Bob the mountain dog...

Now we have had a fun April, with some great groups coming in, and experiencing some new adventures of our own. With us taking our freshly converted van for its first trip away, to organising a charity quick jump day in aid of a local teacher running the London marathon for Macmillan cancer support, April certainly has been a busy month both in and out of work.

In work we have had a great variety of groups coming in, with different ages, abilities and backgrounds. One of these groups was from North Wales who brought along some young adults, they were a brilliant bunch of people with the leaders doing a fantastic job of encouraging the young people to push themselves and try new experiences, it was one of the most rewarding groups for me as an instructor we've had in so far this year. We have also had some great birthday parties and climbing sessions, and our first uniform group of the year with a group of cubs from Frodsham coming for a climbing session. We also ran an event in aid of a local teacher running the London marathon, with brave participants taking on our quick jump in miserable weather raising nearly £200 on the day for Macmillan cancer support.

Out of work we have had some good times too. As I mentioned earlier we have been converting our van into a day van to be able to use it for the odd night away. We took Helga on her first trip away since the work had finished for a test run to see how well it would work. We decided North Wales would be as good a place as any to visit so we took a trip to the Dinorwic slate quarry to take a look round and found a fantastic place with great views and plenty to see.

From here we went across to Anglesey and stayed the night at Rhosneigr, with Sally cooking a tasty tea and Bob creating some strange noises and even stranger smells we had a very cosy night in the van. Then with bacon eaten, and pack lunches made we went off for our latest mountain walk.

We decided to walk up a couple of the Glyderau range in Snowdonia. We set off from Llyn Idwal to make our way up Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. It was an experience we won't forget for a long time especially the descent coming down next to the Devils kitchen, with Bob enjoying being a mountain dog and watching the climbers on the Idwal slab.

A successful trip rounded off was with pie, chips and gravy, we feel the van is ready for some trips further afield.

So with May already here and more exciting times ahead, I look forward to writing our next blog and letting you In on our adventures.