Alps – Vir-ti-gi-nous

Weird, I always, thought that the word Virtiginous meant “Steeply sloped,” as in: “That’s a nasty virtiginous broken-bottle-strewn 10 foot drop, you wouldn’t want to fall down that. Dave.”
But actually: vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective: … 2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness. 3. Turning round; whirling; revolving…
So, as one might feel having whirled, say, 15 times, clockwise, around a vertically-held [...]

Alps: Splash

Click to make a splash:

Photos by Sara

Alps – a raft report

Chateau Queyras is a beautiful gorge snaking around a castle hill. Its a special place, which can only really be seen from a boat, or by negotiating the via ferrata (wired climbing route). Based on my excellent head for heights (er, not), and rather “plateaud” kayak abilities, I’m pretty much never going to be able to see [...]

St Davids – tent championships report – more pictures

Another report about recent May bank holiday at St Davids.
 Tent racing conditions were highly favourable, with gusts of up to 86mph and strong contenders in the form of Will’s tent (snapped) and Sue’s tent (pictured). However, the winning tent (not pictured, for obvious reasons) was Gillian’s – would anyone passing near Ramsey island kindly collect it. Sue and Sara have posted [...]

Jenny L – Tyne Bridge jump – Swaziland appeal

Here’s a picture of Jenny Lees abseiling off Tyne bridge. Fool. Here are pictures of her friends in Tyneside and in Swaziland – all of them are scouts involved in an annual summer programme of works, to both improve clinic infrastructure and provide sports facilities and activities to young people living with HIV Aids in the Hhohho district of Swaziland.

Please read on [...]

Alps – links to photos

Of our 8 day trip to the French Alps, there are only 14 seconds which are not documented in some way in pictures or film. Unfortunately, those 14 seconds were the whole of Wookie’s swim down Chateau Queras, quel dommage.
Nevertheless, there are many lovely pics to look at, a selection of your albums are linked [...]

Review: First Aid Manual (BCU Lifeguards)

This slim volume complements and reinforces the material in the Aquatic First Aid award, and is supplied with that course. It was developed by BCU lifeguards.

Its a lot shorter than the St John’s / Red Cross book which is the alternative course book. This multiplies by 8 the chance I will read it immediately upon finishing the course, as [...]

O, Canada! The Barron River Canyon and other stories.

On May 17th I set off to Toronto on the pretext of going to a conference as part of my PhD. Actually, I did go to the conference. I met lots of interesting people; some of them were interested in my work and thought it was worthwhile and well-founded which is always nice. Amongst other [...]

Scotland DVD review (and preview)

Another fine offering from Down Under Productions, vies with previous DVDs. The only weakness being the dearth of paddleable rivers, so a bit less ”photage” for Dave to play with. Nevertheless, he’s still managed to serve up several neat portions of waterfall action, carnage, and our own special Riverdance star:

The full DVD is available from Aussie [...]

St Davids: Porth Clais to Solva

 
Sue, Neil, HelenH, Laura, Anna, Leo, Daffers, Gina, Jenny and HelenJ did a gentle trip from Porth Clais to Solva, while Chris walked and cycled and photographed us and waved at us with his gammy arm.