Xsport Girls

Scotland has seen it’s best winter for years and a friends and I decided to take advantage of this glorious snowy goodness and have many adventures, over the next few days I will be updating the site with photos, journal entries and perhaps some video footage of our times, but for now here’s a photo to keep you guys entertained

Bex.

Very good piece of filming in my opinion, what do you think?

More Mountain Biking >>

This is a video I stumbled upon on mpora, looks great

More Snowboarding >>

The more I think about being outdoors in this foul weather, the more it drives me insane. The rain, the cold, the wind, part of the reason why I haven’t managed to get out in the past month. But coupled with this is the amount of work I have to get done before christmas and still try and keep everything, extra curricular going. It’s tough and I’m paying the price emotionally.

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Swinging through the trees, acting like an ape and having a smile on your face for a good 3 hours sure is fun. You may wonder what I’m talking about but it’s all about to be explained.

A friend and I headed out to Whinlatter forest to take up an opportunity to go and play at Go Ape. This is a company which offers clients the chance to climb, swing, crawl there way through an adult size adventure playground.

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I feel myself recovering from the long drive to the Langdales. My head is unclouding and my stomach doesn’t feel as if it’s about to explode now that I’m in the fresh air. We’ve parked at the dungeoun ghyll car park, and we’re about to embark up the long haul to stickle tarn. My bag is heavy with the amount of camera equipment I carry with me and my food for the afternoon.

I feel sorry for Dave, he had boxing training that morning too. The steps almost kill me off. I pause momentarily, looking at the view as we steadily increase our altitude. The path is littered with rubbish, national trust volunteers and people in the complete wrong clothing for the mountains. Just because it has steps doesn’t mean its safe to be dressed innapropriately.

We make it to Stickle tarn and have some food, my energy is low due to a cold that I was fighting. I snack on chicken and spinach sandwiches with peanuts. Lovely. We amble around to the bottom of the scramble. My stomach turned itself over with the thought of what I was about to do. I love this kind of mountain day, just pure, natural rock and dirt. We start with Dave in the lead. He seems to just Dance and Skip his way up this Grade 1 scramble.

We pause again having increased our alittude even more. The views almost take my breath away. This place is magical and it’s a place that not many normal people will ever see. It almost feels as if it’s mine.

Almost at the top of the Scramble, Dave chooses a route that’s maybe a little difficult, he slips and I lose my breath, it was a little scary. It was enough to take my confidence I have in my boots and to make me question whether I could do it. I continue and make the committing move. I make it. A sense of achievement floats around the air, with the evening light casting shadows of this beautiful landscape.

A lonely man wonders down the path towards us. We make fast progress, leaving him behind. I worry that he won’t make it before sun down. We decide to almost run once we got to the dreaded steps. Ankle breaking territory but very. very fun. We pass two old ladies we passed on the way up, we wonder whether they had just sat on the same rock whilst we had been to the top of Pavey Ark and back down again.

At the bottom we head to the Dungeon Ghyll pub for a refreshing ginger ale. I feel content, happy with this afternoon’s small adventure.

Having just returned to Cumbria, to start living in my beautiful abode in Penrith, I thought it was best to take advantage of the rain that this part of the world has been receiving. Monday saw me head across to Ambleside, a quick trip to Stockport and then playing on the Rothay play wave. This was awesome. At first I was extremely nervous. I was in a Riot Disco. A smaller boat than my burn but also very stable.

My confidence grew and I was carving on the waves, until I grew tired and complacent. I capsized on a bit of a boil. I waited to be t-rescued but no one came to get me and consequently I swam. Back in my boat and surfing again, I capsized yet again due to complacency but this time I thought why not try a roll. I did and it was so quick. I didn’t even realise how I did it and so now I’m thinking constantly how I did it.

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The forecast looked grim as I sat and ate my frosties. The cup of tea in my hands felt warm in comparison to the water pouring from the sky that loomed outside. It was to rain all day. I was almost turned off by the idea of heading out to Glentress yet again. But wise words from my mum forced me out into the outdoors.

I knew the route would be slippy. The plan of action was to complete the red route with Elliot, one of my brother’s friends. He was a demon on the uphills and even though he talked about being unconfident on the down he was still bombing it through rock and tree root laden single track. The uphill was pleasant, as I remembered it from tuesday. Once on top it was cold and we both wolfed down mars bars and took on enough fluids to replenish what we lost. I set up my head cam and off we went. Negotiating the wet terrain, Elliot went speeding off, whilst I decided I couldn’t keep up and took it easy. I didn’t want to fall, not that I don’t trust Elliot but I didn’t fancy a fall and something bad happening with just him there.

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Once again, I was hitting Glentress but this time with my mum. This was the first time she had been out on a bike all week so we took it easy, setting off from Buzzards nest car park. The plan which we followed was to start on the blue route; taking it all the way to the top and then back down to the car park. The ascent was pleasant although hot. I was making a good pace and didn’t feel challenged at all; it was just fun.

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Monday saw me take a rest day so I shall skip that. The next day was tuesday and I planned to meet Sarah, Matt and Rob at Glentress. The night before, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. I had a late night that night and awoke the next morning worrying that I was going to be late only to receive a phone call saying they would only be half an hour late. They were 45 minutes late. You can’t trust students for anything!

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