Hi,
I don't want to jinx things, but we had a really peaceful night last night!! All the children slept really well, in fact I had to wake some up this morning!! Although it was raining, this didn't dampen our spirits and after a great breakfast of numerous bowls of cereal and bacon rolls, followed by room inspection (from now on, your children will be making their beds, tidying their rooms, emptying the bin and hoovering - well most anyway), we were ready for another day of fun activities.
Mrs Sellers, Miss O'Sullivan and Mr Fane's group donned helmets, head torches and caving suits and after a 40 minute journey by mini bus, arrived at the caves. The initial reaction from the children was how huge they were, as the opening is massive. Spending time exploring the opening part to the caves calmed any underlying fears some may have had. The two groups went off in different direction to complete challenges such as The Wormhole, The White Line Challenge and of course, The 'infamous' Letterbox. Comments such as, " This is great; can we come again tomorrow?" and, " That's was amazing, but very tight." could be heard, as the groups headed back to their mini buses. Both groups ended up exiting via the back of the caves, which means walking up the river, which might explain why one child said "I loved it but it was VERY wet!!".
My group and Mr O'Malley's group headed off in a different direction, to the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal. My group started at Talybont and Mr O'Malley's group started at Pencelli. The children in both groups were fantastic at communicating and working together and quickly mastered the art of going straight, which is quite a bonus when you want to end up where the other group started. At some point in the journey, both groups met and performed the act of exchanging mini bus keys - clearly a new activity that has been introduced at Woodlands, since I came here two years ago. After a small water fight (encouraged by myself -sorry), both groups continued their journey to their final destination. My group, all managed to complete the course without anyone accidentally ending up in the water. Unfortunately, that cannot be said for Mr O'Malley's group. The question is, who did go overboard?...You've guessed it, Mr O'Malley himself!! Luckily, he was wearing his life jacket, so resurfaced quickly. Thankfully, the canal is only 4ft deep so he was quickly back in the boat, though now rather wet. Some of my group chose to jump in to the canal, at the end - something I've never quite understood why they'd want to.
Back at Woodlands, everyone was fed with a lovely chicken curry, including rice and poppadums followed by sponge pudding and custard.
Right now the children are running round the grounds, in the rain, doing an orienteering course. There are two courses to complete, so I am hoping they will be extremely tired and want to go straight to bed, when they get in. Wish me luck with that one!
Tomorrow is our last full day of activities so I will update you tomorrow on how it went.
I wish you all a good night,
Becky Roberts