May Update

May was quite a varied and fun month, partially due to the mixed weather we had. 
Rather than get fed up because it wasn't consistently good for one particular activity, I decided to grab the bull by the horns and throw myself into whatever pastime the weather allowed.

Climbing-wise, I spent a fair portion of my time training indoors but in saying that, I also made use of the handfull of hot and sunny days with some superb deep water solo sessions over the Torquay area. It was great to get out on real rock and climb over the sea again.

The other activity that I got back into this month was the super-exciting and adrenaline-fuelled coasteering. First off, I took a few mates to Long Quarry Point for a fun-filled afternoon of mad jumps, traversing and aquatic pot-holing. Next up, a group of five of us visited an area we'd not tried before - the section of coast from Berry Head to St. Mary's Bay. What we discovered was; this is a fantastic area for coasteering, with a large quantity of jumps of varying height, some amazing caves to explore and some great traversing too. We had a super morning in calm and sunny conditions and it almost felt like a summer's day, except for the fact the water was still a tad on the nippy side. 

Then there was the sea kayaking of course, once I'd repaired the hole I discovered under my seat on our recent trip to Pembrokeshire. The first trip was just out around Berry Head to test that the repair was watertight, then I spent a couple of evenings coaching for the Ibex Canoe Club on a three star course - doing some sea kayak navigation and rescue skills. This month I also did a bit of freelance work for Sea Kayak Devon who are based in Dartmouth taking some families who were down on holiday out sea kayaking on guided trips for the day. Some days the weather didn't allow us to journey out of the shelter of the estuary, but on others we made it out to the Mew Stone and back in sunny and calm conditions in just a morning, even seeing some seals and plenty of bird life en route. 

Now May is coming to an end and we are looking forward to June because this is when we head off to Oban for our sea kayaking holiday among the wild and beautiful islands that make up the west coast of Scotland. This place is a true sea kayaking paradise and I literally cannot  wait to get up there and set off on our adventures exploring this region. 

Check out the blog at the end of June for a full write up of our Scottish sea kayak travels! :)