Whenever we meet up with Tommo, we know we are in for an adventure and some mishaps along the way! Like the time he almost knocked himself out with an ice pick while teaching us how to use it, or secretly filling up a friends backpack with rocks at the start of an over night hike up a mountain.
Whether it is ski touring, ice climbing, wild camping or paddling down a river, Tommo will have your back and always make any activity an unforgettable experience.
So, when we heard he was starting his own UK adventure company "Moors2Mountains” with our other close friends Bobby and Nat and that they needed “test subjects” we were more than keen to get involved.
Lockdown has been hard for everyone, but one unseen benefit might be that people have had to explore locally and may have discovered that there is a lot more to the UK than they realised. There is an abundance of activities to indulge all around you, and this is what Moors2Mountains wants to show people. They plan to bring the adventure to you, arriving with the kit you need to access a local honey pot of experiences. Be it kayaking through a dock at night or abseiling down a quarry there is always something close by that is secretly waiting to be enjoyed.
I met up with Tommo in Bristol and he drove his Van “Polar bear” to a tucked away car park next to a canal to camp out for the night. We woke to a scenic sunrise next to a field of horses, wild grouse and guinea foul. A picturesque and unmistakably British scene.
After a quick cup of tea accompanied by black pudding and eggs, we were ready to take on the day and Tommo set up his SUP board and skillfully glided into the still waters of the River Avon with an audience of herons and house boats slowly stirring to life. A peaceful morning paddle is defiantly a pure way to start the day.
Tommo had been banging on about the Chedder Gorge for a couple of days and was obviously excited to show me, so we packed up the Polar bear and rolled out of our makeshift campsite (carpark).
We drove for an hour through unbelievably beautiful English countryside filled with farmland and rock formations. As we approached the road into the Gorge we stopped by a blockade and sign saying Gorge Closed. It would not be a Tommo trip without some hiccups along the way but sometimes they lead to other things that you would have breezed past without a thought.
Retreating from the Gorge we had a quick look online and found a nearby abandoned quarry, that looked promising. Not to be defeated we soldiered on and straight away around the next bend in the road Tommo spotted a cave entrance, slammed on the breaks, jumped out the van, head torch on and away we go.
A chance cave exploration lifted the spirits and we continued onto the old quarry. It was a remarkable sight, a massive horseshoe of rock face greeted us, and before I could finish my wrap Tommo was rope laden and harnessed up ready to go, which is what you would expect from an ex-marine/special forces soldier.
We climbed the ridge of the quarry and found a perfect spot to set up an anchor to rappel down. I have only abseiled once when I was a kid at an adventure park, and this was A LOT higher and intimidating but with (almost) full faith in Tommo and the sun setting in the background I was roped up and let loose on a 40-metre rock face. What an incredible experience that I had no idea I was in for, but that is the beauty of what Tommo and the guys at Moors2Mountains bring. An adventure that is fully flexible with a team of people who are used to adapting to changing conditions and have the skills and equipment for a massive range of activities, and I for one could not recommend them enough!
Tommo is a BamBooBay ambassadors and will be getting lost with us lots in the future, we can’t wait for the next adventure. Cheers Tommo.