Junior Boys' Boarding Blog – 8 January

Happy New Year! Mr Lawrence and I hope you have had a restful and enjoyable holiday, reunited with your boys for a few weeks.

I am glad to say that they all look pleased to be back in Truro and boarding, although some of the early mornings have come as a bit of a shock – things will settle back into routine before long, I’m sure.

With Alex A arriving from Paris this morning, we returned to our full contingent. We also welcomed our new boarder Mattis from Hamburg, who joins Truro School in the 4^th Year (fellow 4^th Consty is delighted to have another German in the boarding house). Cam was right back to it yesterday, going on another long 30 mile walk from Mullion as part of his Ten Tors Training. Fortunately for him, the recent perpetual rain in Cornwall dried up for the weekend and was replaced by glorious sunshine (albeit very cold temperatures) – this meant another coast walk with stunning views.

The boys enjoyed tucking into their first brunch of the year on Saturday morning, and our regular pizzas went down very well in the evening too – Christmas certainly hasn’t spoiled their appetite. Today, we had the chance to spend a few hours at the Granite Planet climbing centre in Penryn (near Falmouth). This indoor climbing centre gave the whole boarding community access to the walls, showing us the ropes and safety requirements, and then letting the boys manage the ropes for each other from then on. This independence (supervised from a distance) allowed the boarders to climb almost constantly for several hours and gave them a very useful skill for any future climbing they might do.

All the boys seemed to enjoy it tremendously. Sadly, Max and Trevor were unable to climb due to injury but they were responsible for all the photos you see below. Alex, Cam and Hector’s group seemed to really enjoy the routes with overhangs, while Consty and Mattis were naturals, taking on routes that I couldn’t manage with great skill (5b difficulty). I think they really enjoyed the experience and hope to have another go again soon.