What are you wanting to do this year of where are you travel this year? Well I thought I would take a trip to the east end of London at the weekend to get a few ideas. But I want to hear about where you might be heading whether it is to the deserts in Morocco, mountains of Europe, beaches of Australia, travelling round South America or even around the UK it would be great to hear about them. Last weekend I managed to squeeze in a look at this year’s Boat, Bike Outdoor and Adventure Travel show (that is a bit of a mouthful) held at the Excel. I wasn’t really sure what to expect as I have been to the ski show and in previous years it has just felt like an extended shop for the likes of Ellis Brigham and Snow and Rock.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDTwQGEeGZc&feature=related]

This experience was definitely different being welcomed into the area with slackliners carefully balancing and doing tricks (check the video out), then loads of stalls on various events ranging from the kayaking  across Scotland up to the Jungle Ultra and everything in between. I spoke to a Glaswegian from red spokes (http://www.redspokes.co.uk/) about cycling in the likes of Pakistan and experiencing the sights and culture whilst out there.

I managed to get a full tasting of the products from the people at torq fitness (http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/) and I have to say I would definitely recommend trying their products particularly the gels if you are interested in using them maybe for your first marathon this year, while out mountain biking or anything active and enjoying the outdoors. They are tasty and unlike some aren’t overly sweet or thick like part solidified jelly.

The experience finished by checking out some huge sailing and motorboats, I forgot to take some pictures and it was beginning to close up which didn’t help.

Overall it was a great way to spend part of the weekend, I even managed to find a couple of contacts for upcoming challenges and events which is always useful. Later this month is the Adventure Travel show at the Olympia and if you haven’t decided on where you want to go this year or want to hear some inspiring stories about everything from stories of adventure to improving your travel photography it is worth checking out.

Also check out these two guys websites who are hugely inspirational, have some great ideas and show how simple it is to get into the outdoors.

http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/

http://www.davecornthwaite.com/