Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Dear all,
Almost three more days have come and gone and it seems that time is on the run. Tempus fugit, like the Romans used to say.

Since our last post, we have been to Leeds Castle and we also went on a quick run to Ashford, which is just five minutes away by motor vehicle. Would you like to see what Leeds Castle looks like?  Well, then, here's a still of our eighteen trail blazers.  Don't they look great?

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.  If so, then a video must be worth at least a million.  Please have a look at the following recordings so that you can get a feel of the gardens and the castle grounds. Quite impressive.
These first two videos were taken inside the castle:

And we also watched a Falconry show.  Wonderful birds.  These next two videos show a bit of that:

And then it started to rain while some of the boys were feeding the birds:

The following was taken on our way out:

The last of the Leeds Castle filming took place inside its gift shop:

So that was on Wednesday.
The following day, Thursday, the expeditionary force took to the skies. The picture below shows part of them kitted up to start their climb heavenward.

Please look at the following footage to get a better idea of their gallantry as they climbed ever higher, and then zipped down a line until they touched ground again. All of them went back up and repeated the experience two more times. Some of them even went for a fourth climb.  If any of them are afraid of heights, they didn't show it. We can already see a new-found confidence in them.  Kudos to one and all.

That took place on Thursday morning.  We then had lunch, after which we went to Ashford, which is very close by. The boys and girls were itching to visit Poundland, which is a shop that we had told them about, where everything is a pound.  They bought some "essential supplies" and then took a short tour of the town. We left Ashford in time to eat our six o'clock dinner at Grosvenor Hall.

After dinner, we asked the group to get changed into their bathing costumes and then we had our usual evening meeting where we discussed the day's events and the following day's activities.  Once finished with our conversation, we headed for the swimming pool. Here is a recording of last night's water sport.

Today, which is Friday already (!!!), one of the groups had fencing.  Laura, our lead instructor, taught the group some fencing techniques that they then put into practice.  See them in action here:

We then waited a few minutes for the next activity that would take place. This is how The Eighteen wait. They show great style.

The next activity turned out to be Nightline. This is a game of trust, but it's also about using other senses rather than just your eyes. They had to wear a blindfold so as to play.  This is what Nightline looks like:

 

We hope you have enjoyed sharing in our adventures as we make our way about England.  Please stay tuned for further reports.  Tomorrow we travel to the coast, Brighton to be more precise.
Be well.