Gwilym's Adventure Blog

On Day Two of the BCU Moderate Water Endorsement Award with Stuart from Canoe Control , Colin and I ran The Loop section of The River Dart with higher water levels than yesterday making the trip fun and fast in places. There were quite a few other kayakers out on the river including most of the staff from AS Watersports . Both Colin and I passed the award and learnt alot from Stuart over the two days. No photos as still waiting for my waterproof camera to come back from repair.

Today I have been kayaking on The River Dart (lower section) with Stuart from Canoe Control and Colin. The water levels were low but there was still enough to play on a few waves. It has started raining now so hoping to have more water when we paddlle The Loop section of The River Dart tomorrow. The purpose of today's paddle was training for the new BCU Moderate Water Endorsement Award which is the replacement for the "old" Level 3 Coach Award. The only photo today is of a random group at Newbridge as my waterproof camera has gone back to the manufacturer for repair so I did not have one on the river with me.

It has been a boring week of paperwork and sorting kit but I managed to get out today and I took my Dad down to AS Watersports in Exeter to test out some canoes to add to my fleet. Having paddled a few canoes over the years I was keen to test a few back to back. After an hour or so on the water I settled on what I was going to buy for myself, a Mad River Explorer (red boat above) but am still undecided as to what to buy for clients. There will have to be another tesing session in the next month or so.

Rigging up for Sailing This weekend I have been at Llandysul Paddlers undertaking training for the 4 Star Open Canoe Award. Yesterday we were on a large Reservoir looking at Canoe Sailing and Open Water Skills. Today we were on the River Cothi a grade 2(3) river looking at White Water Skills and Leadership. On both days the weather was good and as the only other person on the course was my brother we both got plenty of personal coaching from Jethro who was running it.

Kayaking  Assault Course High Ropes  Night Line   Rock Climbing   Coasteering  Seal Pup This week I have been at Sealyham Actvitiy Centre in Pembroke. This is strange for me as I was not in charge of any of the activites. I just took part with my groups and enjoyed myself whilst other people do all the hard instructional work. During the week we went Coasteering, Surfing, Climbing, Abseiling, Kayaking as well as using the onsite Assault Course, High Ropes and Team Building Activities. Whilst Coasteering we were lucky enough to see a number of Seal pups.

Back out on Dartmoor today and the sun was still shining. That makes 3 sunny days on the moor. Result! On the last day of the WGL assessment we headed off around Down Tor and micro navigated (looking for really small features) our way around. There were loads of people out and about including a Sea Scout Cycle Ride. Well done to the 5 candidates who passed the Walking Group Leader Award this weekend.

Packing up camp Sun Rise For the last 2 days I have been out on Dartmoor conducting assessments for the Walking Group Leader Award. We have spent the last two days navigating round, looking at flora and fauna, camping, cooking and navigating at night. I will be back tomorrow for the final day but took the opportunity to pop back home for some creature comforts

Today I was down at Bridgwater YMCA with my Thursday students for a spot of Paddlesport. As I had only 8 in the morning group and the same in the afternoon if was great to be joined by Jonny (Level 1), Anneka (Trainee Level 2) and Hannah (thinking about becoming a coach). This made for an easy day with a good coach to client ratio. We paddled a mixture of kayaks and canoes down to the docks and back with some skills coaching sessions spread through the time. There were a couple of unintentional swims and they informed me the water was cold. The weather was not so good for us today and I can confirm winter has arrived.

Today was my last day working with students at Wimbleball Lake. Matt, one of the Senior Instructors at the centre was assessing my final group today so well done to those who gained either a Level 1 or 2 Dinghy Sailing Certificate. Today I felt the weather had turned wintery and regretted wearing shorts and sandels as near freezing water sloshed about my feet.

Me working hard as always  Downwind sailing Today I was up at Wimbleball Lake with my usual groups who were being assessed by Mark the Chief Instructor to see what standard they are sailing at. The weather was great with some powerful gusts of wind passing through occasionally. Well done to the 10 students who gained their RYA Level 1 Dinghy Sailing Certificates.

Today I was out at Goblin Combe with a group of Bridgwater College students for some rock climbing. Jonny (who is on my long term instructor training programme) kindly came along to assist in the running of the sessions. We had a number of top ropes set up aswell as an abseil. Some of the students did really well and had long battles with the crux moves before making it up to the top.

Half of the fleet Fitting bottle cages Today I collected my new Mountain Bike Fleet including my own personal bike which are supplied by The Bicycle Chain in Bridgwater. The bikes are Giant Revel 3 Front Suspension Mountain Bikes and mine is a Giant Talon 2 . We offer both cycle hire and guided rides so please contact us for details. If you are a group wanting to hire a fleet of Mountain Bikes we do an excellent group rate. We are also getting a new Bike Trailer in the next few weeks.

  Goblin Combe Climbing (spot the plane) Views to Brean from Uphill Quarry Today I was working with Jonny who has already done his SPA Training and is looking to do his assessment next month. He wanted a day to brush up on some of the skills so we looked at setting up top ropes for climbing using various different methods and anchors. We also looked at releasable abseils and had a go at rescuing a "stuck" abseiler. We started at Goblin Combe and after lunch moved to Uphill Quarry to experience setting up different venues.

Tall Towers  Fire  Rope Swing I was back at Forest School today with a different group to last week. We made fires and cooked as well as making towers, strectcher races, a rope bridge and a rope swing