Small walk throught the Valley of Rocks

Getting Casper used to the Canoe on a Sunny day in Tiverton @JonnyC: Launching from Tiverton onto the Canal, good parking and facilities and a good launch, but a pedestrian chicane between the car park and the canal necessitates two people to get the Canoe into position. A very challenging paddle with Casper wanting to be everywhere, all the time, including in the murky canal water. Perseverance eventually resulted in managing to paddle a few bridges upstream. Some glimmer of Casper calming do ...

Swildon's short dry, twenty, inclined rift, sump 1 & return via same route, normal water levels - party of 6 @JonnyC: Deciding to relive memories of "Cold dips and chilly showers - April 2015" where KC & CC successfully (albeit slowly) tackled Sump One and to push a little bit further from "What an adventure! - 9 Jul 2022" where AC took his first steps into Swildon's Hole, a trip was (eventually) organised to also give NK her first trip of this amazing cave. Due to the nature of the party, progress ...

Trialling a roof tent on the adventure bus. @JonnyC: Having agreed first refusal, decided to trial the roof tent on the adventure bus. Calendar being full, and an unescapable commitment the Saturday day time pushed us toward a brief overnight camp in the rain. Arriving at dusk, pitching was relatively quick amongst two other vans. The mud and rain made us change our mind on testing the awning. A pleasant evening was had, despite all local wood being too damp to burn (lesson learned, carry a li ...

Mines Rescue familiarisation trip to one of our scheme Coal mines.

Another brief paddle after work, cooler conditions but dry and still @JonnyC: On arrival at Tithe Barn, I was greeted by a Kayak trailer which turned out to be a Corsham cub troop intending to go for a paddle when their ticket holder escaped the motorway traffic. We were set up and in the water fairly swiftly, this time heading into the town. Going wasn't as easy due to the shallow waters and volume of reeds, but we managed to navigate. It wasn't long before we were upon the weir, and starting ...

Playtime and technique improvement on the Avon from Tithe Barn, SUP & Canoe @JonnyC: Given the relative proximity of Bradford on Avon to my workplace, a plan was hatched to RV there after work. We launched the SUP and the Canoe and pootled around avoiding the club rowers. Danka and Noemi shared the SUP and took it in turns to be at the helm. Before long they were headed down river and I had to pull fairly hard to catch them. We enjoyed the evening sun as we paddled down to Avoncliff weir, sto ...

Short local SUP in the unusually high tempertures on the Avon from Tithe Barn @JonnyC: With usual Monday plans cancelled due to *extreme temperatures*, and a missed opportunity to paddle with the AL crew the night before, a little convincing and Danka was aboard the adventure bus destined for Saltford shallows with her shiny new SUP aboard. Navigating the roads of Saltford was off-putting enough, let alone seeing the near concert level crowds lining the banks, so, with some difficulty we just drove ...

Canoe paddle with the boys on a very Sunny Sunday @JonnyC: For our Sunday activity the boys fancied a paddle, so after playing personal shoppers for Noemi, we headed to Bathampton to jump on the K&A. Lucky parking on such a sunny day meant we were close to our launch, but still the heat got the better of us, luckily the narroboat cafe was open to serve us cold drinks. We stopped early in the shade of the trees for a floating picnic before paddling on towards Bath, playing cat and mouse with a hi ...

A first trip into Swildons for the younger boys, enabled by Mr Marlow they navigated their way in via the long dry way to the top of the twenty and out via the (not so) wet way. @JonnyC: Having heard my desire to stretch Aaron and Jacobs legs a little further afield than Goatchurch, a plan swiftly ensued, and with Rich managing to collect suitable sized PPE we RVd at the WCC. A hot day and cut fields made for interesting navigation to the entrance, but we were soon welcomed by Swildons cooler clima ...