Gwilym's Adventure Blog

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

Back out with another group in Torbay today. Not as warm as yesterday but still pleasant and better than the misty conditions on Dartmoor and in Plymouth Sound. This evening I went out to our Bunkhouse on the moor to visit a Bronze D of E groups before they go on assessed expedition to Exmoor tomorrow morning Apologies for the poor pics but camera being silly today.

  Today as part of Plymouth College Activities Week I took a group of year 8 students to Torbay for a Coasteering session, the weather was great and the sea was calm so everyone had a great time. Although I only had 12 students with me, there are over 200 of them out on activities around Devon and further afield. After dinner, I headed out to Downderry near Torpoint to visit a Bronze D of E group at their campsite. Unfortunately for them it was raining but they all said they had enjoyed the expedition so far.

This weekend I have been directing a SPA Training course on Dartmoor. We spent one day at The Dewerstone and the second day at Sheepstor. During the course we looked at a number of different skills and the weather even improved enough for some leading at the end of the day. The Dewerstone Squirrels are still at it and managed to gain entry to one of the candidate's rucsacs and ate some moisturiser cream!

Today I was at Cannington Activity Centre assessing Instructors to work on the High Ropes Course. This is one of a number of days I do at various centres advising and checking on staff competence.

Today I took 6 students down into Cornwall to help them with their new routes for their second Rail Trails book. This involved me dropping them off at a number of railway stations whilst they walked some new routes. It also meant I had a nice walk and a Cornish Pasty. Now, as this was a hot pasty I probably had to pay VAT on it or something like that The product, 'Railtrails', is a book of walks designed to support patronage on the rural branch lines of First Great Western. The team members researched, designed and published the book themselves and have had 2000 copies printed. The second book is being published this week. Rail Trails can be purchased on Amazon , Plymouth Waterstones or Plymouth Tourist Information

Heading out to sea Feeling a tad queesy Heavy weather ahead 3 new reefing lines fitted Finally after a washed out week, the weather decided to play ball today. With the storms gone and wind down to a mere F4, I slipped from the marina and headed out into Plymouth Sound. I had a few jobs to do on the yacht today whilst the sails were up and needed space to do it. Outside the breakwater I set the auto helm on 210 degrees and managed to refit the 3 reefing lines and some other sail bits. I did get thrown around a bit and had to put the mainsail up and down alot to do the jobs but it was great fun all the same. After an hour or so, I turned round and headed back in at 30 degrees enjoying the fact I could actually sail not rather than do work. There was a bit of a roll going on coming back in and I did start to feel a bit "off colour" but it stopped soon enough and settled down. I was back on the mooring mid afternoon before heavier rain came in.

Today I was at Plymouth Sailing School updating my old VHF licence to one including the DSC radios. It was good to watch the wet and windy weather from inside a classroom. Good News!! The forecast looks good for tomorrow so I am now on the yacht getting ready to go out tomorrow morning if it is as good as predicted.

So far this week I have failed to go sailing due to both the weather and the need to do some paperwork. Yesterday with all paperwork complete, I managed to get onto the yacht for the afternoon and then spent a very rough night in the marina. This is why I am not sailing either today or tomorrow