Gwilym's Adventure Blog

 The last 2 days I have been out and about on The Mendips hills conducting a Bronze DofE Assessment for Churchill Academy. 

Yesterday and today I was back in the Mendip Hills and surrounding area assessing a number of teams from Churchill Academy . 8 teams in total (although only 3 for me) all coping well with a variety of weather From North Wooton, through Wells, Wookey and Ebbor Gorge was wet at the start but still gave us a lovely evening for camping.  Off on my holidays tomorrow so stay in touch for some Motorcycle Travel posts

Yesterday and today I was in the Mendip Hills and surrounding area assessing a couple of teams from Churchill Academy . 7 teams in total (although only 2 for me) all coping with some pretty wet weather at times. From North Wooton, through Wells, Wookey and Ebbor Gorge was wet but it finally dried out after that ending in a lovely evening for camping. Today was on and off showers and all the groups were in and finished by 4pm. Must be a popular weekend as there were hundreds of others out and about from various schools around the area.

On Friday and today I was on The Mendip Hills assessing a couple of Bronze DofE teams from Churchill Academy. As always it is great to work in my local area and have a short commute to work. Both teams did well (as did all the others with different assessors) and I got to find a new campsite on in Rodney Stoke that I didn't know existed.

Back out on The Mendips today with another group of Bridgwater and Taunton College Public Services students for some more navigation assessments. A number of Bronze and Silver NNAS awards were achieved today.

After a few weather postponements, I finally got round the running the 2nd day of a NNAS Bronze course for Public Service students from Bridgwater and Taunton College . 12 in total with Gail, Martin and I out assessing them in some wet conditions. 12 Passess. Well done all

Supervising a Bronze DofE team this weekend on The Mendips working for Somerset Adventures . A well organised expedition with 10 teams out. My team of 6 boys were pretty awesome and covered the ground quickly (and got very muddy somehow) and had a great time. Good luck on your assessed expedition and sorry I can't be there for that one.

This weekend I have been in Cheddar representing Mountain Training at The South West Outdoor Festival organised by The National Trust. Although the weather was poor, some hardcore people turned out for the bike race on Sat and the marathon/half marathon today. My role was to deliver "Skills for the Hills" workshops in the BMC Skills Tent and to be around to answer any question relating to Mountain Training awards. The Skills for the Hills workshop covered navigation and what to carry and/or wear.

Out working on the Mendip Hills today with students from Bridgwater and Taunton College. Navigation training was the aim of the day with a mix of woods and open land in preparation for Silver NNAS assessment coming soon

Working for Bridgwater and Taunton College today. Out with the L3 Outdoor students on the Mendip Hills. A few hours of navigation coaching and then they were let loose on the Burrington Ham orienteering course to see what they had learnt. All the teams found all the point within the allotted time so some good progress made.

The title and pics say it all. A great day out today with Bridgwater College L3 Public Services Students on The Mendip Hills.

I was out on The Mendip Hills today with L3 Public Services students running a navigation workshop on compass use and pacing. It was cold today (colder than Scotland is right now I reckon) so not a day for hanging about. These students have an expedition coming up at Easter so we need to get out as much as we can

After a fruitful meeting this morning, I headed up to The Mendips and in particular Burrington Ham. I wanted to check out the orienteering course before I use it later this week. The course works well and the shortest way round it was around 3.5km but would be longer if you followed it sequentially. Obviously I managed to get scratched by brambles and covered in mud by taking the shortest line to each one but that is what it is all about (in my opinion) Here is the map if anyone wants it

Today I was back our on The Mendip Hills with some Bridgwater College Level 2 Public Services students for some navigation training. We were lucky enough to see a Slow Worm today which is something I have not seen for some time.

Back out with Andy on a NNAS Bronze course for Wet and High Adventures but today on The Mendip Hills. A lot of rain fell overnight and there were a few additional streams and rivers about that added to the navigational decision. Please to say Andy passed with ease. Well done.

Yesterday and today I have been pottering about on The Mendip Hills both on bike and on foot assessing some Bronze DofE teams from a girls school in Bristol. Pleased to say all completed the 2 day expedition.