Mysterymove

I'm Back!

2011-02-14T16:02:00.000Z

I'm back!

Lets think about it like a gap year, last year seamed to fly by with work, moving house and injury - all in a bit of a write of in terms of going out and having fun :o(

Oh well here's a years catch up in a few pictures...

New ickle 4X / Jump bike built for the 4X bike 5 minutes from the new house

Work

Prodigy supported by Pendulum!

The view from Crib Goch

Temporary new toy - now gone to a better home!

Another blast across Europe in the Audi

Swiss National DH run

Pete & Emma - really showing me how it should be done

More work

Tour of Britain

Silly new biking glasses

Some DIY

Hopefully our last camping trip with a tent - bring on the van

Halloween

Ai Weiwei

Another blast in the Audi, this time with snow - driving / sliding across the lakes

Ordered the 1st pint stylishly sliding sideways down the street - left the pub to find this...

Snow!

Still more snow!

Something a little different - more later

Christmas Trees

More Snow - this time on Cannock Chase

Snow & Ice - This made Scafell Pike a little interesting with out crampons!

But it was stunning from the top - look there's Scotland!

Camera Randoms

2009-12-23T10:00:00.000Z

I've really broken my indestructible camera! But just for pure comedy I've just pulled these from the memory card, They're from Norway I think?

Urgh, maybe this is what broke the camera?

I want to be back in Norway!

Uh - pass, but i like it

Big Boat surfing

One ugly lookin...

...pot hole, a river feature you wouldn't want to find!

This is 4am, apre-moose encounter

G Stylin it

About 4 hours into the Ena I believe

Cheese

Bigger Cheese

Second thought's maybe this is what broke the camera? Cheers Rich!

Oh yea it's chrimbo

Merry Christmas, Lets see what 2010 brings...

Ben

Pyranha's New River Boat the 2010 Burn

2009-12-20T10:15:00.000Z

Pyranha took full opportunity of the recent Gene17 weekend to release the new 2010 Burn and it'd be rude of me not to take advantage to go pick up my new creeker and catch up with a lot of friends.

Jo 'manning it up' in the Erme Gorge

With the Dart flowing at good levels and more rain forecast it was an ideal time to put the boat through its paces. So Saturday arrived and I headed up to the Upper Dart with some of the Pyranha & Plas-y-Brenin guys & some Upper dart virgins.

Rich Boofing the Slot

All was well until My house mate, James, flipped, hit a rock and dislocated his shoulder! Many hours later, James in Ambulance, many miles of hiking out of the river and back in again. we could all have a bit of a laugh about it at the bar...

Sara Loving the New Burn

Saturday night saw beer, dancing, tall stories, beer, rain, beer, rain and more beer, oh & some more rain. Thick headed Sunday with massive amounts of water, it was time to head off to one of Dartmoor's other gems, the Erme.

One of the many drops on the Erme

A river littered with many drops and slides, some a little trickier than others as a certain few Team P paddlers will tell you ;o)

The Erme Gorge

A great day to put the new boat through it's paces, head over to the Pyranha team blog to hear what I think of the 2010 Burn...

Adam railing it round in the Everest

Stay Safe

Ben

Autumn Swell

2009-12-17T15:03:00.002Z

Time's a funny thing, it passes relentlessly, and there's no 'undo' button. I spend most of it sat at a desk in front of a computer, which is a depressing necessity. So it's always good to get out and do something I love. October bought some impressive swell, so with some precious time off I headed home, with the surf boat of course...

Checking the line up

Offshore winds held the lip up for what seamed like an eternity

Take Off

In the Power Pocket

A good day out of the office ;o)

see you on the water...

Norway Part III - The Journey Home

2009-08-17T14:32:00.004+01:00

The journey home, after a week of no sleep it was time to head back south toward the ferry. But hey this is Norway, and no trip to Norway would be complete with out dropping into Voss, the extreme sports capital of Europe.

The Jori was at primo levels as we were driving past and it would have been rude not to have a sunset [at last 24 hour sun had driven us all mad!] blast down this class IV gem.

The pure amount of hours spent in the car and the flurry of rivers in the past couple of days meant we were all exhausted. With varrying excuses we had all opted to take a day out and rest up at Skjak - I think mainly the excuse to have a 'proper' bed, a shower and toilets ;o)

Skjak Wave - I think kayakers have been here before?

Soul surfing

Rich throwing a a big ol blunt

An afternoon of surfing, sun bathing and beer managed to revive the group so we pushed onward

Pushing onto Voss, it was clear that there was change in the air...

The brilliant Blue skies, caved in under thick black clouds, offering stunning landscapes as we crossed the Fjords

Then it broke, the storm set in and the only place we could find to sleep was unshelterred & above the snow line. As if a cold wet and windy night wasnt bad enough, we grew increasingly concerned as the lightening bounced off the mountain sides around us!

Dropping down into Voss the next day we were met with grey skies and high water levels, so getting some advice from Allan Ellard & the guys at Voss Rafting we headed to the 'play run' which was described as 'going off'. If you've been to the Play Run, you know, its about as far from a play run as you could possibly get! We arrived at the get in to find a nice high level with crystal teal water. Sods law, as soon as we start untieing the boats from the roof the mother of all thunder storms roll's in! Jumping in our boats the river quickly turns from teal to brown and thick with mud, slightly concerning when you see what happened here last year. Unfortunately we ended up walking most of the big rapids as they turned from pushy to leathal. But still, a good pushy big volume day, on river 20 cummecs above the max level in the guide book!

With a day and a half left we headed out to get another 2 rivers under our belts.

John Running the 2nd drop on the Myrk. Unfortunately Andy who was up next, missed the kicker and ended up in the big recirculating hole in the right of this picture. Lucky guy, lets just say it ended our day's paddling as we had to get him to the local quacks to get him checked over...

With 1/2 a day left before heading home we wanted one last river. With the help of Andy Phillips, what a day! The Stranda and Money drop...

Myself and Tres running the entry rapid above the bridge

Check out the colour of the water!

Inspecting Money Drop, not perfect levels meant getting the line spot on to miss a rock jutting out of the cliff face and a rock sticking out of the main fall, both of which impossible to see from the top! So a quick game of Paper, Sissors, Stone meant I was up first

Nailing the Line...

Or the full Veiw...

Rich clipping the cliff...

Andy boofing the sweet, sweet, drop below Money drop - so sweet we ran it twice!

Ah well, that's it the end of another trip.

Now back enjoying another British summer, dreaming of my next Norway trip...

Ben

Norway Part II - 24 Hour Sun

2009-08-07T09:41:00.007+01:00

The mini heat wave of the first few days had taken it's toll, pushing many of the rivers around Sjoa too high to paddle - after meeting up with some locals - Tore and Life, we headed North. Far, far, uh, very far North!

As we said goodbye to vague darkness we entered the unexplored rivers of the land of 24 hour sun. What we found was a wealth of rivers rarley run, some unrun! For 6 days we paddled world class white water. Day turned to night, night into day, until we didnt know what time it was, apart from boating time! Two / three rivers in a 24 hour period, getting on @11:30 at night getting off @3:30am it didnt matter the sun was still shinning!

The view from my tent at 2am - cant complain really!

G - running one of many slides

Leading the way on a Drop into slide Combo...

Cyrstal Clear snow melt everywhere...

Andy styling the 'big one' on the Ena

Sunset - Sun Rise? Your guess is as good as mine!

Another day on the river in the Sun - Marking the start of it getting intresting on the Ena

Tres dropping off on the drop slide combo on the first descent of the Lille Fiplingdaselva

Rich gazing at another unrunable fall

Tore - Our make shift guide showing us how its done!

An unrun slide, from here theres no eddies for a kilometer, and no stopping for 2!

Another slide, another stunning day

after 6 days of sleep deprivation it was time to once again head south.

Check back soon for part three, Skjak & Voss...

Ben

Norway Part I - The Return

2009-07-30T10:39:00.010+01:00

This trip had been a long time coming, It seam's an age since we first started talking about it. This trip for me, my first return to Norway in over 6 years, for some of the others in the group, an anual pilgramage and for two guy's, their first visit!

A frantic few days prior to the trip sorting out my brand new Burn - Thanks Pyranha and the day before we left a package arrived at my desk containing Nookie's brand new Assassin Drysuit. All geared up we were finally set...

You've got to make sure your boat's outfitting is sorted!

After packing and repacking the cars in two different cities around the UK we were set, well, almost? Half way to the ferry, Nat remembers he may need his Passport to leave the country, which he's left at home, Doh! Taking it to the wire we eventually board the ferry...

Obviously they dont know us very well, they let us on the Bridge

And let us drive [eeeks!]

And we get to check out the safety precautions!

Landing in Sweden, we made our way up through Norway on our way to the mighty Stor Ula getting a run down the Setninga, a session on the play section of the Sjoa and a high water run of the Amot en route

Arriving late we camp high up at the get in for the Stor Ula

The stunning walk in to the Stor Ula

The Team, R to L Me! G, Tres, Rich, Andy Unfortunately we are missing Nat as his recently broken leg mean he has to give this classic a miss - hopefully next time...

Take off from the cliff cushion wave

Tres, nailing the mini drop between the slides

Over shoulder view of the 2nd slide

Bosh!

Rich trying to find the pot of gold, final drop of the slides

Tres flying on the last drop of the Slides

G, moments before his celbratory hand roll

Nailing Ula No.1

The view up of the famous Ulla Falls

check back soon for instalment 2 - 24 hour sun...

Ben

Arghhhhhh

2009-06-23T13:29:00.007+01:00

I've been running round like a headless chicken, and not really had much chance to catch up here on my Blog, and now's not going to be the time to do it! As in less than 12 hours I'll be on a ferry full of hairy ass truckers trudging across the North Sea on my way for some steep Stuff in Norway. 36 Hours of cheap wine & poker - bring it on!

So just to keep you amused until I get back heres some waterfally type action from adventures past...

Stomp It! Meltte

Sorry you'll need facebook for these

Norway

Uganda

A little late but The International Park and Sink Gathering

2009-06-23T13:15:00.008+01:00

The International Mystery Gathering 2009, once again took place at the mighty Chassezac Seam. 15 minutes hike deep into a scenic gorge you find this...The Chassezac seam, The river flows around an island converging and dropping to the depths of the river bed, sending squirtists with it!

A bunch of Squirters from the UK and France descended [sorry about the Pun!] to the Ardeche region of france to test out their lung capacitiesUnfortunately the River bed had changed, so the seam wasnt offering unlimited rides [as seen here ]

Still the water was clear, the sun was out [mostly] and it still offered up 15 second plus ridesFull day sessions gave pleanty of chance just to chill out and watch the action, or join in and swim with the fish...

checkin out the seam

Funny little French car

hmmm Foliage

Typical Evening Fun, good wine and a swift hand of Sh*t Head

Going Down

Chilling with the fish

The mighty Chassezac

Off the water Activities

Adam D showing howit's done...

Day Dreaming of the deep

Ben

Theres Nothing Better Than A Devon Cream Tea!

2009-04-23T14:07:00.002+01:00

Whilst the rest of the kayaking world made the annual Easter pilgrimage to Scotland, I stayed in the South. Unfortunately for me, for the first time in many many years there were tales filtering through of water in Fort Bill - Doh! [I've seen the photo's and I still think everyone was exagerating!]

So with 4 days off work, and some hard graft on the first of those, we made the plan's to head to the sea. It's dangerous business, just like the Gremilns, Devon has killer Seagull's you know...

They also have Vallies of big Rocks and Blue Skies

And of course the best Cream Tea's ever

Taking it easy ;o)

Ben

The Jekyll

2009-04-23T12:45:00.005+01:00

The Jekyll is here!
My new Squirt boat has arrived, just in time for me to take it out to the International Squirt Gathering @ the mighty Chassezac seam in the south of France.

Design and Made in the UK, its a modern take on an Old Skool theme, designed to stay down but short enough to throw some shapes with the best of them. This si the short legged, ickle version, the Hyde, long legged, phat version will hope fully follow this summer. Check out the Downtime web site for more info and prices.

Check back soon for some shots of it in action...

Ben

It's All About Contrast...

2009-04-09T12:46:00.003+01:00

When are things going to stop? I want to get off!

NSR and Paddlefest came and went in a blur, it was good to catch up with a load of people and friends new and old - even if catching up may have lasted till 5 am at the after party, party!

Check out http://www.nationalstudentrodeo.org.uk/ for the full low down.

Since then it's all passed in a contasting blur, from racking up some mileage on the road bike...

To hittng some sweet Black Run trails at Llandegla and DH freeride @ Cannock Chase...

Small time Pub Disco, for Muppets Stag Weekend [yes he's dressed as Daffyd off of Little Britian!]

To the mosh pits of Prodigy playing Voodoo People at Cardiff Arena

So on with the randomness, My Jekyll's now finished, so check back real soon for some lime green sparkle...

The Jekyll - 1st Look

2009-03-24T09:16:00.002Z

For those that dont know, Dave at Downtime Kayaks asked me to design & shape a squirt boat for him. After months of hard work I've actually been able to get some shot's of the first demo boat. I've now had chance to float test it and it's definitely looking sinky! My maiden voyage will be Wednesday at the new referbed ditch in Notingham. Whilst i'm jumping aorund like a school boy, Dave is currently working hard to get this demo and my spangly carbon version finished [+ a few other projects] for this weekend's Paddle Fest and National Student Rodeo. If you want to check it out or have a play just come and find me around HPP this weekend...

Dave getting busy with the angle grinder

Lining everything up

Hmm tiny boat ;o)

Lucky Cave Rocks

2009-03-23T16:23:00.002Z

Wow Its been hectic, I’ve probably spent more time in my car than in my bed!
But that does mean I’ve been up to some really cool stuff with some really cool people…

…the main deal here was an actual river in an actual creek boat. It was touch and go but I managed a run down the infamous Fairy Glen, not been to this Class V welsh gem in far too long. Even better I got to share it with 3 Glen virgins, Chris, Rich and Rhod, who proper loved it! The icing in the cake was I managed to bag myself another Lucky Cave Rock after losing my original somewhere along the way!

Rich main lining Cave Drop

Some banter about full face helmets in an eddy ;o)

OK so still no water, but the Surf picked up again, 5ft and clean forecast drew me to South Wales, 4 hours on the water and this is the kind of thing I was met with as soon as I’d left the beach – bugger another 15 minutes, ah well at least summers starting to get going…

And finally some intelligent graffiti we found in the pub!

I'm off to go float my boat - more tomorrow...

Ben

At Least There's Surf...

2009-03-04T18:06:00.004Z

With still no rain, there was only ever one option to get wet. With 4ft of surf forecast for N. Devon a surf session was in order. Picking up my little bro on the way, One good night out in Bristol, 4 hours sleep, and some 'discussion' about not being allowed to strap my boat to my brothers board and were all loaded up...

Thankfully they were wrong about the onshore wind, but right on the money with the swell!

All kitted up and ready to go...

1.5 hours later and it was time to find coffee & donuts!

It's snowing right now, so fingers crossed for a river filled weekend?

Ben

Pie, Puddles & Ambulances

2009-02-25T18:23:00.004Z

Last weekend bought the annual University of Birmingham Kayak Club run to the Lakes. Unfortunately it's not rained for weeks, so expecting low water levels we actually found No water levels! Oh well fun was still to be had...

Boat Jenga - unloading the van

Tom W playing on the 'play' line on force falls

Adam in the thick of it on force falls

Another Dislocated shoulder for my house mate...

Sunday Bought a sea-side day, so chance to play with the camera and eat the best pies in the lake district!

Oh well, maybe something a little more hardcore this week?

Ben

Down and Dirty

2009-02-17T09:15:00.002Z

The snow is all but gone, which which means it has left it very wet under foot! But with all the rivers running on empty, theres only one option...

...It's time to get the bike dirty, very dirty!

with my favoutrite trail centre still closed its was time for something a little different, Delamere Forest Bike Park. I'd not been for a couple of years and it still definitely delivers the beans. Although very slippery we found some dry, bog free lines to have some fun...

Styling it up for the camera

Well take it easy, and do a rain dance for me i'm off to the lakes for some boating fun...
Ben

Snow More Fun

2009-02-16T23:36:00.004Z

Just got to up load these photos taken from a very cold day on the Dee!

I'm fully making use of the Pyranha Ammo right now, this season is really dry so making the most out of every feature is key. The Ammo's letting me royally rip everywhere!

Rhod and James trying to keep warm whilst the faff on the bank continues ;o)

Stay warm

Ben

Snow Fun...

2009-02-12T21:41:00.004Z

Whilst the country lies under a very thin blanket of snow, there only one thing to do. Nope not sledging, go boating! Saturday bought a very low run down the Dee, followed by a rather more up tempo evening care of Pendulum! Sunday with a heavy head, bought a very cold Hurley on four...

Blunt, the only way to keep your head dry!

Spin to Win

Flushy Four

Think I've spent to much time in the surf!

The Mellte Chronicals

2009-01-27T18:45:00.010Z

The original plan was to hit the surf, but awaking to find 30mph on shore winds meant we wouldn't have even been able to walk down the beach! So armed with freestyle machines [surfing remember!] naturally we headed off to the the Mellte - one of the South Wales Classic steep creek runs!

Arriving we were surprised to find the river at a good medium flow and even more surprised to find this below Slot Drop...

...One unfortunate paddler had landed the drop badly, and was being expertly evacuated by the North Devon Air Sea Rescue. Big respect, putting a Sea King deep into gorge, with the blades only inch's from the many trees on the gorge walls. With the helicopter on its way, we could once more return to business.

Nailing the Boof on Slot Drop

Tres getting it a little sideways on Slot Drop

The rest of the river was a blast, styling our way down the rest of the run. Unfortunately this wasnt the end of the days tale. With only one car we had to walk the shuttle, nice day for it though walking across the moors as the sun set. Upon arrival at the car park we stumbled upon a Police car and another gaggle of paddlers. Another paddler had accidentally missed the get out above un-runable waterfall No.2 leaving him no choice but to run the fall!

Thankfully the two paddlers have been discharged from hospital with minor injuries, very lucky for all involved - Lesson learned be careful out there

The worlds unluckiest guy

2009-01-26T19:28:00.004Z

Wow what a year 2009 has turned out to be!

It looked promising start with a surfing trip to Morocco [more later], Instead possibly the worst run of bad events. A split from my girlfriend kicked it off, one last surf session left me with Leptosorosis, 3 days to let it get a grip of my body whilst Traveling back from Morocco and my core temperature getting far too close to 40 degree's C left me with a night in hospital on a drip and a weeks worth of Antibiotics. With the worst of the Lepo behind me a good night out was called for...

...all was going swimmingly until, completely unprovoked I caught some ****'s fist in my face, Fracturing my cheek and breaking my nose in two places. Two weeks later, some complications and a rebuild to my nose and I'm getting back on my feet.

Hey if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? Heres a photo from the recovery process

Well I've got to start it somewhere?

2009-01-08T14:50:00.004Z

New year, New Job, New Start, New Blog!

I'm currently re-working http://www.mysterymove.com/ and this is the first step. Hopefully this will enable me to update the site more often and let you all know where I am and which new epic / adventure / legendary bar story I'm currently encountering at any particular time!

check back soon...
Ben