An Exciting Challenge

We went to Lake Balaton to take part in a family day, where the organizers prepared many interesting programs. There was even a mini adventure park next to our tent, which was very popular among the children. Our enthusiastic volunteer Dóra Pozsgay decided to try to go along the obstacle track. In the meantime, her guide dog Ében was cheering for her.

This is what Dóra told about her extraordinary expreience:

’’First, Piroska’s kids explored the obstacle track among the tents. When she started to talk about what it looks like, I more and more started to feel the urge to try it out. Who knows me knows that I like trying out extreme things. So I took Piros’s arm and we approached the track together. In fact, I had already been to an adventure park, maybe in Zamárdi, but I thought that once I started it, I couldn’t miss it out now, either.

As we got to the track, the special protective clothing with carbines was trien on me but the first one in children’s size was too small for me. Never mind, they had it in a bigger size, which was a good size for me. After putting on the clothing, I had to climb up some wooden stairs and the first part could start!

Of course, Piros and the guide followed me closely. Before starting out, we repeated how to use the carbines, which went so well that I think I could have gotten an ’’A” for that. The first track was a net which I had to go through.

In the picture a young woman is going through a net course
The first course

First it was very strange that when I took a step forward, I went down immediately. I even descended í bit like a little monkey hanging there. But it was not so easy to get ahead because I could only put my feet one in front of the other. The small wooden ramp at the end of the net course was much higher than the course, so I needed to swing to step up. A little peek-a-boo under the ropes and after reattaching the carbines successfully, I could go on to the second course.

In the picture a young woman is satnding on a wooden ramp. She is grabbing the first of the hanging loops.
Second course

In this course I had to catch ropes hanging down from above, which were slippery and because they were high above, I could barely reach them. So as plan B, I clung to a thicker wire to which the carbines had to be reattached. My technique was as follows: there was a thicker fiber cable,  I slipped my right foot forward and followed it with the left that I raised. Here, too, I needed some zest at the end of the course to reach the rest area. When I got there, everybody clapped, although it was not a difficult course. And then came ’’the end”, when I had to walk along a net  of ropes that looked like a squared copybook. First, I had to imagine the course, which I could not really do. So I had to go through a vertical course of net that consisted of braided ropes. I had to boot my brain several times figure out how it looks like. After the first ’square my inner GPS started and I tried to figure out how to do that.

In the picture a young woman is climbing on a ropeway.
Third course

And then I started it. It was very strange because when I tried to move on to the next square, my feet kept slipping out.  I was told to put my weight on my legs, but when both my feet and my hands were slippingit was hard to move on. I tried to keep myself with a different technique, hugging many squares but it didn’t work for so long. At this stage, I felt a little soreness in my arms, which gave me another reason to give up. I managed to get to a quarter of the course and then I tried to swing myself forward sitting in the harness. As it didn’t work so well either, plan ’’C” came when the guide pushed me, and at the next wooden rest area I could get down to the ground on a ladder. Others say that it is a huge achievement that I got as fas as that, but I could not enjoy it because I didn’t complete all the stages. I left out the fourth course of which I was really curious, but in theory, it could have been very hard even for sighted people. So when we got back to our tent, everybody was cheering and supporting me, which I was very happy about. 🙂 “