Gwilym's Adventure Blog

  Original Galley (with electric hob and fridge)  Completely destroyed New Gas oven to go in  Work surface back on and working tap Back on the yacht for the last 2 days with the intention of doing all the outstanding jobs that  needed doing. The biggest job of the lot is ripping out the all electric galley (as that requires me to be hooked up to shore) and replacing it with a 12v / gas system. The tap has never worked so that got plumbed in properly and had power feed run to it so it works on a microswitch. Once the gas man has come to plumb all the pipes etc then I can finish it off by mounting the oven and replacing the tiles on the work surface. A good days work I reckon.

After spending 2 weeks on foot walking around Scottish and Welsh mountains, I fancied something a bit more relaxing (and less demanding on the knees) and hit the beach at Brixham for some Scuba action. Thanks to Mike for being my buddy for the day. No pics today but my new Dive Camera comes next week so look out for lots of underwater photos in the coming weeks.

After the two day expedition, it was a relief to get lighter packs and head up into Cwm Tryfan for some search exercises and water hazard training. Today the weather was again hot and it made the river crossing exercises quite pleasant (or so they candidates told me).

For the last two days I have been on expedition with the candidates in the east side of the Carneddau. We had glorious sun and it was hot (almost too hot) on Tuesday, the skies were clear for the night navigation session and today was misty on the summit until we dropped below 600m. A good two days that tested the candidates fitness and navigation to the full, it also allowed us to look at poor visibility navigation for real.

Today I took the candidates to the flanks of Tryfan to look at security on steep ground and ropework. The idea was to concentrate on route choice, spotting and verbal guidance as options before the rope came out. We then looked at lowering on a rope, confidence roping and personal abseiling. All in all a busy day with wet greasy rocks and grass making it all the more realistic. Wet and windy today, out on expedition tomorrow and Wednesday so hopefully will be a bit nicer.

Today we headed out into the Glyders by way of Y Gribin ridge over Glyder Fawr and onto Y Garn and back down into Idwall. The aim of the day was navigation and movement on ridges including the odd rock step.The sun was out but it was very windy and some spectacular clouds formed during the day.

Having arrived in N Wales late last night, this morning I met the candidates for the Mountain Leader Training Course and headed of into the Carneddau to look at basic navigation skills before pushing them with some smaller and harder targets. The weather was stunning and even hot at times. Hopefully the week will continue like this but give us a misty day for nav otherwise it will be a late night waiting for darkness.

Today after a Morrsions breakfast, Sarah, Simon and I headed to Glencoe for a gentle bimble round the Lost Valley / Hidden Valley whichever name you like to use which is located between Beinn Fhada and Gearr Annoach. The idea was to have a coffee stop and a wander before heading to Glasgow to catch our plane. The midges however put a stop to the coffee break but the walk up and around was very pleasant. A coffee and a Haggis Pastry in the Green Welly Stop completed the day. After flying back to Bristol I drove upto Snowdonia where I will be for the next week.

Today was the day we have been building up to. I took Simon and Sarah up the iconic Tower Ridge before a quick blast over the CMD arete before heading back to the car park. A full day with 600m of climbing and 16 km covered.

Today as the weather turned out less than clement, we headed to the Ice Factor where I gave Simon and Sarah a crash course in ice climbing.

After a good nights sleep (hmmmm - have you tried a youth hostel with Captain Snore-alot in the same room?) we set off for Glencoe and the mighty Aonach Eagach where we had great views and a mainly dry day. Both Sarah and Simon did very well and made their way along the ridge in good time before the excruiating knee wrenching descent down to the Clachaig Inn for dinner

Yesterday I flew up from Bristol to Glasgow with Sarah and Simon for a week of Scottish Mountaineering. Today we started it all off with a climb to the summit of Ben Nevis via Ledge Route a grade 1 scramble. A good day weather wise and a gentle introduction to the week ahead.

Today I was on Exmoor with a number of staff from Cannington Activity Centre looking at their navigation and personal walking skills. The weather was vile to start off with but improved during the day and it even ended up being quite pleasant.

Climbing venue  Fuente De Cable Car Dogfish (I think) in Santander Harbour On Sunday I left mildly sunny Plymouth and jumped on a ferry bound for Santander. Arriving on Monday, I drove off into rain and headed west to the Picos de Europa. I spent a couple of days driving round with Ivor completeing a risk assessment for a future visit. Once we had located the hospital, the supermarket, got maps, checked out campsites and restaurants I managed to get a couple of hours in the sea kayak checking out a paddle route from La Franca to Llanes ( click here ).  The following day, we had a quick drive into the Picos Massif itself to check out another campsite and locations for the climbing and trekking part of the trip. We took the Wednesday ferry back and arrived back in the rain in Plymouth this afternoon.