Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Jonny Belaying on Stepped Wall Hannah and Jonny on Lucifera Jonny on Stepped Wall Today Jonny and Hannah were on Day 1 of a Learn to Climb course at Cheddar. We arrived to a dry but slightly cold section of The Gorge and after a short bouldering warm up set off up Stepped Wall (VD). Jonny and Hannah followed in good style and we looked at construction of belays at the top. We moved on to Lucifera (VD) and although there was the odd loose bit of rock arrived at the top to find the belay tree had been chopped down. Again Hannah and Jonny were climbing well so we moved onto Little Hopper VS 4b and Mantanuska VS 4c. After the final climb we looked at abseiling down and spent some time at the bottom of the crag placing protection.

Today was another wet and muddy day up on The Quantocks with a group of 8 Bridgwater College students and their tutor. We had a great day and got extremely wet and dirty. Some of the students have clearly never ridden that far before and were suitably exhausted by the end of the ride. Not sure they will be able to walk tomorrow! No pics again today, I must remember to put new batteries in my camera. Bank Holiday weekend starts tomorrow and I will be out teaching climbing for 4 days. Hope the weather is kind to us and I will remember to take my camera with me.

I was working for Bridgwater College again today and the plan was to climb at Uphill Quarry. On arrival however the signs informed us that all of the belay stakes had been removed and were being replaced over the next two weeks. A quick flick through the guidebook and we relocated to Goblin Combe and set some ropes up there. All the students managed the 3 top roped climbs and the abseil and a few of them even managed to top rope a harder (around 4c) route. This was all in trainers (not a rock boot in site) so a good effort all round. Well done guys! Back on the bikes tomorrow.

Waiting for Students on Selworthy Beacon Amazing Exmoor Colours Students walking off towards Minehead Bossington Hill above Porlock Beach Today I was again working for Bridgwater College and took 11 students out to Porlock on Exmoor to practice Navigation before we go to Dartmoor and Snowdonia in the next couple of weeks. The weather was good to us (unlike yesterday) and both groups were able to sucessfully navigate themselves from above Porlock and around to Bossington Hill before following the coastal path into the finish point at Minehead Harbour. Tomorrow will be a climbing day

What a wet and wild day it was today. I was working for Bridgwater College and took a group of Outdoor Ed students onto the Quantocks for some off road training. The 10 students and I headed off from Ramscombe uphill to Dead Woman's Ditch where we did some skills training. After that is was all downhill back to the minibus for lunch. Unfortunately two students took a tumble (one was quite impressive and as a result the bikes needed some TLC. I spent the afternoon repairing the damaged bikes whilst the students took themselves off round and easier route on the spare bikes that were conveniently in the trailer. The weather was challenging to say the least with a couple of hail storms hitting us during the afternoon. We are going to Exmoor tomorrow for Navigation practice.

It was a bit damp on the first route But brightened up for the second route of the day Today Matt, Mike and I were on a teaching climbing workshop organised by AMI and run for us by Dan. We headed to Ogwen Valley where we worked out the scenarios set for us. Although the climbing was very slow (as were did a lot of talking) and we only got two routes done, both slabby Diffs and perfect teaching routes, I gained a lot from the day and will look to do some more workshops before my MIA assessment later this year. Just arrived back in Somerset and will be out Mountain Biking tomorrow.

Today I undertook the Trail Cycle Leader Assessment with Jonathan Collins from 1bike1 . I have been trying to do this for about 18 months but injury and other work have delayed it. Finally I made it onto a course. The assessment started with a written paper and then moved on to orienteering on a Mountain Bike with trail side repairs to be done in between legs. This took most of the morning and then we planned the afternoons ride and skills we were going to teach. The afternoon was spent on a ride on the Marin Trail near Betws Y Coed and the sun was out which made it a very pleasant experience. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me so no cycling pictures but I added one of the Snowdon Horseshoe that I took in the evening Tomorrow I am due to be out climbing. Fingers crossed the weather holds.