The best value trip for up to 2 adults and 3 children under the age of 16. You can do up to 3 activities for the bargain price of £240 per family.
So what does the Family Adventure Day involve?
Well I suppose it starts with a family, sometimes two families, with similar age ranges for children. We don’t normally mix primary and secondary school aged children except when one family has those ages of children in them. Families do come in all shapes and sizes so we have to make sure that there is something for everyone.
The day usually starts with rock climbing. We use a small quarry located not a million miles away from the lake shore with car parking close by. of course it is easy to find so with a bit of planning it’s easy to arrive on time. A short walk (200m) form the car park and you are climbing. The climbs are quite short but range in difficulty so there are opportunities for a range of challenges. We aim to get 2 or 3 climbs in with everyone either climbing or helping to belay the climber. The ideal is that the instructor sits and watches and offers encouragement and the group do all the work.
On the water
Around 11;30 am we move off back to our base (about a 10 minute drive). Most people eat something at this point just to top up the tanks. Then there is a quick change into wetsuits (unless it is really warm) and then a hoof down to the lake for a boating session. We most often use canoes although with older children 12+ we can use kayaks depending on the weather. The boating will involve a mixture of a short journey, some games… some more games and may be some skills in between. We generally finish the paddling around 1345 and then walk back up to the base.
The final Leg
Back in the base we put on some more gear (helmets), sometimes drink a bit more and head for the gorge up the hill. We aim to be in the gorge by about 1430 although it’s not a race. The gorge is literally a bit of a scramble and almost invariably our big finish. Some small legs sometimes find the walk up the hill a bit of a slog but it only takes about 15 minutes at quite a slow pace. The reward is getting into cool clear water and scrambling and swimming up the beck. Pools, small water features to scramble/swim through follow before we eit the beck around 1600 hrs to return to base in time for tea and medals.
Timings vary and we try to back the activities in without making people feel rushed. After all you are there to enjoy yourself.