Gwilym's Adventure Blog

From Wednesday midday until midday today I have been on another expedition with the other half of the Level 3 Public Services students from  Bridgwater and Taunton College . The same approximate route Porlock to Tarr Steps but with variations as the students made the route cards. And so ends 7 days on Exmoor, off to Dartmoor for the weekend

From Monday morning until midday today I have been on an expedition with some Level 3 Public Services students from Bridgwater and Taunton College . Porlock to Tarr Steps with campsites at Pool Bridge and Halse Farm gave a real mix of coast, woodland and open moor, not to mention a few hills along the way.

Out for the second day of a NNAS Silver I was running for Wet and High Adventures . We looked at more advanced techniques today and got off path for some compass work. Another stunning day on Exmoor and well done to Alan who passed the Silver award today.

A beautiful day on Exmoor for the first day of a NNAS Silver award I was directing for Wet and High Adventures . We started in Dunster and headed up into the woods and hills above. We spent the morning recapping on Bronze skills before moving onto the Silver stuff and trying to improve on accuracy. After I had finished, it was off to Sparkhays Campsite in Porlock to meet up with some friends for a dinner of home made Chile. Thanks for the food Cath.

The last day on The Wye with a 7am start say use down to Symonds Yat by 11am and back on the bus heading home by midday. A lively day on The river where we saw loads of wildlife. All 5 students made it to the end in good form and that is the end of the watersports module for them. I will be working with them on land based activities after Easter.

Back on The Wye today from Lucksall Campsite to Ross on Wye. Fast flows certainly helped the progress but there were some wicked headwinds at time. I did get a tail wind and the sail up for a very short time but probably wasn't worth the effort. 

Today was the first day of a River Wye expedition. Hereford to Lucksall Campsite. The river was flowing well at arou d 3 knots meaning very little paddling to do. Some wet rain periods interspersed with sunny spells.

A nice day (in between hail storms) biking on The Quantock Hills with my Level 3 Outdoor Education students from Bridgwater and Taunton College .  A few ups and downs, a bit of mud and a race against time added to the challenge of the day.

Every so often you have to get in and prove you can still do it. Today I was on an update as a Trainer Assessor for the Royal Lifesaving Society Beach Lifeguard qualification. A new manual, new presentation slides and some skills practice on the board was the order of the day down in Exmouth. A little chilly in the sea but it certainly could have been colder. Thank East Devon Training for the pictures

That is the last canoe training session done with my L4 Public Sevices students from  Bridgwater and Taunton College  . Next week we are off to The Wye for an expedition. Not a bad day, low wind, warm and even had time to make a brew along the way.

Working with my Bridgwater and Taunton College L3 Outdoor Students today and the day started badly when the bike trailer electrics failed. So, it was raid the activity centre store and build our own Mountain Bike course around the Low Ropes course. We had some pretty epic obstacles set up but as we couldn't work out how to get the bikes up the wall, we reverted to normal low ropes technique for that one.

Getting wet in the Melte and Sychryd Gorges today as part of my Risk Assessment process. Hannah joined me so that I had someone to carry the bag and star in the pictures. It was a little low and floating down stream bouncing off a few rocks has given me a few bruises on my bottom but otherwise all good.

Today I was down in Brixham assisting with a Foundation Safety and Rescue course with Baz Coaching as part of my consolidation period before starting to run them myself. It was good to work with someone new and steal his ideas for future stuff. 6 candidates and lots of different boats gave us plenty of ides to try out.