Last Friday I was invited by the London Rally School to take part in their £195 Monte Carlo Half Day Course. It was the best fun I’ve had for quite a while. I had wanted to do a bit of rally-driving for a very long time, but for some reason it had always been other activities that ended up in my diary so far. Banzai Action Sports London Rally School is part of Banzai Action Sports, which is family-owned and -operated. Banzai offer all kinds of other adventure activities from an adjacent building, such as paintballing, quad-biking, target shooting, off-roading, axe-throwing, and rides on Rage Buggies. I joined four other participants who had booked a full day. They had already completed their morning session. Mike, our instructor, greeted me friendly. We were his first students of the year, as the School had only just re-opened after the UK’s months-long, third […]
Horseback Riding in the New Forest
During our recent visit to the New Forest, Ms B & I did a 60-minute horseback riding session with Brockenhurst Riding Stables. We had done the same two years ago, when they were still located near the Forest Park Hotel, where we usually stay (they moved to the new location just off Balmer Lawn Road, just over five minutes walk from Beresfords restaurant (see our blog post here), walking away from Brockenhurst). Sharon, who runs the yard, is a lovely person and very skilled at what she does. Her sense of humour and way with people can perhaps best be described as a bit rough on the edges, but in a very good way. Just like last time around, she immediately made us feel welcome. As requested, we had arrived half an hour before the start of the session. Five, six other guests had already arrived and the rest of […]
Jumping out of a plane with North London Skydiving: Best. Thing. Ever.
During Ms B’s and my recent weekend trip to Cambridge (45mins by train from London), North London Skydiving very kindly invited me to check out their services. Those of you who regularly stop by here will know that nothing scares me more than heights. Ms B, in contrast, who is normally the chicken in our relationship, is fearless when it comes to heights. During our trip to the Atlas mountains two years ago Ms B did the second half of a climbing tour we had booked on her own, because I chickened out and walked back to the valley. When we did some canyoning in Porto last year, the only reason why I finished the tour, is, because there was no other way of getting back to the starting point. Why go skydiving then, you might ask. Good question. I always wanted to do it, despite my fear of heights. […]
Jetski Safari in Poole – Proper Adrenaline Rush
During Ms B’s and my recent weekend stay at the New Forest, we only spent the first day (and night) in the New Forest, and took the train to Poole on the following day, because we had booked ourselves into a jetski adventure with Jetski Safaris. We had initially planned on doing the jetski ride together, but the water outside the harbour area was partially fairly rough that morning and many of the activities on offer had already been cancelled, so Ms B gave it a miss and did a cake and muffin safari instead. The instruction video was followed by a few more bits of guidance from our instructor, and then we were on our way walking the 5mins from the boat shack to the jetskis. I was slightly nervous, because it had been so long since I last rode a jetski (in the Maldives in 2010, where the […]
My Marvel Comic Experience – Jetlev in Wyboston
Today I did what I had been planning on doing for a long time. I took a ride with a Jetlev. In this case: with Ride Leisure at Wyboston, near Bedford. It’s about 30 minutes by car from Cambridge, which is 50mins by train from London. Driving from London would take about 1.5 hours. My instructor, Malcolm, greeted me upon arrival. As soon as I got myself into one of Ride Leisure’s wetsuits, we walked the few metres over to the lake. The safety briefing and training took the best of fifteen minutes, and off I went, hopping into the water with the jetpack attached to my body. I’m a solid swimmer, but it did feel strange jumping into deep water with heavy gear attached to your back. However, Malcolm’s calm, reassuring manner and the training made me feel somewhat ok with this idea. You take a […]