Camp Journal
‘Whater’ day of adventure
8th August 2011
Making Waves
Today the Green and Yellow groups took a splash at the Aquaparc. We were spoilt for choice with around 10 different water slides to choose from. The bravest of the group ventured the Booster Loop; for those of you not familiar with the ride, you begin standing over a trap door in a tube that is rather rapidly filling up with water, once half full you hear the dreaded 3 beeps and the trap door opens, you plummet vertically for 20 metres before level off and looping round the rest of the not-so-tame slide. The Yellow group competed to see who could face the ultimate challenge the most number of times. With no clear victor and after much deliberation it was decided that they were all equally as brave… They recovered whilst floating down the lazy river before taking to the Jacuzzi to relax further.
Red and Blue Riders at the Ready
Helmets, gloves and bikes at the ready and the Blue and Red groups were off to Plan de Croix for an afternoon of, if you hadn’t already guessed, mountain biking!
First things first, campers learned how to perform the all important safety check of their bikes, under the expert instruction of one our our mountain bike leaders. Once all checked and in order it was time to begin the skills session. Various games and challenges tested their balance, steering and their braking, skills that would serve them well later on, on the off-road trails.
Following the skills session campers got to practice on the three control tracks. The groups start on a half track with a death defying drop, before moving onto some sharp turns and finally heading over to the rocky section of track. After campers master this track they qualify for the advanced course; a challenging course consisiting of riding over a balance bridge, a pyramid and onto a hard turn. This course set the campers up for the most challenging part of the activity- the ride home. Consisting of some road and some off-road sections through the woods, the course tests the riders’ abilities to the maximum. I’m glad to say that although we had a few wobblers and a couple of tumblers, everyone made it back to camp with the total number of injuries at zero, and their adrenaline levels sky high after a truly exhilarating afternoon of mountain biking.
