Group 1 members: 

• Scarlett, Rose, Erin, Belle, Emilia, Bella, Kornelia, Hayley, Pippa, Autumn

Monday

After a 4 hour coach journey we arrived at Arete! After we were given bedding and a quick chat, we had a quick 5 minutes to make our beds. This was a challenge for some of us! We then had our second challenge of the week: putting on a wetsuit. Our first activity was rafting on Llyn Padarn. We had a great time paddling round then at the end, we were allowed to jump off the pontoon. Kornelia lost her trainer in the lake! Oops!

We are now dry and back at the venue waiting for our dinner! This evening we are off for a walk in the local area. 

Tuesday

After getting the gear sorted, the group were reading to head off gorge scrambling for the day. The group arrived at a very sunny Afonddu Gorge, after a very scenic drive! 

The group started the ascent up the gorge, within minutes Bella had tumbled into the water, reassuring the group that it was in fact, very cold! As the group scrambled up the waterfalls and very slippy rocks, we found that lots of water in our wellies made it rather hard to walk! As we reached the half way point, we came to a group of rocks, very appropriately named the elephants bum! Erin guided everyone through the elephants mouth, with Scarlett guiding everyone across the river. The whole group demonstrated resilience and overcame fears when crossing a fast flowing part of the river, stepping carefully across the ridge so they didn’t fall in, however as gracefully shown by Hayley it wasn’t that easy! When we reached the highest point in our scramble, all the girls swam in a pool and got themselves a little more damp, especially Rose who was the first to swim across and refresh herself at the waterfall, quickly followed by everyone else! The team made their way back down the gorge and could hear the squelching of the water in the wellies. 

After we’d got themselves dry, we enjoyed at hot chocolate at the minibus before heading back to the centre ready for dinner and our evening activities. 

Wednesday

Morning! Miss Dutton's group were ready and raring to go down to Rhiwbach Mine today! As we hopped on the minibus, we got kitted with our waterproofs and wellies (some that were still a bit soggy from yesterday). As we climbed some 'Welsh flats' - not very flat - the group got closer to the entrance of the mine. When we reached the mine, we started our journey through the first stretch of walking. We got to kayak, zipline, rock climb, abseil and walk up and down a waterfall, which we all completed with determination and resilience. Our motto of the day was 'you're smashing it' and we motivated each other throughout the whole activity. We learnt about caving history and the creation of the mine. We listened to the stories of the miners' superstitions and were given a demonstration of the reaction of quartz smashing together, in complete darkness, whilst drinking our hot chocolate. When we reached the end of the mine, we bum shuffled their way down some very slippy stones back to the minibus. 

We are now on our way back to Arete, ready to have our dinner and have a movie night and rest, ready for a full day of adventure again tomorrow! 

Thursday

After our morning jobs, we got ready to start the day of activities. After a short drive on the minibus, we headed over to Shotgun Zip Quarry to do a zip wire. We kitted up with the harnesses and climbing helmets, and made our way up to the quarry, ready to begin. We all took it in turns to get clipped up and swing down the zip wire. Along the way, another team informed us that they had Kornelia’s missing shoe, that she’d lost on the first day (phew!) 

Once we got back to the minibus, we had some lunch and drove to the next activity. However, on the way we chased three silly sheep down the road! 

In the afternoon, we did a mountain hike up Moel Eilio, which was really challenging. There were quite a few steep slopes but we paced ourselves and made it to the top! Coming down, we were a lot quicker as we wanted to get back to the bus! 

This evening, we are looking forward to doing the nightline and demonstrating our team work! 

Friday

This morning is a busy morning of packing ready for our departure after lunch. We need to strip our beds and tidy our dorms... I wonder how long this might take us? After breakfast we will have our final activity: rock climbing.

When we reached the rock face, we got kitted up into our harnesses ready to climb. All of our team worked really hard and climbed all the way to the top! We all tested out different routes to the top to, with some that may have been more challenging, but we smashed it! 
 

Once we get back to centre, we will get ourselves onto the coach ready for the trip home! We’ve had a great time. 
 

Favourite Activity from each team member! 
 

Emilia - Gorge Scrambling 

Autumn - Zipwire across the quarry

Hayley - Gorge Scrambling 

Scarlett - Caving (zipwire) 

Pippa - The Nightline 

Kornelia - Caving (hot chocolate in the pitch black) 

Belle - Gorge Scrambling 

Rose - I loved them all! 

Erin - Gorge Scrambling 

Bella - Caving (zipwire)