On 8th-10th July, some of the Crowder team went on a fantastic weekend away in Keswick which provided a great opportunity for staff to mingle in a casual setting. We had engineers, developers and fieldwork technicians, who were all excited for the weekend.
On Friday, we had 2 group activities planned in the afternoon; Go Ape and Ghyll Scrambling. The Go Apers managed to trek in the tree tops and zip wire through the forest, working their way through the course. There was a Tarzan swing with a sudden vertical drop which really got their pulse going. It was a great experience and they’d definitely recommend if you haven’t done it before.
The other team participated in Ghyll Scrambling in Stonycroft Ghyll. The activity involved descending a Lake District mountain stream via rock slides, dives and even jumps down waterfalls into plunge pools. It really got the guys buzzing with adrenaline by the end of the scrambling experience. Not for the faint hearted, but they were so glad they got exposure to this activity, as it’s not something you do on a daily basis.
They then had a delicious pizza for tea which was cooked in a large stone-built, wood-fired oven at a local restaurant and eaten at their accommodation, Denton House. This was followed by a fun quiz where the teams were made up of various job roles and skill sets, so everyone had a fair chance, but it was team Quizwick who were crowned the winners overall!
Saturday was an early start for the hike as they headed down to Keswick to catch the boat taxi over to the start location. The group split in two as a few of the more energetic amongst us wanted to do a more strenuous hike, which lasted over 6 hours! Both hikes allowed them to really appreciate the breath taking views of Lake Derwent via fells such as High Spy and Catbells. They were lucky with the fabulous summer sun to see everything so clearly even at the peak (check out some of our photos below). After making their way down the fell, they had a well deserved paddle and swim. They even passed an alpaca farm and got to see many of them close up. They dined for tea in a quaint pub called Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld, Keswick and all caught up on the days events.
On Sunday, they woke with another adventurous day ahead as they had a go of paddle boarding and raft building on the shores and shallows of Lake Derwent, which was a great team building day. Although tired from their previous activities, most of the team managed to stand on their paddle boards which was a great achievement, as it wasn’t easy using those fatigued core muscles. It was quite a special moment to be standing on the board as the lake was so calm and they had the amazing backdrop of the fells they had walked over the day before. It was so peaceful and they felt grateful for their time together. They finished the weekend with a BBQ on the beach and time to reflect in the sunshine on their packed activities weekend. Shout out to Mobile Adventures for looking after everyone during the Ghyll Scrambling, Raft Building and Paddle Boarding. They were lovely guys who even took photos throughout, so we have some great active shots to look back at!
We want to say a big thank you to Ella who organised the entire weekend away. We all thoroughly enjoyed our time in Keswick and look forward to doing it again
What a fun filled summer weekend away!