Gwilym's Adventure Blog

 Weather getting worse at Andrin As part of a work trip to Spain I managed to grab a few hours in the Sea Kayak on the North Spanish coast paddling from La France to Llanes. Although it started of being bright enough, the sea state started building as the rain and mist rolled back in which made the last couple of kilometres a bit of a challenge into both wind and rain.

For those of you who think I have a dream job, this is what I have been doing since the end of last week. Hanging wet tents up, taking dry tents down, rolling and bagging them before hanging more wet tents up. Still, off to Spain tomorrow where it is raining and I can make another wet tent

Yesterday and today I have been assessing a Bronze D of E group walking from Mothercombe to Mount Batten (Plymouth). The weather was just horrible and eveyone got wet. Howeve there were smiles all round and all sucessfully completed the expedition.

After a manic week, I took the opportunity on Saturday afternoon, once all the kit had been sorted, to meet with friends on their boat and have a ride on the river around Dartmouth. An early start this morning saw us kayaking between Dittisham and the sea looking out as conditions started building. After breakfast in the cafe we paddled back to Dittisham and I headed off back to Plymouth to do a few jobs on my boat. I intended to launch the kayak at Wembury for a bit but the wind was so strong I was unable to lift it off the roof rack without it being ripped from my hands so I bailed on that idea and am currently sat on my yacht enjoying the sun even though I am being blown around all over the place.

After 4 days of Coasteering, I used one of my other skill sets and spent the day driving a bus and drinking coffee at Mount Batten Watersports Centre where we had groups taking part in Sailing, Kayaking, Windsurfing. In the afternoon I headed up onto Dartmoor to bring back some of the Bronze D of E students who had successfully completed their qualifying expedition. Lots more pictures on the school blog here

Back out for the 4th and final Coasteer today in bright sunshine and a bt of swell unlike the last 3 mill pond days. After 4 days at the beach I finally got an ice cream before we drove away. A few jelly fish still around today but not as many as yesterday. I will be going out to our Acttivity centre later tonight to meet with a D of E group and collect a whole wad of wet tents that need drying ready to go out again over the weekend. Could be a late night again.

Out again with our third group of the week in Torbay for some more Coasteering action. As much as I enjoy Coasteering, I am glad we only have tomorrow to do before I change to do something else. A good set of students who all rose to the challenge and had a great day. It was a first for me today as although I have seen Jelly Fish in the area before, it was the first time there were so many we had to alter our route to steer clear of them