Day 1
We arrived all excited and ready to go, the instructor told us what we were doing for our afternoon activity and who we were in our room with. We then got kitted up and went for a very adventurous walk through the stream and did a variety of challenges. Dinner was pizza and chips and for dessert we had profiteroles. Our evening activity was orienteering, where we ran around the woods in the dark collecting codes followed by hot chocolate and a story before bed.
Day 2
Breakfast consisted of cereal followed by a hot cooked breakfast. We were then given our instructions for our daily activities. Blue and Red groups headed off up the quarry to do some climbing and bouldering, the weather was amazing with sunshine all day with spectacular views from the top, Yellow and Green head underground to explore the dark damp caves and Orange group headed off to canoe on the canal.
Evening Activity – Dingle (river) Decent
We met in the yard after supper to get kitted out in our waterproofs, helmets, ropes, and wellies.
Each group was tied together with a rope and we had to work as a team to descend the dingle in the dark with only a few head torches. This made us laugh and giggle as we fell and splashed around in the water. On our return to Pencelli, we emptied our wellies of water and got changed for bed.
Day 3
After a good night’s sleep and big breakfast, we got wrapped up with at least 4 layers ready for our activities. Today the Blue and Yellow groups went Canoeing, Green and Orange went Climbing and the Red group went caving.
We paddled along the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal for three miles in total and saw loads of ducks, two deer, a pig, some sheep, and a squirrel. The view from the canal was amazing and we could see for miles in the sunshine.
Today we went rock climbing, we had a 30-minute bus journey followed by a 30-minute walk up to the rock face. We explored the lower area before lunch and after lunch, we tackled the longer, harder climbs.
In the dark, gloomy caves, we crawled on our hands and knees through narrow tunnels and around smooth, damp rocks. It was brilliant fun sliding down the rock slide into a puddle! In the end, we waded waist-deep through the river, and our wellies were full of water.
Day 4
Today we drove 40 minutes up to a quarry called Molaris. First of all, we did some bouldering and after lunch, we tackled some more challenging climbs and belaying.
Green and red groups canoed along the canal today. We started at Pencelli and paddled under bridges, past canal barges, and ended up through a 240m tunnel. There was some great paddling, steering, and teamwork and nobody fell in! We finished the day packing up the canoes and the brave ones amongst us had a dip in the canal!
Orange and Blue group also had an amazing day today at the caves. We explored the entrances to the caves and found out how the water had changed course and created the cave system. After lunch, we put all our caving suits on and set off underground. Taking it in turns to lead we crawled, slid, and wriggled through tiny tunnels into wide caverns. We conquered our fears, helped each other, and grew in confidence. Wet and muddy we emerged ready for our last dinner and bonfire.
We have gained confidence as a group this week.
The weather has been absolutely amazing this week.
