French Alps Trip 2008

Today we went to Annecy, we first went to a gorge named Gorge de Fier. We went into the gorge and walked around it on a suspended walkway! We saw a depth chart showing water levels in the gorge at different dates, some of which were way above our heads!! We also had to use our imagination and saw face like features sculpted into the limestone by water erosion.

We then went into Annecy itself and studied different streets describing the differences in buildings and layouts in the old town and the Central Business District (CBD). The old town was designed in a grid iron pattern, with narrow streets although there were some lovely shops. In the CBD the shops were very modern on the ground floor however the upper levels were still the traditional style as in the old town.

After a picnic lunch in the sun, we then went on pedalos on Lac Annecy to escape from the hot sun!. We went into the water and were swimming around for about 45 minutes with Mr. McIlwaine soaking everyone!!! By the time we got out we decided to head back to La Clusaz as not even the girls were in the mood to look at the shops!! We went back to the hotel where some people went swimming or played tennis, and others enjoyed some rest and relaxation ahead of tonight’s ceilidh!!

Cheese factory Today we visited Beaufort cheese factory. We watched a video showing us how the cheese was made and how the making of it affects local life and the local industry. The cheese samples had a kind of love/hate relationship with everyone. While some of us would rather give the stinking cheese a miss other managed to gobble down quite a few (Miss Barrie?) We then went down to the cheese caves packed from top to bottom of maturing cheeses, the smell of ammonia knocking us unconscious (well almost…!). And with no surprise the cheese sandwiches didn’t go down so well today!

After being infused with cheese knowledge we headed to the coach and for some limestone caves!! As if one badly translated French video wasn’t bad enough we sat through yet another about how water power helped industrial machines (spelt: machins), really clear…..as was the French guide: “Melaine” who managed to speed through her badly memorised lines, losing us completely as to why we were even in the caves! The highlight of the caves was when Sam Lowe jumped out on Mr. Mac wearing a very scary clown mask (don’t ask!!).

Bowling was the next and last activity for today. Great fun with a very competitive atmosphere within the groups with the most improved imaginary trophy presented to Bev. Then news reached us that disaster had struck……. The bus had suffered a fuel injection malfunction (awfully confusing for the inexperienced technicians amongst us!!) but don’t worry after only 3 hours of waiting the joint effort of the teachers and drivers saved the day by arranging a French coach to come and pick us up (which to our disappointment did not have a DVD player!!).

After a late tea (as good as ever: chicken curry and chocolate mousse) the drivers arrived with the fixed coach, to cheering and applause!

All in all it was an interesting day with lots of excitement.

A special hello to Mrs Medine!

By Matthew and Fiona (we don’t want to come home, can we stay a bit longer?)

This morning we had an early start. Up at 7:15, we quickly got ready and made our way down stairs for breakfast. After breakfast we had a long bus journey into Chamonix. It was a very hot day, peaking at 33 degrees Celsius! We made our way to the train and began our ascent up the mountain. The view was stunning, and it was peculiar sitting on a train that was heading up a very steep hill! Chugging up a very old track, with a near kilometre drop right under our feet, we were all very excited and scared at the same time! When we arrived at the top we were gobsmacked by the huge sea of ice that stretched out before us. I’m sure it took us all awhile to come to terms with the enormous scale of this glacier. Being the longest in Europe, its awesome size took us all by shock. Looking through binoculars, it dawned on me that the small dots on the ice were actually human beings, embarking on an epic quest up to the Mont Blanc Massif! After gazing at the stunning view, we slowly descended on cable cars, where we were enveloped by the glaciers awesome power. Making our way cautiously inside, with Mr. Smith at the lead (looking dashingly heroic in his tourist shirt and sun hat) we were warned of a particularly grumpy “glacier performer” who was adamant that pictures would not be taken, unless of course they included him and his loyal St. Bernard. Inside the glacier there were eerie cracks and ghostly sculptures, it was out of this world! One cannot possibly describe the experience of it, it was quite something. As we made our way up back to the cable cars, the moraine could clearly be seen, just as we had learnt it in Geography.

In the afternoon, we were assigned our tasks. Not taking to them particularly well, we started the walk to our fieldwork destinations. These included train stations, tourist information etc. After this tedious task, we had our free time. As we were exploring the town, we came across Mr. Jones and Mr. McIlwaine, who were enjoying a bit of peace and quiet and as we approached, they complained we were “cramping their style”. After an exhausting day we stumbled back to the bus in a blinded stupor due to the insane heat and slave labour.

Today (22nd June - Sunday) we all walked to the Glacier de Triente in southwest Switzerland. It was 27 degrees and we were all sweating our horrendously, but at least we fitted in with the French. In total we walked under 5 miles. According to Mrs Morrison we were very slow and complained most of the way. But, thankfully there were a select few of us who were very energetic about the whole escapade. Mr Smith was our team leader with a pretty shocking sense of direction. Due to his “detours” through the boulders and nettles, many of us came out a little bruised and stung. Gladly, Mr Smith is trained in first aid so we were actually in safe hands! Eventually when we got to the glacier, everyone collapsed on the rocks and started to drink the run off water from the glacier (not advised). Unfortunately we didn’t get as close to the glacier as we would have liked to because it had retreated so far up the mountain side that it was too steep for our liking (Teachers couldn’t hack it!).

After our adventure a lot of us were well and truly done for the day, but Mrs Morrison had other things planned. Our initial plan was to go to the top of the valley in a cable car to view Mont Blanc and its glaciers. But, due to the fact everyone generally “cba”, Mrs Morrison decided to treat us to The Luge! Basically the Luge is a concrete slide that you sledge down. Many of us got a little freaked out before we made a decision whether to go on the Luge as Mrs Morrison informed us on some pretty gruesome stories that came with the Luge. Including people falling off the sledges and scraping their skin off right to the bone! YUK! Being typical North Berwickers though we decided to try it anyway, and I have to say it was pretty good fun. There is a fast lane and a slow lane so we could chose how fast we wanted to go. Mrs Morrison very kindly paid for two shots on the Luge. On the whole we had a very active but enjoyable day. Luckily the weather was kind to us!

Olivia Heaton and Millie Scott

The final countdown to our trip is on as 10.00am Friday morning nears our long journey gets underway. You can keep track of our monster journey to the Alps by logging on to� www.twitter.com/alps08

Welcome to the North Berwick High School Geography Department Blog for the upcoming trip to the French Alps!!! On this page you will be able to access all the key information prior to leaving and then once we are away we will be posting every night keeping parents and friends up to date with what we are up to!!