If you have been following my blog you will know that during the Easter holidays we headed to North Wales with Adventure Map, who are 10 of the best adventure companies in North Wales, working together to promote the region as the best place for outdoor adventure tourism in the UK, with a handy app for your smart phone.
The AdMap App, available on app store and google play, tells you what adventures are nearby to help you to discover exciting adventures in North Wales and for our penultimate day we headed to Bala and the National White Water Centre.
We have actually been here before, for my husband’s 30th birthday and always assumed it was somewhere unsuitable to take the kids, until now.
The National White Water Centre offers family friendly Rafting Safari sessions, perfect for adventurous children aged 10 and 11, which takes you down the fun and varied white water rapids on the Lower Tryweryn River.
For younger members of the family, the centre offer activity backpacks so they can wander through the beautiful valley, which is teaming with wildlife and see what they can find.
Inside the backpacks are fun fact sheets, activity sheets to complete, a clipboard, binoculars, magnifying glass and colouring pens.
In the meantime, Hubby, Kian and Isaac were learn some basic white water rafting skills on land.
After 20 minutes or so, it is time to get the raft into the water and it they were put to work straight away!
This is not an activity to do if you don’t want to get wet, as there are challenging rapids, boulder gardens and surf waves to contend with.
The four mile trip finishes in the nearby town of Bala, which takes around an hour to complete.
Although the rapids are more gentle here than on the Upper Tryweryn’s rapids further upstream, they are still challenging and gave the boys a good workout.
We did chuckle when we saw their boat get stuck on a rock, but the look of relief mixed with enjoyment when they managed to release themselves was worth its weight in gold.
Once you reach the town of Bala, you get shuttled back up to the centre for a warm shower!
TOP TIP: For younger members of the family, invest in some wetsuit gloves as Isaac fond that his hand got extremely cold.
The Family Rafting Safari costs Ā£49 per person and last for 90 minutes. Children must be a minimum of 10 years old and able to swim 25m. For more information on this and other sessions, head to www.nationalwhitewatercentre.co.uk
Isaac loved it so much we have promised to take him back next year when he is 12, so he can complete the full session.
Disclaimer: We were guests of Adventure Map for the purpose of a review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
The backpacks looks so much fun for children! We went white water rafting in Canada a few years ago and it was so thrilling š
What an amazing experience for your kids (and hubby!). I think that one will stay with them for life. Isaac looks so happy!
I love water rafting and this looks great fun! I can’t wait for the girls to be older and I can take them too.
It looks like you all had a great time, I have never tried white water rafting before x
You are very brave taking on the water rapids! Iād love to do it when Iām a bit older. Looks like great fun š
This looks like so much fun! I know this is meant for families but I think it’s a great way to get started with water rafting as well, especially if you’re scared of it!
Love doing stuff like this. Out door activities are the best for sure, so much fun xx
Looks like a lot of fun. Love the video.
Oh my goodness! This looks so fun! Who wouldn’t be thrilled with rafting? This is super!
What an amazing experience. I would love to give it a try myself.
Absolutely love rafting. It’s been ages I was in water last time. I wish my baby to grow up quickly so we can also have such fun family trips. Your boys did very well for first timers.
Oh I don’t think I am brave enough to try this, but my older children would love it! Kaz
So many interesting activities you can do with your family. It seems the little ones even have fun. It looks like you had a really good trip.