On Thursday and Friday 30th & 31st of March, we had our TY Gaisce trip in Ballymacarbry, walking 25km. I was excited for this trip but also nervous as I wasn’t sure what to expect with walking a big distance that I had not walked before. The weather was alright with only a bit of rain but parts of the trail we were walking on were very slippy and muddy. We stopped every few kilometres for a small water and rest break which was very necessary for the distance we were travelling. There were lots of hills and inclines which were very difficult and at some points I felt like I wanted to give up. We stopped for our lunch break which fuelled and energised us to finish our walk. The scenery that we saw while we were walking was very nice and the forests we were walking through were also very nice and peaceful. We finished our 22 km walk at about 4:30 after starting at about 10am. We were all very relieved to arrive back at the hostel after our tiring day and couldn’t wait to relax.
After we showered, changed, found our rooms and beds and chilled for a bit, dinner was ready. There was an option of lasagne or chicken curry with garlic bread or naan bread. I chose lasagne. It was yummy. Then we all chilled in our rooms for a while. I was in a room with all of my friends so I was really enjoying myself. It was a lot of fun. Having fun in the rooms with my friends was definitely the highlight of the trip for me, and I'm sure my friends agree with me.
Around an hour later we went down to the hall to watch a movie. We took a vote and decided on Dirty Dancing. I wanted to watch a scary movie, but I ended up really enjoying the movie we watched and I actually ended up being the last person there along with my friend. We got given jellies but also brought our own snacks down. People brought down sleeping bags, blankets and pillows as well as sitting on chairs and overall making ourselves comfortable. We had a very cool setup to watch the movie. We turned off the lights, put on Netflix on a teacher's laptop, got a projector and projected it onto a back wall of a stage and used a speaker someone brought to hear it. I really enjoyed it. We were all quite tired so we went to sleep around 11p.m. I had a really good sleep.
On the second day: Friday. We walked the rest of the 25 km, which was 4 km. We had a lovely breakfast first and then went on to finish the rest of our walk. This walk was a lot more relaxing. It was through the forest and was very peaceful.
Overall the trip was very enjoyable and a great TY experience. It’s a trip that our class will remember as a highlight of Transition Year.
Written by Kelly Reardon, Roisin Quann & Roisin Hunt