From Jenny. And Jon. And a bit of Liz. But mainly Jenny.

Our final day in Romania is drawing to a close, and what a week it's been!

Our time at the Project Ruth holiday club officially ended yesterday so we went on a day trip. Today began far too early for the majority of team members. Many have argued that 6am is not a real time. Needless to say, much of the coach journey is a sleepy blur and I can't recall all of it.

Unfortunately, our dear comrade Dog Rob was waylaid this morning (but we're pretty sure he's better now!) so our numbers were down for today's trip to the mountains of Transylvania in the north of the country. At this point, Jon wishes it to be known that the mountains were very nice. Yes, a whole day experiencing the grandeur and beauty of the area and the best adjective he can come up with is 'nice'. Oh, and 'cool' apparently.

The first castle of the day was originally inhabited by King Carul of Romania and judging by his taste in interior design, he didn't do things by halves. This palace was definitely the fancier of the two and visitors were required to wear protective footwear. As a result, Lizzie shuffled her way from room to room in size 10 slippers. It was a sight to behold. Fun times.

We stopped for lunch at a holiday resort in the mountains, we think it was called Vila Bran. The views were stunning (Liz says 'magnifique', Jenny says 'well lush' and Jon says 'cool'. What a literary team we make.) and some group members were lucky enough to grab a few moments of sunbathing in hammocks whilst enjoying the scenery.

After lunch we hopped back into the coaches, which were more like ovens at this point, and continued on our way. Reaching the second castle required a death defying climb of several steps (which Sarah became familiar with after leaving her bag and making a quick return dash). The castle, Castelul Bran, is traditionally associated with the legend of Count Dracula and his real life counterpart Vlad the Impaler. Dave was particularly fond of our tour guide as she let him bang the gong (no pun intended)! When we got back to the coaches we were all very tired but had had a thoroughly enjoyable day despite the 3 and a half hour journey and Rosie's brief encounter with a wasp!

Back at the centre now and feeling a bit sad that our week is coming to an end. There are many more people in the room since I started writing this blog. It's a bit scary, to be honest. Audrey keeps shouting 'APOSTROPHE' at me. I'm never going into journalism. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.


Thankyou very much everyone for all the prayers and support. See youz all tomorrow. BYE xxxxxxxxx


(Also Lizzie and Elle want a request list for their parents. Such demanding children. Elle would like a watermelon. Lizzie wants pineapple, mango, melon and vanilla yoghurt waiting for her. And a hug. She said please. Elle didn't.)