Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Fot the last two days I have been working for Outer Limits Explore in Essex where I have been assessing candidates for the Basic Expedition Leader Award (BELA) on a two day expedition in the Epping Forest in Essex. As I had never been there before it was nice to go somewhere new and it was very flat so gave my knees a rest. We ended up camping at Gilwell Park which is the National Scout Campsite. Each day was around 12km and gave the candidates the oportunity to demonstrate their navigational and leadership skills.

Today I was finally able to get out of the support vehicle and jumped on a bike to lead the group for 50km through some fantastic French countryside from Beauvais, through Meru and into Pontoise. My 2 hr reprieve over, I swapped back with Richard and jumped back into the van for the final stretch into Paris. Not sure I particulary enjoyed driving round the Arc de Triomph and then failing to find a parking space anywhere near the Eifel Tower. Well done to all 7 particpants who sucessfully completed the 400+ km ride in four days.

More amazing roads Today the team was doing a shorter ride of about 100km through some lovely French countryside and on into the large town of Beauvais. As I was again stuck driving the support vehicle the highlight of my day was waiting for 50 minuites for the bakery to open and then getting the biggest bit of custard tart ever.

Quiet French Roads Stunning Coastline One of many hills The Blue Elephant Carwas Over the last two days I have been working for Adventure Cafe  and am driving the support vehicle as a team of 8 cyclists started at The Greenwich observatory and headed down through Rochester to Dover. We jumped on the ferry before a ver short 2km cycle to the hotel in Calais. Today I have been driving down the west coast of France as the team rode around 145km through some outstanding scenary to Aberville and the hotel there. The weather has been excepotioanlly hot and although I would like to be cycling it is vbery pleasant in the air conditioned van. Photos to follow shortly

Tomorrow I will be working for Adventure Cafe on a London to Paris Cycle Ride . I will be taking turns at cycling and driving the support vehicle. The plan is to cover 280 miles over the next 4 days and arrive in Paris on Sunday pm for a lovely meal and wander round the city.  Tonight I am in a F1 hotel in Barking and I am wondering if a Tent would be bigger!

Boat 1 Rolling Boat 2 Today I had a nice day out testing Sea Kayaks from AS Watersports at Meadfoot Beach in Torbay. I had narrowed the selection down to two models from the same manufacturer. I took them both out, paddled in the waves and rolled the boats repeatedly as well as testing their general paddling ability. Sounds great doesn't it! Well, the first one was too slow when turning and was heavier to roll (though it was the cheaper of the two) and the second one was fantastic in all aspects but was too small for me. I have gone back to the drawing board and am investigating the availability of a larger version of boat two. I may have to have another day testing boats next week. Hope the weather is as good then as it was today.

Capsize Drills Today was a quiet day at home with only a quick BCU Two Star Assessment to conduct down at The Bridgwater YMCA. Well when I say a quiet day I have been researching what Sea Kayak to buy.