Step Away from the Screens and Get Active Outdoors as a Family

Escape from modern day life, switch off the screens and get active outdoors, as hundreds of venues across the UK offer free or low cost opportunities to try sailing and windsurfing this May.

The family friendly ‘RYA Push the Boat Out’ (PTBO) open days offer something for everyone, with a variety of both on-the-water and shore-side activities, as well as BBQs and entertainment for the kids.  And with more and more of us looking to lead an active and healthy lifestyle, this could be the new outdoor activity you’ve been looking for.   

As well as positively impacting physical and mental health, outdoor activities like sailing and windsurfing have also been shown to aid character development in young people.  The broader benefits include; independence, creativity, teamwork, determination, communication and confidence; providing youngsters with the attributes to help them succeed in life.

But is it for me?  PTBO events are your chance to find out!  Have a go in a welcoming, safe and low-pressure environment - no experience or equipment necessary -come along and give it a try!

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The Camino Voyage – An Epic 2,500 km Modern Day Celtic Odyssey

The Camino Voyage, a full length feature film by Dónal Ó Céilleachair (pronounced O’Kelleher) of Anú Pictures, left us wishing it wouldn’t end.  We saw it in a special screening as part of the Celtic Camino Festival in Westport, County Mayo. The theatre was packed with Celtic Camino Society members from many countries, including visitors from as far away as Vancouver Canada, the US, Holland, Spain, UK and all over Ireland.

The movie is about a crew – including a writer, two musicians, an artist and a stonemason – who embark on a Camino expedition not by land but by sea in a traditional boat they built themselves. Their naomhóg, a wood-framed canvas covered boat, carried them 2,500 miles in three six-week long stages over three summers across the Irish Sea and the English Channel, along the coasts of France and Northern Spain and canals inland to Santiago de Compostella. They rowed and sailed the entire way, until they reached the last stage. They transported the naomhóg by car to Santiago, then carried her to the entrance of the Cathedral. It was an epic and inspiring journey, often dangerous and always gruelling.

The Camino (the Way) is the name of any of the pilgrimage routes to the shrine of the apostle St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in Northern Spain.  The route they took was once called the Camino Inglés, one of the sea routes. It traditionally started in A Coruña or Ferrol to which pilgrims arrived by boat from Great Britain and Ireland. But the north coast of Spain was deemed too dangerous for the small vessel.

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