Situated in picturesque Powys, Glasbury (pronounced Glazebury) seems at first a sleepy little village, an almost twee oasis of peace and calm ringed by greenery and nestling on the banks of the meandering Wye.
But scratch beneath the surface and you'll find that Glasbury is also a base for all things outward bound, a mecca for fresh-air thrill-seekers who come to race canoes, walk gorges, build rafts, ride rapids, climb cliffs, jump off rocks, and then round it all off with a spot of archery.
Climbing
Saturday morning saw our group squinting into the sunshine as we gazed up at the near-sheer side of Dinas Rock, which, apparently, we were about to climb, all 70 hair-raising, slippy, vertical feet of it. Safety harnesses were lowered from the summit by Ryan, our excessively energetic guide, and so began the process of scaling, slipping, screaming and slamming soft bodyparts or helmet-encased heads against hard rock.
A sudden violent shower, which seemed to be concentrated solely around Dinas Rock, did little to help strained fingertips and toes cling on, but things got better when Ryan offered a top tip: don't keep your face pressed against the rock - if you can conquer your (entirely reasonable) fear of straightening your arms and leaning out, then your feet will get a much better grip. Hey presto. It worked a treat.
Abseiling
Having reached the summit, it was then time to leap off it backwards. Feeling like a bunch of SAS troops liberating an embassy, we abseiled back down Dinas Rock, as the skies cleared and the verdant valleys revealed themselves in the distance.
The idea with abseiling is to push off with your feet while feeding a length of rope through your harness, so you swing out and down in smooth movements. But in practice - as your hands struggle to keep up with your feet, and your brain comes to terms with the fact that you are, effectively, falling through the air from a height of 70ft - you're far more likely to push out and come crashing right back in, then drop about 4ft straight down the rockface, scraping your nose and chest as you go. But once you get the hang of it, it's quite a buzz. You'll never want to take a lift again.
Gorge-walking
A short hike away from Dinas Rock is Sychryd Gorge. For the next two hours we scrambled under, over and around the boulders, shrubs, trees and stumps lining the sides of the stream that bubbles and winds through the gorge - and when there was no clear way through, it was a question of simply putting those fingertips and toes to good use again, inching along a rockface as the stream slithered below, then, when back on terra firma, tossing rocks into the water to soak (and possibly dislodge) the slowcoaches among our group.
This was finished off with a trip to, and a plunge in, what the guides like to call the Mississippi Mudbath, a mini-swamp in the middle of some woods. Shoes off, socks off and in you leap - up to your eyes in glorious, thick mud, which all comes off (in theory) when you plunge into a nearby stretch of the Sychryd that's so turbulent (and invigorating) that the guides insist you wear a rope.
Naked disco
After a smashing bit of coq au vin at Maesllwch Hotel in Glasbury, plus a few glasses of champers in the beer garden, it was on to the deservedly legendary Clyro Court disco, about 25 minutes away by bus. Two stag parties had converged on the disco - the cavernous gym of an old mansion house - which no doubt explains why, at one point in a very loud and very boozy night, there were two young guys in afro wigs dancing naked on the stage.
Canoeing
The following morning - late - we hauled five hefty canoes off the back of a van, dropped them in the River Wye and began a five-mile paddle to Hay that was actually more like 10 miles since we seemed to have absolutely no idea how to go in a straight line. Bump - into the side. Bump - into the other side. Whack - into an overhanging branch. Screech - run aground in shallows. It's not nearly as easy as you'd think, and progress wasn't helped by an increasingly violent campaign of splashing that rapidly descended into the deliberate capsizing of any vessel that came too close.
Archery
By midday, the sun was blazing down and, after a couple of sandwiches made with local cheese, it was time for the final activity: archery.
You would expect this to be a test of technique rather than brute force - until you pull the arrow back and the whole crossbow begins to vibrate madly as your arms shake with the strain and the bloke in charge starts edging away to a safer spot. He'd halved the distance of the targets but, although some budding Robin Hoods landed the odd bullseye, in the main our arrows - fired by weary hands shaky from canoeing and the previous night's exertions - whizzed past the targets and embedded themselves in the grass behind.
As you would expect on a multi-activity holiday, a lot was crammed into this weekend but it never seemed rushed. For all the high-octane thrills, there was always time to kick back, chat, enjoy the views of the valleys and the Wye - and wonder why you don't do this kind of thing more often.
Getting there: Activity Superstore (01799 526526, activitysuperstore.com) offers multi-activity weekends in Powys (Friday 5pm to Sunday 5pm) for £199, staying at Maesllwch Hotel. The train from London Paddington to Hereford takes around three hours. National rail enquiries: 08547 484950.
Further information: Welsh Tourist Board, tel: 08708 300301, visitwales.com.
