Checking out the trails at Cardinham Woods and Lanhydrock

In preparation for a weeks mountain bike guiding for Plymouth College starting on the 23rd June I thought I would check out the new trail centres at Cardinham Woods and Lanhydrock.

Lou and I travelled down to Cornwall last night so we could get on the trails before they got busy with half term users.

Lanhydrock trails were really good and a great place to take beginners. The skills area has everything you need to teach all the basic riding techniques and the short sections of blue trail that leave the green trail mean you can ride small sections and head back to the carpark when required. This being very useful if the groups fitness levels are lower than you expect. There is also a short section of red that starts as a dual track, great if your group pick up the skills quickly and need a test. From this trip I think I will take the students here instead of Haldon Forest.

When we had finished at Lanhydrock we quickly loaded the bikes onto the rack and headed over to Cardinham. Its not that far and with a confident and sensible group you could easily ride between the centres.

Cardinham's blue trail and red sections were really good. Its 7.5 miles if you stick to the blue and roughly 8 miles if you choose the optional red sections. The trails here flowed superbly and good riders can really get something out of the trail. However, if you are new to mountain biking there are no real technical sections on the blue trail to catch you out and a leisurely pedal taking in the forest atmosphere can be had. The only downside of taking a beginner group would be the trail length, there are options to cut it short but not like Lanhydrock. The red sections were nice with a stiff climb on the Hells Teeth section followed by a fast bermed descent.

We had ridden both centres by 12.30 and headed back via Saltash to drop in to Silverfish for a quick catch up with Richie.

Yeti Cycles Tribe meeting planning at Cannock Chase

Today I travelled to Cannock Chase in the midlands with Pete from Silverfish UK and Simon to scope out the trails for the 2014 Yeti Cycles Tribe meeting. We met up with Dave from Leisure Lakes Bikes who is local to the area and knows the centre well.

Pete has asked Simon and I to act as guides at this years meet, taking Yeti owners round the trails and offering riding tips. The two day meeting will also provide prospective yeti owners to demo the new models. 

We rode the main red graded trails, 'Follow the Dog, and 'The Monkey's Tail'. During the ride we stopped and looked at various options for shortening the route if necessary, where the escape rotes were, various features that may trip people up and sussed out nice short loop for the demo bikes to go out on. This short loop enables potential Yeti owners to test the bike in varied terrain without taking it out for a long period, this enabling more clients to try out the bikes.

Sorry about the lack of exciting photos but we were having too much fun riding the excellent trails at Cannock Chase.

Exmoor Expedition Assessment - Btec Level 2 Outdoor Adventure

For the last two days I have been back out on Exmoor. This time with the Btec Level 2 Outdoor Adventure students for the assessment of their Expedition Skills module.

The students took part in a two day expedition covering over 32 km. They started in Dunster on day 1 and walked to Poolbridge camp site via Wooton Courtney and Dunkery Beacon. On day two they were up and out of camp by 08.00 and walked to Minehead via Horner, Bossington and North Hill.

The weather didn't really play ball and the students endured two pretty wet days, dodging thundery showers. 

Over all they kept their spirits up and completed their planned routes without problems. It was great to work with a motivated and competent group.     

Archery at Kings College

Back at King's College, Taunton this afternoon working with the Royal Marines section of their Combined Cadet Forces. 

As the 6th form and the year 11's are on study leave I was left with the year  10's which I decided to do some archery with. The students got to grips with it quickly and as you can see by the last image were hitting the centre of the target regularly.

I was also given a quick mini-bus familiarisation test in the King's buses today ready to take some students canoeing off site after half term.

Single Pitch Award refresher course for Mountain Training CPD

Today I attended an SPA refresher workshop on Dartmoor provided by Gwilym Starks from Wet and High Adventures for Mountain Training Association members. The workshop was worth one CPD point and was based at Sheeps Tor following a coffee in the Fox Tor cafe, Princetown.

There were three of us attending the workshop, James and Tom who are looking to go for assessment in the near future and myself who is already assessed but wanted a brush up and confirmation that what I was doing was correct.

Gwilym went through all the major parts of the syllabus, commenting on if and how our set-ups could be improved. We talked about the remit of the award confirming that it is not just an outdoor top-roping ward as many seem to believe.

Areas covered were: Setting up top and bottom ropes, setting up re-leasable and fixed abseils, rescues, personal climbing/abseiling and equipment (Group and personal).

It was a glorious day with blue skies and a gentle breeze so following the workshop we opted to bag a route before heading home. I didn't push myself today leading a route called Slab Route (D), it was an entertaining route to climb in my approach shoes as it was pretty polished and had little protection.

Overall a good day and all important CPD gained making sure I am keeping up with current best practise.

Mountain Biking Skills assessment on the Quantocks

It was a stunning day on the Quantock Hills with the sun shining and the trails dusty. Perfect for the Level 4 Public Services students mountain biking assessment.

The group were tasked to plan a 16km route with minimal road. Each member took it in turns to lead a leg of the ride, showing their bike navigation skills and group management skills. When they were not leading it gave me a chance to observe their bike handling skills.

The six students that came along completed their assessments although their were clear differences in bike fitness levels within the group. This tested their patience and leadership.

The day finished with a trip back to Cannington Outdoor Centre to wash and maintain the bikes.

Expedition Preparation with Level 2 Outdoor Adventure students from Bridgwater College

I've been working with my Level 2 Outdoor Adventure students today from Bridgwater College looking at the final preparations for their Expedition next week.

The session started with the students familiarising themselves with the 4 different types of tents owned by the college. the students worked in pairs to put up each type of tent.

After break they were challenged in their pairs to produce a three course meal utilising a camping stove (Trangia with Gas burner) for at least one of the courses. We then conducted a master-chef style assessment of the meals produced and discussed the pros and cons of each meal and whether it was realistic to carry on expedition.

The students did really well and i'm sure they will enjoy their assessed expedition next week.

A beautiful day on Pen y Fan!

What a cracking day!

The day started by meeting the Bridgwater College, Public Services Foundation Degree students at the Cannington Centre at 07.30 for the 2 hour drive to South Wales.

Our route up Pen y fan started from the Taf Fechan car park where we headed up to the dam of the Neuadd Reservoir before heading west up on to Criag Fan Ddu. The route took the shape of a horseshoe taking in the summits of Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn. Due to a late arrival at our start point caused by traffic issues we didn't quite have time to summit Fan y Big.

All the students performed really well in the final part of their hill walking assessment as part of their land based outdoor activities module. The aim of today being a mountain experience to finish the assessment, consolidating the skills they learned on Dartmoor with Gwilym and looking at their hill fitness and steep ground skills.

It has been an absolutely stunning blue sky day with a light breeze to keep us cool.

Intro to Power-kiting with Kings College, Taunton - CCF Royal Marines section

I was back at Kings College, Taunton today after a two week break due to the bank holiday weekend and once again working with the Royal Marines section of their combined cadet force.

I have been brought in to offer some alternative activities as part their adventure training programme.

Today I ran an introduction to Power-kiting, teaching the basics of set up and set down, basic flying with 2 and 4 line ram air kites and a bit of theory around the wind window.

We started by discussing the wind window, wind direction and strength and quickly moved on to the students flying some small 1.4m 2 line kites. It took a little while to get used to the techniques but once mastered we moved onto some 1.2m 4 line kites where the students managed to fly the kites in smooth figure 8 cycles and some even had a go at using the brakes to turn the kite.

If the weather conditions are right in a few weeks time I aim to let them loose with a range of 4 line kites from 1.8m - 3.8m.

Supervising Bronze D of E for Somerset Adventures

This weekend I have been working for Somerset Adventures helping to supervise a bronze D of E practise Expedition for the Kings of Wessex school in Cheddar. We had 19 groups in total to manage.

Due to the lack of qualified mini-bus drivers within the staff I spent most of the weekend checkpointing groups, co-ordinating the other staff in my team and ferrying staff between checkpoints. This is the reason for the lack of photos in this post, Sorry!

It was a full on weekend with so many students out and about but all went smoothly due to the great organisation of Robin from Somerset Adventures. I'm looking forward to supervising their assessed expedition in a couple of weeks time.

Expedition Skills assessments on Exmoor for Bridgwater College Public Services students - Take 2

For the last two days I have been back out on Exmoor with the other half of the Second Year Level 3 Public Services students from Bridgwater College assessing their expedition skills. 

Their planned routes started in Minehead at the Harbour side and finished at Dunkery gate with an overnight camp at Pool Bridge Campsite. The weather was fair to the students with a few light showers on day 1 and sunny spells on day two although the wind was pretty strong on the summit of Dunkery Beacon.

Their were a few small navigational errors on both days but the groups quickly realised their mistakes and get themselves back on track. Another good two days out on the moor.

Expedition Skills assessments on Exmoor for Bridgwater College Public Services students

''One of my favourite views over Porlock Bay from Bossington Hill''

''Dunkery Beacon from Dunkery gate''

 

 

Over the last two days I have been supervising groups from Bridgwater College undertaking Expeditions on Exmoor. The Level 2 and 3 Public Services students were required to carry out a 2 day walking expedition starting in Minehead and finishing at Dunkery Gate with an overnight camp at Poolbridge camp site. Over the 2 days the Level 2 students covered a prescribed 20km route while the level 3's covered 28 - 30km that they had planned themselves. 

 

The weather was generally kind to the students with the odd shower breaking up the sunny spells and most of the rain coming overnight.

 

I'm back out on Exmoor again tomorrow for 2 days with the other half of the Level 3 students completing their assessed expedition.