Alton Towers Theme Park
Two action packed, thrill seeking days were spent at Alton Towers.
We headed straight to our first rollercoaster the Spinball Whizzer! It was pretty scary as we whizzed along at 60kph, also swivelling 360 degrees at the same time! It certainly left us feeling dizzy! Next we dared to tackle the crazy Smiler. This rollercoaster was one of the best in the park, with 14 loop the loops and breakneck speeds. We loved it, definitely one for the adrenaline junkies!
We slowed things down a bit and decided to try the hilarious Gangsta Granny, Royal Carousel and Fabulous Fandango rides in David Walliams World.
We even met some great characters like the famous Beefeater character from one of his books and we got some great photos with him.
There was a need for more speed so we headed to Rita which goes from 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds pulling a whopping 4.7g of force! Scream if you want to go faster! If there wasn't already enough screaming for one day, our next ride was a really scary one. TH13RTEEN is a spooky rollercoaster that enters a haunted house with a sudden vertical drop and even goes backwards, what a thrill! With plenty of time left in the park we took a wander through the beautiful gardens of the Haunted Hollow to the Forbidden Valley.
Congo River Rapids was a barrel of laughs as we rode through the canyon in our rafts splashing and screaming all the way; luckily, we didn't get too wet!
Fully strapped in and inverted 90°, Galactica made us feel like we were flying though an alien world! What a wild ride.
We headed down to the X Sector to ride the mighty Oblivion rollercoaster! With a 180ft near vertical drop that took us underground this really was the big one. "Don't look down!" they said, but it was hard not to at the top of the drop, a real heart in mouth moment! Next up we had a second opportunity to ride the Smiler and bought some smiler merch afterwards. Two more rides in the X Sector were well worth a go, Spinjam and Twistatron were both spinning rides and once again we left feeling rather giddy. The Wicker Man is a traditional style wooden roller coaster with a Celtic Pagan theme. Not only was it quite scary but pretty fast too! They told us we were to be sacrificed! We came out alive but perhaps we had been cursed?!
We took the last hour to explore the onsite Sealife centre and what a magical experience it was seeing so many species of beautiful fish. Feeling brave we walked through the underwater tunnel where huge sharks, stingray and fish swam above us.
The sun was already shining as we embarked on our journey towards Matlock Bath at the foot of High Tor, a dramatic steep sided limestone valley. We took a fantastic cable car ride up to The Heights of Abraham, taking in the spectacular views. Right at the very top we explored the museum which explained the history of the area, famous for hundreds of years’ worth of lead mining and now more commonly for being a big tourist attraction.
Next up, we took a guided tour through the mines which delved deep inside the cliffs into the dark, cold tunnels and caverns of the hillside. Our tour guide told fascinating stories of the history of the mines before we emerged back into the warm sunshine after a very special experience.
It was a glorious day as we explored the Peak District National Park. We took a scenic drive to Dovedale, where the River Dove flows through a wooded limestone ravine. The area is owned by the National Trust surrounded by steep hills especially the majestic Thorpe Cloud at nearly 1000ft.
We walked through the valley along the river to the famous stepping stones and all had a go at crossing the river making it over to the other side without falling in! 
An ice cream treat was always welcome....we were on holiday after all!
A day on site making the most of the fabulous activities on offer. First, we challenged each other to a fun game of crazy golf! It was a close game, and everyone tried their hardest to get a lucky hole in one! We popped back to the lodges to grab our swimming stuff where we made a big splash in the pool. It was great to see everyone practising their swimming and we played a few games too. No sooner had we dried off, the sun was out just in time for our archery session. All of us had tried archery at least once before so we were off to a good start. It took a bit of getting used to but soon enough, we were all getting shots on target.
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