March Madness

The weather this month has been either bitterly cold and dry or slightly milder with heavy doses of rain. This meant that most of my climbing was done on my home wall, just keeping the training going until I can get outdoors on some real rock again. 
What the random and mixed weather did facilitate was a bit of kayaking in the form of both river and sea paddling. Finally after a month of having my new kayak I was able to get it wet and put some scratches on it, with a handful of quality runs on the superb Upper Dart. I had about three trips in lovely medium-plus levels, plus a couple of adrenaline-fuelled runs in quite big water which was a real buzz, one of which was solo. :O This all helped me to tune into the new ZET Raptor really well, and my overall impression is extremely good - it handles like a dream and I'm absolutely loving it! :) I'm in the blue boat in the video. ;)
Upper Dart ZET Raptor paddling big flows
I did also dust the cobwebs off my Tiderace Xcite and get out for a couple of fantastic sea paddles too. The first was an evening trip around Berry Head to Mansands and back in lovelyl warm and sunny conditions. Then a few days later Elisabeth and myself took a trip to the beautiful Bantham bay for a wonderful afternoon of surfing, rockhopping and coastal paddling in glorious sunny conditions. What a magic day we had! :)
Not sure what April has in store for us, but hopefully weather conditions will allow us to get out paddling and/or climbing in some form or other!?! 

French Friends Visit

During the last week of February our French friends came to visit us in Torbay for a few days; Isabelle, children Thomas and Alexandre, and mother Brigitte. It was great to catch up and spend some time with them again. Isabelle used to stay with us when we were both children, and it's wonderful that we have stayed in touch over all these years. 
They spent some time visiting the local sights and attractions with my parents, then on the last day of February I had the pleasure of taking them climbing at the superb Dartrock Climbing Centre nr Buckfastleigh. It has a really good setup for introducing novices to the wonderful world of climbing, with plenty of traverse walls, a bouldering area, some lower height roped climbs, as well as the main roped and lead climbing area, so it caters for novice, intermediates and experts alike. 
We spent a fantastic two hours there and they all did really well, progressing from the traverses, through the bouldering, to the roped climbs, and finally onto the main area where the routes climb a lot higher. Despite having never climbed before they all displayed a very natural climbing ability and good body movement skills (maybe it was all that ballet Isabelle?!?). We all enjoyed ourselves very much, and it was great to see the smiles on their faces when they reached the top of the routes. Allez, allez! Tres bien! :)
Even my parents, who didn't climb, were happy because they were able to partake of Dartrocks excellent tea and cake selection whilst they viewed all the climbing action.
Afterwards we all returned to my parents house to enjoy a delicious meal together, and spent the evening chatting and laughing late into the night. Very happy times! :)
Looking forward to meeting up with them all again soon! ;)