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I know it has been a long time since I've updated, but as of TODAY I am officially finished with school for the semester. Now that I'm done with all of my final papers and don't want to leave my room since it's raining (big surprise), I finally have a little bit of time to share what I've been up to in the past few months.
This trip to Wales was the first trip I took after getting settled in London, It's taken so long to write a blog entry about it because I've been waiting for the photos from an underwater camera to get developed. A group of newly aquainted friends and I were offered a special deal to attend the "Preseli Venture' outdoor high adventure camp, and went on a weekend long trip filled with sea kayaking, cliff diving, hiking, and hot cocoa.
The camp was about an 8-hour bus ride away, on the western coast in Pembrokeshire, Wales. As we made our journey, the second week of February, we began to get a little alarmed--it was snowing outside and we were going to be jumping in the ocean? Was this really such a great idea?
We arrived at our all-inclusive camp and were met by a really welcoming staff and were given great food and beds to sleep in. The next morning we woke up early, had breakfast, and geared up in our wetsuits. The activities for today: Sea Kayaking and Coasteering.
The kayaking was great, I've had some practice at scout camp a few years ago, and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. After a quick lesson, we played a few games (water polo, tag), and then got to explore a bit around the coast. Kayaking in the ocea was a bit different than on a river because on a river you can see where the rapids are and get ready. In the ocean, the waves are constant and seem to want to dump you any chance they have. Luckilly, there were no casualties this time.
Coasteering is a combination of sea level traversing, rock climbing, cliff jumping, and swimming into sea caves. Unfortunately the weater was not cooperative when it was my group's turn and we didn't get to do as much as we hoped we would. We still got to do some rock climbing and jump off
of 30-foot ledges into the freezing ocean. Instead of going to the 'rough' areas and exploring the sea caves we had to stay in a lagoon to avoid getting sweapt out to sea. It was still a really awesome activity, hopefully I'll get the chance to try it again somewhere and not be hindered by the uncooperative February weather!
Day 2 we took a 3 hour hike along the coast line and got to experince the countryside first hand. It was really a beautiful area. The water was an amazing color, and our hiking trail lead us 'over land and over sea' past hundreds of sheep (some that we had to chase off of the trail), over hills that felt like mountains, and through flooded patches that resembled lake michigan! Finally we ended on a rocky beach and while trying to wade in it were almost knocked over by waves--needless to say, we returned from our hike a little wet and a lotta muddy!
The entire weekend was really a lot of fun. It reminded me of how much I love to be outside and just play outdoors. But then again, how could you not love to play
and have fun?
ps. i know it's been 3 months, but now you can stop buggin me for these pictures, dad!
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