A few years ago 2 young explorers came to me and asked if they I would help them achieve their dreams and attempt to go around the world on the most unlikely form of transport ever! A Scooter with a sidecar on it! Mad you may say but, why not!
Matt met me by chance when soon after the #coxlesscrew had returned from their world record making Row across the Pacific from America to Australia the first crew to have ever achieved this! Incredible achievement for their stay see: #losingsightofshore
So "doris"their trusty rowing boat was at Edgcumbe for a few days and to raise awareness of this incredible achievement, Matt stumbled across me talking about the crew and a little about the preparation and training they had completed with Survival Wisdom. So we agreed to work with him an Reece on the challenge preparation and so the story began!
After the training the guys started their journey which is an incredible and heartwarming journey. Of tough times, hardships, heart warming support and the gift of human nature. All given by complete strangers, too 2 incredible guys doing something "bonkers" but truly amazing. Their achievement has seen a world record, a book #ourridiculousworldtrip @sidecarguys, an online virtual festival during the pandemic, and now a "Live Armchair Adventure Festival!"
The festival attracted some of the worlds most incredible adventurers, and some very quirky forms of transport, including bikes, scooters, post bikes and Shanks pony!
People arrived at the festival with such a smile on their faces and gratitude too the organisers, of what turned out to be one of the friendliest and relaxed festivals Ive ever been too.
All the festival crowd seemed so happy and pleased to be in the incredible surroundings of Mount Edgcumbe. The site was well thought through, and beautifully laid out with lights and structures that just fitted beautifully with the themes and the backdrop of Edgcumbe.
My teams contribution was to supply masterclasses on expedition and adventure water management with Chris from the team delivering a masterful lesson taken from his 15 years of experience of delivering Survival and Adventure travel safety skills.
I delivered the expedition planning and safety workshop. I utilised many years of good and bad examples from expeditions and fieldtrips. As a trainer for the Royal Geographical Society with IBG #RGSIBG I deliver some planning formats and risk management tools to help adventurers, explorers and teachers with methods including the "Lemons" risk management method. A tool that has been used by the Coxless crew and the Sidecar guys and many more in effectively managing their dynamic risk assessments during their world record holding journeys. All I'm glad to say have used these tools effectively and made critical and lifesaving decisions based on these principles!
We had an excellent response and feedback from the public, and hope to meet some of the explorers at ME for courses in the near future! We also had with us the 1st Banwell Scouts who had the chance to demonstrate their lockdown skills to the public and completed workshops on Fire lighting, Knife safety and shelter building. The public really enjoyed these skills and some very young scouts demonstrated great subject knowledge and skills! Our future is in safe hands and the Scouts really excelled in the skills and enjoyment at this event, they are a credit to the Scouts movement! Thank You!!
The festival had some extremely inspiring explorers and adventurers who pride themselves in traveling the world, raising awareness of great causes and using adventure as a platform for highlighting great causes. The energy created by the sidecar guys was fantastic. The mix of incredible story telling, great music, great food and a style and vibe that was so personal and friendly so that most of us wouldn't have changed a thing. In fact I wouldn't want them too it was so good! A measure of this success was highlighted by one of the Mount Edgcumbe Rangers who said that firstly it was the best festival they had seen at Edgcumbe, and that after the event was over the organisers Matt and Reece where seen walking around the site picking up litter! Matt I know only filled one carrier bag! This just shows how important this was to them and how diligent and incredible they truly are!
This was such a great opportunity to get people outdoors again and inspire people to explore our world after such a long pandemic. We just wanted to Thank Matt and Reece for their incredible achievements and such an incredibly well organised and successful festival this was! For more information on our courses and how we can help your next adventure, email: richard@survivalwisdom.com
