I have been using Garmin devices for years to navigate to new places and to record my adventures. Additionally I use a Polar Training Computer to record my fitness training. Recently I updated to a Garmin eTrex Touch 35t partly in the hope that I could reduce the amount of devices I need and the complexity of my data aquisition.
My first Garmin device was yellow and easy to find if I put it down or dropped it. Continue reading “My experience with a Garmin eTrex Touch 35t”
After a long pause I am returning to sailing. This year I took the RYA day skipper course and exam. A part of the course was about navigation and if you believed what you were taught then you could be forgiven for thinking that it was all about understanding the charts and pilotage notes and applying them.
Then I flew to Spain for two weeks sailing and the truth turned out to be a little different. In reality everything seems to be a best guess and the only truth is what you discover when you get there. Continue reading “Navigation. And what do I do with my new found knowledge?”
Probably the most annoying sentence that one has to hear is “But you are so lucky!”
My daughter spent the last summer working in Portugal and then flew on to Shanghai to work. One son is training to be a joiner and loves it. The other son is working his way across Australia and has now been doing so for nearly a year. I have a job I love and enjoy at least one adventure every year. And all because we “are so lucky”. It is not luck and the record needs to be set straight. Continue reading “Why we hate hearing “But you are so lucky!””
Elsewhere I mentioned that an important factor in achieving your adventure is to make and then keep to your training plan. This applies equally to training new skills or to your physical training.
I enjoy cycling (mountain bike and road bike) and the last few years we have been doing a week long road bike trip each Spring. Obviously it is vital to have a route planned but, with routes of a thousand kilometers, it is your fitness program that decides between success and failure.
Since the beginning of 2014 I have been using a Polar FT60 training computer to plan and monitor my training. This article describes my experience. Continue reading “Experience with a Polar Training Computer”
Alii errem dolor et vis. Aliquam euripidis forensibus in eam, iudico feugiat no his, sea ex virtute bonorum scribenturI was writing an article for this site and decided I had some text that I wanted to separate in an “infobox”. Ideally I wanted the infobox to take up about half the space on the right side of my column and for the text to flow round it. Checking in Google I found links to plugins that world achieve this but I also found that plugins can not be installed on sites hosted at WordPress.com.
This article describes how to achieve an Infobox as shown on the right.
Continue reading “Adding an Infobox at WordPress.com”
The world is full of potential adventurers; people who have a plan to “get out there and do something”. But in reality most of them are waiting for a tomorrow that never comes.
A couple who had cycled to Nepal were giving a presentation to a packed hall. They cycled up to Finland, across in to Russia, took the Siberian Express (after smuggling their bikes on board) and then cycled across the Gobi Desert and through the Himalayas. After the presentation, some one asked what the most difficult part of the journey had been and the man answered “setting off!”
This article explains how to ensure that you achieve your dream. Continue reading “Make your adventure happen”
I well remember cycling across the Alps in “the good old days” using marked up maps that we had added our route to before leaving home. I remember the frustration as the map and the scenery differed and the freezing alpine river crossing that resulted from a navigational error.
You still see cyclists stood at a junction pouring over a route book or trying to open their map as the wind attempts to rip it from their hands. Some people just love paper and this article is definitely not meant for them. If however you have a GPS receiver or even a GPS enabled phone, then you have probably already tried following a route that you either downloaded from the Internet or received from a friend. This article will take you a step further by describing how to create your own routes with free software. Continue reading “Easily creating a GPS bike route with free tools.”
