Raf had been looking forward to his party for weeks and was so happy when he woke to a warm and sunny day! Our group arrived at the gorge and nerves were soothed by Ali and her helper, (and Raf’s school climbing teacher), Richard. Some of the boys had no experience of climbing at all but with their encouragement and expertise they all put in an amazing effort! I found it really inspiring to watch the boys getting stuck at some points, but calling on all their nerve and determination to reach the top. Such a fantastic thing for them to do, on both an emotional and physical level. Each of them improved on every subsequent climb. I was determined to show my boys that I was brave enough to do it too, having climbed there when I was a teenager at school (but done no climbing since!). I felt very safe but that didn’t stop it from being quite a scary thing to do! Reaching the top was a relief and coming down was great fun! It was lovely to share the climbing experience with my family and friends. It’s great that Ali gave the adults a chance to climb too. We were all buzzing for the rest of the weekend! We will organise more climbing soon! Symonds Yat is next on the list!
Thank you Ali for giving us all such a memorable and fun weekend!