I have been on a trip, as you might have guessed, and I am copying everything out from my journal, so it will crossings out and dates and things. If you like the idea, please comment and say and I will do it more often. Onto my journal.
Friday, 17th April 2015
Guess where we are? In a PGL trip in Shropshire. It’s nearly 7:00 now. At 7, we’re going for a campfire. At 6:50, right now, we’ve been in this journal writing. So far, we’ve been playing with my friend Myrren in the field-hills and the forests. I’ll get back to you in…a few hours?! Oh, and for dinner we had (well, I had) meatballs, chips, vegetables and tomato sauce. Then we had a fudgy, custardy thing with chocolate brownies, followed by a sour apple. And our lodge – it’s so nice! We’ve got two bunkbeds, one to the side of the room, one facing forwards. Then we’ve got a small bathroom, and two bookshelves. It’s really sweet!
Hello again! Yes indeed, it’s 9:41! We’ve been for a bonfire and played with my friend and her little sister. My friend wanted to play a particular game with me, so I said, “Okay, what’s the game?” So she explained. Basically, she was my pet lion and also a trainee. But my friend’s sister, Emma, wanted to play a different game, so it was pretty awkward.
But we went to the campfire too, and Jo, Dean and Millie/Milly went to entertain us by the fire. It was really funny, and we acted out in a story.
Saturday 18th April 2015
Today we went canoeing in the morning until just before lunch. They didn’t actually do much proper canoeing, only half an hour, and instead we did more quizzes and splashing each other. But it was still 33% out of 100%. I suppose we still had fun though, and all the leaders were funny with their sing-songery.
Then we went on an obstacle course named Challenge Course, but it was 8% out of 100%, and I am NOT joking! It was so much like school – queues, waits as long as 30 mins per one, and everything was so dull. We weren’t allowed to just play on the things, but we had to wait to be told which thing we were allowed to play on, and how long for, and even exactly how we were supposed to play on it! The leader said it was because of ‘Health and Safety’, but it was just weird.
After that we went abseiling. It was a huge wooden wall where you put your harness and jump down the wall with your feet. It was 53% out of 100%. Then we had a delicious dinner and went to bed, tired as macaroni.
Sunday 19th April 2015
Unfortunately, though, we had to go home today, but anyway, this was the best day ’cause we got to go on the GIANT SWING. It is a kind of metal log that you attatch your harness to. Then people pull a rope onto the highest setting, where you are left there, dangling on a leathery nylony thing attatched to metal. Then you pull a ropey cord and you go really REALLY high, and it would be so cool and I WENT ON IT! It was 99% out of 100%. It would be better if we had more than two goes, though.
Next was Rifle-Shooting. We didn’t go round shooting polar bears in the Arctic, though. Instead, we had lead pellets and tried to shoot targets through windows. This was 47% out of 100%. We had to wear funny glasses so that we didn’t get a pellet in our eye. I got some good scores on the target sheet. The gun was very, very heavy, so Mummy had to help me cock it, but I shot the pellets myself.
After lunch, we did some archery. This was my I think third time? But anyway, this time was the best out of all of them. I give it 60% out of 100% percent. First we began to get the hang of it quickly. We did ‘up the mountain, down the valley, into the cave and through the plastic bunny ears’ with the arrow and the bow. We also played some games like ‘Pizza’, where you choose what the colours are on the target and try to get a successful pizza with your arrows.
The last activity apart from lunch on the trip was High Ropes. Tell you what, I hated it. It was 1% out of 100%. It was the same height as the Abseiling Tower, but instead of abseiling you had to attach yourself to a harness and slide yourself along some ropes with a metal thing called a trolley above your head. It was very scary. I was TERRIFIED, crying myself out of it, but evantually I said, “No. I WILL do it, whether I like it or not. I WILL. This is SILLY.” So, being ever so terrified, I did it! Some of the grown-ups went on it, were very scared and came down, but being eight, I did it!
Overall, PGL was really, very fun. Nobody was arguing, nobody being a pain (apart from the boys, but you know what they’re like). If we go again I’d like to go on the Giant Zipwire, more goes on the Giant Swing, the quad-bikes and the Giant Trapeze. And make the 50-50 thing earlier at night (6:30 ish?) because I was really tired when it started at 7:00, and Mummy had gone to the bar until 8:15! Some of the activities weren’t my favourites – we have done most of them loads of times at Cubs, and I would rather do the high, swingy, fast, speedy about, rides. But I really liked being on holiday and staying in a bunk bed, and having all that scrumptious food in the dinner-hall, and having loads of my friends just outside to play with. It would have been better if we had more time between activities to play and to explore the woods and stuff, and also there was a swimming pool we saw but we weren’t allowed in it :/ And it would have been better if Andy was there (but he had to stay at home and do ‘work’), although I don’t think he would’ve liked the singing like I did! I hope we can go again next year, DEFINITELY!!
