Kayaking Challenges: Paddling 1300km in handmade kayaks

Mark Pawlak    ash, New Adventure Travel Ideas     Adventure, canoeing, expeditions, handmade boats, Handmade kayaks, Help For Heroes, Kayak, Kayaking, kayaking holidays, kayaking in Gibraltar, Royal British Legion

Ever fancied taking on kayaking challenges way beyond what you’ve done before? Think you can paddle for days on end and live out of your boat? Great, now try it in handmade kayaks you’ve built yourself…

Lee and Rich in winter training

That’s exactly what ‘The Greenland Cowboys’, a two-man team of Richie Bracey and Lee Taylor are about to do. The intrepid pair will kayak 750 nautical miles (1300km) from Gibraltar to France along Spain’s Mediterranean coast in April.

After building their kayaks in UK, they’ll transport them to Gibraltar ahead of a marathon expedition Paddle de los Torros to help raise money for Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion.

Good effort! Here’s more…

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Adventure Holidays in New Zealand: Activities in the Southern Alps

Lucy Grewcock    ash, New Adventure Travel Ideas     4x4 Driving, adventure holidays, Adventure Trips, Arthur's Pass National Park, Christchurch, Craigieburn Valley, cycling, Horse Riding, Mackenzie Country, Mount Aspiring, Mount Cheeseman, Mount Cook, Mount Hutt, Mount Lyford, mountain biking, New Zealand, Overland Adventures, Selwyn Six ski area, Skiing, Snowboarding, Southern Alps, Tramping

Extending along the western length of the South Island and dividing the landmass in two, the Southern Alps – or Ngā Pukemāeroero in Maori – is the country’s longest and highest mountain range. Adventure holidays here encompass everything life in New Zealand offers.

Mount Hutt is the best known ski area in New Zealand. Image: Flickr/ gregor_ronald

Crammed with awe-inspiring peaks, ice-blue glaciers, verdant rainforests, volcanic lakes and sparkling rivers, this is a true outdoor enthusiast’s paradise, and comes loaded with National Parks, ski resorts, welcoming towns and outdoor activity hubs that place an excess of adventurous opportunities right at your fingertips.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

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Running Across Countries: Three Ultra Distance Routes of Discovery

Mark Pawlak    ash, New Adventure Travel Ideas     china, Diagonlae des Fous, Guadaloupe Archipielago, Guadarun, La Reunion Island, Marathon, Running, running shoes, Ultra Distance, Ultra Distance running, Xinjiang

Officially anything over 26.2 miles is ultra distance, and there’s legions of runners who push past the marathon and onwards.

Ultra distance adventures. Image: Flickr/ Official U.S. Navy Imagery

Most of the events are seen as races, but there’s much more to it than plodding for prizes.

Take a look at some of these routes. As extreme as it might appear to us joggers and observers, these are journeys of discovery in some of the most impressive locations on the globe.

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Visiting the Lake District National Park: Why West is Best

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, New Adventure Travel Ideas     activity holidays, Cumbria, Eskdale, Go Lakes, Lake District, Lake District National Park, Walking, Walking Holidays

Of the classic UK tourist destinations, the Lake District National Park is one of the best known. However, what many visitors fail to do is go far enough west. Visiting the Lake District National Park in search of real Cumbrian character? Stay west.

View over Wastwater by Stewart Smith courtesy of www.golakes.co.uk

With easy access from the west coast rail route that runs to Barrow-in-Furness, you’ll enter the valley soon after leaving Ravenglass station with ‘the lakes’ laid out before you.

There’s no public transport in Eskdale, although there’s a narrow-gauge railway that runs the 7 miles from Ravenglass to Dalegarth, straight into the heart of the lakes.

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Migrating South for Winter: Activity Breaks in the Canaries

Mark Pawlak    ash, New Adventure Travel Ideas     activity holidays, Canaries, Corralejo, Europe, explore, Flag Beach, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Hiking, Horse Riding, La Gomera, Maspalomas, Spain, Surfing, Tenerife, The Canaries, The Canary Islands

It’s grim isn’t it? The weather, I mean. Makes you want to bury your head in the pillow and stay that way till next spring. After a summer of love – a summer that saw Bradley Wiggins win the Tour de France and massively inspiring moments of Olympic glory – winter is at our door.

Flag Beach - Classic Fuerteventuran watersports spot.

But before you reach for the biggest, fattest winter jacket you can find, consider this: as you lie there moping, bemoaning your status a citizen of a northern-hemisphere nation, some people out there are soaking up the last rays of sun in the most southerly corner of Europe – the Canaries.

I say, extend your adventure, head south and there’s activity breaks in the Canaries that will keep you enthused until spring.

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Eastern Adventures: Learning your Martial Arts in China

Tom Sykes    ash, New Adventure Travel Ideas     china, Learning martial arts in China, Martial Arts, Martial Arts in China, Martial arts school in China, Rising Dragon, Rising Dragon Residential Martial Arts School

Chinese martial arts (kungfu) are over 4,000 years old. Based on the ancient belief systems of one of the world’s great civilisations, their styles and techniques are now embraced all over the world.

Rising Dragon's White Crane Master.

By learning martial arts in China you will be able to improve your physical and mental discipline, as well as your health and spiritual knowledge.

Based amid the jaw-dropping lakes and canyons of China’s Fujian Province, Rising Dragon Residential Martial Arts School is run by certified Kungfu Masters and Shaolin Monks – Jackie Chan himself has performed alongside Rising Dragon students on live TV.

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Winter Adventures in The Southern French Alps

Lucy Grewcock    ash, New Adventure Travel Ideas     France, Husky sledding, ice climbing, Ski Trips, the Alps, The French Alps, Undiscovered Alps, Winter Activity Holidays, Winter Adventures

A winter in the Alps offers more opportunities for adventure than you can shake a ski pole at, but the majority of visitors experience just a tiny slice of the action, restricting themselves to skiing or snowboarding in the best known resorts.

Snow shoeing: A great alternative to skiing.

But it’s not until you leave the ski lifts behind and escape the big resorts, that you start to truly appreciate the full glory and rich diversity of one of the most magnificent mountain ranges on earth.

Winter activity holidays don’t just have to be all about skiing. From husky sledding to ice climbing, there’s much more to do in the mountains, for skiers and non-skiers alike, and alternative winter sports all over the Alps, with certain regions more geared-up than others. Take a look at how the multi-activity specialists Undiscovered Alps do it and you’ll see that with a little imagination, there’s another world of activities opened to you.

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