An Exmoor Adventure

Had my first adventure of the Summer in Conan, my trustee VW Transporter. I decided to have a look around the North Devon coast. And I have to say, what I discovered absolutely blew me away. Dartmoor was pretty, but Exmoor was simply spectacular. I stayed the night in Selworthy, a secret hidden road just by Minehead. Bizarrely, I drove past a man on his own, playing the bagpipes.

The next morning, I went further into Exmoor. And there were so many fantastic things to see... However, my personal favourite was the Valley of the Rocks (which is a fantastic name in itself). It is, without a doubt, the most beautiful place I've ever seen in England. And, there's a car park... where you can stay overnight for just £5 or £16 for the WHOLE week. That's where my next holiday's going to be!

Here are some photos. They do not do any of the places I've seen justice.

Bask in my Celebrity

Took part in a Radio phone-in on BBC Radio Devon today, talking about the state of the mortgage market.

If you want to listen, click here:

Chez's 15 minutes of Fame

I'm on about 35 minutes in.

It's a Knockout!

Roll up, roll up! Who fancies It's a Knockout? It's on the 12th July in Plymouth and is going to be supporting the Plymouth Samaritans. It's in teams of 10, so I'm looking for up to 50 people (well, 49 cos I'm doing it) to take part. It's going to be an amazing event and a hell of a lot of fun. If you fancy dressing up as a penguin or a giant king or some other such acid-fuelled madness, then drop me a line.

The only proviso is that you have to raise £100 sponsorship for the Samaritans. I can send you all the paperwork you need, including a sponsorship form etc. But it's for a great cause, and you'll have the best time you can have with clothes on.

Alternatively, if you don't want to take part, does anyone want to sponsor me? All donations gratefully received!

Supporting The Samaritans - Join The 100 Club!

As some of you may know, I'm a Samaritan volunteer in Plymouth. The Samaritans does an amazing job helping people that are feeling distressed or suicidal. But the branch is totally self-funded and relies 100% on fundraising to continue offering the essential support it offers to its callers.

However, the Plymouth branch of the Samaritans is currently operating at a loss, despite the fact that everybody in the branch is an unpaid volunteer. In fact, last year the branch as a whole brought in less than £20,000 for the entire year.

As a result of that, I've launched a fund raising initiative called The 100 Club. The aim of the Club is to get 100 or more members to each raise £100 for the Samaritans. I'm going to be arranging sponsored events during the year which you can take part in - or alternatively, you can fly solo and run your own thing.

Events I'm hoping to run this year include a Fancy Dress race / pub crawl, Bouncy Castle-a-thon, It's a Knockout!, Sponsored Swim, Sponsored Walk, Sponsored Slim and a Twister-a-thon.

Whatever you choose to do, if you raise £100 for the Samaritans, you're in! You become a bona fide member of The 100 Club. Members receive:
- Official 100 Club Certificate, stating how much you raised;
- Goodie bag of Samaritans stuff
- Free ticket to The 100 Club Annual Awards Ceremony.

The Annual Awards Ceremony will be a black tie event, held at a top venue in the South West and will be FREE to anyone that has raised the £100 needed to join The 100 Club.

More information can be found by going to www.hundredclub.co.uk. Alternatively, you can email me or ring me on 01752 253 950!

Thanks for your time!

Storm Devastation in Devon

Terrible storms at the moment in Plymouth, with howling winds and driving rain. I've attached a photo illustrating the damage caused to a friend's house last night. It really makes you cherish what you have and reminds us to not take things for granted.

Folly in Mount Edgcumbe

Spent a lovely day on Saturday, discovering the beauty of Mount Edgcumbe. For those that don't know, it's a manor house over the river from Plymouth. It was first built in the 1500s and you have to get the foot ferry over the river to get to it. A truly great day out. Plymouth is not the most beautiful city in the world, but it does look spectacular from Edgcumbe, as these photos show.

View over Plymouth

View over Plymouth

The folly

View from the Folly

Scared of my bandana

It's a Freddie Adventure

Took Freddie off this weekend to North Cornwall for his first adventure. Despite the fact it pissed down with rain for pretty much the entire weekend, it really was rather fun. Started off on the Atlantic Highway, which is perhaps the most 'rock' name for a road in Cornwall. Even more so, as it does actually take you to Rock, the rather rah-rah posh sailing town frequented by the rich and shameless. Interesting fact: There are two villages in Cornwall called Splatt.

We camped at a layby overlooking Widemouth Bay, where we were rudely awakened at 1 in the morning by a rather damp-looking man from the council telling us we weren't allowed to stay overnight. I did manage to convince him to let us stay, after I was able to prove to him that I was actually local.

In the morning we drove down to Polzeath and spent the afternoon in the Rumps. Why are they called the Rumps? Perhaps this picture may help.

Fireworks!

Went to the annual British Firework Champtionships last week, which happens every year in Plymouth. Set over two days, it really is great fun. The six contestants are limited to 500kg of fireworks each, which means 1.5 tons of fireworks each night.

On tuesday night Helen & I went to Queen Anne's Battery and we sat in Freddie, drinking tea with my friends Mark & Sal. On wednesday night Helen & I went to Mountbatten and this time we brought our deckchairs and thermos. Although Helen took the piss out of my deckchairs (most notably the rather useful tray that lifts up on the side), I wasn't the one wrapped under the tartan blanket.

But there were some rather fantastic fireworks on display, including some I'd never seen before. My favourite was a screamer that shot up, then started to plummet before suddenly taking off again. Absolutely remarkable. I shall be posting on the blog next year's dates, as and when I know them. I would thoroughly recommend that everyone comes down to Plymouth to watch next year.

This is where they set the fireworks off.

Play it Again, Cam

Had a very eventful weekend this weekend. On Saturday I drove down to sunny Camborne, where Carrie had invited some friends over for a games night. I haven't had a games night probably since Anna left England and it was great fun. Carrie had got a large whiteboard from work and Sarah brought Pictionary & Taboo. George & I just brought our incredible wit and intellects (and crisps).


















Obviously George & I were an unstoppable pictionary team as our superior drawing skills (ahem) and ability to think laterally left Carrie & Sarah a close second. Then we moved onto Taboo, which was just as much fun. Obviously your author's superior intelligence (double ahem) and cat-like reflexes meant I won, but we were all moral victors, as a great time was had by all. I'm certain we had a better time than the alternative entertainment on offer in Camborne.












At the end of the night, I was treated to an impromptu jazz jam by Carrie and Ross with his brand new bass, before I drove on impulse to Whitsand Bay. Spent a lovely night on the cliffs, overlooking the sea.

Then back to Plymouth on Sunday morning for a 12-hour ironing marathon. I should have got sponsored.

Beauty of Devon

On the way back from the airport, I couldn't help but be blown away once more at the beauty of this fine county I am fortunate to call home. Crete was pretty, but Devon has its own beauty in a much more English way. So I thought I'd put a few photos on the blog, just to show the rest of the world what you're missing.

View across Dartmoor

Sunset in Wembury, just outside Plymouth

Stream running through Dartmoor

Burrator Dam

The Barbican in Plymouth - 100 metres from my house

Bluebells in Plymstock Woods

I cannot for the life of me remember where this is!

Plymouth Chav in 'Can Write Own Name' Shocker

Some absolute twat has graffiti'd my house. They've written 'Dan' right by my front door. Well done, you can write your own name. Your mother must be so proud. On the plus side, I showed my housemate Charu and she exclaimed "Oh no... Who's done that?" I had no choice but to reply "Not sure, but I suspect it was probably Dan".

From one extreme to another

So after a day of spectacular beauty, I then went to the other extreme and went to visit my friend Carrie in Camborne. I am of course referring to Camborne as being 'the other extreme', and not Carrie...

Camborne is a funny little place. It's deep in the heart of darkest Cornwall, and is one of Cornwall's many mining towns. World-renowned, according to their website. For what, I have no idea. Perhaps as being the punchline of a Jethro joke... But, well, Cornwall is lucky to have some of the most beautiful locations in the world. Let's just say that Camborne isn't one of them.

But I wasn't there to sight-see (luckily). I was there to PAAAAARTY! And so it was that Carrie, her friend Sarah and I decided to hit the town and moonwalk down to the Corn Exchange, which is Camborne's probably world-famous nightclub to strut our funky stuff and show those Camborne divas how it's done. And oh, did we do that.

The Camborne Siamese Twins strut their stuff








It was two quid for a double. Two quid! In a nightclub! That's my type of establishment. You can buy a round and still have change from a tenner. Amazing. Well, needless to say, with alcohol that freely available, things did get a little messy. Not only did I end up poledancing, I actually took it upon myself to convince other men to poledance too. And enough respect to the Camborne Crew, I didn't get my head stoved in; I actually managed to convince one or two do it.

If you look really carefully, you can just see the strings.







So all in all, it was one of the best nights I've had out in a long while. Yes, I had a monster hangover the next day, but damn it was worth it.

Hidden Beauty...

I found one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, no more than 15 minutes away from my house. It really is remarkable to think that this place was here all along and I never even knew. I've only lived down here for 5 years.

Picture taken from Burrator dam.









It's called Burrator Reservoir, and is simply stunning. I got out of the car and thought I was in Canada or Scotland. I actually half-expected to see a bear or wolf walking past. Remarkable to think that this is actually man-made.

It's at moments like this I really know why I live here. After years of living in cities around Europe, I never fail to be amazed at the fact that I only have to drive 10 minutes in pretty much any direction to see such stunning beauty, you know you are alive.

We walked over the dam, which is beautiful in itself. The whole dam is covered with granite, so although it's man-made, it doesn't look out of place. We found a woodland just over the dam:

Picture taken from the woodland, next to Burrator dam.






It was like walking through my childhood. I'd forgotten how a wood smells in the autumn... Picking chestnuts, beech nuts, hazelnuts... Remember puffballs? Those round mushroom things that puff a type of smoke out when you stand on them... It has probably been 15 years since I was last in a wood. I love the vibe of living in a city; but it's only when you get back to where you are from that you really feel alive.

So I now have a new mission. I'm going to go out and find what this beautiful part of the world has hidden away. If anyone wants to join me, you're more than welcome.