Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Made it to Spain after a few hours of French driving and a quick boulangerie stop for a mid morning snack. I actually missed the sign saying "Welcome to Spain" (maybe there wasn't one) but once I had cleared the first Spanish town, it was onto a mix of fast single carriage roads and then onto the 634 coast road and what a road that was. It hugged the coast and the view from the cliff tops were amazing. There is defiantly a chance I will come back and ride that road again or even if I have time at the end of this trip going  back to Santander. Only about 5 1/2 hrs and 260km today as I was looking to have a relaxing afternoon so I arrived in good time and headed down to the beach for a few hours to have a nice relaxing swim and a chill out before returning to the campsite for some grub. This is where I am tonight. Think I am going to break my "no motorway" rule again tomorrow and use one to bypass Bilbao and Santander as I really don't fanc...

Not Happy! Woke up to torrential rain at 6am, still raining at 7am and still going strong at 8am. Realising it was not going to stop, I got my gear on, packed the bike and dropped the tent leaving at 9am. Water was inches deep around the site so I decided to get away and jump on the motorway to Nantes as the forecast said it would be sunny after there. Well, once it (and I) and dried out, I peeled off the motorway and took some of the French countryside roads, stopping occasionally at a bakers for a pastry and drink (no idea really where I went) until I ended up at Royan jumping onto a ferry to get across to Soulac-sur-Mer and then it was a nice couple of hours ride into my campsite at Arachon (clickable map here ). A long day today (longer than the original plan) but the forecast is for a mega hot day tomorrow so I want to be able to cut tomorrow short if I need to. 625km and 9 hrs in the saddle.

Yesterday evening I left home and rode down to Plymouth to stay with a friend. This morning I was on the 8am ferry to Roscoff as I fancied heading south this year after last years amazing Northern Europe Trip. As soon as I was off the ferry, it was time to put the bike into metric mode and then turn off motorways and toll roads on the Sat Nav. Then I had a great ride down through some quiet French D roads to Quiberon ( here on zoomable map). This place is the twin of Portland. As you ride over the causeway there are kite surfers everywhere and even a Fort that looks like a prison. It was warm on the bike today but that to a last minute buy of a Furygan Genesis mesh jacket and kevlar jeans I was not too hot. I tried to book this site last week by email (yes, in French) and the response was "no need to book, just turn up". On "just turning up" there was only 2 pitches left so good job I was no later as there was someone else who arrived 5 mins aft...

This week I have again been at Cannington Activity Centre assisting with their large number of NCS students. Although I did a bit of Low Ropes and High Ropes, it was mainly Orienteering for me with an average of 20+ km being covered each day as I ran around groups. I am off to catch a ferry now, watch this space

I have just got back from an awesome week in The Lake District working with Bristol Cathedral Choir School students on their Gold DofE expeditions. 3 very dry days and a final wet day was the order of play and with a number of groups out there was a lot of leg work to be done. I had a day on Illgill Head and Whin Rigg, a mini exped over Scafell and Great End with a wild camp at Sprinkling tarn and then back up to Scafell Pike via Round How and Broad Crag the next day before returning to Wasdale. The final day saw me on the side of the Old Man of Coniston and Brown Pike. Well done t all the teams who did very well and all passed with flying colours

Today I was on a very hot and sunny Dartmoor running a NNAS Gold assessment for two candidates who coped well in the heat. The Gold level is the top award in the scheme and requires a very high level of competence. I was working for Wet and High Adventures today who offer all levels of the NNAS awards. I thought this cow had a pretty cool face hence the photo.

The last three days I have been working for Cannington Activity Centre on their NCS programme. A mixture of running instructor observations, logistical support and running a couple of sessions myself. We had groups out biking, paddling, High Ropes, Low Ropes, Orienteering, Night Line and trips to Kilve Beach.