Our Philosophy

To offer young people and adults opportunities for personal challenge in the outdoors and an intimate appreciation of the wild landscape

Over the years, we have helped many groups achieve their goals in the outdoor leisure environment in a safe, engaging and inclusive manner. Suiting a range of participants in settings such as: activity holiday centres, outdoor education centres, schools and youth clubs

Our activity leaders work with everyone.  From young people in need of positive experiences to holiday-makers enjoying their leisure time.

Our enthusiastic and expert staff, who boast a wealth of professional experience in outdoor and adventure sport, can help you take your trip from your imagination to an exciting and fulfilling experience. 

Us

WithDave  is family firm. Started by father and son team Dave and Dave (no confusion there!) which has expanded to include other members of the family

We specialise in leadership and instruction within the mountain and paddle sports arenas, together with expedition management and leadership.

In particular we enjoy working within the DofE environment; helping the candidates face their challenges. We have worked with major independent schools, either directly or via AAP’s, providing trekking and canoeing expeditions. Whilst the majority of DofE expeditions are trekking we now find a growing interest for canoe expeditions. This year we are providing canoe expeditions on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire as well as the River Wye. All our staff are either DofE Supervisors/Assessors or currently undergoing training.

We offer instruction/coaching in several other fields including canoe/kayak slalom, climbing, bushcraft, sailing and white-water rescue. We regularly work with schools providing support for canoeing, sailing and climbing as part of the timetabled curriculum or extra-curricular clubs. Recently we have supported expeditions in Europe, Nepal, India, South America and Canada.

An area we are looking to grow is provision of coach training for NGBs. Currently we provide a range of British Canoeing coach, leadership and guide courses; either  directly or with partners at training centres. Plus other BC qualifications as well as mountain training qualifications. First aid training can also be arranged.

We have a main team of four providers: Dave Junior, an international kayak expedition leader; his Dad, Dave Senior, a canoe guide specialist and expedition medic; Sarah. A very experienced and talented teacher who has a number of paddling qualifications and our Safeguarding specialist and trainer; Harry, a sailing specialist with both canoe and trekking qualifications.   

In addition to our full time staff, we have a small team of providers/instructors we use. We limit the number of additional staff as we feel this is the only way we can maintain our high standards.