Elise Downing Runs the UK Coastline

If I told you that Elise Downing will be running into Greenwich Park on 27^th August, would you wonder who Elise was and what was so special about her running into Greenwich Park or would you know that on 1^st November 2015, she left Greenwich Park to embark on a 5000 mile run around the UK coast line?

Elise & Friends at the Start 1st November 2015

Well that’s exactly what 24 year old Elise has done.  Totally unsupported and all on her own, she has spent the last 10 months circumnavigating the coast line of the UK, island hopping in Scotland, being intimidated by cows in England, Scotland and Wales, and falling in love with the Isle of Arran. 

Summer is Here

Cheese Rolling in Gloucestershire

There are certain high profile events in the UK that make you realise summer is here like the cheese rolling in Gloucestershire, the man powered flying machines at the Birdman of Bognor and the very serious boating event, Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight.   However, not all the boating events during Cowes Week are as prestigious as the class events but with unrivalled enthusiasm, the competitors of the Cowes Cardboard Boat Race take their event very seriously and last year drew a larger crowd than some of the main racing events.  Now in its third year and raising money for UKSA, the Cardboard Boat Race takes place on 7^th August at 3pm.  Seemingly, when you register for the race, you are given a free starter pack which according to the instructions “contains everything needed to make a boat.”  Hmmm some duct tape and a cardboard box maybe?  

Cardboard Boat Race (Photography by Dean Wright)

Armchair Adventures

I remember laughing at an advertisement in Cusco airport in Peru; it filled the entire billboard above the luggage carousel and was advertising bottles of oxygen.  While we waited for our luggage to be tossed from plane to trolley to conveyer belt and chute, I felt compelled to verbalise my thoughts about the advert to my fellow travellers.  “Look at that,” I said, “I thought we got ripped off in the UK where they try to sell us bottles of water, here they try to sell you bottles of air.”  Little did I realise that a few hours later, I would have paid any amount of money for a bottle of that oxygen as I found myself floored with altitude sickness and suffering from the mother of all headaches.  It was so bad, that if someone had offered me a guillotine at that time, I’d have volunteered to put my head in it.

Air for Sale