Ellie & I only started to do some caving about three years ago. We had come across the so-called Wild Wookey experience at Wookey Hole in the Mendips in Somerset. It turned out to be one of the best caving locations in England. The three hours underground were so much fun, we have been going caving ever since. HOUSE-KEEPING To be clear, this article is not the gospel. I have only been caving in England a dozen times so far (not counting show caves), and some of the caves below I have never been to. The Three Counties System, for example, I’m scheduled to explore month after next month. This means I have thoroughly researched it, but not entered it, so far. Feature photo (c) BerkeleySqB; above 2 pics (c) Somerset Adventures; Where not otherwise indicated: (c) BerkeleySqB Where I haven’t visited the cave myself yet, my information comes […]
Doing some Skating at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Ice Rink
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 […]
How I got started with outdoor rock-climbing despite my fear of heights
As those of you who stop by here every now and then know, I used to have a debilitating fear of heights. It kicked in in my mid-twenties. The condition only started to gradually improve about two years ago, when I pushed myself to do lots of activities that involved heights. MEETING THE RIGHT GUY ON A HIKING TRIP I did a tandem skydive, some canyoning, caving, abseiling, ziplining, a flying lesson on an ancient single-propeller airplane, plenty of hiking with serious exposure, a flight in a hot air balloon and so on. Rock-climbing, however, continued to seem too ambitious until about two months ago, when I got talking with a fellow hiker on one of the GO London hikes. Ellie & I do plenty of hiking with them, such as the Goring circular walk. All pics (c) BerkeleySqB, those pics showing me (unless selfie like this one above) […]
Flyboarding in Sandbanks – What a Thrill – Only 2h from London
I’ve tried my hand (well, mainly my feet) at flyboarding last Friday in Sandbanks near Poole. My one-hour experience (typically 15 to 25 minutes of flyboarding) cost me £100 (£120 on a weekend). Aquatic JetPacks are affiliated with Jetski Safaris, with whom I’ve done an awesome jetski group ride to Old Harry Rocks a few years ago (no longer offered). The Run-Up In the run-up to the experience, it had been a tiny tad disappointing that my initial appointments were cancelled and rescheduled several times because of strong winds. When I booked, the strong weather dependency and the high risk of several reschedules had not been entirely clear to me. You often have to wait for a day or so for an email response and no one ever seems to pick up the phone. Aquatic JetPacks On the plus side, though, Ross, the co-founder of Aquatic JetPacks, always advised me […]
Quad Biking with Southern Pursuits at Tulleys Farm in Crawley – Incredible how robust these ATVs are!
Ever since I met Ms B for the first time some eleven years ago, she won’t stop talking about how she went quad-biking in the desert in Egypt and how exciting it was. To me, quads never felt that attractive. They are much slower than rally cars, accelerate a million times slower than, say, a top of the range Rage Buggy (post here), you can’t jump with them like you could with a motocross bike, their centre of weight is much further north than that of most vehicles, making it much more prone to fall over in the corners or when going uphill or downhill, so what’s the attraction, I thought. All photos (c) BSqB; photos showing me have been very kindly taken by Ollie Wates, the instructor. When I saw an advertisement by Southern Pursuits for their quad-biking experience, I knew I had to book it and find out […]