Year 5 Auvergne Residential Visit
Year 5 were off to an early start last Wednesday when the coach pulled away from school at 07:30 in the morning to take us on our residential trip to Auvergne. Several hours later, the excitement grew as we caught our first glimpse of the Puy de Dôme, the highest volcano in the famous Chaîne des Puys, on the horizon. We arrived mid-afternoon and there wasn’t even time to unpack before we headed out for our first activity, which was orienteering in the local park.
On Thursday, morning we climbed our first volcano, the Puy de Vichatel. The walk took us past a lake created by the volcanic eruptions and over the lava flow. We observed the holes in the volcanic rocks created by bubbles of gas and were surprised to discover how light the rocks were because of this. When we reached the top, our guides asked us to close our eyes then led us forwards and there were gasps of awe as we opened them to find ourselves standing at the top of the crater.
In the afternoon, we took the train to the top of the Puy de Dôme. We started off admiring the views from the windows, but these suddenly disappeared as the train drove right into a cloud that was sitting on the top of the mountain! We didn’t stay long at the summit as it was extremely cold and windy and was starting to snow, but many of the children described walking through the cloud as their best experience on the trip, and it certainly made standing on the viewing platform feel like an adventure!
Friday was our final day, and we went to the Vulcania theme park where simulator rides took us on an eagle’s flight across Auvergne, down to the depths of the ocean to view underwater volcanoes and back 7000 years in time to when the Chaîne des Puys was formed – a very exciting ending to an unforgettable trip!