Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Lots of Tandem and Solo work for the L3 Outdoor students today in relation to their British Canoeing 2 star assessments. Nice that there was no ice to clear first but there was a bit of wind to spice things up.

I seem to be spending a fair amount of time this week breaking a thin ice on the canal. Today I was at it again and this time with L2 Sport students. Different groups this week all seem to have had the experience of launching when it is icy but enjoying an ice free canal at the end of the sessions once it has melted. It was pretty warm in the direct sun today.

A short afternoon session afloat with my Level 4 Students. Much warmer today and no ice to contend with. We had a little bit of wind and looked at options of how to paddle into it and the more fun option of using another boat to sail with it.

Today's boating session was delayed by a few hours until the temperature rose above zero then it was a case of powering through the now thin layer of ice to have a trip down the canal. The swans had managed to keep a 3m area of canal open by swimming about all night but seem very happy that we open up a lot more of the canal for them. A mix of Tandem and Solo skills demonstrated today from the Outdoor Students.

Today I was on the Exe at Tiverton working for Wet and High Adventures with one client, Jamie. This was an introduction to White Water Kayaking looking at using his previous flat water techniques and applying them in the moving water environment. The river was up a little from my last trip but still nice and clear. Please Rain!!

We managed to find enough water to float down the Exe from Bolham today. We really need rain but this section of the river is doable even when low. One really nice side effect of teh lack of rain is how clear the water is at the moment. Quite cold though.

    Awesome day out at Bolt Head with Olly visiting a new Coasteering route. I had over dressed and was warm (too warm at times) in my 5mm suit with 2mm vest but better that than cold obviously. Seeing a grey seal catch a fish was great and although I felt like I had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson after the caving yesterday, it was a relaxing day out in the unseasonably warm weather we are having. The 2km walk in and walk out (after a dodgy exit climb up) means it is unlikely we will take groups there but it was good fun all the same.