{"id":1313,"date":"2018-11-25T11:19:49","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T11:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realadventures.ie\/connemara\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2022-05-30T11:11:39","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T10:11:39","slug":"coffee-corner-clare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realadventures.ie\/connemara\/coffee-corner-clare\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee corner – Clare"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>What is your favourite activity to teach? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>I love teaching navigation, I find maps really interesting and love the problem solving that comes with map reading. As an added bonus it brings you to some amazing spots with the best views (on a good day). Some of my favourite outdoor memories are in the mountains.<\/p>\n

What do you do now the season has come to a close? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been working on promoting Real Adventures and trying to push it forward. We\u2019ve been lucky in that we\u2019ve seen continual growth year on year and so I am working harder on continuing that into the future. I\u2019m excited for 2019!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>What is your connection to Connemara? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>I have lived in the area for over 15 years which is nearly as long as the town I grew up in. It certainly feels like home now and I\u2019m really happy that I got to settle here. Originally I moved to Ireland because of a very good school friend and ended up falling in love with everything about it, especially Connemara.<\/p>\n

What activities do you do in your own time for fun? <\/strong><\/p>\n

These days I spend most of my time surfing. I began surfing when I first moved to Ireland but in the last 5\/6 years have really focused on it and it has become my number one sport. I find it so extremely challenging, probably the hardest sport I\u2019ve ever experienced in terms of progression. I think that\u2019s what the draw with surfing is for me. That and the fact that no matter what your level is your still going to have a great time (most of the time). But if you want to be a good surfer it takes huge commitment, especially in Ireland where we\u2019re so dependent on all the elements lining up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s your greatest memory of being in the outdoors ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s been loads of great memories and none of which I reckon stands out more than the other. Getting to Yosemite after 20 odd years and climbing a route there was a highlight. Being out in double over head plus waves in Portugal as it was scary as. Climbing an 800m classic route in Spain with a good friend. All of these stand out to be great memories but I also love everything about teaching, from beginners to aspiring instructors. I have great memories of working on instructor training courses and of course bringing people on \u2018Real Adventures\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>What is your most miserable memory? <\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been a few miserable memories, most of them involving being freezing cold either in the water or on the mountain. My most memorable was when I was logging for my MIA (mountaineering instructor award) I was shadowing an ML (mountain leader) course and it was during the time of the big freeze 2009\/10 my sleeping bag only went down to -8c or something ridiculous and the temperature outside at sea level was about -16c, we were camping at 400m meaning it was probably around the -20c mark. I didn\u2019t get any sleep that night and was constantly shaking, an early sign of hyperthermia. That was a wake up call and a reminder I needed a better sleeping bag if I\u2019m going to pursue a career in the mountains!<\/p>\n

What has been your scariest moment in the outdoors<\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been a few of these for sure but the one that sticks out the most in my memory is coming within meters of a massive white shark whilst surfing in Australia.\u00a0 The guys I was surfing with had gone in and I decided to stay out for a bit longer.\u00a0 I was paddling out the back and just as I came up from a duck dive a massive shark glided by me.\u00a0 I didn’t stop to think just turned to the beach and paddled as fast as I could.\u00a0 I thought I was definitely going to be shark food.\u00a0 Thankfully I made it back to the beach no problem but it felt like the longest paddle of my life.\u00a0 The lads on the beach said I was white as a ghost when they met me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0What is your favourite activity to teach? \u00a0I love teaching navigation, I find maps really interesting and love the problem solving that comes with map reading. As an added bonus it brings you to some amazing spots with the best views (on a good day). Some of my favourite outdoor memories are in the mountains. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coffee-corner","tag-coffee-corner"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t