February 20th. Update.

Is The Lake District The Adventure Capital of the UK?

Well the short answer is "Yes, I think it is." The Marketing people certainly want you to think that. My fear is that we may just turn The Lake District into one giant Adventure Theme Park. This I think, would almost certainly take some of the adventure out of the place.

I've now lived up here for about 20 years and I have to say that even though today was a bit cold, it is a lovely place to live. For sure, sometimes I do miss the hustle and bustle of the larger towns and cities of my Pre Family Age, but today I was happy enough to enjoy the sunshine and the snow capped hills as I walked my dog through woodlands around Coniston.

It's fair to say that we have had a quiet half term, although we have done a couple of sessions on the lake and in the gorge. Church Beck certainly does need a good wetsuit, and probably wetsuit gloves too, in order to make it fun without freezing.

Returning to my dog walk, I really did get the feeling that Spring was in the air; birds singing, sun shining, and may be even the first hint of buds appearing on the trees. Who needs an adventure activities provider anyway? You can enjoy all this on your own. Just get out there and experience it.

Well, before you start thinking that I must be mad; talking myself out of lots of lovely clients, let me reassure you that I'm not. (Talking myself out of clients any way.) I know that I sometimes take all this fun outdoor stuff for granted. This adventure stuff is easy, isn't it?

Well what makes it easy for us, is that we do have a lot of experience of working with people, and we also have local knowledge of where to go, what to do and how to make it all work. What we want to be able to do is communicate that to you people. Those of you who think that it might be a good idea to get out and do stuff, but are perhaps a little uncertain about how to go about it. We not only want you to come out with us, but more importantly, we want to give you the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to go out and do it yourselves. To do this safely we must educate, and inform. The outdoors is, justifiably, a great source of thrills and excitement. Long may this situation exist. But we should also promote it as a place to learn and develop.

To me it is important to market The Lake District as The Adventure Capital of the UK, but we should also educate. If the outdoors is about anything, then it is about independence and discovery through adventure. Education has to be part of what we do. I very much prefer the idea that we try to communicate with you through education, not just marketing. Then you can make your own mind up for yourselves. Hopefully you will agree with us. The Lake District should be much more than a giant theme park.

December 29th 2009

This will be the last blog of the year, as the rains disappear, and we are left with snow on the ground and a lack of water in the rivers. However, all is not lost as an area of high pressure has meant some beautifully bright still days for lake paddling in our new sea kayaks. Christmas Day was a cold but eventually bright paddle.

With a starting temperature of - 6 degrees, it needed a good number of layers and coffee to get going. A classic temperature inversion meant a mist hung over the lake but it did clear to give us almost perfect conditions for an adventure at this time of year.

The good thing about sea kayaks is that they are fast and stable, so progress is good and 2 or 3 hours gentle but steady paddling can take you a fair distance even on England's largest lake.

With sunset imminent is was time for hot drinks, food and the journey home.

The return of the Joint Adventures Blog

November 27th 2009

Long time no blog you might say. The floods kept us busy last week and now people are well on the to clearing up. The towns of Cockermouth and Workington in the North Lakes were more devestatingly hit than the South Lakes, but that didn't stop Coniston being cut off for about 4 days to all but the largest of vehicles.

We have had our usual smattering of white water kayaking sessions this Autumn, particularly during half term at the end of October. We have also expanded our fleet of kayaks with touring boats, and some more sea kayaks. I reckon that a lot of people get put off kayaking because they get put in poorly outfitted boats and take a week to recover from a half day session. All our boats have back rests and adjustable foot rests.

With well fitting boats it's good to get people into moving water kayaking. Running rivers and surfing small waves is how we hone your skills so that the session is exciting, without being too dramatic. Gorge Walking featured as usual

It wouldn't have been half term holiday if we didn't go gorge walking! Wet suits and full water proofs were the order of the day, which ment that everyone could enjoy the fun as usual.

We even had what is probably the last of our out door climbing of the season, but as Keswick climbing wall has re-opened we have the chance to go indoors (we know about Kendal as well).

September was lovely, and October wasn't bad, but it looks like November might just prove to have been a little too wet; even for the most serious of white water head bangers. But it has been good to get out with people on the rivers, and I suppose you could say that the white water canoeing and kayaking season is well under way. I'll blog again sooon, Adam

February Update

Well the lateness of this last update leads me to the conclusion that blogs without pictures are not as and attractive proposition as blogs with. Having had technical difficulties with downloading pictures, there has been a distinct lack of photographic records. We have now sorted that.

Crinkle Crags and Bowfell from Langdale

The cold spell has continued, but we've still managed to get out and about with walking, a little climbing, and some paddling. There has been a distinct lack of snow in the vallies, but I'm happy to say that the fells have had some of the best snow conditions this winter. So while the South West of the country and the Midlands have ground to a halt we in The Lakes have been having a great time.

Crinkle Crags looking distinctly Alpine

Classic winter walking weather means bright sunshine falling onto beautiful white mountain tops. With good snow conditions it was time for some of us to test out the ice axes and crampons.

Sca Fells and Bowfell panorama

On the way Home

The necessity to wrap up warm and think a little more carefully about what you're doing is rewarded by stunning scenery.

Looking forward, we have Half Term and some good deals on activities, so if you're planning a visit get in touch. We also have the start of our school group season with schools booked in for their first taste of adventure for 2009. Holiday periods are always busy, so the sooner you know what you want to do the better.

Have fun if you do manage to get out.

Adam

Joint Adventures December Update

Well I think the last few days have shown us the first signs of winter, and that we have to put on those extra layers if we are to go outside. December certainly started with some beautiful bright clear days. In many ways, this is the best time of year to walk. It's quiet, bright and sunny.

In November we did a mixture of fun and skills courses. Stag parties built rafts, paddled canoes, and scrambled up gorges.

With groups well wrapped up in wetsuits and water proofs most people have managed to get in the spirit of things, and see the chance for that hangover cure.

And Gorge Walking was pretty full on and as popular as ever.

It hasn't all been fun though. Oh yes, we've done some proper serious stuff too.

Open Canoe skills have been being developed. With water levels quite low, we took to the River Lune for an Intermediate White Water Canoe session.

We saw some fine paddling with people gaining in confidence as they tackled the rapids

And if you have wondered what we do in the Winter time between groups, well we practice rescue skills and keep up to date with current thinking. This usually means getting wet!

So now we have the rest of December to look forward to. Adventure activity gift toolkens are looing popular for the person that seems to have everything. If you want one just get in touch.

We also have a number of skills courses on fell, river, and lake, so check out the course dates section of the website and see if anything takes your fancy.

Have a great Christmas

Best wishes,

Adam

Joint Adventures November update

As expected we've been really busy during October. We kicked off our moving water skills season with some perfect water levels, if you knew where to go, so despite record breaking levels of water in the lakes we had a really nice time.

Introduction to Moving Water day 2

We also managed a spot of rock climbing in the dry, and it was even sunny some of the time. Then came half term. It sort of spread over 2 weeks, and saw the ever popular holiday Family Adventure sessions. Well clad in wetsuits and water proofs, or some times just lots of layers, we all went for an adventure.

Family Adventure Day Session Canoeing

With November upon us we were allowed on more of the rivers, and in the absence of any recent rainfall the river Crake, which is lake fed, proved to be at an excellent level for novice and more experienced paddlers alike.

The river Crake in lovely sunshine!

All this has left us looking forward to the rest of November and December. We have had a few requests for kayak rolling courses, and some moving water canoeing. ( and I do mean canoeing!). There are still some spaces on our NNAS navigation courses before and after Christmas. So if any of those appeal then please get in touch.

In December and January, we also have some BCU 3 star training courses in kayak and canoe so check these out at www.jointadventures.co.uk.

As ever, if you do get out have fun.

Adam