Full Circle: An Accessible Adventure.
A walk along the upper Idrijca.
Last week I welcomed Coleg Sir Gar and Coleg Ceredigion with an amazing neurodiverse group of learners for our very first accessible college adventure!
Some of you may know, that before I jumped into making my full-time career in the outdoors, I was a lecturer at Coleg Sir Gar and before that as a tutor for Swansea’s Lifelong Learning Service for folk with additional learning needs. So when Tanya and Helen got in touch with their idea for a well-being focused adventure for their learning pathway students I was so excited to make it happen!
This trip was fully funded by Taith, a Welsh learning exchange programme, which enables young people to access international experiences around the world.
Our group at Idrija Youth Hostel.
After Tanya and Helen visited in November last year for a recce, we decided that my local town of Idrija would be the perfect base for us, at Idrija’s wonderful youth hostel, an amazing community-focused centre, who host exchanges, community events/projects and collaborations.
The focus of the journey, was to create opportunities for our participants to build independence, experience a new culture, and challenge themselves in nature. We only had 4 full days to do this, with a group of 12 learners, 4 staff and myself, so it was always going to be a fully immersive adventure!
Here are all the activities we experienced together over 4 days:
Walking through the historic town of Idrija, along the Rake canal to the upper Idrijca river.
Visiting a river-based swim spot to relax and have a go at swimming in a river.
Shopping in a local supermarket and trying some local cheeses.
Cooking together in the Youth Hostel.
Hiking to an amazing peak, with views across the Idrija fault towards the Julian Alps.
Swimming in a waterfall.
Participating in a workshop at Idrija Lace School and making friendship bracelets together using traditional lace-making techniques.
Enjoying an evening of Karaoke on the hostel terrace.
Visiting the UNESCO world heritage site Škocjan caves.
Swimming in a local lake.
Sharing a pizza and film night on the hostel terrace.
Swimming in lake Bled on our way to the airport.
Many of these activities were totally new experiences for our group and it was an absolute joy to share them with such a supportive, fun and enthusiastic team.
Helen and the team recorded a few interviews with the learners as the trip went on, which offer really beautiful insights into their experiences with us. Cai described the trip as ‘pure joy’ and Dan eagerly shared how he enjoyed the ‘non-stop action’. Many of the learners expressed their love of the different swimming spots, and their enjoyment of the challenges and stretching their comfort zones. ‘Two of the times I didn’t want to get in the water, but yesterday I got in, so fingers crossed I’ll get in today’ shared Holly (Mikaela’s note: She did get in!). ‘The highlight I enjoyed from Slovenia and this great opportunity was to overcome my fears from the mountain caves.’ Shared Natalie. Zak explained how the trip had helped him ‘gain a lot more confidence to travel, and I realised It’s not that scary’. ‘Every day was as good as the last, and I can’t think of one [standout] moment’ shared Roisin.
When asked what will she remember from the trip Catrin said ‘the views, because they have really amazing views’, ‘I enjoyed the swimming because it cools you down, and it’s nice to feel the water.’ Shared Casey and Hayley explained how she loved ‘the cave of wonders’ and of course ‘ice-cream’ and making bracelets, she described the trip as ‘amazing, gorgeous, sunny, hot, amazing!’.
From the seed of an idea to an incredible journey together, there were tears (from me!) on our last evening together, and I was so proud of everyone as we said our goodbyes at the airport. This was the first but hopefully not the last!
Tanya and the learners cool off at a local swim spot.