Category: Travel

Tree Top Flyers, Chase Canyon

‘Put your knees to your chest, legs apart, chin to your chest and grit your teeth’ sounded a lot like child-birth to me but in fact is the landing position for Ziplining.

I’m absolutely terrified of heights; well in fact, I’m scared of a lot of things but most of my fears boil down to a fear of death.  However, I went Zip lining in Chase Canyon, BC, Canada with my niece, hubby and friends yesterday.  Unfortunately, our daughter wasn’t old or heavy enough.

The scariest part for me was the training line, it’s not as high or long as the others, but the suspended stairway to the platform was unnerving as it swayed from side to side as you walked up it.  My technique was not to look down come neither love nor money, if I did I would have bottled it.

On the way over to the platform, I had a quiet word with Daniel, one of the owners, just to let him know I was terrified of heights so he let me go first.  He did admit later that they secretly like it when people are scared and on one occasion they had to ‘boot’ a lady off the platform; but she did ask them to do so.  She was fine going up but chickened out at the top so when she wasn’t expecting it, after she was safely connected (obviously), they just pushed her off the edge.  Apparently, she loved it and said thanks.

The drive up to the lines in the Canyon was hairy to say the least with a sheer drop on one side.  I was so glad I was sitting on the other side of the van and spent most of the journey working out my escape route through the window in case it rolled, but once you got to the top the scenery was stunning.

The lines in the Canyon were not as scary as the training platform nor the drive up, but flying through the trees, over waterfalls and close to the Canyon walls was exhilarating.

They’ve only been open for a few weeks but we were truly impressed with the level of safety and customer service.  They’re really a friendly bunch of guys that put me totally at ease.  Thanks to the team at Tree Top Flyers for a great day out and we hope to see you again next year.

 

Caravan Holidays in France

Prior to having children I wouldn’t have set foot in a caravan park and to be honest, I couldn’t think of anything worse; spending my holiday with loads of screaming kids and their egg and chip eating parents, I’m such a snob!  One day I will have to tell you more about my new best friend ‘Bev’ from Barnsley who liked to nick Stella glasses, she was a right laugh and lovely woman.

When our daughter was first born we did attempt to carry on travelling as we always had, we even took her to a B and B in a pub when she was 10 days old, with cord still attached, to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, not  one of my better ideas.  What we find, when trying to carry on as we did pre-kids, she really doesn’t enjoy herself and as you know if the kids aren’t having fun neither are the parents.

So this year, when we were offered an opportunity to stay in a Caravan Park in Brittany, France, we decided to give it a go and for the most part it worked out.

We used the caravan park as a base and spent the days exploring the nearby historic villages and stunning beaches.  Brittany is beautiful; we were staying just outside of Pont-Aven.   Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t brilliant, a mix of sun and rain, but we made the most of it.

Our top 5 places to Visit near Pont-Aven (with kids)

Anse de Rospico a lovely sheltered beach, with a picturesque stream flowing into sea. It’s  less than 5 miles away from the campsite, turn right when leaving the site.  It’s a bit difficult to find but worth the effort.

 

Concarneau Medieval Walled Town, it may not look impressive from the outside but once you’re inside you can explore the narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants.  There are also some great views of the harbour.

 

Bénodet is about a 30km drive away.  One of Brittany’s most fashionable Seaside resorts with stunning beaches.  The highlight for us was having Fruit de Mere on the Seafront at a place called Le Transat.  Winkles were a hit!

 

Pont-Aven is an attractive village, full of galleries and shops with some lovely riverside walks.  It’s a great place to spend a rainy day as you can dart in and out of all the shops, including the Chocolate Shop!

 

Trevignon Start with crepes on the promenade followed by a stroll along the sea wall, perfect.  If you carry on past the historic house there are some fabulous rocks to climb on and a chance for some rock pooling.

 

Kid’s Highlight!

However, our daughters favourite bit of the day was coming back to the caravan site. The caravan in itself was a real novelty for her.  Plus, there were several play areas, indoor swimming pool with waterslide and kids clubs.  Most evenings they have children’s entertainment in the form of the Pirate Club, an experience not to be missed, which all the children love and the parents can sit on the Veranda enjoying a drink or two from the Ocean Bar.

If I’m honest, I’m still not convinced Caravan holidays are for us, but this may have to do with the weather and the fact we went outside of school holidays so it was really quiet.  However, our daughter would disagree as she loved it and as you know it’s not about us anymore!

Disclosure:  Our holiday stay and ferry crossing were compliments of Siblu Holidays and Brittany Ferries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experience the Magic: Eurodisney 2012

Sleeping Beauty's CastleWe’ve always wanted to take my daughter to Disneyland but we’re not currently in a position to do so. She is nearly 5 so is at the perfect age, old enough to remember it, but still young enough to experience the magic. So, when Auto Trader offered us a trip to Eurodisney outside of Paris we jumped at the chance.

The Journey

The journey was fairly easy. A Subaru Forester was delivered to us on the Thursday night. We drove to Folkestone to catch the Eurotunnel; the crossing was only 35 minutes, followed by a 3 hour drive on the other side. However, the motorways in France are so much better than here in the UK and so are the services.

I know very little about cars and am not a petrol head so can’t say a lot about the car except it was comfortable, easy to drive, much quieter than our own diesel Passat, excellent fuel mileage, loads of room in the boot and we even had enough room for ‘Yellow Bear’. According to my husband ‘it made the journey relaxing’. It had a rather odd locking system, but we eventually worked it out.

The park wasn’t brilliantly sign posted but I’d purchased France maps for my Sat Nav, which proved invaluable!

Accommodation

We stayed in the Hotel Cheyenne which is a Western Themed hotel, which is one of the Disney Hotels. The bonus of staying at one of the Disney Hotels, you get 2 hours in the park in the morning before everyone else. Bliss! Plus, each morning the Disney Characters come to the hotel to meet the kids and take photos, which allows you to avoid the huge queues to see them in the park.

Getting around Eurodisney is a breeze they lay on buses which run ever few minutes all day to run you to and from the Park and only take about 5 minutes. So you can always pop back to the hotel if you need a bit of a break, which we did!

The Park

Now for the Park, it was truly magical! There are rides for everyone. Yes, the queues are a long but to avoid some of the queues you can use the Fast Pass system which is free. Basically visit the ride, take a ticket then come back at your allotted time. Our daughter’s favourite rides were the Flying Elephants, Peter Pan’s Flight and It’s a Small World which we did several times. I still have that song in my head! One of our highlights was the Parade. Do make sure you see one while you’re there.

I have to admit, as slightly older parents it was absolutely knackering. I felt like I’d run a marathon but it was worth every minute. It wasn’t about us it was all about her. As you can see by the video, she had the time of her life and hopefully will remember it in years to come.

Disclosure: The entire trip was courtesy of Autotrader who have been uniting people with their dream cars for over 35 years. We can’t thank them enough for making our daughter’s dream come true.

Autotrader are currently running a fabulous competition where each week someone wins an ultimate driving experience.  Simple spin the wheel on the Dream Machine. #MyCarStory

What the h*ll is Geocaching?

GeocachingThe best way I can describe it is an outdoor treasure hunt using GPS.  You download an app onto your phone, which is £6.99 from the iTunes Store but the rest is free. Then you navigate to the location of the cache (container) and hopefully find it.

Inside the container, depending on the size as they range from the size of a credit card to a large bin, is usually a log book, pencil and possibly a toy.  You are allowed to take the toy if you leave one of equal or greater value.

We went on our first geo-cache this weekend and it was brilliant.  As it was our first and to avoid disappointment we decided to try one that was local to us, had a low difficulty rating, checked that it had been found recently and that it was a reasonable size.  Our 4 year old daughter was transfixed by the map the entire walk there.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it.  I was sure we were in the right location as I checked the photos and hints.  We must have looked like a right bunch of nutters ferreting around in the bushes as this one was fairly public.  We looked and looked and looked but no luck.  Coincidentally, a family came by who had found it a couple of weeks prior and confirmed that we were actually in the right place but sadly, it looks like someone took it.

Our daughter was very disappointed, but luckily the app has a ‘find another cache nearby’ option so we found another one tout de suite.  It was a bit tricky to find as it was a micro cache, but hubby pulled one out of the bag and found it.  Phew!

The only problem was that the toys that our daughter had brought to give away wouldn’t fit so we had to make a quick dash to the local toy store to find something small enough.

We are seriously hooked, it’s a fantastic way to get out as a family, learn stuff, get fresh air and it’s all free, well, except for the app.