One year - when I was seven years old, if memory serves me right - my brother and I set sail on a home made raft made from branches and planks nailed and lashed together with twine and strapped over some large plastic jerry cans.

We drifted out into an often limpid pool that was only a few metres across, but in doing so we lived out an adventure that few children did. We translated our imagination into reality. Alright, we had some grown-up help in the construction of this vessel but the Swallows and Amazons fantasy we lived out was all ours.

A hundred metres from my grandparents house, beneath a waterfall that spilled over concrete reinforcements in a thin but perfect curtain of cold, clear mountain water our mini Kontiki pushed off from the pebbled shore, warm summer afternoon after warm summer afternoon. The odd chough and mewing buzzards our only observers although we couldn’t hear their plaintive calls. Even our loud shrieks of delight were deadened by the perpetual thrashing of the frothing cascade at our backs.

I think I imagined the freedom of adulthood would bring endless days like those, but somewhere along the line I forgot this.

35 years on as I strive to recapture this adventurous spirit, I find myself playing an adult version of these games of exploration. This time the raft is not home made; it is beautifully crafted by the good folks at Alpacka, in Colorado. But, as a pertinent sign of the times, and to satisfy a childish lust for tinkering, the mount for the GoPro was very much a DIY job.

DIY GOPRO MOUNT FOR PACKRAFT.

It's a month or more now since I took delivery of an Alpacka Denali Llama packraft and travel, work projects, chilly weather and injuries have all excused me from its christening.

Last week on an unusually warm day I took it out on the River Great Ouse for a morning’s paddle [video below]. Conscious of my plans to use it more during the summer, both at home and abroad I decided to fashion a GoPro mount for the back.

I googled around for some ideas for this and in the end my design is made from a 2 metre length of PVC tubing with one right angle bend and a T-junction. It is based on this one I found here, however it is worth pointing out that:

The PVC tubing needs to be 20mm not 32mm as indicated to fit in the two stern mounts (at least to fit on a new Alpacka Denali Llama). Make sure you check the diameter of these before rushing out to buy the tubing.
Although 2 metres of tubing is plenty you should take into account how tall you are before cutting the main vertical pole.
I only used wire to hold the tubes together, rather than nuts and bolts.
I used Gorilla Tape to strengthen the joints.
I also used Gorilla Tape to fasten the tubing to the top of the stern.
- The reason for doing this instead of lashing it under the stern is that it allows you to stick and unstick the mount in order to pull it forward. This in turn allows you to remove the camera easily whilst on the water.
- It might not be suitable in white water but this tape is sufficient in flat water and was even sticky when wet!
I used a GoPro Handlebar Mount to attach the Waterproof case which allows easy angle changes should they be required.

Here is a video of the GoPro front, chest and on the DIY rear mount:

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Cleveland Way - Scarborough to High Hawsker

In October 2020, my friend Dave and I walked a section of the Cleveland Way in Yorkshire over a couple of days. We started from Scarborough and walked to Ravenscar (18 km). The next day we walked to High Hawsker (15 km).

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Packrafting the River Tamiš

In July 2020, in a brief respite from the worries of the covid pandemic, I had the good fortune to be able to escape for a little adventure, spending 3 days paddling down the Tamiš river in northern Serbia, in my packraft.

Interview with Emily Woodhouse - Founder of Intrepid Magazine

I recently had the pleasure to interview Emily Woodhouse, someone who is well known and someone who has been somewhat of a pioneer in giving a voice to many women in the adventure / outdoor sports world.

In this interview Emily gives me some insight into her whirlwind entrepreneurial journey and how much there is to learn from diving into a (business) adventure.

Not only has Intrepid Magazine provided something that was missing in the outdoor space but it is doubly satisfying to know it was the vision of someone who cares passionately about the subject matter, saw the importance of it and had the courage to go through with it… although I am not sure Emily herself see it as “courage”. As she says in the interview: “I looked at the hole in the magazine world and thought: I can do that”.

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Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the wallaby)

The loch was like a mirror as we set off from Luss on Friday to explore. Having walked to the high point on Inchtavannach to admire the views, and paddled around Inchmoan, watching the deer come down to the water’s edge, we agreed to spend the night on Inchconnachan for no other reason than it appeared absolutely idyllic as the sun began to sink and the evening light bathed the lake in a silvery light.

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Weekend Adventure - From lying in the sun to crying on a plane

I have mentioned a few times that my daughter is neither naturally sporty, particularly active or indeed fearless. She is perhaps the opposite. So I was especially proud that she decided on the Saturday morning, as we dithered whether to have an hour in the water at Buzz Active Cuckmere, that this was indeed the ideal opportunity for her to go solo in a kayak for the first time.

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Canoeing the Wye: Happiness V Social Media [Video]

I had so much fun this weekend that I didn’t tell anyone about it. Imagine that! The moment was way more important to me than broadcasting about it. Yes, I know it should be, but if we are honest with ourselves, it isn’t alway, is it?

I spent Friday and Saturday canoeing down the Wye with my 7 year old daughter, from Hoarwithy to Symonds Yat. It is the first time either of us has done this kind of trip and to share this adventure together was the sort of experience that makes me go all mushy and emotional…

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Wild Night Out 2019: The Whining

Travelling in ultra lightweight style (we only carried four cricket stumps instead of the full compliment of six) Emma and I marched along the coast path, over the dunes and onto the vast sands of our beautiful coast for a perfect Wild Night Out 2019, until the high-pitched whining started…

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30 Days Wild: Suburban Springwatch

One thing I decided to do this year was leave one corner of the garden wild. I don’t know how long it will last as pressure builds from within the family to “do something” with that corner but while it does last it has had a positive effect in terms of wildlife.

Perhaps the best aspect of this experiment is the fact that every night around 9pm we have a fat hedgehog who comes through our front gate, wanders through the garden to this unkempt patch of land and roots around for a couple of hours before waddling off to check out what the neighbours have to offer.

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30 Days Wild: Freshwalks: Networking in the Outdoors

This filthy-wet month, I am trying to spend time outside in nature during my working day as part of the Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild. I cannot pretend it has been as easy as last year’s sun-drenched June when gently swaying flower meadows and deserted Norfolk beaches called out to me.

However, recently a client of mine drew my attention to an innovative and inspiring initiative getting business people into the outdoors, for Freshwalks. The benefits of which might surprise a few…

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30 days Wild: Welcome to my office

“Can you repeat that please sir?” I could hear a slightly exasperated tone on the other end of the line.

This morning, a few days into June and woefully short of what I hope to achieve during 30 Days Wild, I ventured out into the meadow to make a few phone calls. I took my office outdoors! The helpful assistant from Barclays Business Banking went off for a few minutes to find out some information, and probably to curse me as my microphone was buffeted by the breeze, that bent the tall flowers surrounding me and repeatedly flicked my hood over my head.

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30 Days Wild: Switch off with Nature

We are just a few days away from June and the start of 30 Days Wild; the Wildlife Trusts amazing initiative to get people outside, enjoying and appreciating nature.

This year, as part of 30 Days Wild I will be focussing on how nature can help alleviate the stresses and strains of work and how to get more of it into the working day.

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Do you want to live more adventurously?

The decision to change my life and live more adventurously was utterly instinctive, borne of exasperation, a last resort. I was burnt out, suffering from anxiety, depressed.

How I got to the point of changing the direction of my life was a couple of years of mental wrangling and torture, until I stumbled across some inspiration.

Wilderness & Wellbeing BLOG

DIY GOPRO MOUNT FOR PACKRAFT.

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