Just like the old times

A couple of friends of whom I worked with in the Ardeche about 5 years ago, have been up in North Wales for the past week, and just like old times we thought we would get out and go kayaking. Unfortunately there has not been enough rain to paddle most of the rivers how ever there are always some low water Park and Huck sections, which in short involves parking next to a waterfall kayaking down and then moving on to the next fall.

Introduction Time

This weekend my partner Helen and I made the most of the one day of sunshine to indulge in a spot of climbing. Helen had been indoor climbing maybe once or twice and had spent an evening at Brimham Rocks with me earlier in the year, so I felt it was time to teach Helen how to second a climb. So we headed over to the Ogwen Valley to a crag known as Little Tryfan. After a brief lesson we headed up the crag and had an amazing day in the sun.

The Blue Ninja

I have recently taken purchase of a VW Transporter T4, a must have accessary for every Outdoor Instructor, and kitting it out ready for future adventures is a task that is taken very seriously! I spent 2 evenings drawing detailed plans and expectations for the interior, and after finishing all my jobs around the centre I set about building 'The Blue Ninja' over the course of 3 days. With 90% of the work done its only the cosmetic side that needs completing once I have decided what colors and fabrics would best suit.

Choppy Waters

Due to work and the darker evenings its been pretty hard to get out and play. However today I took a friend out for some kayaking instruction. The ideal venue I had chosen was Four-mile Bridge, a jet of water that depending on the tides is either going in or out of the Inland Sea over at Holyhead. When we got there it was apparent that a large number of other people had the same idea, it was heaving. Realizing that we would have to que to do anything we decided to head to Porth Dafarch for a spot of rock hopping. It was a fairly sporty sea state that offered quite a challenge for my friend and I found his eyes on stalks on several occasions! The day wasn't all scary as there was some nice waves coming on to shore for Dave to have a go at a spot of kayaking surfing.

Spectacular Success

Two years ago a small team of us ventured towards LLan Festiniog near the Trawsfynydd Reservoir to explore a new gorge on the Afon Cynfal. It was a typical wet, foggy miserable Welsh September day but none less we kitted up and headed to the river. After some hour an half it was still raining and we found ourselves at the top of a very large waterfall 'Rhaeadr Y Cwm', still keen we rigged the rope and sent Tom down for a closer inspection. On Tom's decent he soon realised the rope we had didn't reach the bottom of the fall, so prusiked back up the rope. At this point it was still raining and it was apparent that the water had gone from a murky brown/orange from all the peat to a darker brown because of rising levels, after we quickly packed away the rope and all the gear we made a very quick exit with the river rising at some pace.

Two years on and Dave, Will and Myself went for another go, this time with spectacular success.
I will the let the photos do the talking. One thing I would mention that this gorge is very committing and requires an experienced team with whitewater and climbing knowledge.

'Rhaeadr Y Cwm' Previously defeated us.

Will and I preparing to drop the bag been shadowed by 'Rhaeadr Y Cwm'

Will exiting the 'Rhaeadr Y Cwm' pool

Re-packing the rope after an abseil down a awkward narrow fall

Will and I heading towards the light, but far from the end

Will on a sweet slide in a lower gorge on the same river

Venue Development

After using one of the venues on Holyhead for Coasteering for some time and doing the same jumps over and over again, I thought it was about to time to re visit for some experimenting with new jumps and other coasteering paraphernalia. Joining me was my little brother and his camera. The trip was reasonably successful and after a couple of hours we had found around 6 jumps I hadn't used before, and for those that know me they weren't all big! There was jumps of all different heights to suit everyone.

Mid flight, Back Somersault

Jump in to a very deep pool

Quick clip of a successful back somersault and My Brothers... well not so successful!!!

Enjoy and laugh out load, I did.

Down Time

After a long summer I thought it was time for a holiday so my partner Helen and I decided to head down to Newgale in Pembrokeshire for a weeks surfing and general relaxing. We had looked at the weather and surf reports prior to the trip and decided that if we could survive wet and windy day on Sunday the rest of the week would deliver a treat. After a wet day the weather broke into glorious sunshine followed by the beautiful sunsets, and clean surf.

After the surf dropped off towards the end of the week we were left looking for our next adventure and found a jet boat company that did Trips round Ramsey Island. As well as lots of high speed turns and getting wet there was much seal pup spotting and to end the trip we were lucky enough to see some dolphins that followed the boat for about 10 minutes. What a awesome way to end an amazing trip.

There's something in the Water

The week has bought some quite exciting weather, no more so than at the seaside. All the beach goers set for a bank holiday sunning it up on one of Anglesey beaches were met by torrential rain, high winds, big swells and something squiggly that could really pack a punch. With big swells generated by a hurricane in the Atlantic, it seemed rude not to go for a bit kayak surfing. Joined by Ivan we loaded the boats and headed on to Anglesey. After much discussion over a suitable venue, taking into consideration all the important factors like shelter for getting changed, we decided to start at Cable Bay. We then worked our way north looking for the biggest waves. Ever the optimists we decided that there would be sufficient excitement at Porth Dafarch on Holyhead. We weren't wrong but it wasn't quite the excitement we had expected. As we caught a first glimpse of what can only be described as a 'sporty' sea state the sense of urgency increased only to be met by the local beach warden explaining perhaps we would be best not to venture into the sea after some unwanted visitors in the form of 30 to 40 'Portuguese Man-of-War' whose habitat is normally deep in tropical waters, had been washed up on the beach by the high winds and big swells. After careful inspection of these slimy characters whose body only maybe 8 inches across but its tentacles sometimes as long as 4 metres, with the ability to deliver a severe sting, we headed back on to Anglesey and had a couple of hours of really good surf which eventually ended in young Ivan exiting his boat!

A spot of soloing

After a day in a flooded gorge and realizing that all the rivers were up I was really keen as always to get out kayaking, and after a few text messages requesting kayaking buddies I was let down, some people! So I ventured on my own. Just a short section between Pont Cyfyng and The Ugly House, and i decided to take a little bit of footage, nothing special just a bit fun.

Last week

So last week was a busy week for playing, a bit of Mountain Biking and 2 evenings of Kayaking I was so happy!

Coming down from Cefn Du after a long up hill section

Boofing Cobdens on the Afon Llygwy

On Thursday on my way back from a Gorge Scrambling session, I phoned Dave and asked if he wanted to come and kayak the Cwm Llan on the side of Snowdon, Dave, a little tired and not feeling 100% fit, offered to come and take some photos and be there if I took a swim! knowing if he said no it would be like telling a small child that Telly Tubbies had all been eaten and were no longer with us! Vicki also joined us for the walk and to take more photos. (All photos on in this post courtesy of David Crombie, and Vicki Jones)

Visualizing my line prior to my descent

Boofing ready for the next drop directly down stream

Getting my line spot on!

Not sure what I was thinking at this point, but it must have been scary!

Getting some good speed

Big boof of the final fall

Good Morning and Welcome

Hello and Good Morning.

Welcome to my blog. For several years now I have been in the Outdoor Industry working as an Outdoor Pursuits Instructor, and recently been enjoying my work more than ever and tried to think what it is about my job and lifestyle I love, my conclusion was Enthusiasm. Its the fact that everyone I work with, speak to and instruct at any level, is enthusiastic which in essence fuels me! I love the feeling after introducing people to Kayaking, Coasteering, Gorge Scrambling, Climbing or whatever activity I'm delivering and them coming away buzzing from their experience and yearning more. The idea of the Blog is so everyone can see once the working day is over the play time starts and what I like to get up to in my spare time.

Hope you all enjoy, take it easy

Mark