Fun

Gliding around at Canary Wharf Ice Rink

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Ellie and I recently visited Canary Wharf Ice Rink for the first time. It’s now closed, but is due to open again from October 2023 to February 2024. This makes it the London ice rink with the by far longest skating season. Some other rinks only open for 4 or 5 weeks. COSY ATMOSPHERE, BEAUTIFUL SKYLINE AT CANARY WHARF ICE RINK We absolutely loved the experience. Canary Wharf Ice Rink is so cosy, under its glass roof. No wind. No rain. And then, of course, there is the beautiful skyline.     NOT TOO CROWDED When we visited, there were hardly any other people on the ice. Presumably this was unusual. However, I can see how perhaps many office workers don’t want to engage in physical exercise while wearing their expensive business attire. It kind of also makes sense that Canary Wharf is not a place that is known to […]

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Doing a few jumps, spins, and turns at GLIDE Ice Rink Battersea

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Ellie & I recently visited GLIDE Ice Rink at Battersea Power Station. We immediately decided that this was going to be one of our top London ice rinks, maybe behind Somerset House and Hampton Court. THE SAME TEAM THAT RAN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ICE RINK IS NOW RUNNING THE GLIDE ICE RINK, BATTERSEA The team that run the ice rink, also used to run another one of our favourite London venues: the Natural History Museum ice rink. Funny, because while that ice rink has now gone to ice rink heaven, I still vividly remember how uncomfortable the ice skating boots there were.    GLIDE’s boots are the same make (possibly the very same boots, I don’t know). That said, as long as you bring two very thick pairs of socks, you’ll be fine.     A WIDE PRICE RANGE FOR TICKETS Depending on the time of the day and […]

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Doing some Skating at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Ice Rink

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Officially called “Lidl on Ice”, in reference to its sponsor, the discount supermarket chain, Winter Wonderland Ice Rink is the UK’s biggest outdoor rink. It is located in London’s magnificent Hyde Park and forms part of the Winter Wonderland fun fair. REINDEER ROAST AND PIGS IN BLANKETS AT WINTER WONDERLAND ICE RINK It is the second time Ellie & I enjoyed some winter fun with Lidl. In 2014 Lidl had run a X-mas themed pop-up ‘fine dining’ budget restaurant in Shoreditch serving a remarkable reindeer roast. At Winter Wonderland you can get Lidl’s award-winning pigs in blankets with festive sauce for £3.     LOCATION The venue is at the southeast corner of the fun fair. This means that the closest entrance is Blue Gate (what3words address: ///open.limit.gold). The closest tube station by far is Hyde Park Corner. Green Park and Knightsbridge are each around 15 minutes’ walk. Victoria is […]

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Paddleboarding the Severn Source to Sea – PART I

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Can’t believe I’m actually paddleboarding the Severn source to sea. Only one and a half years ago, my buddy Markmeister got me into stand-up paddleboarding. I was incredibly bad at it. I fell into the water during the two-hour introductory course, I had booked. Something, which, the instructor assured me, only happens very rarely. Then, when Mark and I met at the sea in Brighton, to practice, I wasn’t able to stand up at all. Not a single time. Every time I tried, I fell into the water. Non-stop. For three hours.   EVERYONE NEEDS SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES IN YOU Mark kept his faith in me, and a week later we set off to do the first part of our Thames source to London adventure. I was probably even more surprised than Mark, when I didn’t fall into the water a single time. Not on the first four-day part, and […]

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Swildon’s Hole – Through Sump 1 & Beyond

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A few months ago, my buddy Richard, a fellow travel blogger from Chalk and Cheese Travels, suggested, we could do a little caving trip together, maybe Swildon’s Hole Sump 1 and beyond. He had never done any caving. I had done a few days underground, but was without any doubt still very much a beginner. WHAT IS A SUMP In caving, a sump refers to a section of an underground passageway that is completely (or almost completely) submerged in water. This makes it impossible to breathe, while your face is under water. Sumps can be of any length, from just half a metre to several dozen metres. I believe, you usually stop calling it a sump, if it’s more than 50 or 100m. It just becomes a ‘submerged part of the cave.’   Feature pic (c) Somerset Adventures; all others (c) BSqB unless where otherwise mentioned SUMPS ARE CONSIDERED CHALLENGING […]

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