It was impossible not to see the excitement as the buses pulled out of the Russell House car park on Tuesday morning. The children were in good spirits and, after a long drive, arrived at Norfolk Lakes in the early afternoon, raring to go. Predictably, the first activity was on the water and, also predictably, almost everybody ended up falling in! The activity was raft building and involved using barrels, rope and wooden beams to create a raft for everybody to sit on. After a bit of drying off and a big, yummy dinner, the children took part in a dry evening activity before bed.

On Wednesday, the sun was shining from the start, which was lucky, as lots of the group fell in the lake again! This time, the activities were canoeing and kayaking. Throughout the whole hour-and-a-half session, only one canoe managed to capsize - the teachers! We played lots of games on the kayaks, including manhunt and stuck in the mud, before taking part in the five star challenge.

This involved performing increasingly difficult tasks on the kayaks, including touching noses on the front, performing a forward roll and, finally, belly-flopping off the side and into the lake. 

After the gruelling physical tasks of the day before, everybody woke up tired on Thursday, but rallied by the time the first activity began. It was back on the lake to pilot a giant canoe, which was lots of fun as the whole group was in the same boat. The children then took part in a giant paddle board session, which inevitably involved lots of children falling in the lake once again!

The final sessions of the day were orienteering, which took place around the large dry part of the site, before heading back out on the water to have a go on our own individual stand-up paddle boards. 

This morning, we will be taking part in an obstacle course and our last dry activity (these have been on rotation in the evenings all week and have included rifle shooting, crate stacking and high ropes). We have had the best time and, although we are looking forward to seeing you all again on Friday afternoon, we will be sad to leave Norfolk after such an amazing week.