Urban Residential/Camping With Animals

As the weather picked up and the wind swayed through the trees another adventure emerged for myself as I dug deep into the canal and followed the water up stream.

A small camping trip for one night and one night only ment I travelled up a gritty, leafy and muddy path whilst the others rafted/canoed through the dark, dull and watery canal setting sail for the Hand & Dagger pub calling our name.

Even though I walked and didn't craft it, I still learned about many things along the way which helped me develop my own knowledge into the adventure that lay ahead.

Watching the boats drift up the canal was soothing and relaxing as I made my journey into the wilderness of Newton with Clifton, exploring every little detail through my eyes.


As I approached the destination, teamwork developed as we carried the crafts up to our campsite and pitched our accommodations for the night.



Food was on the agenda next and my goodness I was hungry, my belly gave out a almighty grumble like it was talking to me to feed it.



As I finished up for the night and settled into my cosey, warm and cuddly sleeping bag, I listened to the animals settling in and soothed myself to sleep.
You can't go wrong with a rooster or can you as dawn broke all you heard was at them squawking waking me up to a cold and misty morning. Lucky it was in a cage or words would of turned dramatically.



As breakfast was inhaled down and a cup of tea sipped like champagne it was home time and as we all bailed to the canal and set sail for Valentine's House another adventure had been ticked off my list.

PYB - First Week - Multi Week Activities

Introduction

5am Monday morning start is always a good way to start your day especially when i was travelling down to PYB (Plas Y Brenin) for a multi-week activity session.

7.30 sharpish at the uni was the first thing myself and Martin who was on my course had to do and once on the coach it was a 3hr journey down to Capil Curig. 

Fast foward 3hrs and we reached destination station and grabbed our bags, and set a course for a meet and greet with the PYB staff.

My group consited of Martin, Keaton, Alex and myself who had a member of PYB as a support for the week called Alex as well and who could forget about Sid who was our instructor for the week.

ACTIVITY ONE

As we settled into our rooms and meet up as one group again, the first adventurous activity was a hike/navigation to Pont Cyfyng and back.

The afternoon was bright and dry for a change since Wales is always wet and miserable but we took a nice stroll into the valleys and up trecking through the paths of Pont Cyfyng.

The day ended nicely and i got to chat with my support Alex about how to deal with my medical and disability side of things and we relaxed for the evening.

ACTIVITY TWO

You can't go wrong with a bit of canoeing and climbing, especially in Wales were the views are astonishing and beautiful.

Today we had a different instructor as Sid ditched us for Nottingham, so Sabrinna aka Sabby was in charge and my goodness can she talk.

As we set sail into the lakes of Llyn Padarn, we joined as two groups and paddled up stream and along the banks of the lake to a landmark called Lion Rock whiched we scrambled up to the top of with nature looking up at us.

Weather was dry but windy with gusts blowing around 10mph but not a bad day to start an activity.
Alex had found me a Gandalf Stick which i would use on Thursday for our activity session.

ACTIVITY THREE

Half way through the week and time was ticking by as i was finishing off my first multi-week activy thing.
Sea Kayaking, well were to start, I like being on the water because its relaxing and peaceful sometimes.

We traveled to Tal Y Cafen down to Conwy and along the Conwy Estuary, as a group we stuck together due to the waves being choppy and the tide trailing out.
3 days on a run it had been nice weather, thats a record for Wales but as the day ended it became apparent that wasn't going to be the case over my final two days at PYB.

ACTIVITY FOUR

Well were to begin, as the weather drew a short straw it became apparent that today was not going to be a nice day.

Our journey took us hillwalking up Watkin Path to Bwlch Cwm Saethau above Cwm Tregalan (north of Yr Aran).

As the weather started off nice and the clouds formed as one, the unpredictable weather of Wales came crashing in and temperatures dropped dramatically we raced against time to reach the horses shoe and dropped back down into the Valley exploring the slate houses along the way.

ACTIVITY FIVE

Our final decent was going to be up Afon ddu Gorge, this was my favourite thing to accomplish as i loved being in water even if was cold.

Temperature wasn't to bad apart from freezing cold water but I managed to scamble my way up through the backside of the elephants bum.

Getting deeper into the water coldness was winning and after reaching our peak point it was time to turn round and head back to PYB

There were so many learning points and curves along my journey into Wales:

Teamwork - As a group we stuck together and worked as a team to trek through the different nature spots and creating memories along the way.

Communication Skills - As adventure activitys can be dangerous and skillful communication is a big key part of outdoor leadership and as a team we had to communicate in different ways e.g signals, body language etc to keep us safe and alive.

AS THE TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES START TO PICK UP AGAIN, STAY TUNED IN FOR MORE TO FOLLOW AND DISCOVER A WORLD BEYOND YOUR OWN EYES