Rapelling and Castles on July 4th

What did you do on July 4th?  I bet most of our delegates will have had the most exciting July 4th of their life!  We started at Penrhyn Castle in North Wales...outside of Bangor.  We all got into our harnesses (made walking a bit difficult for some)...and started our day rapelling.  There was another People to People group there, and each of our delegations was divided in half.  The other delegation sent half up...then half of ours started. 

To get to the top of the castle, you walked 90+ feet up, on circular stairs inside the tower of the castle.  Once up, there were still 2 more ladders to climb before you were outside, looking out over Wales...unbelievable views.  The weather hasn't been the best, lots of rain, but there was mostly blue sky and sunshine for our time rapelling.  Once it was your turn, you were hooked to a safety line, told to stand on the very edge, told how to maneuver the ropes to stop and start yourself, and then...this was the hardest part for most - you had to lean back, lean back into a sitting position.  From that position, you started walking down the wall of the castle.  Everyone except for 3 came down...all went up, but 3 just couldn't do it.  I was proud of them for getting all the way to the top, though.  It was fun watching the delegation cheer everyone on...and the sense of accomplishment many of them felt once they had actually successfully rapelled! 

Then the rain started, but that was OK because we were finished.  We had a sack lunch inside a tentlike structure, then hopped back on the coach to head to England. 

There was a bit of a snafu on the way...the windshield wipers on the bus stopped working...not a good thing in the rain!  We stopped, couldn't get anyone to come out to where we were pulled over on the highway...but the rain let up, so we continued to the next town (not far), had the bus checked (couldn't fix it), but the rain stopped so we continued on to Warwick Castle.

Warwick is absolutely gorgeous.  The workers are dressed in period-dress.  We did three activities:  One was a demonstration of armor, it's importance, and how to put it on.  Lucas was our model!  It started POURING rain while this was going on, so we simply moved under a tree until it stopped.  The next two activities couldn't have been done under a tree, and fortunately, it didn't rain at all for our next two.  Our second activity was fighting with these huge, long sticks...can't remember what they're called.  We were paired up, and taught how to hold them for rest and for fighting...then we fought.  Some were a bit more aggressive than others!  Our third activity was sword fighting.  These were real swords, but they weren't too sharp.  No one got stabbed, no one got injured...except maybe psychologically!  (just kidding)  I think every one of the delegates absolutely loved all these activities. 

From there, we went to an area to watch an enormous trebuchet launch a flaming ball.  We learned a bit of history of trebuchets...how they were often used in medieval times - for example, launching cut off heads over castle walls.

It was about 'half eight' (translation:  8:30 p.m.) by the time we finished.  We walked out to a new bus and new driver - both temporary - and headed to the hotel.

We were tired...and it was the end of Day 6.