Day 5 - From a leader's perspective

When we arrived the accommodation far exceeded our expectations! Thanks Venture Abroad for giving us bad photos! We have a large communal room where we eat, play games and make craft. The girls love using the dumb waiter (food elevator) to send the food up to the dining room for meals, we're never short of volunteers. The wooden floors are slightly creaky and the walls aren't particularly sound proof which means we can hear anyone who is up after lights out and more of the girls' conversations than they might want us to!

The scenery is breathtaking and we are constantly amazed at the beautiful views. The food is lovely (thank you Sharon and Hillary) and the girls are all enjoying second helpings at meal times! 

The adventure park had excellent instructors and the best zip wire course we have ever seen, the girls loved the chance to abseil off of a bridge. They supported and encouraged each other well and every girl made it round the course. We were very proud! After this the girls had their first mountain hike to the woodcarvers. The hot chocolates on arrival went down well, the long drop composting toilet did not! But needs must ...

The Jungfrau Railway allowed us to see even more of the spectacular scenery surrounding the valley that we are staying in. The excitement rose as we got nearer and nearer to the glacier we could see in the distance. Once we were up there we went straight to the top for a photo stop and admired the view. After we headed onto the glacier to play in the snow. We were lucky to have the opportunity to go on sledges and snow rings. After Hillary and Katie had tested then out and appropriately risked assess the activity all the girls had the chance to go on also. It was incredible! 

Yesterday the Rangers and Guides did separate activities, the Rangers spoke with Diane (our host) and planned a day of hiking, cable cars, visiting the local town and waterfalls. We were very impressed with their navigation skills and they all had a wonderful day, we loved looking at the pictures on their return. Meanwhile the Guides went hiking to waterfalls inside the mountain from the melting glacier. It was very noisy and cold, but an amazing sight. We went back to the chalet for lunch and headed out again to Lauterbrunnen where all the girls explored the local area whilst completing the Lauterbrunnen Challenge we set them. We got a local bus back and had a great evening full of BBQ, campfire, singing and laughter.

KB, SA, KG, HW, HK, PC, KH

Watch this space for a special blog from Katie and Hillary!