June 18, 2018

This morning we left the race track camp ground, hit up Tesco and headed for Snowdonia in Wales. We made a quick stop along the way to stretch our legs and take in some scenery (and skip rocks).

We arrived at our new camp ground only to check in and then rush back off to hit up Zip World Velocity 2. Not going to lie, I was a bit nervous about this. This zip line boasts it is the fastest in the world and the longest in Europe. 118mph, 222 height drop, 1555 meters long. Sounds cool, but once we got sight of it, the starting point way way way up there in the cloudy distance, the lines going all the long long way down and past the reception point, my nerve was a little weak.

The girls were so excited. Crazy excited. There was no way we could back out.

And they needed two persons over 18 to accompany them, as in, actually go down at the same time as them. Not just watch. So we weighted in (I *might* have been slightly hopeful I wouldn’t make weight) and suited up.

This kid here was about doing back flips in excitement. She cracks me up.

Then we were loaded onto a bus type of vehicle and were driven to the first line.

This one was easy. Emma was tribute and volunteered to take the first group of Fenya, Sadie, and Caroline. I went second with Eliza and Steph. You can see their whole run from being strapped in until they landed in the video in this post.

Then Steph, Eliza, and I went. It was amazingly awesome. Outstanding view, fast, high up, wow!

Once we caught our breath we loaded back onto the bus for the next line. The drive took about ten minutes and we just kept going higher and higher, switching back and forth on the dirt track. We drove into the cloud and finally reached the top. At this point I wondered if I put some rocks in my pockets and insisted they reweigh me if I could get out of it. I mean, we were really really high up! We were in a freaking cloud! They had a wood stove going up there it was so cold and wet and just, ahhh!

But nah, it was going to be amazing.

Video of the zip line adventure:

This time Steph, Eliza, and I went first. It was awesome. I imagine it is what flying would feel like. Totally worth it. It was a super cool experience at a really neat place. Well designed and set up, they did a fantastic job of checking and rechecking all the gear and straps, and seemed to have a well established process.

Ok so you see the blue lake down there? We flew all the way down there, over it and to the other side. From up where this photo was taken.

This statue is where you walk back to the reception area. Pretty fitting.

Now we are driving back to the camp ground and we have stopped at a lake in Snowdonia for some sight seeing and rock climbing. We saw this area last year but didn’t have time to stop and it’s so gorgeous. You can’t really see them in the video but there are old old stone walls going up and across all over the mountains. I can’t imagine what it took to build them initially.

Can you spot the pink and purple? That’s Fenya and Caroline.

Emma. Those stone walls are all over the mountain behind her.

while I am typing this the team decided to climb to the top of the mountain behind the camper. Initially it was to check out these bags we could see a ways up. Which turned out to be full of rocks, we assume to be helicoptered away. But that turned into a mountain topping hike.

video of some views.

After this adventure wore the girls out we drove a little farther and stopped for dinner. With the adrenaline crash hitting, food in the belly, and the exhaustion from all the climbing on rocks (and intense narrow twisty road driving for me) we are ready to crash hard now that we are at camp. Oh and it’s raining and chilly. I of course am loving that.

I should also add that Emma and I are getting pretty handy with the camper. Gray water and pee dumped, clean water filled, lights and electric working properly, we have the gas/oven situation figured out. Go us!