Brecon Beacons

Here is group B with Steve Ironside. In the background is Corn Du 883m, Pen y Fan 886m, Cribyn 795m, and Fan y Big 719m

As the sun went down, the still waters reflected the clouds brilliantly

Moody clouds over the Beacons

Zoe McLean (A to Z Expeditions) on Pen y Fan

What do you think about this? Suddenly the summit of Pen y Fan has got this name plate... !!

The Team from Denmark.. Nikolaj, Josephine, Martin, Christian, Anna and Jonas

The Danish team heading off the side of the hill..

Nikolaj and Jonas deciding where they are...

Team C wild camping on their last night..

More reflections..

This was the last D of E exped for the season. Working for A to Z Expeditions, I was working with Steve and Bryony on this open gold qualifying exped. We had some interesting groups to work with. I enjoyed working with the Danish group - they definitely did things their way.. They brought all their food from Denmark and Germany. The Danish food is over twice the price of similar here !! The food included staples like tinned mackeral and tinned cheeseburgers! They were definitely well prepared, after all they had come a long way to get success.. In Denmark they told me the land is all flat and so they were looking forward to the 3 Dimensions of the Beacons. They loved it, and on the last morning they chose to get up at 4.30am to set off at 6am to walk into the sunrise in the hills... They had the longest rests of any team I've known - always getting their stoves out and cooking something lol.

The weather was mostly kind, but cold - reminding me of winter that is just around the corner now :) ... Winter, here we come... I'm thinking about ice axes already..

Sun, Sun, Sun In The South

Day 2 of working at Trewern OEC. Today we started with an introduction to climbing - bouldering and bottom roping. Everybody quickly got into it and moved through the problems. By the end they were creating their own problems and we finished with them definitely wanting more.
In the second half of the day we went for a mountain walk going up Red Gully initially, then moving up to Twmpa (Lord Hereford's Knob). Everybody is now really looknig forward to canoeing and gorge walking over the next 2 days.

Adventure Training For The Army

Back with the Army again training the Soldiers Under Training. This week saw us on the water in kayaks and in caves, as well as training some of the Corporals for their Rock Leader Training next week - good luck. In the photos above the SUT's are practicing their rescues. All good fun. Paddling is definitely the sport for all this wet weather.

Heathfield School - Gold Assessment

13 Girls made it to the Gold D of E Qualifying Expedition. Their practice had been in scorchio hot weather a couple of months ago - I was a bit worried if they were ready for a wet October in South Wales. The weather started perfect for them in the first couple of days, frosty starts, clear skies - but then the sky grew cloudy, and it all fell apart. The forecast heavy rain arrived with a vengeance and the girls had to adapt fast. They had to get tough fast. All credit to them. They didn't want to be there wet to the skin, walking up hills into mist and rain - trying to trust the compass, but they made it. Particular congratulations on surviving night 3, when EVERYTHING was wet and nasty. It was great to see them in to the finish line - their boots came off FAST - and then we could let them have Lilys' birthday cake - congrats on being 18...

Congrats on passing a tough Gold assessment...

Starting With Outposts Ltd

Today I started working for Outposts Ltd. This busy company will have lots going on over the summer. I'll be looking after the climbing for the next few days, but there is also 'gorge walking', paddling, hill walking, orienteering etc, going on around the Brecon Beacons. In these photos, Lee Cave was running a 'gorge walking/canyoning' work shop, using Anne Canning as a victim/volunteer.

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...