Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Saturday, Sunday and Today I have been working with Abbey School, Reading on the Silver D of E Assessment Expedition in the North Wessex Downs Area. I have never been so confused as to what county I am in as I was flitting between Berkshire, Hampshire and Wiltshire 3 or 4 times a day. Well done to all the teams who completed the expedition in a mini heatwave.

 This is Sue, not a seal Back out on Obsession today with Somerset Divers for another dive with the seals at Lundy. I will let the pictures do the talking but another great day. Thanks Sue for being my buddy today.

The infamous lying down move on Pulpit Today on the 4th day of his course I took Andy to Houndtor and again we were joined by Dan. During the day Andy lead Paddy and Pulpit as well as doing some bouldering to improve movement and more belay construction work. For a bit of fun the guys both climbed Liars Dice on a Top Rope. This is a short but very steep Severe climb. The weather was kinder today with only the occasional shower.

A wet start  A dry finish Today I headed to to Haytor with Andy and Dan to continue with Andy's climbing week. On arrival the weather was atrocious so we spent some time looking at gear placements from the ground. However the weather driend up and we progressed to leading routes with a top rope "just in case". The rock was almost perfectly dry fopr teh last route of the day. Andy and Dan climbed Zig Zag, Step Across and Bulging Wall.

Abseiling for "stuck" gear Today Andy and I headed to Goblin Combe to look at building belays and placing gear. We placed rocks, hexes and cams both from the floor and on a top rope. Apart from a quick shower in the afternoon the weather was fine although the rock was a little greasy from last nights rain. I have just been to The Bicycle Chain to pick up 4 more new bikes to increase the Wet and High Adventures fleet to 20.

Today I took Andy on the first day of his climbing course to Avon Gorge where we climbed The Arete, Original Route and Easy Route at Main Area, A total of 11 pitches of climbing. We were climbing well to the right of the nesting perigrines and although we had made an effort not to disturb them the same could not be said for the crows who buzzed them all day. We got away with the weather with the showers coming in just as we were finishing. This evening I met with my group who I will be taking to Borneo in a few weeks time. I now have 57 student names to learn!

Threatening clouds over Bossignton Hill Me (and Matt)  Friendly Robin at the tea rooms Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent on Exmoor with Haygrove School on their Year 9 Camp. We had a evening of activities and a day of walking. The second evening was spent sheltering from the rain whilst the pupils were singing campfire songs. The rain didn't really dampen the spirits and a good time was had by all.