For those who actually noticed, I wasn’t actually here Sunday to Thursday. Turns out I missed out on some epic activities, but I was busy having some happy days out in the sticks just off the Wales border. This was my little trip to Longtown for my Duke of Edinburgh Residential section, and you know what, it wasn’t bad.
It was a pretty long journey up there. 4 hour train rides, with one rail replacement service is never good. So from Northampton, to Rugby, to Newport, to Abergavenny I go.
Get in a taxi (eventually, after waiting a couple of hours of standing like a lemon as my train was early) with a guy with a thick Welsh accent. Eventually, on the ride home with the same guy, I picked it up. Being surrounded by the Welsh makes one’s ears accustomed to their tones… or something.
So yeah, the week was a pretty epic one. We met Ewan, the main sort of guy for the week, with a few other people helping out in between. He gave us a tour, assigned tasks for us to do and helpers for food times, and yeah. Off to do a bit of wall climbing in the barn (read ‘garage’).
Day two involved a bit of rock climbing. I’m no good at rock climbing, so actually climbing proper rocks was a bad decision. Cut my little finger open quite badly that day, but luckily didn’t bleed all that much. In the evening, we did a bit of orienteering. Typical Northamptonshire County Council (yeah, what they’re doing running Longtown is beyond me, too) made it pretty impossible, but it gave me a chance to get to know a couple of them even if I was a bit of a third wheel.
Third day was a day of centre activities with things like "Help each other over this big wall" and "balance yourselves on this plank of wood", but it was good fun. The second bit after lunch was more high ropes than anything. Shame I don’t have the pictures yet, but the Jacob’s Ladder and Leap of Faith are two things I glad I did at the time, and wouldn’t ever want to do again. :p
Fourth day involved a bit of impromptu gorge walking, which turned out to be the best day, I thought. Even if I did get a really deep cut on my right thumb which didn’t stop bleeding for a good couple of hours and left a trail everywhere I went, at least I jumped a massive jump into a plunge pool. Happy days.
The last night involved building a shelter and sleeping under the stars with a campfire. That’s practically what all these pictures are from, because only Natalie put hers up on Facebook and I quite kindly stole them. Good times.
Thursday was home day, but not before we go caving and get posted through the apparently famous ‘letterbox’. I’m not one for small spaces, but something about that trip I enjoyed. Maybe it’s because I finally noticed what a team us lot had become, from the people who sat as far away as possible from each other on the first day.
All in all, awesome time. I would recommend anyone looking for a D of E Residential program to get in touch with Longtown to see when their next one is. You’ll have a ball. Guaranteed. 
Happy times :p