Gowers Great Tor

The heat wave continues. Sun and a weekend equals a busy busy Gower, with parking hard to find. Tesco full of people buying barbecue stuff, and beaches full of people carrying inflatable stuff.

Strangely not many people climbing the classics. Alex, Trevor and I headed for Great Tor. We got sandbagged by a poor description in the guide book, putting our biceps to the test. We did all the aretes, edges, slabs and steep walls on the upper tier, before moving to the lower tier.
We had an ace day, and even saw the sun set..


Maybe a BBQ tomorrow night..

Sun, Sheep and Slopes

The stunning weather continues. Time for a hill walk to stretch those legs. There were crowds of people, sheep and dogs all over the hills. Many were heading for Pen Y Fan (first photo) and Corn Du (third photo). We had to share the paths with some proud parents and their Kids / Lambs (second photo) - in the end they beat us to the summit - it's not a competition !


The visibility was good, but I couldn't quite see back to Gower. Incredible weather - could only be improved with a touch of snow...

Half Term Climbing On Gower

The weather held today for Kat Cook and I to get out climbing. I found it hard to walk past this shop without acting like all the others tourists... Even after this we managed to do our 4 routes...



Spot the chip box...

Looks like we're in for a bunch of awesome weather.. Happy days.

Bank Holiday On Gower

Here is Richard Carpenter enjoying the delights of hot Gower limestone in the baking Bank holiday Sun. A bus load of Cardiff University climbing club decended upon the crag, so we tried to find climbs without crowds !

Here is Joe getting to grips with the limestone before the tide came in. An excellent day, and we even had to get the suncream out - and later the aftersun - summer is here.

A Great Day On Gower

Alex Goddard and I went for a day of rock climbing down at King Wall and Lewes Castle. After rain in the morning, it did turn out to be an awesome day - if a bit windy. We managed to tick nearly all of the stars.
You can see we met some of the locals, but we managed to not upset each other. But on this climb it wasn't just Alex carefully watching my every move !

Soldier Development Wing

This week I did 2 days working with the Soldier Development Wing (SDW) in South Wales. Here you can see Millie and Maxim working on a scenario. Maxim is one of the SuTs (Soldiers under Training).

I'll be back with them in late August.

Glasbury to Hay

At last the kayak makes it out of the Garage, for a trip from Glasbury to Hay on the Wye. I didn't choose a day with the best weather, but in weather like this you can't go climbing anyway. I did manage to do it late in the day though, so I managed to avoid all the Saturday traffic, and I had the entire river to myself. The rain clouds did burst on top of me - made it very atmospheric.

I tried to take a photo of the flock of swans overhead, nearly capsized as a result - so the photo is rubbish - as good as my nature photography gets.
I've left the kayak on my roof - maybe I'll go kayak surfing on Gower when it rains next...

Busy Day

A busy day. I went to Trewern Outdoor Education Centre for Freelance induction and paperwork etc. It was a good chance to see their excellent indoor climbing wall facility. If you get a chance take your group down there to use this excellent Entreprises set of walls.

After this I managed to get out and do a mini hill walk onto part of the Brecon Beacons I'd not seen before.

I even managed to visit several venues, and I even got to check out Porth yr Ogof again.

Saturday 9th - Outlook Conference

Based at Plas Menai, Outlook Expeditions held their first annual conference. It turned out to be a sociable event, and I found out the last few details about my expedition. On the 8th July I'll be off to Peru with Altrincham Grammar School. A few of the highlights will be 1. a project based at the Sachacavayoc Jungle Lodge 2. a trek in the Sacred Valley to Soraypampa (up to 4600m) 3. visit to Machu Picchu 4. exploring Lima, Cusco, Arequipa etc...

Sunday 3rd - A Day In North Wales

Sunday was the day of the Outlook Expeditions CPD day for expedition leaders, introduced by Sarah Tansell (Senior Intructor for Outlook). We had three sessions. The first was 'Working with groups at the waters' edge'. As you can see above we had fun throwing ropes around. Here Siobhan is practising her skills. Lunch was layed out by Sarah - excellent, thank you. Our next session was 'Working with groups at altitude', and last session 'Reviewing techniques for Expedition leaders'. It was good to meet lots of the others leaders, and we're looking forward to the conference next Saturday now based at Plas Menai.
I managed to find time for a quick climb in Ogwen, on the way to PYB to get food at the bar. I caught up with more friends, made some new ones and managed to get home to Swansea before falling asleep . A good day.