hours sleep.  11pm came too soon and we were woken to tea and biscuits.  By 11.30pm, with no sleep, we started our final push, another 1000m but only 5km.  We started well and you have to zig zag as it is very steep.  But it wasn't long before the going got really tough and we were struggling with fatigue and difficulty breathing.  They don't like you to rest but your body is crying out for sleep.  Adam was badly affected by altitude sickness and he was sick 3 times on the ascent.  Despite this he kept going, which I was amazingly impressed by.  I don't think I would have been able to contend with being sick as well.



The walk was made even more difficult as you are walking on lose gravel and so for every step up you go back one.  Eventually we got nearer the top and we were told to look up, the blinking light was the top.  At this point I burst into tears.  It was going to take all my strength just to make it to Gilman's point.  To add insult to injury the top became rocky and you had to do large steps to climb up the rocks.  We arrived at Gilman's point (5600m) at 6.10am but this was not yet the top.  We had another 2 hours of walking to do to get to the summit.  By this time I was cold and had to summon up all my strength to do the final section.  It was so hard to breathe now and I just wanted to be allowed to sleep and I found it difficult to enjoy the surroundings.  We finally made it to Uhuru Peak at 5860m at 8.15am.  On one side we had the huge crater and on the other the remains of the glacier.  Watching the sun rise was beautiful but it is something I will never do again in my life as it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  We were then ushered down as quickly as possible.  Our guide later told us that he gets a headache every time he climbs, which can't be good for him.  We did have slight headaches but it was the breathing that was the hardest.  We came down the main slope reasonably quickly but the whole climb had taken us 12 hours.  We were given some food on our return to Kibo and allowed to sleep for a short while.  We then had a three hour walk back to Horombo.  Back at Horombo we ate and then went straight to bed and slept for about 12 hours straight.
 

The final day came and we were able to walk the 20km quickly, although I had woken up quite stiff and as the day wore on I became stiffer so I was very relieved when we arrived back at the gate and eventually back at our hotel for a well deserved shower and beer.

So would I recommend anyone else to do this?  You have to really want it.  I had wanted to climb Kili since I first saw it from Kenya on the school trip in 2010 so I was very eager to do it, however it was a lot harder than I thought, which might sound naive, I did lots of research and new it was going to be tough but until you experience the altitude, lack of energy and tiredness for yourself you just can’t appreciate what it is going to be like.  So yes, I would recommend doing it but only if it’s something that you really, really want to do. 

If you would like to help the Osborne's raise money for Save the Children please visit their virgin giving site at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CherylOsborne   or email Cheryl a pledge at cosborne@bedlaes.org.uk

My two weeks in Ol Pejeta Conservancy flew by.   The research centre was made up of one main building, where we ate and some of the researchers slept and a number of rondavels.  I was in a rondavel and had a room to myself.  This was really cosy and we had really warm feather quilts on our beds as it got very cold at night due to the altitude, which was 1800m. The only down side to my room was that it didn't have a bathroom and if you needed the toilet in the night you were faced by a 10m dash to the main building, avoiding any wild animals on the way.  Needless to say I didn't venture out unless absolutely necessary. It was amazing though to wake up to the sound of zebra and sometimes lions roaring. 

Our days comprised of data collection in the morning, leaving at 7.30 or 8am to be completed by midday if possible.  There were 6 main activities that needed to be carried out.  Acacia tree measurement and damage monitoring.  This involved measuring heights and widths of a number of trees that had been tagged.  These were found using GPS and then compass directions and distances from the previous tree.  Damage was also recorded - rhino, elephant or giraffe and the type of ants present on the tree.  There were four categories of ants RRB and BBR were pretty vicious and you had to be careful not to touch them.  BBB and TP were more docile.  Then there was measuring seedlings in 100 2m2 quadrats.  This was my least favorite activity as it took a very long time.  We also had to collect information on the number of spines and galls on the ends of branches on trees of different height categories.  Although this wasn’t too difficult you had to hold on to the branch to count the spines and if there were RRB ants on the tree the minute they felt the vibration they were out of the galls looking for our fingers, so you had to be quick.  We also carried out two 8km transects.  Working in two groups one pair recorded all elephant dung 5m either side of a transect and the other pair recorded all mammal sightings up to 1km away.  We had great fun doing our transect as our elephant dung became fresher and fresher until finally, at the end of the transect we came across the culprits and had a near elephant encounter.  We were also now on the equator. 

It was an amazing privilege to be walking with the animals.  During my time I had two very near encounters with rhinos.  On one occasion we scared them from their sleeping place and James, our guard, had to shoot his gun in the air to make sure they didn’t come our way. We were no more than 5m away from them and I jumped behind a bush.  With rather shaky hands I recorded the information on our record sheet, first having to ask James ‘were they white or black rhino?’  The second close encounter was when there were three groups working in one area.  ‘You’re standing in a rhino’s bedroom’ Joseph our research assistant said.  I just laughed, not thinking he was serious.  About 30 mins into our work Lydia and I looked up to find the rest of the group heading in our direction.  The three rhino that had been browsing on the hill decided they didn’t like us being in their bedroom and were charging right for us.  Luckily we had a number of cars present just in case and in the end they ran past and we were OK.  I had left my rucksack, containing my expensive telephoto lens in it close to the bush that the rhinos had charged passed and all I could think was, ‘please don’t trample my bag I’m not sure how – 'a rhino stood on it' – would look on an insurance claim’.



As well as the work we were also treated to game drives, bird walks, night game drives, predator monitoring, where Lydia and I came across three lionesses and their recent zebra kill, as well as two mating lions. We had one day looking at how money raised by the conservancy is being used in the local community.  They have funded a dispensary and schools.

I was very lucky during my time at Ol Pejeta as I was only one of three who got to see all of the big five; lion, leopard, water buffalo, elephant and of course rhino.  We felt very privileged to see three different species of rhino.  The critically endangered black rhino of which there were 85 on the conservancy out of 4000 left in the world and only 700 in Kenya, seven Southern whites and four of the last seven remaining Northern whites, which is really sad as they don’t seem to want to breed and are likely to become extinct soon. 

I had previously reported an attempted poaching while we were there.  We had been led to believe that they had been unsuccessful but in fact one had been injured and another killed, which made 2 killed in two weeks.  The whole conservancy is surrounded by an electric fence, unlike a national park, and they take the poaching very seriously.  After this poaching incident there was heightened security.  On one day we were circled and eventually dive bombed by one of the spotter planes which was indicating our presence to some foot patrols.  This had been scary enough but then 6 men, carrying machine guns appeared out of the bush.  I was relieved when I heard one say ‘Jambo Solomon’ – i.e. hello to Solomon, our guard.  I seemed to always be in the group that had these close encounters and everyone decided that they wanted to be with me, I would have preferred a quieter life.  I would definitely go back and will be keeping an eye on how rhino numbers are doing on the conservancy.

 

I arrived in Kenya on the evening of the 3 July and stayed overnight in Nairobi.  In the morning the 11 other Earthwatchers arrived and we were taken for a four hour journey north to our final destination at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.  Here I am to spend 2 weeks helping to research the critically endangered black rhino.  Mostly our work involves monitoring Acacia tree damage, as this is the primary food source of the black rhino and it is in competition for this food source with the megaherbivores; elephant and giraffe.  I have been teamed up with Lydia, who is from the US.  There are 9 from the US, 2 from the UK and 1 person from Australia.  As well as the Earthwatch team there are other researchers at the centre and they are very friendly and enjoy telling us about their research.  We are led by three Kenyans; Geff, Joseph and Lucy.

The best day so far has to be when Lydia and I were on predator monitoring.  This involved us getting up very early and heading out with a tracker as some of the lionesses have been collared.  Within ten minutes we came across three lionesses gnawing on a zebra carcass.  Because we are classed as researchers we are allowed to drive off road and we were taken within five meters of the lionesses to take photos.  After this we went in search of more lions.  Unfortunately we broke down on the way and were relieved that this had not happened as we sat next to the lions.  Especially as they were still there the next day, protecting their kill.  Eventually a new vehicle arrived and we were rewarded with an amazing male and lioness, who were mating.  I will up load some photos on my return.

We have seen rhino, both black and southern white rhino, of which there are only 7 in the conservancy.  There are also 4 northern white which are highly protected as there are only 7 left in total on Earth.  We are going to see these soon.  Two weeks ago one of the southern whites was killed by poachers and the other night another attempt was made but the rhino survived. They take the poaching very seriously and all day there was heightened activity and planes and helicopters trying to track the poachers.

Today is my rest day and I am in a local hotel writing this but as the internet is very slow I am going to stop writing for now.  Next up date hopefully soon.

This is going to be my last blog before I head off to do the second part of my sabbatical, my trip to Kenya leaving on Sunday.  While I’m in Kenya I will be carrying out research into black rhino conservation.  After this my family will join me and we will attempt to climb Kilimanjaro.  This is what all my training has been about.  Over the last three weeks I have carried out 39 walks ranging from 2 to 17 miles.  In total I have covered 281 miles and taken 566043 steps.  My last walk was last weekend when Mike and I tackled part of the South Downs Way.  We took the train to Amberley and set off walking westwards towards Cocking, where we had a B & B booked.  This section was 12 miles and once up on the Downs was fairly easy walking. 

We managed to walk it in 3.5hrs.  The only problem was that we had chosen a day when cyclists were attempting to do the whole of the SDW heading eastwards in aid of the British Heart Foundation, so we had to spend the day dodging bikes.  On Sunday we woke up to fog, which quickly cleared and we were faced with a day that was going to be very hot.  Our walk started with a steep hill and again we were faced by bikes. This time doing the Wiggle Series.  During our walk we managed to miss one of the signposts and our detour took us to a lovely pub, so at least that was one consolation. After a short break we retraced our steps and got back on to the SDW.  The detour added 1.5 miles on to what was meant to be a 12 mile walk. 

Mike thought it would be funny to take a picture showing how I managed to miss the sharp right turn.  I would like to point out that the sign post was well hidden amongst the bushes and we were also distracted by the bikes which were coming up the hill directly in front of us.  What I hadn’t appreciated was that their route did not necessarily follow the SDW, oh well.  My new boots had decided to rub too, which just added insult to injury. 

Eventually we left the SDW at Buriton, with very tired legs and feeling very hot and bothered by this point.  I wanted to phone a friend to come and pick us up but Mike insisted we walk.  After a much needed break in the shade by the pond we tackled the last 3 miles to Petersfield and home.  There is one day on Kilimanjaro where we have to walk for 11 hours, so these eight hours (not all walking!) were good practise; however my state of tiredness has worried me as I am unsure as to whether I will be able to cope.  Well we will have to wait and see.  In the end this section was 17 miles with the detour and walk to home so we walked 5 miles more than we had thought and it took us a lot longer, 6 hours 27mins of walking altogether.  As always the views were spectacular and there was also the treat of three Bronze Age tumuli known as the Devils Jumps.

   

For our attempt to climb Kilimanjaro we would like to raise money for Save the Children and if you would be willing to sponsor our attempt either email a pledge to cosborne@bedales.org.uk or visit the Osborne’s Kilimanjaro Challenge Virgin giving page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CherylOsborne

Part 1. So after the Hangers Way came the New Lipchis Way.  This is a 38 mile walk from Liphook to West Wittering via Chichester.  I decided to split it up into three sections.  I started by taking the train to Liphook so that I could walk to Midhurst, a total distance of 12.5 miles.  The day started off showery and so my waterproofs were donned.  The walk is marked by a special way mark, but as with my other walks the path is not always obvious and some difficult decisions had to be made.  As you can imagine with such a long distance to cover I am reluctant to go wrong and have to retrace my steps.  My map reading skills have been tested and I think I deserve a D of E award.  This walk took me through both deciduous woodland as well as pine forests.  There were sunken lanes to walk down and I only saw 1 deer on the whole walk.  Unfortunately, the presence of Lulu is probably not good for watching wildlife.  I eventually arrived in Midhurst feeling very tired, having walked for 4 hours.  I was very disappointed not to be able to complete the walk as there was building work going on and they had decided to completely block off the route.  So now instead of about 350m, I had to retrace my steps for 2km and I was going to miss my bus.  So Mike was called and he came to pick me up.

Part 2.  Mike and I got up early to catch the bus to Midhurst.  We cycled to the train station to pick up the bus there.  Taking public transport has been interesting and today we got chatting to two ladies.  The first part of our walk took us to the Cowdray ruins and our first challenge was to get past cows again, one of which was actually standing inside the kissing gate.  Luckily they were more interested in eating than us and left us alone.  We then walked along the river Rother and up a very steep slope to the South Downs.  The views however were spectacular.  After this we descended to Singleton where we stopped for lunch.  I’ve never been to this village before but it was a typical British village and you could imagine what it would have been like 100s of years ago.  We then started the afternoon with a long slow ascent to St Roche’s Hill (206m).  Here there were views over Chichester and the Solent beyond.  On our way up we were treated to the sight of a kite looking for its prey in the long grass.  Our final descent took us to a disused railway line, now a cycle track called Centurion Way.  Although this was an easy, flat stretch by now my legs were burning and I was really looking forward to reaching our destination.  Finally we made it to the station in Chichester and were able to sit on the train back to Petersfield with a well deserved cup of tea.  Total distance walked = 16.5 miles with a total ascent of 586m.

Part 3.  I needed a day off as I was very stiff after covering 29 miles in two days so I completed the walk on my own again.  Starting at Chichester the walk took me along the canal to Chichester Harbour. From here you work your way around the coast to West Wittering.  This was an easy 12.2miles as there are no hills at all!  There was lots of wildlife on the canal with nesting birds and even a water vole (or it might have been a rat, it was swimming away from me).  There was a slightly dodgy moment when I had to pass two swans on a very narrow section of tow path.  Needless to say they were not keen to see Lulu.

So altogether I walked 41.2 miles in 14 hours having made 78092 steps.  Total ascent = 650m

I have wanted to try and do a number of the long distance walks around Hampshire and so on the 4 June Mike and I decided to tackle The Hangers Way.  This is a 21 mile route from Alton to The Queen Elizabeth Country Park.  Unfortunately we had chosen a day that was going to get up to 28C.  This is quite an arduous walk as altogether you climb 1044m, which is great for our training but a bit of a challenge in hot weather.  It is a really pretty walk and it was a relief at times to be under the shade of trees in the Hangers.  We did have one quite scary moment when we came to the field with a group of young, rather overly friendly cows in it.  Initially they didn’t want to let us in and of course having Lulu with us just made it worse.  They decided to follow us across the field and it was a rather intimidating time.  I may look like I’m smiling in the photo but actually I was very nervous. 

While we had our lunch break in Hawkley Hangers a young fox was out for its afternoon stroll and initially it was oblivious to us.  At about 10m away it realised we were sitting there and you could see the sudden look of panic on its face as it decided to bid a hasty retreat into the undergrowth.  We arrived in Ashford Hangers where we stopped for a well earned rest by the pool.  By now our legs and backs were aching and we both discovered that we had run out of water.  As the path passes our house we decided we would need to call in to replenish our platypuses.  By now I felt like I was on autopilot and I just couldn’t cool down. As we reached home we decided that we couldn’t face the last 5 miles as it was still very hot.  Instead we got up on Sunday and completed the walk then.  In total we walked 21 miles in 7hrs 40mins.

This was the hill that just proved too much on a hot day!

Having now completed the first part of my sabbatical, my tall ships trip, I am now eagerly awaiting the second part.  On 3 July I fly off to Kenya to spend two weeks with Earthwatch to help with the research into black rhino conservation.  I am very excited about this as it will give me a chance to put what I learnt at university, many years ago now, into practise.  After these two weeks comes my second challenge.  I’m still not going to say what that is yet but as I have said previously I have been in training for this.  The walking that I have been doing has now increased.  I spent three days, with my family and friends, in the Brecon Beacons.  On the first day we attempted the Horseshoe walk.  This takes you to the highest peak in South Wales, Pen y Fan at 886m.  There are a series of peaks and ridges, 4 in all, which we wanted to try and climb in one day.  So off we set and in true Wales style, it started to drizzle. So waterproofs were donned and the walk started.  We were all in good spirits and at the start the walk was fairly easy, but after a while the large peaks of Fan y Big, 719m and Cribyn, 795m came into site.  You ascend to the saddle at 599m, which is the gap between the two.  It was now lunch time so trangias where set up and hot chocolates and coffees were made. 

 

After lunch we ascended Fan y Big, the drizzle had subsided and we were rewarded by great views.  We than had to descend to where we had stopped for lunch before our ascent up Cribyn.  It is very foreboding looking up, as the ascents are steep. At this point we hadn’t yet seen our last peak, Pen y Fen.  This appeared from behind Cribyn as we got to the top, by now thighs and backs were aching and although it felt great when we were at the top the ascents were very hard.  So again we had to descend before our last ascent.  My knees liked the decent less than the ascent but it was a real sense of achievement when we finally arrived at the top of Pen y Fan.  The intention had been to try one more peak but at this point a mutiny arose and we decided it was time to head home for a well deserved bath.  In total we walked 11 miles and ascended 901m which took us 5hrs 26min.

Day 2 arrived and there were some sore bodies.  I had invested in some knee supports and so armed with these we met up to attempt the waterfall and ridges walk.  This started by a waterfall, which was very pretty and took us straight up a very steep hill, Craig y Fan Ddu, 683m.  The weather had decided to turn for the worst and we were walking up this with horizontal rain and the path became very slippery.  But as we were dressed correctly we persevered.   The downside was that we were not going to be rewarded by the view. So after a short rest we set off again along a ridge which had a very steep drop off on our right hand side.  At lunch the trangias were set up again and much needed hot drinks were had.  The walk took us back towards Fan y Big and we were relieved when we found the path for our descent.  It wasn’t long before the drizzle subsided and the temperature rose.  In all we walked 9.5 miles, which took us 4hrs 27mins.

Day 3 saw us being a lot less ambitious as bodies were very sore and so we decided to do table mountain, 451m.  The weather was better today and so off we set without waterproofs on.  However the drizzle decided to start and so at the top we didn’t get to see the view again.  This walk hadn’t taken long so a look at the map showed another hill behind, Pen Cerrig-Calch, 701m.  Another lunch break in the cold and wet meant that there was some reluctance to continue and so the decision was taken to return.  The weather did at least start to clear and as we started to descend we got to see the views of the Usk Valley.  As well as that we came across a very curious site, a tree completely covered in a web and packets of caterpillars.  I had never seen anything like this and on my return to home I looked this up and discovered that it was the silk of the Ermine moth.  The caterpillars eat all the leaves off the tree.  Apparently the tree will recover but it looked an amazing site.

I arrived at the port in Southampton at lunch time on Wednesday. I was excited but a little apprehensive too.  I was shown to my bunk and I met my watch leader Bill.  He has been sailing with the Jubilee Sailing trust (JST) for ten years and is aiming to achieve 50000 miles at sea this year.  He told me that I would be buddying Gemma.  

 


Gemma is 20 years old and has cerebral palsy, she had her carer Louise with her so I was only needed as an extra pair of hands. When everyone had arrived we started our briefing.  This involved being introduced to the whole of the permanent crew, the daily routine, the safety procedures and how to set sails and sail the ship.  We then had a practise evacuation drill.  I was on the evac team which meant that I had a stairway to man in case one of the wheelchair users needed to get out that way.  We practiced this a number of times so that we would feel confident if a real emergency arrived and it gave the wheelchair users a chance to experience how they would be evacuated so that they wouldn’t feel scared in a real life situation.  Once we had done this we were asked if we would like to climb the rigging.  I wasn’t going to volunteer but just about everyone else put their hands up so, as I was one of the younger crew members, I thought I should. 

As I was in the Forward Starboard watch I was going to climb the forward mast.  So harnesses were given out and we were told to head up the ladder towards the crow’s nest.  Here we would find two members of the permanent crew who would talk us through how to get into the crow’s nest.  I was really surprised that as we climbed the ladders we were not clipped on.  I was holding on really tightly and was very nervous, especially as the ladder wobbled as more people joined it.  At the top of the ladder there are three rungs which are angled backwards.  At this point you do clip on.  You then need to rely on your upper body strength to help you get up through the gap as you hang on for dear life.  I had to be coaxed through this gap, one person had already descended, having decided it wasn’t for them.  I made it through and into the crow’s nest.  After this we were encouraged to step onto the yard arm.  I had it easy as I was the last one on and so only had a short distance to go.  Having not been allowed to take our cameras this time I realised that I would need to do it at least once more to get the evidence. 





Going down was more scary than going up and I was convinced I wouldn’t make it back through the hole as you feel like you are going to fall.  Once we were all back down we set sail.  The plan was to sail to Cherbourg over night while there was wind.  As I was on watch from 6-8pm, called the Dog Watch, I was called for an early dinner in the upper mess.  My first watch was uneventful as we sailed down Southampton Water and I was taught how to fill in the log and how to set the sails.  Everyone is asked to come on deck to brace the yard arms.  This involves pulling on one end and releasing the other until the sails are set correctly.  There are no winches like on yachts; it’s all down to man power. Bedtime came and I was tired so I went to bed reasonably early as I was going to be called at 6.45am ready for an early breakfast, as my watch was back on from 8.00am-12.30pm. 

When I went on deck we were off the coast of France.  There was very little wind and with the strong tide we were actually going backwards.  We were just killing time as we had to meet up with the pilot who would join the ship to help the captain get into port.  The sails were taken in and I was given the helm.  The ship is very slow to respond and it took a bit of getting use to.  Needless to say we did a bit of seesawing until I got the hang of it.  The captain, a slight lady called Barbara came to see me and asked me if I was going to be on the helm as we came into port.  ‘Yes,’ I said, although no one had said I would be.  ‘Right,’  she said, ‘out at sea it’s OK to over/under steer and to do everything slowly but now when I say helm 3 degrees starboard I mean do it quickly and once we’re through the lock we will need to swing the ship around 180 degrees.’ ‘Gulp,’ I hope I would do this right. 






I had the two engineers beside me but the Captain disappeared to stand on top of the bridge with the pilot as you cannot see clearly standing at the helm.  So my orders were shouted at me, which I had to repeat to show that I had heard correctly.  Just as we headed in some dolphins came to join us but I couldn’t look as I was on the helm.  Luckily they would join us again on the way back out.  Eventually the lock came into sight.  OK now I’m really worried, it didn’t look wide enough for us to fit through.  The engineer, Chips, told me there would be 1 metre to spare either side of the ship.  I was only following orders and the Captain brought her in beautifully and we spun her around 180 degrees to come alongside on the port side of the ship.  I felt really privileged to get the chance to steer such an amazing vessel into port.  We then had the rest of the day in Cherbourg to sight see and go out for a meal. 

After a quiet night in port anyone in a wheelchair who wanted to go up to the crow’s nest could.  Gemma wasn’t keen but Paul, another member of our watch team did. It looked a bit precarious, although they were of course completely safe and I thought that they were very brave.  We then set sail and once the sails were set Jenny, one of the crew sidled up to me and said, ‘Will you help me up the mast to ease the buntlines’.  I warned her I was nervous but I realised that this would be my opportunity to get a photo.  So up I went and Jenny showed me an easier way to get into the crow’s nest and I felt a lot happier this time. 

 



We didn’t need to climb on the yards this time. So here I am in the crow’s nest with the Bedales biology bug.  From 12.30-2.00pm I was on watch so there was more helming, log entries and I was asked to write the JST blog for the last 24 hours.  Straight after my watch we had happy hour, not what you think, this involves cleaning the ship.  As I was now on mess duty for the next 24 hours I was in the mess cleaning cupboards.  I was then kept busy preparing food, laying tables and washing up.  This went on till 8pm by which time I was shattered.  Although mess duty is tiring you are on with people from other watches and so I got to know more people.  As I was going to be woken up at 6.30am to prepare for breakfast I was in bed by 9pm.