May and the Sun is finally here

The sun is shining and hopefully it will stay around for a while. Things have been very busy at the Adventure 21 camp! lots of groups and lots of happy customers posting their comments on both our comments page on our website and also on our FACEBOOK page.

Burnley FC

Last week we worked with some of the managers and coaches from Burnley football club. They asked for some orienteering with a competitive slant which is what we gave them. As with football there are the top scorers and those that don't score too high. Th medals and the smiles give away the winning team. They were so happy with the day that the whole team are coming back to us in June, catch up with the details on our next blog.

Hen parties in the Lake District

This year we have seen a big increase in the number of hen parties join us at Adventure 21 its good to see the girls giving the lad's a run for their money.

Team challenge hen party navigating

We have had hen parties on team challenge days including orienteering, abseiling, raft building and archery.

Hen party abseiling in the Lake District

If you know of anyone wanting something different for their hen party get them to give us a call.

Another winning team

Bush craft has been another activity that is a big hit this year, lots of sessions for basic courses and days and even some groups trying their hand at skinning and gutting food for their meals.

Correct saw technique

Bushcraft in the Lake District is a great way to get the family together doing an activity that you can all join in with. Come and try it.

Making pegs

Well that's its for now for May, will try and keep you informed of the goings on at Adventure 21 but keep an eye open for updates on our face book group. Have a great May and June.

April activities

As per usual Ive been busy and the blog has had to take a back seat, I'm keeping up with our FACEBOOK group though which is proving popular and is a great source of info for present and future customers. We add all photos from sessions onto it along with up coming sessions at reduced rates for FACEBOOK friends and friends of friends, so if your not on it please join up and get your friends involved!

Head under the waterfall in Church Beck, Coniston, Lake District, Cumbria

Bookings are coming in thick and fast again with Saturdays being the most popular days and as usual gorge scrambling and canyoning being the most popular activities. This years gorge and canyoning sessions started early...we did warn customers how cold it would be but there has been no stopping them.

Its cold but fun gorge scrambling in the Lake District.

Adventure 21 has said goodbye to some old staff who will be missed and that have moved on to other things but has been able to say hello to new staff and welcome back some old faces.

Assistant instructor Dan

Dan Nightingale (pictured above) started out as one of our customers who enjoyed it so much he came along voluntary to help on sessions. Over time he got himself kitted out and last month completed his swift Water Rescue Training. He's now on our free lance assistant Instructor list and is working most weekends. His ongoing sessions and training will hopefully see him signed off to run group sessions on his own.

Paul (Chopper) Harris and Ryan Buckley are back with Adventure 21 this year. Although both are still working at Rock Over climbing wall in Manchester, they have been missing the fresh air and fun. Its great to have them back in the family.

Paintballing in the Lake District, Cumbria

Adventure 21's Paint ball is booking up well for 2012, we now have two sites, one in Torver in the Lake District near to Coniston and another near Blackburn, Lancashire. We are still keeping it small and personal for groups of up to 30. We are still one of the cheapest in both Lancashire and the Lake District.

Well its been another short and sweet blog session, hope you will keep in touch and maybe we will see you on session soon.

All the best Dave

March fun

The stag gets dressed up for the raft building

Well the season has really kicked off in style this year at Adventure 21 we have already had some great sessions and the hen parties and stag party  groups are coming in thick and fast enjoying some great adventure activities in both the Lake District and in Lancashire and Manchester areas.

raft building stag party

It's great to see the weather improving although you wouldn't think so from the pictures above. It is getting better honest! and the water in the gorge below is getting a lot warmer....now that isn't true at all!

We have some great activities planned that you can come and join in with which can be found on our future events pages on our website. Its a great way to try out something new.

Well if we can do anything for you please get in touch through our website have a great start to spring, all the best, Dave

March

MARCH

Instructor / Future Instructor Training with Adventure 21

March is a great time of the year to get some refresher training done and there is nothing better than getting wet in the gorges around the Lake District.

Swimming in a safe stopper

The first thing we have planned is a White Water Safety and Rescue course which enables instructors working for Adventure 21 to run sessions in site specific gorges.

Ash talking the group through a Tyrolean set up 

The WWSR course is a fantastic course that involves throwing yourself and others into fast moving water and being rescued! its both fun and informative. A must for anyone involved in taking groups near moving water or even just to get valuable experience around water. (its not just for instructors!)

Raft pin release training

The course covers lots of area's including gorges, river rescue, raft rescue plus canoe and kayak rescues.

There are still places left for this course at £150.00 per person for two day so email us at info@adventure21.co.uk if you fancy coming along.

Busy into January and February 2012

Busy busy busy, that's how we like it, lots of people coming back to us this year and lots of new customers.

I looked through the calendar for this time last year and we are way in front and bookings are now confirmed and deposits paid up through March to July which is great news for us and the bank of freelance instructors.

We have some old faces back this year, when i say old i don't really mean old, just that we haven't seen them for a while.

John, organizing a tug of war

John Kennedy is back with us this year after time off looking after his young daughter. She's now at school, so John has found time to come back and join the Adventure 21 team. John's a great laugh and has been in the game for many years and has bags of experience so fits in well with the team.

School and youth group activity trips

Although schools funding has been reduced over the past few years, we have tried to be competitive with our prices where possible to enable groups to still enjoy adventure activity trips with us.

Team building Blackburn, Lancashire

Keeping activities local and in school is proving to benefit youth groups, keeping the costs of travel down. We have some great new venues in the Lancashire areas for activities and our new paint ball site in Blackburn is running well and being enjoyed by school and youth groups alike.

Paint balling youth group trip Blackburn Lancashire

Well its a short write up this time but watch this space for more info coming soon, all the best Dave

We are well into December and the festive season and we are all ready for a little time off from activities and are looking forward to some well earned time with the family!

Adventure 21 don't exactly shut down over the Festive period but we do take a few days off to open pressies and enjoy a few extra meals!

We have sessions right up to the 24th this year then family groups in the Lakes midweek between Christmas and new year, so if you fancy getting out you know where to come.

A recent hen party in December 2011 in Coniston, Cumbria

We are still getting lots of hen party call's in the office and some of the more recent have been very lucky with the weather. Although its a little cold for gorge and canyoning its ideal conditions for archery http://www.adventure21.co.uk/pages/archery-activities-lake-district-lancashire-and-manchester and air rifle shooting http://www.adventure21.co.uk/pages/shooting-windermere-cumbria-and-lancashire-and-manchester-uk . For a full list of activities available for Hen and stag parties check out our website http://www.adventure21.co.uk/pages/home-page

showing off their scores

We saw some great archery even though it was a little blustery and i think the smiles on the girls faces say it all about the session.

The hen's mum was happy to hit the target as you can see, it does look as though she was a target but she wasnt!

Air rifle shooting

After the archery it was out with the guns for a spot of air rifle shooting, these girls weren't half competitive and what a good shot they all were, targets were going down all over the range.

Overall it was a great day and we got some great post session comments on our face book group, log on to see all the images and comments from this hen party at http://www.facebook.com/groups/84881248964/

Well i will leave you with a snowy land-rover from a few years ago and wish you all a great Christmas and a fantastic New Year. See you all in January

November

Hello to anyone who gets time to look on here, we hope the Autumn and the coming Winter are treating you well. The firewood is stacked in the wood store and the burners are are on but the cold weather hasn't stopped people wanting to get out and enjoy a few adventure activities and paintball. In fact its been the busiest November in the 11 years of Adventure 21.

We have had some great mountain days, some fantastic corporate activity events and the paint-balling is going from strength to strength.

Barclays Bank on a team Charity Event November 2011

We have a great team working at Adventure 21 and its always add to the list and this year we have Dan, Dan and Chris who are all recent instructors to join us.

Chris supervising a recent corporate group down from the top of  Coniston Old Man

Dan relaxed at the end of a busy session

Recently most of our work has taken place outside of the Lancashire at our base in Coniston. After numerous meetings over the past few weeks we have been busy planning new ventures in the Lancashire and Manchester areas. We are now happy with the extended paint balling venues and should be able to add another site in Colne, we are also working with Chorley Borough Council looking at some adventure training races for beginners, intermediates and corporate team building groups, this will include, sit on top kayaks, a zip wire, assault course etc - watch this space. We have also moved back into local schools in the area offering a range of mobile adventure activities at winter prices, please call us if any of these new ventures are of interest to you.

This month we had a visit from Widnes Vikings Rugby League team, Widnes have just moved up into the super league and decided to use Adventure 21 for one of their pre season training sessions. The brief was "make it tough" so we did. Starting at Coniston Boating center we sent the team on a warm up run and sprint up the road to the fell gate at the start of the Walner Scar road, Coniston side. Anyone that has been up the road in a car will know how steep it is, try running it! After a brief stop to get their breath back the team's chose a log to carry, with instructions not to put it down!

The log carry was supposed to be for 2 miles but unfortunately some of the teams put it down which meant that the brief changed and the log was to be carried to the top of the Old Man of Coniston, a height of 803 metres / 2635 feet

It was a good effort by all the team and it must have been the first time that trees had been seen at the top of the Coniston fells in a few hundred years.

Vikings coach Denis Bett's and assistant coach Mick Cassidy said it was a great way to see how the team performed together in a different environment and that the team would gain a lot from it.

We wish the team well for the new season and we will be watching their progress and taking up the offer of going to watch them play.

As a final thought, don't let the Winter become gloomy and dark, get out and enjoy it, there's always lots going on with Adventure 21, see you all soon, Dave