The Great Belgian Brian Adventure: Day 3

Another day of great training, but due to the excessive snow in Blighty we decided to return home a day early to avoid being stuck on the motorways on Monday lunchtime.

After saying our goodbyes (over a few beers) we had to really shift it if we were going to be on time to catch our train. Unfortunately, I discovered that my X-car hadn't enjoyed being left outside for two days and refused to start. All rushing to leave stalled as we contemplated the mission of getting the bonnet open to jump start it, then reshaping the bonnet so it would fit back on. Luckily Tim came to the rescue an coaxed it to life for us.

We arrived at the Tunnel check-in without me causing chaos on the Belgium/French roads by driving on the wrong side of the road, or skidding around in the snow, or forgetting that you have to give way to people who cut you up. We were, however, 5 minutes late.

With an hour wait till the next train, we braved the walk to the service station. Tiles are not the brightest idea when it comes to flooring outside in semi-slush snow, and resulted in the four of us linking arms to stop us individually slipping over. It did increase the chances of 'all-for-one' slippage, but we survived, just.

Back in England I had dropped everyone off when disaster struck again. 1am and I'm stuck in the entrance to a side road going nowhere fast as my wheels spin in the snow. All was looking bleak until John came to the rescue with handfuls of gravel from someone's driveway.

After 8 hours in the X-car I finally got home, only to get stuck 200 yards from the safety of my garage. Too much snow again.

Luckily I was able to reverse down the ramp and back out to the street to find an outdoor space.

A funny end to a great weekend's adventure with some really really lovely people. There was also a low flying parrot, the fingers of power, the half balaclava man an other crazy moments, but they have to remain top secret.

Now time to go bonnet shopping.

Location:Cambridge

The Great Belgian Brian Adventure: Day 2

Sharing a (3 bed) room with Ricky and John was always going to be educational. Ricky's time in the military included being sent somewhere rather very cold (-60), and so I learned a few of the many ways to keep oneself warm (including 'Huffing', which is rather well known, and no-where near as dirty as it sounds!).

We spent the day training and teaching a wide variety of students, which helped me gain a greater understanding of my own forms. Mine is influenced by my Practical Wing Chun and Concepts, while Tim has Jujitsu and B.I.F.F Escrima to influence his movements, and it's really interesting to see the similarities and differences between us.

I found out that due to the snow, our drive through Belgium to Hamme had enabled us to be part of the biggest traffic jam ever recorded in Belgium. More than 4000km! I'm glad it wasn't my fault.

After training I experienced 'Kwak' beer. Very tasty, and I managed to not get Kwaked by it, much to the chagrin of those watching (while downing a Kwak [making the sound 'Kwak-kwak-kwak-kwak'], very near the end an air bubble forms in the bell, which then suddenly forces the last of th Kwak to rush out and splash all over the face of the drinker). The story goes that it was used by drivers of the postal carriages when thy weren't allowed to stop at pubs - the holder was attached to the driving seat and the shape of the class stopped it falling over.



I'm not sure what happened after that, but there was lots of historical laughing involved, and I was glad I didn't have to drive the following morning.

Location:Hamme, Belgium

The Great Belgian Brian Adventure: Day 1 part 2

France. What a lovely place. Blue skies, lovely landscapes, and the weird rule that says you must give way to cars that cut you up on the motorway. Luckily, being a proper British Driver abroad, I had a back seat driver to remind me. Along with the hallowed words 'Drive on the RIGHT!'.

Belgium. Lovely place. I would love to comment on the roads, but couldn't quite see anything...





Driving into an oncoming snow storm was not what I had in mind for a Friday afternoon drive in the country, but there we are. No plan survives contact with the Met Office.

Arriving in Hamme approx 8pm we had an amazing Lasagne made by Mrs.Tim - she cooked enough to have 3rds!!

This was followed by our first (few) Belgian beers of the weekend with Tim (Head of British International Fighters Federation -Belgium), and his parents (who are both 7th Dan Ju Jitsu practitioners). Considering that Tim is celebrating 30 years of training this year, and he's the closest to my age, at a rough guess I would say there was approx 250 years of martial arts training there (I'm hoping some of the knowledge leaked out into me via osmosis). Anyway, it was very cool.

Location:Hamme

The Great Belgian Brian Adventure: Day 1

So here we are: Brian (Grandmaster), Ricky (Master & Guru), John (Senior Instructor), and me, somewhere under the Channel on our way to France ... just.

On the way to Peterborough last night I suddenly realised I'd forgotten the print out of our Tunnel Crossing ticket. Oops.
Saved by the phone, I manage to email a copy to John who prints one out. Easy.

I arrive at Brian's bang on 8am, and have a nice hot cuppa (as one must do before embarking on any adventure). Ricky arrives about 8.30pm, and after filling up with fuel and windscreen cleaner, off we go.

5 mins down the A1 we suddenly discover that may be the windscreen cleaner hadn't been a great idea. It turns out that due to rust and ice, my bonnet hadn't locked closed fully. We learned this quite suddenly while doing approx 70mph, when my bonnet suddenly hits the windscreen and stays there like a piece of armour from an A-Team conversion (although without those handy little slits to see through) (and no flame thrower).

Luckily, Brian sitting the front seat didn't have a heart attack, and I managed to calmly slow down and pull off, to discover that my bonnet had managed to bend itself backwards and also leave a nice little dent in the roof!

Ricky managed to find some plastic ties that hold cardboard boxes together on the hard shoulder, and along with my duck tape we managed to secure the bonnet enough for me to drive back to Brian's. Once there, we took the bonnet off and using a rubber mallet, our feet, and mole grips managed to bend it back into (almost) shape.





Attaching it back on, plus further sitting on to shape it, we then added some bungy (spell checker doesn't like any variation of this spelling - so think elastic straps with hooks on the end) straps to make sure it stayed put.



Meanwhile John had driven up to laugh at us, arriving as we finished and settled down to another cuppa, and admiring the new X-Car.

10.30am saw us on the road again, and reaching the Channel Tunnel (following signs marked 'France -->') in time for our 2pm crossing.

Location:Under the Sea

Holiday Week 2: Saturday: Manchester

Last day of holiday today, put of bed about 11am to spend the day watching Quantum Leap, Dr.Who (the one with shadows in the library), WWE, and finally 'Yes, Prime-Minister'.

Jumped into the car and got back to Cambs in time to join the Lord of the Rings movie-thon in time for the last one. An awesome end to my holiday.

So, to recap, i had a very relaxing holiday. Best/Memorable moments:
- caving (with associated black spots)
- scrambling
- Ann Savage gig
- wading across Loch Voil in boxers
- losing tent at night on mountain side
- running up random mountain, and back down in the dark
- drunken dancing at Mojos
- geeky TV day

Holiday Week 2: Friday: Scotland - Manchester

So I decided that Tilley beat the Berghaus cap, having been warn in rain, shine and wind, day and night, while the Berghaus was only worn shopping in Manchester immediately after purchase. I fully recommend a Tilley hat for anyone going out walking/hiking, while the cap just makes my hair look weird.

Other best buys: Petzel Tikka head torch. Essential for scrambling in the dark, caving, and going to the loo at night. Let's you use both hands without having to juggle a torch. Wasn't as good as a maglite style torch for long distance viewing tho.

Top of the pops: Technical 5-finger Toe Socks. Totally awesome!! Have been wearing them all week and don't want to go back to normal socks (I will just have to go bare foot till they escape from the washing machine tomorrow). They were great as liner socks while hiking, and am now sitting in a pub in Manchester drinking Rekorderlig in them. Freedom of the feet!

In other news, I spent the morning chilling with Eddie the community cat, then pootled down the road to Manchester in the rain, past about 5 crashes.

Due to the riots of the week, walking through Manchester centre I counted 40 police in 5 mins - a pair in the door of each closed shop on the street. Apparently on Wednesday morning the city looked like the aftermath of a warzone, let's hope it's all over now tho.

No trouble that I saw, but did manage a flaming cocktail in crazy bar that played Queen, Beatles, then Peter Andre. Via a load of other normal bars to Mojos - possibly the best bar I've been in ever. After looking at the extensive cocktail menu, and seeing the range of 4 beers, I thought I was suitably drunk to chance it and order 'a cider?'. To which I was given a Rekorderlig. What an awesome surprise - I was readying myself for some expensive strongbow or magners, but in fact they had quality stuff. Awesome! They also played totally sweet music from ACDC, Arctic Monkeys, Kooks, Queens of the Stone Age and more! Needless to say, we rocked :-)

Holiday Week 2: Thursday: Dhanakosa (Trossachs)

I actually woke up feeling refreshed at 9am this morning. I still managed to faff and do emails on my phone for an hour, but I was still awake and with it :)

After a lazy breakfast I popped back up to Killin where we'd had dinner the previous night at The Falls of Dochart Inn, and went around a centre learning about the local myths, legends and actual history (Rob Roy etc). I then managed to get the key for the McNab Burial Ground which was lovely and isolated between two waterfall filled trouser-legs of river. Spent a good quiet half hour away from the hoards of tourists around the waterfalls, which reminded me of Tenby and Cambridge in the summer, with everyone taking photos of the the same thing continuously. And this morning I was actually one of them (but not for very long, honest). Hopefully I got some great water shots though ...

Back to the retreat for a pizza lunch, then abandoned the afternoon hike in favour of finishing off my book in the warm. Only to find out it's part of a trilogy. ARGH! Luckily the day was saved by the Amazon app on my phone, so the final book should be with me by Monday.

Was just about to burn off the massive veggie chilli we had for dinner by scrambling up a mountain when someone (from Cambridge!!) turned up a day early for a retreat so I'm now waiting while they get sorted out, contemplating today's big problem. Do I have a Breakaway or a Gold?

Decision made: Gold it was. And you'll never guess what? The guy who turned up to the retreat early, from Cambridge, is a mate, and lives with some other close friends of mine. Crazy small world!

Anyway, scrambling was postponed as he hadn't eaten dinner so we set off or a short walk along the side of the loch. I soon realised, however, that I had been looking forward to running up the side of a mountain. So on our way back, about 8.45pm ish, I decided that that was what I was gonna do. Leaving the others walking home, I launched myself with not-so reckless abandon up the side of the mountain.

Not wanting to get lost on the way back down in the dark, I had the awesome idea of attaching a glowstick to a random post in found sticking up in the middle of the bush I was wading through, half way up. This proved a good idea as on my way back in the dark I was able to aim towards it, and so not lose my position. I also had both my head torch (great for seeing where I was putting my feet - well, which bit of bush I was walking on anyway) and my hand torch for a bright spot beam to see where I was aiming at, so i wasn't too worried about getting lost. And also, as long as I kept walking downwards I would eventually hit the road, or if unlucky, the loch.

Anyway, it was a nice energetic scramble up and run down, leaving me ready for a hot shower before bed. Tonight is my last night at Dhanakosa, and also in Scotland, but not the end of my holiday yet. I'm considering coming back up in January and actually doing a retreat as the place is beautiful and they have some really interesting subjects. Also, by the time we get to Christmas holidays I may need a break and a mind wipe, but that's in the future. As Uguay said "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift - that's why that call it the present."

Sleep time.