Prince’s Trust in Devon

This week I have been working for Reach Outdoors, with the Prince’s Trust in Devon. We have been with a fantastic bunch of young people, looking at helping them gain confidence, develop team work and leadership and improve their communication skills. all through outdoor activities and a planning and review process. These weeks are always super rewarding (sometimes a little hard work too!), but this weeks group were awesome. Throughout our week with the Prince’s Trust in Devon, we have been walking on Dartmoor, Gorge Walking and Rock Climbing amongst other things. The weather has been unreal, especially for the start of October! Lets hope next week is even half as good! Though it does look like the weather is on the turn…

Climbing in Devon

Climbing with the Prince’s Trust in Devon

Gorge Walking with the Prince's Trust in Devon

Gorge Walking with the Prince’s Trust in Devon

Walking with the Prince's Trust on Dartmoor

Walking with the Prince’s Trust on Dartmoor

This weekend has been spent in Dorset, getting some sunny sport climbing done on Portland. Coming from Pembrokeshire where every trip entails an adventurous abseil into a big crag for some trad climbing, it was great to rock up and do some relaxing sport climbing after my week with the Prince’s Trust in Devon…

Climbing on Portland

Climbing on Portland

 

Second week in Dartmoor

Our second week in Dartmoor followed the same format as previous. Working alongside some great instructors we put the MOD apprentices through their paces with a day Rock Climbing at Hound Tor, a 2 day exped over Dartmoor and a days Mountain biking at Haldon Forest..

As well as the days working we managed a quick evening hit to Hound Tor to solo some of the routes there, and a great evening in the sun Bouldering at Bone Hill – I had not been there before but the area is awesome! Well worth a visit… Glad to be back in Pembrokeshire now after a couple of weeks away, and looking forward to getting some routes done on our stunning coastline!

Climbing at Hound Tor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Walking on Dartmoor

Walking on Dartmoor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest

MOD apprentice week in Dartmoor

This week I’ve been working on behalf of “Wet and High Adventures” with a group of engineering apprentices from the MOD for Bridgwater College. A busy week aimed to develop their problem solving and team-work and to provide a bit of bonding for them! We climbed, mountain biked and hiked throughout Dartmoor from out base at the brilliant “Dartmoor Expedition Centre”.

Our first day of climbing coincided with the only bit of rain for the week, so we headed indoors to the Dart-Rock Climbing Centre. An excellent place for the guys to take their first steps. We spent the morning looking at good climbing technique on the bouldering wall, before learning to belay and get on some routes. A few of the guys even managed some lead climbs – on their very first day climbing – great effort! We finished the day with an awesome inter-team bouldering comp…

bouldering at dart rock

learning to belay

Our 2 day hike over some fantastic scenery was couple with amazing weather – a real treat, and the guys coped well with the navigation and physical nature of the long miles – we did have a fair few stops in the sun by the river though to soak up the rays!

2 day hike on dartmoor

River hopping on Dartmoor

Our final day mountain biking on the excellent Haldon Forest Trails was a brilliant end to the week. Starting on the skills track with the burms, drop-offs and other obstacles, we developed their personal biking enough to finish the day on one of the tricky red trails. A fun week at work with some great people – really nice to be working with a bunch of super highly experienced instructors – and another week of it starting tomorrow!

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest Trails