A Great Day Out

We are a fit family, we try to eat well (apart from the occasional treat) and get plenty of exercise. Having said all that, Jack, our son, is a Playstation addict and we’ve had to prise him away from it on more than one occasion.

At eight he’s now too old for the usual children’s adventure play centres with their soft play, bouncy castles and endless toddlers to trip over. When we heard that the Welsh International Climbing and Activity Centre had been taken over, we were keen to give it a try.

We still get the “are we there yet”on a loop so were pleased to learn that the centre is only a 40 minute car journey from Cardiff, being close to the Brecon Beacons, yet within easy access of Cardiff and the Vale (off Jct 32 of the M4 and up the A470, following the brown tourist signs from the Abercynon roundabout).

Set in the Taff Bargoed Valley and close to the Brecon Beacons the Centre is a great setting to learn to climb or have a fun day out for all the family, as it provides the base for a great range of outdoor adventures or so the leaflet said.

Indoors and outdoors, the range of activities was enormous. With climbing, caving, mountain biking, kayaking and canoeing, high ropes assault course, mountain walking and gorge scrambling, rafting and team building, orienteering and quad biking, there was enough activity available to suit all of our tastes, although how we were going to fit just a few in in one day escaped me.

Knowing that we would be in the hands of experienced and qualified instructors and that all instruction, safety briefings and equipment were provided put my mind at rest. No sooner had we arrived, than Jack made a bee-line for the climbing wall area. Boasting Wales’ largest indoor climbing walls these have been designed with routes of varying difficulties for climbers to test their abilities. Jack took to the wall like a pro, climbing hand over hand up the wall until he reached the top, banging on the board to announce his victory over vertigo.

“It was really good getting to the top of the wall. I’m going to tell all my friends when I get back to school. In some parts it was really tough and
I thought, a couple of times, I was going to fall but I was brave and kept going until I reached the top” Jack exclaimed, proudly as he reached terra firma once more.

We then went for a bike ride along one of the many cycle routes near the centre. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of our day as it gave us the chance to spend precious time together, as well as breathing in some fresh air. We were all tired and hungry by the time we got back to the centre. A hearty meal of lasagne and salad in the licensed bar/restaurant filled the gap nicely. We decided that we would definitely come back as there were so many activities that we wanted to try out.

On the journey home, we chatted about our day and which activities we would tackle on our next trip. Once home, the Playstation was left unplugged and after a nice long soak in the bath, we all slept like logs.