Arthog adventure for county youngsters

Generations of Shropshire children have experienced life at the Arthog outward bounds centre on the Welsh coast. Ben Bentley caught up with the latest group of adventurers

There are tears of joy and tears of laughter along the way, but all 34 kids from Bridgnorth Endowed School survive to tell the tale.

For more than 50 years the Outdoor Education Centre at Arthog, on the Mid Wales coast and operated by Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire County Council, has been the adventure destination for tens of thousands of schoolchildren who are taken there to learn lessons that no amount of textbooks could teach.

The group aged between 11 and 14 from Bridgnorth are among the latest to spend a few days outside their comfort zones, participating in a range of activities that include gorge walking, kayaking and canoeing, mountain biking and hill walking.

As the party begins its gorge walk, a task that involves clambering upstream over huge rocks and boulders and through waterfalls and overhanging brambles along an arduous stretch of waist-high water of a Cadr Idris gorge, many slip and are lifted by friends to safety. Others who cling to the bank or tree branches are coaxed onwards in a heartening display of teamwork.

Some have never done anything like this before. Some will never do anything like it again. Either way, bonds are formed and memories made.

A huge part of such trips is less about the activities and more about socialising together outside the classroom and, in the absence of televisions and computer games, making their own fun.

It's an idea that translates into the tasks and activities.

"A lot of what they do is having responsibility for each other," she continues.

"They help each other out. The older ones look after the younger ones but sometimes it's the other way round and we've mixed up the ages of the groups for that reason.

"It would be nice to see if when we go back to school they have the same relationship or if they ignore each other in the corridor. Hopefully they won't."

So the kids sit together during meals, tidy up after themselves and play games at night. There's the world's biggest game of hide and seek that appears to end only when one of the party is still unaccounted for. And on a starry, starry night the youngsters turn into stargazers.

"I'm going to move to Wales," says one.

"The stars are better in Wales than they are in Wolverhampton."

With few leisure-time activities favoured by the modern teenager at their disposal here, there's plenty of time to simply sit and talk and share opinions, even if the subject matter does focus on showbiz celebrities like Cheryl Cole ("I'm mad on her") and Cristiano Ronaldo ("He fancies himself, he does").

All this getting along and being responsible for one another's actions is clearly beneficial to activities, and over the course of the weekend the groups throw themselves into a two-hour kayaking trip along the banks of the estuary, improvising by tying together two canoes with a couple of lengths of rope.

They also set off on a night walk and further test their powers of teamwork by completing an orienteering course through the woods.

But it's probably the gruelling gorge walk they will remember in years to come. Around an hour and 20 minutes after they set off the group begins to arrive, via a long and tiny tunnel cut into the mountainside originally for a slate mine, at an opening that leads to dry land.

There's exhaustion and exhilaration in equal measures. Any tears are now replaced with yelps of victory that echo from the tunnel ahead of the youngsters' arrival.

"I've never done anything like that before but I'd do it again - I like the water," he says.

"I fell over a few times. I fell over as soon as I got in the water but after that you get used to it.

The worst bit was the tunnel at the end. It's really long and dark."

His mate, 11-year-old Nick Champion says: "It was a bit hard but I loved it."

A couple of shivering girls disagree, however, and cannot hide their negative feelings towards the task. But at least they did it.

Instructor Steve Worth (pictured above) says: "They are outside their comfort zone, but teamwork and helping each other goes without saying. It's not so much with this lot, but with some they might be the same age group and don't interact in school. But here they are forced to do so, so it's good."

Pupil Ben Leather, 12, is in triumphant mood that he made it with the help of his fellow students.

His smiling face is the picture of victory, a stark contrast to an hour ago when he entered the gorge and was suffering the effects of the cold of the water, his face crumpled in agony.

"It was hard at first and a bit daunting," he says catching his breath, "but I'm glad I've done it. It was teamwork all the way and everybody helped each other along. I feel I've achieved something. I'll remember that - I won't forget it anyway."