April into May 2011

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, March was busy but April just seemed to flash by and here we are in May already.

We have had a lot of new customers in April coming to try out some of our activities,

Family and friends from Horwich on a 40th birthday raft building party

and a lot of repeat customers some of which are on there 7 and 8th visits,

Chris Lester and family members, Adventure 21 friends for over 7 years now.

Our paint balling continues to grow and the new venue is proving really popular, we have started getting repeat visits already and with the summer foliage the cover is fantastic extending our game zones. We still have a lot to do there but everyone who has been says its a great experience and a very well run site, which is really good for us. Its a great activity for groups of friends, corporate days, family groups or stag and hen parties.

April Stag party still looks chilly

You can see the green coming on the trees on this picture

Our face book page is always busy, we put most if not all our group photos on here and having bought 4 new waterproof cameras to replace the old worn out ones, we can offer our customers free pictures to remember your experience with us. Have a look its a great way to see what we offer.

Well i will try and up date the blog as much as i can to keep you informed of the new things at Adventure 21 ltd, enjoy the coming weeks, Cheers Dave

March 2011, our busiest year to date.

Well i do like to keep things up to date, but with March 2011 being our busiest to date, our blog had to take a back seat unfortunately. We have been doing lots of school's activity work including a great wilderness bushcraft canoe camp for a school in Warrington,

Setting up the camp

What, we have to do our own washing up?

followed by a fantastic two days of night navigation, hill walking and scrambling with a BTEC group in the Langdale Valley.

The group making there way up the side of Stickle Gill

The weather and the views from the top were outstanding, if only every hill day could be like this.

At the top of Harrison Stickle

We were out for a good eight hours and a brake in the middle to complete Jacks Rake was a great way to break up the walk.

The start of Jacks Rake

 March has also been busy with stag parties this year, must be a lot of weddings coming up! what recession?

Stag party starting the gorge scramble in Church Beck Coniston 12th March 11

And just look at Dave and Aaron with this gorgeous girl on a recent stag party doing archery and rifle shooting in Lancashire.

One very brave bird!

We finished off March with a great raft building session with Pizza Express from Kendal, a great bunch of people who really do get stuck in.

Not the normal warm up for raft building

A well built raft

Its been a great March and we are looking forward to all the work in April, why not see what we have going on at www.adventure21.co.uk

Paintball stag party 5th March 2011 in South lake's

The popularity of our new South Lake District Paintball site Near Torver is growing week to week. This weekend saw another stag party joining in the fun with a morning of paint ball followed by an afternoon of Gorge scrambling and canyoning.

The stag group getting kitted out at the start

Although the group were a little hungover or as one put it "I've got food poisoning!" they pulled out all the stops to give the stag a great day and a lot of bruises to remember it by.

The view down Ambush Alley

Things got a little rough with the group doing the traditional stag hunt! oh and best man hunt (we wouldn't leave him alone now would we!) the two lads took it in there stride even after taking around 1000 rounds at pretty close range.

A happy stag, notice the orange hard to see outfit!

New Paintball Venue in Torver near Coniston

Well it's been a long time coming but we finally have a new home for our paintball in the Lake District. The new venue has everything needed to make for a great session of paint ball in the Lake District. Whether you are staying in Windermere, Kendal, Keswick, Ambleside or Bowness, our new site is in easy reach.

Game Zones include my particular favorite "Ambush Alley" its an old railway cutting with steep sides, plenty of cover for the teams above but not a lot for the teams below.

With prices for a three/four hour session at £18 including vat with 100 free balls and extra balls at £5 per 100 after that, we look to be the cheapest paintball organiser in the Lake District.

If its fun you want with a relaxed but SAFE atmosphere then we are the paintball people for you.

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

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.

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.