The joys of Jersey Saturday, December 31, 2005

I've just returned from 10 days in Jersey. That's the ORIGINAL Jersey - in the British Channel Islands, home of the famous Jersey cow and Jersey Royal potatoes! And my parents. I managed to combine the family trip with a bit of a paddling holiday with Gemma Rawlings. We took the ferry to Jersey so we could take all our toys. Jersey is a very pretty island with 40 foot tides and strong currents so we were looking forward to some fun exploring. We were hoping that we'd be able to paddle to some of the other Channel Isalnds which are lovely - in particular we wanted to make the 12 mile paddle to the small island of Sark where the only means of transport are tractor, horse and cart, bicycle and foot. Unfortunately it was too windy to make in to Sark but we enjoyed some good sea paddling aswell as some lovely walks and a bit of bouldering. The pictures are of Gemma and Kevin Mansell exploring the cliffs and caves near Greve de Lecq beach, and playing in 'the Tour de Rozel' tidal race on a particularly windy day!

Snow on Snowdon Sunday, December 18, 2005

Sorry I've been silent for a while. I haven't been ignoring you on purpose, I have just been too busy doing things to write about any of them! I've decided to make a very short post just to make sure that I write something! I'm delighted to say that 'This is the Sea Two' is selling really well - it's even more popular than the first DVD. All of the feedback that I have had has been positive.

I haven't been seapaddling much for a month but on the weekends I've been enjoying walking, climbing and bike rides. This weekend Alun and I went for a lovely walk up Snowdon. Every day, we look out of our window at this mountain - the highest one in Wales - but (as is often the case with great things on your doorstep) we don't go up it very often. This weekend was clear, cold and crisp with a few inches of snow on the top - definately a good day for a walk up a big hill. We avoided the main paths up the mountain but followed a sheep path up a pretty valley and then scrambled up a gully on 'Cloggy', a dramatic cliff covered in incredible moutain climbing routes ( a bit cold and icy for that at this time of year though ). Once at the top of Cloggy, we were walking down alongside the railway line which takes tourists to the top of the mountain. I mentioned that it must be possible to make a contraption to allow us to slide down the railway track all the way to Llanberis at the bottom! Alun looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said "You don't need to make anything". I had forgotten that he grew up in Llanberis and spent his childhood exploring the hills and climbing venues in the area. A bit further down the track he started lifting up large rocks and eventually found one he liked. He carried it over to the railway track and started turning it around, turning it one way and then another. What a journey down!! You wouldn't believe how well they slide..... I should mention that no trains run up the track at this time of year, and the stones don't do any damage........
(click on the photos to see them bigger! The top ones are of me stood on top of Cloggy on the way up Snowdon)