Wednesday 23 February 2011

An interesting Fishing catch on Coniston water by local Fisherman

You don't see one of these everyday but a friend of Adventure 21's "Dan Whirity" caught this Albino Pike recently on Coniston Water.

Dan with his Albino pike

If you fancy your chances of catching something as unusual, why not book onto one of our Fishing trips or Lessons on Coniston Water, Windermere and other areas of the Lake District, follow the link to our fishing page http://www.adventure21.co.uk/pages/fishing-trips-and-lessons-cumbria-the-lake-district

Monday 21 February 2011

First Bushcraft camp of 2011

Although we had work right through this winter, the season doesn't feel as though its truly started until you have slept out under the stars on a bush craft camp. Last weekend saw the first camp of the year and although it started off a little stressful with the Navara blowing its turbo on the motorway up there at 7.00 in the morning and us arriving three hours late to meet the clients, we pulled it back though with the help of Phil from Coniston Boating Centre Adventure21 - Coniston Boating Centre coniston The Lake District
who explained our problems and gave the lads a brew.

After a brief session on what to take on the trip, we packed our barrels and boats to make up the time with a swift paddle down Coniston Water. On arrival at our bushcraft camp venue the lads got stuck into building the shelters that they were to spend the night in. With the weather being fine but cloudy it was idea conditions and it gave the team plenty of time to create what can only be described as fantastic first attempts.

 Each structure slowly took shape and the group worked with the environment, only taking small amounts of moss from a wide area of woodland so as to minimise the environmental impact and allowing the moss to be able to grow back easily.
With the shelters built the lad's had a short break and a well earned brew before the wood collection for the evenings fire.
Dinner was cooked by the whole team (except for me) and enjoyed by all four of us. We had a large selection of meats and vegetables from which the lad's made a great beef stew and could have fed about twenty people never mind four!

After a bottle or two of red wine the team retired to there shelters for the night and woke to a light dusting of snow to start the day.
Snow on the hill's early morning.

During the early hours of Saturday morning we had gusts of 80 mph winds that thrashed the camp, blowing out the parachute shelter and totally extinguishing the fire with driving rain.
The lad's stayed warm and dry in the self built shelters and after packing up the camp we packed the canoes and set off back to Coniston.
We all enjoyed a full English breakfast at the Meadowdore Cafe Lake District, Coniston, Meadowdore Cafe
before starting the days session of knot tying, fire lighting and knife, axe and saw work.
You don't get bigger smiles than that now do you.
The full English is usually cooked over the fire in camp, but due to the weather and how hard the lad's had worked we treated the group which i think was greatly appreciated. After breakfast we started on a few bushcraft skills starting with some knot tying and tarp erection. 
The lad's also got to grips with peg making (You can decide for yourselves who made the best peg! but they all worked great and are very handy for drying socks and other clothing when camping.)
Three fantastic looking clothes pegs, where's the lucky heather boy's?
and made great first attempts at pot holders for over a fire.
A proud man with his cooking pot holder.
Although it was really wet and we couldn't complete all the fire lighting section of the program the lad's did mange to create fire by using the flint and steel on birch bark. Don't forget to practice boy's!
Well i think we all finished happy and enjoyed a drink in the Sun Inn The Sun Coniston | The Lake District
and a laugh about the events of the two day's. Thanks for a great camp fellas and for your patience, all i need to do now is unpack and dry the kit. I hope to see you all again in the near future.
A tired but happy bunch in the pub
Bush craft camps run all year round, if you would like information on them please send an e-mail to info@adventure21.co.uk.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Nearly new van for the new 2011 season,

The old van (Renault short wheel base) has served us well over the past 12 months and on occasions has been home, mobile office and mobile store room.

With 2011 looking to be even busier than 2010 we decided to look into a bigger van which would do the same job as the old one but on a grander scale.
Being a high top, long wheel base van, our new Eveco will be fitted out with a rear store, toilet and shower and living accommodation for 4 and space to use as an office / staff meeting area. (More importantly brew area for morning instructor chats!)

The first job is to get the windows in and to fit the insulation, wiring and heater system's. We want it to be winterised so it can be used for all year round sessions and canoe trips to Scotland and abroad.

Plans are on the cards for some sea kayaking sessions in Wales this year so our new home from home will prove invaluable in the planning of new trips.




Thursday 3 February 2011

Adventure 21 team up with Sanguine Hospitality Management

Sanguine Hospitality develop and operate a collection of branded and independent properties throughout the UK. The Sanguine portfolio includes hotels, health clubs, luxury spas, pubs and event venues from leading brands including: Doubletree by Hilton, Intercontinental, Wyndham and Marco Pierre White.

A meeting took place today between Sanguine www.sanguinehospitality.com and P.A.C.E Training Consultants www.pacetrsiningconsultants.co.uk (Adventure 21's corporate events and Management Training sister company) to look at the prospect of offer corporate event activities at some of Sanguin's Hotels, club's and Inn's.



After a walk around the grounds of The West Tower Hotel www.thewesttower.com with its stunning countryside views we went indoors to view the newly refurbished accommodation and function rooms.

Adventure 21 will be able to offer a wide range of activities at West Tower including Paintballing, Archery, air rifle shooting, a zip wire and a range of corporate team events and challenges. 

Activities will also be available for wedding's and birthday celebrations.

Watch this space for news on activities and events in this area.