On the 13th of September 2017 more than 60,000 students received their Junior Certificate results. After receiving our results we went out to our parents to discuss the results, lots of students went to see teachers to tell them their grades in that subject. After we finished discussing our results we then headed off to Lough Dan aboard the school buses. Arriving in Lough Dan we were faced with a large open grass field beside the lough where we were able to set up our tents. After about an hour we had finished pitching our tents and we were given a speech about how we had to leave the campsite as we found it. We cooked lunch on our camping stoves and then we went for a walk up the mountains.
Later on that night we were allowed to light a campfire in a metal trough and we all sat around it listening to music and toasting marshmallows which was a really fun part of the trip. We went to bed at eleven o'clock that night and slept through till the morning. In the morning most of us woke at about 8 o clock and made breakfast, some of us made breakfast outside our tents and some of us made breakfast in the barn. It rained on and off during the morning so we decide to go on our 22km hike at about 11:30. The hike was very long but we stopped halfway on a nice beach beside the lake. After lunch we trudged through marshy grassland until we reached the river. We were given the choice to cross on rocks with heavy flowing water which wouldn't be possible or to walk further up the grassland so we could reach the safer crossing, seeing that we would have to walk further if we did not want to get wet, we just started walking through the water at shin height and some students were carried across by people who had already gotten wet. We then walked back to the campsite to finish our 22km hike. About ten minutes after we got back we were allowed to go swimming in the lake which was really cool. Most of us went running straight into the water to feel the unexpected freezing water hit our skin, we messed around for a few minutes and then raced up to the showers to warm up. We cooked our food and then sat around the campfire until we went to bed. The next morning we packed up our tents cleaned the campsite and did a final inspection of the ground and then we went home. Overall I really enjoyed the camping trip and thought it was a great experience.