Urban Fairies - New Brighton Vale Park

As the ''urban exploration'' takes to the sky this summer, i travel to place close to home to begin the journey of a lifetime, it may not be abandoned or as mysterious as i would like it to be but its a start to the big stuff that eventually arise.

Urban Exploration is not always about abandonment and decayed buildings and areas, its about going to places most people don't see, the top of buildings, bridges, cranes, tunnels, drains, caves ...... often also infiltration of active building is involved.

As i travel, explore and discover many places i came across this one not long ago and it may be only small but its tucked away nicely in a park open to all to see the magical and wonderful creatures and animals that are made from tree trunks and driftwood.

Lets start from the beginning the project was started by an artist called Major Mace and his wife Sue back in May 2015 with a tree stump, a bit of driftwood and some decking.

It has now grown into a whole driftwood fairy village including 13 separate areas which include a troll tree, a memory garden, the tooth fairies home and a small washing line with tiny clothes hung out to dry. The magic that lies beneath the soil is a world of our own imagination.

Mainly created using items on the beach, uprooted trees and decorations added by the youngsters, the site becomes a little popular with the local children as they set forward for a magical journey and with Major Mace and his wife creating back stories about how the village was born out of fairies need for a place to create magical dust the magic lies beneath our heart as we create an imagination around us.

Having visited the site only once, many more recycled creatures had popped up since from a centaur to a witch called Mrs Lyla on a wooden horse, the time and effort someone puts in to create and reuse items and nature itself to bring out these interesting creatures and homes that little tiny fairies live in.

As Urban Exploration gets more popular these days, my next journey will take me to more bigger places to explore the wonderful history behind the world itself as i take on a city, a mountain and an abandoned theme park ........

Stay exploring and discover what you can achieve is what you believe in and what you believe in is what you can achieve in.

The Climb Begins .......

As the sun arises and the weather becomes warm again for one day I hibernate indoors as I take on some challenging climbing to not only build up my strength but to relax my brain ......

As yoga and meditation come as a memory muscle to me and I relax my brain every morning and every evening, a few stretches were going to be needed to help me flex into different positions to begin my acent up the wall

Starting off small and rainbowing it up the walls, I needed to get used to being on a climbing wall again and focus on my ability to bend a certain way

As I take on a few little challenges of my own to work towards my CWI (climbing wall instructor) qualification I am not only learning myself, I am also teaching and coaching a person who has never climbed before

Taking on my own brain and focusing on someone else's mind can be a challenge of it's own but with my own experience around climbing I am able to look into the shadows of the brain and see upon the distance of climbing myself to new levels and getting someone new up a wall

As hours past I made my way up further and further up the wall as I went from grade 3 to grade 5 and was comfortable at this level. 

As for my partner in crime for the day, I was proud of my Step-Mum for making it up the wall for the first time, 24ft and to the top was a moment of happiness for not only her but for me as I had coached someone up and down the wall, a few laughs and panics along the way but she knew she was safe with me and that's a massive positive thing for myself especially going out into the outdoor industry 

Anyways with time ticking by and my feet absolute in agony it was time to call it an end of day as I showed off my skills into just leaping off the wall with an auto belay to showing someone how to climb 

Life is always free when I'm outdoors and doi g something I enjoy and love and my brain is always focusing on the next new challenge

Relaxation is my way to life with yoga and meditation along with being outdoors freedom is a must sometimes 

So keep that mind free and follow my way into the paths of nature as I set my massive goal into Urban Exploration very soon and take on the mountains and water and walls along the way 

Snowdon - Llanberis Path - Into The Mountains

4.30am is a time I very really see but it was the time I was up and ready to take on Snowdon at every angle with mountaineering set for my footsteps to plant on an amazing area .....

5am came and with the gear shoved in the car myself, James and Beth set off for a imaginative day of freedom into the valleys and hills of Wales. 

Down to Plas Y Brenin, for a mighty breakfast to fuel us up to journey ...........

8.45 was the time our feet touched the ground of the Llanberis Path

The journey had began and of we set of the magnificent views and the hike of a life time ......

Time ticked on and after not mountaineering for a while my legs and knees were starting to feel it, it didn't help that I pulled my sciatic nerve on Sunday and I only had 2 days recovery, however this was the only window opening we had for a decent day.

With my kit on my back and my poles in my hand I took to the rocky path and focused on my breathing and mind.

The most over powered us as we came out of the shadows and powered on following the path of the train line that steamed up Snowdon.

Taking the journey further on and taking in the views of the Mountain that looks into the valleys of the different parts of Wales ......

After around 3hrs we finally made it to the halfway house which was a little disappointing as the little cafe wasnt open but it was also exciting as we had reached the halfway point of the Mountain .....

With our feet sore and legs aching, this was the point  to take on some food and rest for a little as we still had 542m to go and the most was crawling down and losing visabilty was going to be a hard trek to reach the summit .....

As we finished off lunch I grabbed the map and looked at the route for taking us up the Summit, i knew the route off by heart but with very little visability as map needed to be with me 24/7

As we trekked up and made it to to the top of the summit, the fog was definitely crawling into our views so we powered on and dashed back down out of the fog and powered down the path to the start point.

With that achievement in place it was time for a reward and we headed back to Plas Y Brenin for a drink (of course not alcoholic) but it was nice to take the back pack off and release my feet into comfort

Until the next time keep the adventure real as I cover paddling and mountaineering this month and take on the Urban Exploration stuff June ........................