Sunshine, Sea Kayaking and Single track

Life rarely gets better than the last few weeks!
After a great couple weeks at Bigfoot running D of E bronze training and assessments, it was time to head to the west coast with Wilderness Scotland.

 The west coast of Scotland provides some of the worlds best sea kayaking, with turquoise water, beatiful wildlife and rugged coast line, it's truly a sea kayakers dream.
 Based in Plockton, a beautiful fishing town just north of Kyle of Lochalsh, for three nights, gave us the opportunity to explore the areas around Plockton and journey to Skye. With some amazing days already in the bag, including a circum navigation of Scalpay things only got better!

 A journey up the road en-route to Ullapool gave us a chance to stop past Shieldaig, home of sea eagles. Beautifully benine conditions gave us a great days paddling.
Ullapool was our home for the remainder of the week, providing yet more mind-blowing scenery, not to mention the UK's best fish and chips!

 With the Summer Isles truly living up to their name on Wednesdays paddle, our final day was spent with a paddle around the bird sanctuary of Isle Martin just off Ardmair. With a late spring this year, the island was eerily quiet in comparison to it's usual noise of nesting birds, but the sand stone sea cliffs are stunning none the less.

After working hard the last few weeks i thought it high time to have a day for myself.
Catching up with my good friend and ex-house mate Rob, we decided to have a day on the bikes. Inshriach forest has some of the best biking in the area, with what seems like endless flowing single track, technical climbs and breathtaking views, not to mention a world renowned cake shop!

A swing past the local bike shop had us bumping into another good friend and ex-housemate Graeme, who joined us for a quick blast at High Burnside, Aviemore's most local trails. With some beta from the guys in Bothy we road a new climb that has recently been put in, along with some incredible descents i have not ridden before, all of which in stunning blue-bird sunshine.

Another day off before heading over to Bigfoot again for Silver expeditions, there's alot of good work to look forward to!

Life after lodge

 The last couple weeks have been busy on D of E bronze trainings with Bigfoot Advenures. It's been ace to be working with groups again and i've really enjoyed introducing  young folk to the outdoors.
Bigfoot work primarily with Robert Gordons and take many of the students from bronze all the way through to gold. This gives the students a chance to build rapport with instructors year after year and expeditions are adventurous and challenging based throughout the Cairngorms.
 It's been brilliant working with Anna and Greg the last couple weeks as having a familar face around is always nice.
After a couple days of snow and cold temperatures this afternoons warmth was welcome and a golden spring sun was all the inspiration i needed to go and hunt down a trail Jim had tipped me off to, descending from the summit of Ben Newe.
 A ride and hike along the forest track got the lungs going and nearing the summit i spotted the trail. It's been well constructed with drops, jumps and berms. A super long, full-on descent leads almost back to the car park and left me wishing for more travel and body armour!
The next few weeks for me are spent on bronze finals, before heading to the north west sea kayaking with Wilderness Scotland.

View from the top of Ben Newe

Roll on summer

I am currently in the south of England visiting my family before things get hectic over the summer.
I fly back to bonnie Scotland this evening and straight into a block of work with Big Foot Adventures and Wilderness Scotland, which i am really excited about.
 Leaving Glenmore Lodge was hard to do. I made some great friends and had some incredible experiences there, but at the end of the day i always want to be progressing and working as an instructor. A massive thanks to everyone who made my time as great as it was.

 My last stint of time there was spent packing/avoiding packing, but i also had some great days out riding and kayaking. I continually bang on about how good the local trails are, but i hadn't ridden a couple of the uber-local ones for a few weeks, having been sessioning Badaguish and Burnside, and i had forgotten how good they are again! I managed to jump on a TCL training with Glenmore lodge last week, so i hope to assess ASAP.












Thursday saw Joe, Mick and myself back at Badaguish for a blast in the morning and then meeting Stewart on his split shift for a run down Findhorn gorge. Biking in the morning, kayaking in the afternoon. Does life get better?!

Joe with some air time on "Canadian Trail"

Joe on "Canadian Trail"

Mick at the view point

Stu about to drop into "Triple Step"

 This summer has me self employed for the first time and is a big adventure in itself. Already it's been a super steep learning curve and simple stuff gets lost among the storm of things flying around in my head! 

 With my habit to bite off more than i can chew, i am sure i will learn some hard lessons along the way, but i am really excited for this season and the adventures it will bring!