FINALLY the day for celebrating my 30th birthday had arrived – a day out at Willen Lake Milton Keynes. I know it sounds like I’ve been celebrating turning 30 for a number of months now but this was the official celebration even though technically it is actually over three months after my actual birthday and even though this is probably the third such celebration! I guess there is almost a kind of pattern in all these three’s appearing everywhere.

I decided that instead of having a traditional get together I’d opt for having a day out doing various activities at a venue away from London. Of course this meant a bit of a logistical nightmare in getting people firstly to agree to come out and do some crazy things and then getting everyone to commit to a date. Not unexpectedly, considering just how far in advance I’d been planning this, there was a lot of faffing about with attendance numbers which made it difficult to firm the booking up. In the end we had a decent size group of thirteen comprising: Akhlaq, Andrew, Caroline, Catherine, James, Jenny, Jon, Julian, Mel, Sandra, Steve and Shona.

In hindsight choosing a venue and the activities actually seemed relatively easy in comparison to finalising numbers – I knew that I definitely wanted to have archery as one of the activities as its something I’ve always wanted to do but found difficult to organise so I started with that. Willen Lake at Milton Keynes seemed to offer it as a possibility and when I found out they had a high ropes course as well it seemed perfect. At least Milton Keynes has relatively good transport links, with the train taking anywhere between 30-60 minutes from London Euston, so getting there wasn’t going to be too much hassle.

Thankfully the weather today played its part and even though it wasn’t too warm or sunny the rain pretty much stayed away for most of the day which made it quite pleasant.

Up first for the day was the high ropes course that was actually run by Aerial Extreme. One of the funniest bits of the day was when we were brought over to the course how everyone stood outside staring at the course for ages before coming in! Its like they were nervous or something. 🙂

The actual course was very different from the Go Ape ropes course we’d been to before at Bracknell. There the course was more consistent with a ski slope with each “activity” having a discrete beginning and end (normally in a giant zip line to the ground.) At Aerial Extreme you work your way through a number of rope/wooden/tire bridges and wall climbs and horizontal cargo nets at one level and featuring a couple of zip lines into vertical cargo nets – all without breaking – before climbing up to the next level and repeating the exercise at a higher level with even more difficult rope/wooden/tire bridges and wall climbs and another zip line before you finally climb to a final third level. It is here you experience the money maker – a giant drop to the ground. In actually this is the most fun activity of the course, despite EVERYONE watching you and calling out a count down! and it was only those with class who managed to stay on their feet – I think James was the first to keep his footing followed by Mel and Jenny. The rest of us ended up on our @sses!

I tried to get photos of everyone on the course (which is darn difficult when you’re also trying not to fall whatever metres it was to the ground nor lose the camera in the process) and though those near me were more likely to be victim to my camera then anyone else. I think Steve was the only person I didn’t get a photo of in action so one of him kitting up is the best I could do:

Steve	Jenny	Shona	Andrew	Julian	Caroline
Mel	Akhlaq	James	Sandra	Jon	Moi

The course was a lot of hard work and even as I write this now my hands are sweating just thinking about some of the hairier moments. I think most people, even those a little bit nervous from the height, did fantastically well and no one, thankfully, had to bail. The hardest tasks for me was jumping over the giant gaps – I thought my shorter legs would not be able to handle it but in those cases you just had to trust that you could jump and make it. Of course all around the course you were at all time secured to a safety line so generally its very safe.

After the high ropes course it was off for a well deserved break and barbeque lunch which was absolutely delicious – especially the barbeque chicken and gorgeous homemade lime cheesecake which had THE most amazing biscuit base. Mmmm …

After stuffing ourselves absolutely over lunch it was time to head over to the archery. We weren’t sure what to expect but we definitely had a lot of fun trying to work it out. I think there were quite a few lucky shots in the end because I’m sure I overheard quite a few comments that seemed to indicate that no one had a clue about lining up their bow. Time seemed to fly and before we knew it the session was over!

Actually I’m only just realising now just how competitive everyone is! The guy who was teaching us was a bit casual about the competition when he first set it up on a team basis. In the end everyone clamoured for a rematch at an individual level. I think it was Mel who was the clear William Tell today.

Finally, the day finished on a whimsical note with a go at Willen Lake’s crazy golf course. It was only a small course but that didn’t prevent everyone once again showing off their competitive spirit! LOL.

Willen Lake itself is a beautiful venue with plenty of activities to occupy in addition to those we indulged in today including sailing, windsurfing, powerboating and cable towing. I can’t way to come back in the summer and try out some of the watersports on offer. To quote something that is a bit English I had an absolutely smashing day today and I was very happy to share it with such a great bunch of friends. Can’t wait for our next adventure.