Fun

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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Travel

Fisherman’s Trail – Four Days of Hiking in Beautiful Southern Portugal

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A month ago, my buddy Pete from The Man Who Hiked The World, was invited by Ricardo Estêvão from Vicentina Travel to check out their self-guided, four-day Fisherman’s Trail package. CHIPPING IN After Pete’s plus-one had had to bail out from the Fisherman’s Trail on very short notice, Pete asked roughly two dozen friends of his if they wanted to join him instead. Fortunately, they all had to decline because of conflicting commitments. This meant that I got a chance to join him on the trip. Throughout the trip it was one of our running gags that I had been so far down the list. Of course, I made sure that Pete got a good run for his money, too, banter-wise. Pete and I have only known each other for a short while. We met on an organised group hiking weekend in the Peak District with GO London end of […]

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Fun

Paddleboarding with Somerset Adventures in Creech St Michael

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During a recent trip, Somerset Adventures very kindly invited me to go paddleboarding in Somerset with them. As usual, whenever Ms B and I go on a trip these days, the weather forecast was horrific. Then the forecast was gradually amended when it came closer to the day. It turned even more abominable. YOU CAN’T CHOOSE THE WEATHER WHEN PADDLEBOARDING IN SOMERSET Obviously this is not Somerset Adventures’ fault. To the contrary, I very much appreciated them acting responsibly and not taking any risks. That said, the weather forced us to reschedule the trip twice. Initially I had been looking to do some paddleboarding in Somerset in the sea along the cliffs. Then we had set our minds on a canyon-like fast-flowing river inland with some of the county’s best beauty spots.     LET IT RAIN During the day when my paddleboarding in Somerset experience was scheduled, one month’s […]

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Fun

Caving with Somerset Adventures at Goatchurch Cavern & Swildon’s Hole

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A few weeks ago Somerset Adventures very kindly invited me to check out their one-day caving experience. The outing includes 2 to 3h of dry caving in the morning and 2 to 3h of wet caving in the afternoon. Those terms will be clarified further below. TIME FRAME & COST – SOMERSET ADVENTURES CAVING EXPERIENCE In addition to these 4 to 5h of caving, you will need to allow for travel time, time to change in and out of gear, half an hour for a quick packed lunch, and the short walk from the respective parking lots to the caves. The dry caving was taking place at Goatchurch Cavern near Burrington Combe. Doing the full-day two-caves experience with an instructor on your own like I did costs £150. But if you are happy to join a group or you are a group of 3 or more, then the cost goes […]

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Fun

Stand Up Paddleboarding the Cuckmere River Source to Sea (4h)

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Stand up paddleboarding the Cuckmere River in East Sussex had been on my and my buddy Markmeister’s mind for several months. According to Wikipedia, the reliable source of half-truths, conspiracies, and myths, its length is 5km. In actual fact it is more like 30km, of which we paddled about 15km. BEST ENTRY POINT WHEN STAND UP PADDLEBOARDING THE CUCKMERE RIVER We took the train to the tiny hamlet of Berwick (1.5h from London with one interchange). From there we walked 1.8km along country roads to the river, nearly getting run over by fast cars on two occasions. GETTING OUR GEAR READY As soon as we reached the river, we got our gear ready and changed into our wetsuits. I wasted nearly half an hour trying to find a hole in my inflatable board. Then I realised that the problem was not a deflating board but a malfunctioning pressure indicator on […]

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