Gwilym's Adventure Blog

  Alun looking like he is having fun    Me pretending the weather isn't that bad Today I got up at 4am and drove to Snowdonia for a weeks climbing. On arrival in horrendous rain and wind I gave a lot of thought to just sitting in the car crying but eventually (and only after a fry up, 3 coffees and finding the climbing wall was too busy) ventured out onto Lion Rock with Alun to practice problem solving and resue skills. The wind blew, the rain fell and although Alun and I were no more than 3m apart we couldn't hear each other. Still, we managed to stick it out for a few hours (which was longer than the other mad people on the crag) before retiring to Pete's Eats for coffee and cake. Tomorrow's weather looks just as bad so I imagine a quick scramble in the pouring rain and then lots of cafe time is in order.

  Today we moved onto 2 star skills as well as going on a journey up the canal. We covered self rescue, support strokes, ruddering as well as looking at all aspects of edging and trim. All 5 candiates pass the 2 Star assessment and are looking forward to the moving water course later in the Autumn. I am off to North Wales tonight for a week of rock climbing

Today I have been running an introduction to Paddlesport day on the Bridgwater to Taunton Canal. The 5 clients and I spent the morning in Open Canoes and the afternoon in Kayaks learning skills such as Forward and Reverse Pddling, turning a boat and getting in and out safely. Last thing this afternoon was spent on capsize drills and self rescue techniques.

Will seconding Lemming Way Stunning views St Govan's Head Will about to top out Following a morning of showers, Will and I were able to snatch a route before it rained again at St Govan's Head in Pembrokeshire. We climbed Lemming Way which was graded Severe. A fair grade if you don't get your helmet stuck in the corner crack!!! Bridging is definately the way forward on this one

Will practising his prusicking technique On the belay just above the sea My Foot in the way again Some others enjoying the day This morning we woke up to rain but it soon dried and we headed of down to Porth-Clais to check out the routes. As anticipated the tide was still flooding the base of them so we spent a few hours on the top of the crag looking at belay systems and found a blank 3m wall for Will to practice abseiling and prusicking. After a break for lunch we return to the crag and ticked off Red Wall S 4a and Red Wall Right Hand VS 4c on Red Wall. We then abbed down to the base of Dreamboat Annie where as we prepared for anothr route we were hit by a rain squall which saturated both us and the rock. Time to demonstarte tho earlier prusicking skills and we ascended the abseil rope in the rain back to the top where it of course immediatley stopped raining again. We abseiled back in and completed Diagonal Crack S 4a and Porth-Clais Crack HS 4b which in the evening sun was a grea...

Today Will and I arrived in St David's in Pembroke for some climbing but as the weather was so bad we opted to go Coasteering for a few hours instead. After that, we went to look at some of the crags on the coast less than 50m from the end of our campsite . They look good (though a little small) and with the wind blowing as hard as it is they should dry quickly. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow and we will be able to get out on the rock for Will's first experience of sea cliff climbing.

Wildlife even on R & R Days Mount Meru This is close, I don't have a zoom lens Safari at Tarangirie National Park Visit to a Masi Boma I have made it back safely from Africa and here are a few pictures to keep you going and there are some more here I flew out on 19th July with 32 team members to Northern Tanzania. Week 1 was spent at Ndarakai Camp near the Kenya Border where we were based on a large ranch. Activites range from wildlife census work to making paper from Elephant Dung. Work at the local school was eithwe teaching or digging a fishpon and the week was brought to an end by a three day Safari where we saw 4 of the big 5 but sadly spotting a Leopard was not to be. Week 2 was spent in Moshi where we were again working at a local school building a new roof for their dining hall and also general landscaping work around the site. This was hard work and very dusty. We did however manage to build 11 rafters and did some foundations. Week 3 started with a trip to Mount Meru ...