Cranedale 2013 Day 3
Breakfast was a hearty meal of bacon, sausage, toast, beans,
egg, hash browns and cereal. With all that
inside us we were off to the Yorkshire Moors.
Famous for its heather and grouse, the moors are a 45 minute
drive from the centre along some winding roads.
We were fortunate not to see any of the breakfast again especially from
Pip and Tatziana who had seconds.
On arrival, George was unimpressed – “This can’t be it, it’s
in the middle of nowhere!” The others
were far more enthusiastic and couldn’t wait to go and meet the local
sheep.
The first part of the day involved walking down a dry stream
bed in search of water. Many notable
events happened on the way down.
Victoria discovered an ancient use for moss – toilet paper.
A dead mole was found.
Mr Britten reminisced about an old pair of moleskin trousers he had once
owned. “How many moles did you kill to
make them?” enquired Jessie P.
A snake was spotted by Lois basking on a rock. It was an adder and was quite photogenic.
Amelia found a variety of different ways of getting down –
walking, running, crawling and sliding down on your bottom. All methods were captured by Alannah’s
camera.
The children learned a new term – “The wild wee”
Rohan discovered something else he was allergic to – carrying
kit bags.
When we reached the bottom of the valley it was time for
lunch. A variety of sandwiches, cake and
hula hoops. Tatziana found what she
thought was jam in her cake and Mr Britten gladly accepted his second slice of
cherry cake! The children took turns, after lunch, experiencing
the delights of a “Wild Wee” but drew the line at using the moss.
The children then carried out a river study. They measured the temperature, water depth and
speed. The speed of the river is worked
out using a tape measure, stop watch, calculator and dog biscuit. “Don’t worry about the dog biscuit – it’s
biodegradable!” A sample of the wildlife
in the stream was collected and classified using tree diagrams and
pictures. Screams of delight could be
heard when Lewis and Katie discovered some mating water shrimps. Bernie, our tutor, quietened the hysteria – “He’s
just protecting her from the current!”
Interestingly, after being discovered by 16 screaming children the
shrimps went their separate ways!
The walk back to the minibus was steep and challenging. Several rests were taken on the way to look
at an old burial site and the remains of an ancient settlement. Before setting off back we had a game of
foxes and grouses. A lot of the learning
at Cranedale uses games to help children learn key concepts in a fun way. This game involves three foxes (Cameron,
Katie and Lewis) hunting down twelve grouse.
The grouse made it difficult by hiding behind the heather. Pink hoodies were not the best attire and
Jessie P, Amelia and Victoria were easy prey for the foxes. Everyone had a turn being a fox until it was
time to go back to the centre. There are
an awful lot of sun tanned faces after a brilliant day when temperatures hit 26
degrees.
Evening meal was vegetable soup, ham and tomato quiche,
chips, salad, jam sponge and custard.
Victoria commented that Mr Britten was right – “The food is excellent”
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