Dodging the Rain on the PVT and Peregrine Falcon spotting!

Having seen various weather forecasts for today we nearly cancelled the days biking trips for Year 8. The forecast predicted Heavy showers all day and following a soaking yesterday the students weren't keen for another.

We did however in the end take our chances and this turned out to be the right call. A small shower early on in the day followed by sunny intervals.

Today's session was pretty much a mirror image of yesterday apart from a different change over point with the climbing who opted to go indoors. This meant the climbing group were bused to Goodameavy for the exchange.

Both groups enjoyed the mix of easy tarmac on the Plym Valley Trail (PVT) and off road across the moors near Clearbrook.

With the afternoon session blessing us with a little more sun we were able to stop for 20 minutes at the Peregrine Falcon Project for a really good look through the National Trust telescopes at the new chicks and the juvenile male from last years hatchlings. The last image in this post was taken of this young male with my camera through the lens of telescope.

Overall a good day and a good decision to head out regardless of the forecast.  

A soggy day on the Plym Valley Trail

Today I have been out with 2 groups of Year 8 students from Plymouth College. We parked at the National Trust car park at the southern end of Plymbridge Woods.  Group 1 cycled along the Plym Valley Trail all the way to Clearbrook before taking on a short loop of open moorland. The last section of the ride contoured along the access track to Dewerstone Cottage where we met group 2 following their climbing session.

After a swift stop for lunch I handed Group 1 over to Gavin for some climbing and took group 2 from him to cycle the mornings route in reverse. 

With both groups we stopped at the Plym Valley Peregrine Falcon Project where the National Trust staff gave a short talk on the birds and the project before letting them see the three 5 week old chicks and the adult male through the telescopes.

Both groups had a good time despite the very heavy showers (pictures taken during the sunny spells). Both the cycling and climbing groups had very soggy days.

Last day with PMC at Lanhydrock

Today was day 3 of 3 mountain biking with Plymouth College year 9 students as part of their activities week. 

The group today were a physically fit bunch that were up for all the trails. We started as per the last two days by cycling around the gentle green (Lodge Trail) trail to familiarise the group with the bikes and followed this up with the simpler of the 4 blue trails (Bazley's Trail) and a session in the skills area. 

After lunch I took the group to the far side of the centre for a run down the Timber Trail (Blue) and those who felt confident raced each other on the red graded 'Saw Pit' dual track before making our way back for one final session in the skills area where we had a time trial.

Tomorrow and Friday I am still working for Plymouth College but with Year 8's. The plan is to cycle the Plym Valley Trail to Shaugh Prior where we will swop with a climbing group.