Kate Middleton has always loved going on outdoor adventures as a part of her work in early childhood education or her role as the co-president of the U.K. Scouting Association, but on Tuesday, she spent the day taking on an outdoors course designed for young military hopefuls. As a part of her duties as the honorary air commandant of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, she visited the Windermere RAF Adventurous Training Centre in Cumbria, where she abseiled and cycled alongside a group of teenagers.

Kate’s visit marked the outdoor course’s reopening after a renovation that cost £2 million, according to the Daily Mail. Though she enthusiastically participated in the activities, the duchess ended the visit without a spot on the trusty See by Chloé lug-soled boots that she has owned since 2019 and her khaki Seeland puffer jacket.

Later, she traveled to Lake Windermere where she visited with two Holocaust survivors who spend the summer of 1945 in the Lake District. Arek Hersh and Ike Alterman, now in their 90s, were a part of a group of 300 who came to the area to recuperate after the end of World War II, and were given the nickname the Windermere children. According to People, Hersh and Alterman discussed their experience in the Lake District and their lives after the wars.

“She was absolutely delightful,” Alterman, a former prisoner at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Theresienstadt, told the magazine. “We laughed, she asked questions and she wanted to know the answers. We talked about her kids and my kids, and how we love the lakes. I have two girls and two grandchildren. I told her what happened to me during the war and when I arrived and how I progressed in business later.”

After the visit, Kate shared a statement about it on the Twitter account she shares with Prince William. “I wanted to be able to meet some of the survivors Ike & Arek in person to hear their stories; about how they went on to create their own companies, write a book & to this day, still sneak in the odd round of golf,” she said. “It was so powerful to hear how their time in the Lakes enjoying outdoor recreation, sport and art therapy, allowed them to be able to begin to rebuild their lives and eventually, their families here in the UK.”

Tuesday’s outing was Kate’s second engagement since she returned from spending summer break with her children, who she even taught to sail. Last week, she traveled to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where she greeted a handful of people who helped with the U.K.’s evacuation mission in Afghanistan earlier this month.

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