Okay, dive in head first

Signing up for an active holiday in Wales doesn’t mean just a bit of fresh air. It means scaring the beejeesus out of yourself and getting soaked in the process. Gorge walking pushed me to the limits. In fact, it pushed me over the limit. It pushed me over the rocks into a waterfall.

Not my happy face

Let me just say, this would be a lot more fun in the summer. Yet when all is said and done, what a crazy exciting experience. The Afon-Meltta River in South Wales is home to this gorge walking expedition, which doesn’t involve walking so much as tossing, wading, swimming, sliding and jumping. The company Call of the Wild does a good job of not making you feel stupid and laughable, and the staff manages to be kindly and encouraging, (though they must secretly be thinking we – at least I – were stupid and laughable. And in the end … success and achievement.

Rocked it!

Until they told us we’d only done half of it. A longer 3 km trek goes from May on. Whatever. Half a success is better than none at all.

Nice sheep

My first day in Wales and I am bruised, sore and ready for wine with dinner. Brecon Beacons National Park is a scenic (duh, what park isn’t?) inland park with a lot of sheep.

A long way down

But my fun was all indoors today, at the Llangorse Multi Activity Centre with 5,000 square feet of climbing and bouldering and caving. They imported tons of limestone in so that you’re climbing on real rocks, and when they didn’t get permission to build high enough, they dug deep, so you’re sort of climbing out of a really deep pit. That’s after you’ve gone across the pit on ropes in various scary manners.

I suck at many of these activities. The worst was some fake wall where you are somehow supposed to fly up magically and grab hold of the top of the wall. Not.

Surpristingly, I and the smallest girl, a woman from Vancouver, who we will call Cinderella because her climbing shoes fit on the first try, while mine, were – you guessed it -too small. Just call me ugly stepsister. But the thing is, she and I climbed the very highest hardest wall of all. Hurrah for the little people (especially the little people with long, though narrow, feet.)

Look at Cindarella go!

Now I’m in a posh country hotel in the library and a group of Americans and Brits sitting around the fireplace are talking about Euthanasia. Apparently it’s legal in Thailand and Switzerland. But I don’t think my group will need any assistance that way. Either this trip will put us in the peak of health or well, yah know … we won’t require assistance.