Summary
Have you ever wanted to get back to your childhood roots of jumping around, crawling on the ground, and falling down without a care in the world? There’s a place in Wales that lets you do exactly that! Bounce Below is what we like to think of as the ultimate jungle gym for adults.
Bounce Below is a series of trampolines, nets, ladders, and slides inside a giant underground cave. This isn’t an ordinary cave; it’s twice the size of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Bounce Below In Wales
We arrived on a rainy day at Bounce Below located at the Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Blaenau Ffestiniog. (If you can pronounce any of that, you are a better person than I!)
It was a good day to be underground as the wind was whipping through the valley and the rain was pouring down. We were grateful to be heading indoors. Err, underground.
What is Bounce Below?
The cave is the result of an old mining quarry, and when you walk through, you can see the remnants of a bygone era. The Llechwedd caverns even offer tours of its slate mining history.
We met our fellow jumpers in the holding area, where we sat on wooden benches waiting for our time to be called.
We had an hour to jump around inside, and something told me that one hour would be more than enough. The group before us came out with big smiles and lots of sweat running down their faces.
All jewelry needs to be taken off, and anything loose needs to be left behind. We brought our GoPro and small snappy camera with us. We did regret not bringing our larger camera because this place is so photogenic; it would have been awesome to photograph. However, we never would have had as much fun either.
We made sure nothing was fastened to our appendages. I had visions of a Jimmy Fallon type fall in the cave ripping off my ring finger, so Dave and I both opted out of wearing our wedding bands into the playground.
We entered the chamber lit up with psychedelic lights and were set loose to explore the many different caverns, passageways, and colorful trampolines. I felt like I was in a live game of Tron.
The Bounce Below Experience
These nets were bouncy, to say the least. We couldn’t get our rhythm and ended up falling down and giggling like schoolgirls. (Yep, Dave giggled like a schoolgirl)
Once we got our footing, we started to have some fun catching air at an already jaw-dropping height of 180 feet.
The nets are all hung over the cavern, dangling in mid-air. There’s one spot where you really get a feel for how high you are when you go out to a dark chamber in a back corner and bounce above what feels like a never-ending drop into darkness.
As other people joined in on the fun on the tight trampoline, we were propelled from one side of the net to the other.
Multilevel on the Course
It was then time to start our climb. We wanted more height. We found a tunnel with a wooden ladder and climbed higher and higher until we reached the top of the obstacle course.
There were small slides and pockets to play, but it was the huge chute that got my heart racing.
I had to be coaxed into dropping into the abyss. Dave, as usual, was gung-ho for any adventure and dropped in first so that he could give me words of encouragement from the bottom.
“You can do it Deb, no problem!”
I took a deep breath, covered my nose and mouth (something we were advised to do), shut my eyes, and fell into darkness. Before I knew it, I was at the bottom laughing and rolling like a 6-year-old.
“That was fun, let’s do it again!”
We made our way through more tunnels and found a winding trail back up to the entrance.
The Confidence Grows
Feeling more confident the second time around, we explored more chambers and found more chutes.
We compared each chute with the last, saying things like “Oh, the last one was so much faster” and “This one gets a little skinny at the end, we’ve got to lose some weight.” I want to try that one over there; how do we get there?
A Playground for Adults
We ran around huffing and puffing for the entire hour. We commented on how out of shape we were and how we need our own Bounce Below in Canada. If I had one nearby, I’d get a season’s pass to jump and fly into the air. It’s a great workout! I think Bounce Below may just be the future of adult workouts instead of a boring gym!
An hour was just enough!
Before we knew it, the hour was up, and like the group before us, we came out of the caves with big smiles and running sweat.
We handed in our helmets, dried off our faces, and emerged from the depths into sunshine and happiness. Like our mood, the day had turned bright and sunny.
For details, visit Bounce Below for pricing, location, and information.
Our trip to Wales is brought to you by Visit Britain and Visit Wales. Check out their websites for more great Wales and UK adventures!
