At the end of this week – 14th-17th November – is the Kendal Mountain Festival – the annual showcase for the best of this years outdoor and adventure films. I’m delighted that the 40 minute film I made about Sarah Outen kayaking from London to France and from Russia to Japan is showing as part of the ‘Wild Water’ film session. This can be seen on Friday from 1-4pm, on Saturday between 9-12am and 1-4pm, and 4.30-7.30pm on Sunday. There are of course, lots of other climbing, mountaineering, biking, skiing and adventure films showing, plus some great speakers. You can buy a film pass for 1 day or for the whole weekend.

In addition, on Saturday from 3.30 – 6pm is the KEEN wildwater session, which is a mixture of films and talks held in the Town Hall. I’m excited that Eric Boomer is the main speaker – an adventurer who has done amazing whitewater trips and waterfall descents and also completed the first circumnavigation of Ellesmere island with Jon Turk on skis and by kayak. He’s talking about his recent gruelling 65-day expedition across Baffin Island, covering over a 1000km by kayak, ski and foot. He and his friends used traditional Inuit-style kayaks that they built themselves. One of the other team members Canadian polar adventurer Sarah McNair-Landry is also presenting with Boomer.

Both Sarah and I will be at the festival. We’ll be at the KEEN session on Saturday where they are also showing a shorter version of the film about Sarah. We’ll be able to answer questions in the interval if there are any. Tickets for this session are £12.50 but if you are a member of the BCU then they are £10 – you need to find out the code to give at the box office.  We’ll try to get to the other sessions where the film is showing and introduce it.

If you can’t make Kendal, then you can buy the film on “This is the Sea 5″ DVD, or as a download.

Talking of Sarah, she’s just been in Wales for almost a week doing some kayak training for our next big kayaking adventure. As part of her round the world loop, we’ll kayak about 1400 nautical miles along the Aleutian island chain from Adak  to Homer next Spring/ Summer. It will be really challenging 2-4 month trip so we are preparing mind, body, kit and logistics as much as possible. We are in touch with locals and people who have been to the area but any help/ information is welcome!