Year Nine students who chose the Adventure CaVE experienced a particularly exciting and action packed week, read on for a full report.

Following the huge success of last year, the Adventure CaVE 2011 set off for Keswick full of anticipation for a week long outdoor adventure in which they experienced gorge scrambling, hiking, abseiling, rock climbing, camping and cooking on Trangias in the open air.

The group set off on Monday morning with a minibus full of students and a trailer full of kit for the week. We arrived in Keswick about lunchtime and sat on the grass in brilliant sunshine before we set about the task of base-camp construction. Six smaller tents were set up and a large shelter which would serve as our kitchen and dining room for the week. Once we were all set up we departed for the Newlands valley and to Stoneycroft Gill for an afternoon's gorge scrambling. The cool water, refreshing pools and wild water chutes really made for a fantastic experience and provided a welcome relief from the heat of the sun. Chicken Tikka with rice and naan bread was on the camp menu that evening and everyone tucked in and was well fed, so much so that there was no call for pudding, which got Mr Marlowe out of making the custard – and he was certainly relieved about that!

Tuesday morning saw another fantastically sunny day, and after a breakfast of sausage and bacon buns, we set off for Great Langdale and Pavey Ark for a day in the hills. After a hot and sticky walk up to Stickle Tarn, we walked round the lake to the foot of Jack's Rake, a natural fault line which runs up the face of the cliff arriving at the top, some 200m above the surface of the water and 700m above sea level. The steepness, exposure and height make this a real challenge for most people, but the exhilaration and sense of achievement on reaching the summit is fantastic. After a brief stop for the obligatory summit photos, we set off for the next summit, Harrison Stickle (736m). A short walk and further scramble to the top bagged the second peak of the day before we left the summit and began the steep walk down Dungeon Ghyll to the minibus.

As all days in the mountains should end, we enjoyed cool drinks at the Stickle Barn before returning to Keswick and a well-earned pizza. We were joined by Mr Exeter and his family for the evening where we got some good group photos in our Adventure CaVE T-Shirts.

Another sunny day and another activity. Wednesday was about rock climbing, and Bowderstone Crags are the place to go. We set up base camp at the bottom of the crags and then set up two climbs of varying difficulty with the group belaying each other as they climbed. Once everyone had mastered those, Miss Glasgow got everyone organised for lunch and Mr Marlowe set up a huge 25m climb which proved a challenge for most last year. We hadn't quite factored in the expert climbers which were amongst the group and times were set of 2:56 by Harry, 2:39 by Kieran and the fastest of 2:24 by Tom - a great effort all round.

The afternoon camp cook-off followed and everyone was charged with planning, budgeting and cooking a three course meal on a Trangia for £5 per person. The high standards of last year were maintained with chicken fajitas, fresh lamb and mint burgers with sauteed potatoes, spaghetti bolognese, chilli concarne and probably most impressive of all, a full chicken dinner complete with mash, carrots, cauliflower and gravy. We rounded the evening off with a trip to the 4500 year old Neolithic stone circle at Castlerigg to watch the sunset across the mountains.

We awoke to yet more sunshine on Thursday and after the now traditional bacon and sausage buns, departed for Whinlatter forest for some mountain biking. This was the activity that appeared to stretch people out of their comfort zones the most. However, after a short period of time becoming familiar with the bikes everyone was ready to undertake the blue route. The weather was ferociously hot, but a great time was had by all, including the midges which were out in force. Those who wanted a second, hard-core lap went round again while the rest of us enjoyed a well-earned rest in the visitor centre cafe. After lunch at the campsite, we went back to Bowderstone Quarry where we spent a pleasant afternoon abseiling down the 20m cliff. Once again, the cool shade of the quarry proved a welcome respite from the heat of the sun and when done, we returned to the campsite for tea. We rounded the week off with a sunset stroll to the summit of Walla Crag, where we reflected on another fantastic experience, each and every one of us full of adventure and happily tired. It's fair to say that nobody really wanted to go home the next day - an epic week in glorious weather and a fantastic location - well who would blame us?

My thanks are due to Mr Marlowe and Miss Glasgow who made the whole thing possible.

Adventure CaVE photo montage