Catch up

Since my last post a lot has happened. I've moved house, been on holiday, caught impetigo and completed some more challenges.

Rock to Rocque - A charity bike ride around the island, a very pleasant day out. Although in itself not that challenging I decided I would spice it up by trying to cycle up the Val de Terre (one of Guernsey's longest and steepest hills). As the hill was closed to traffic, and even if it wasn't 300+ cyclists would have made it practically impossible for cars to do anything, it was an ideal opportunity without worrying about the traffic behind. It took me just over 4 minutes to cycle up and about 10 minutes to recover from it. So although the challenge was the "Rock to Rocque" for me it was getting up Val de Terre. It started ok but then when I changed gear I had a slight problem, I couldn't get it into the low gears, so instead of doing it in the lower set, I had to push in the mid-set. Not pleasant but hey it was done.

Itex Walk - 40 mile walk around the coast of Guernsey. I did this last year and swore I would never do it again, but when you're looking for challenges then this is a Guernsey classic. As I have contact on the organising committee I was able to start the walk 30 minutes before everyone else, which meant we should be able to clear the first 16 miles on the cliffs without getting caught in the crowds. I was walking with 2 friends from the climbing club, who's partners had to drop out of the walk, so the 3 of us set off at just after 0400. When we got round to Vazon the bubblegum rally was just setting off so we had some weird looking cars (and people) pass us as we walked down to Cobo. All 3 of us managed to complete the walk in just under 13 hours, which is almost 3 hours faster than I did it last year. So after walking 40 miles in under 13 hours, what do you do? You go to a wedding of course! Within 2 hours of finishing the Itex Walk I was at a wedding wondering if I should mingle or just sit near the bar.

8 days later I was in Bala in North Wales at the National White Water Centre and getting ready for my white water rafting challenge. Whilst we were getting changed and briefed it started to rain, which is not bad when your going rafting. Overall the day was pretty good and I loved the rafting, unfortunately it ended on a sad note as I had my rash vest and swim shorts nicked whilst I was getting changed afterwards.

2 days after that the sun was out the sky was blue, so lets climb Snowdon! It was the first time I had been up Snowdon on the Llanberis path, and after about 1hr and without much difficulty got to the 1/2 way cafe. I was surprised that it had only taken an hour to get 1/2 way, and thought the path was extremely easy to walk up. However past the cafe is where the climb really begins. The gradient increased significantly and when we walked through the tunnel and effectively crossed to the other side of Snowdon the wind started to pick up (we had been sheltered up until this point) and the gradient went up another notch. But in just under 2 hr 30 mins from the bottom we were stood on top of Snowdon. After sitting up top for a while, we made our way down to finish just under 5 hours after we had started. So we headed off to the pub for a beer or 2 then over to Pete's for some much needed food.

Since coming back from holiday I've started my "cycle to work for 40 days" challenge and started getting lessons from Kel @ Island Adventures for my "Roll a kayak in the sea" challenge. There is also some video evidence of my rolling attempts, which when I nail it will also be posted.

Next scheduled challenge is the "Herm Fun Run" and my stage debut in "A Midsummer Nights Dream" should be happening on the 20th August. I'll will have completed my cycle to work challenge, and to hopefully get my kayak roll done before the end of August so within the next 4 weeks another 4 challenges should be done.

Sorry for the long post but wanted to get completely up to date. I will try and keep up with the blog as I continue the 2010 40/40 Challenge.


**rant warning**
I must be honest and say I was a little surprised at what has been done to the summit of Snowdon, as I can clearly remember the last bit being a bit of a scramble, but now for some reason they have "landscaped" it and put in steps, please come on folks, steps at the summit of a mountain :-( Also the new "visitor attraction" at the top, someone dropped the ball with this, as although the views are spectacular on a clear day I couldn't help noticing that here was nowhere to shelter if the centre was closed, as it is in the Winter. Surely it isn't beyond the wit of man to spend another couple of grand to add a shelter?
**rant over**