ARMCHAIR ADVENTURE FESTIVAL 2021 REVIEW
With the Armchair Adventure Festival just a few weeks away, ‘Kerry The Adventurer’ looks back on last year’s event for MotoGusto Magazine.
After the global lockdowns, September 2021 saw The Armchair Festival move cautiously from the virtual world to real life.
During the pandemic, the online festival offered inspiring presentations from people around the world. Charity donations were possible and the organisers Matt Bishop and Reece Gilkes ran three of these virtual events. As the world slowly returned to some degree of normality the guys felt it would be possible to host a physical event.
The event itself was in Cornwall, at the Mount Edgecumbe country park. Whilst there are many great roads around the area, I found a few issues with this initial show. The campsite was on a hill and made it awkward to set up and sleep. Whilst a luxury tent for the weekend was available, the price-. 2 people £375/ 4 people £450 on top of the entry was equally steep.
(The entry prices themselves were an ‘Early bird’ at £99 with normal admission being £121.98 with camping for the weekend. Admission without camping was £111).
On a practical note, there was only one toilet block with showers that was also located at a fair distance from both the main stage and the camping area.
The event featured overland travelling tales ‘by any means’ from cycling, walking, hiking, sailing. as well as motorised vehicles. All inspired you to dream about adventure- maybe Africa to see lions or to see the salt flats of America or the Mongolian grasslands. There were even presentations on photographing your trip as well as defending yourself, should this be needed.
As the sun set beers were opened, the fire ignited and the music struck up by local bands and singers.
Like most events of this kind, the show activities weren’t all free…
Again these really need to booked in advance with the prices ranging from £10-£35. With the entry price it would be nice to be able to see these included in the future.
BOUNTY SAILING ADVENTURES
Replica boat from mutiny series channel 4. Run by volunteers. Micro adventures. To jewels of Plymouth sounds.
PADDLE BOATING AND KAYAKING
2 hours of going along the Plymouth coast lines standing up on a paddle board or being in a kayak.
SAUNA
This one was not on the website.
POSTIE BIKE TOURS
With Nathan Millward – Dorothy speed shop
I fully understand that this one is not free to be covered as petrol and insurance to be covered.
Riding along the Cornish coastline on postie bikes imported from Australia.
A great show, that could be made even greater…
It was a great show, which I’d suggest could be improved this year by addressing a few issues:
As the events that were sponsored by DFL, who make armchairs the lack of them was disappointing. Fixing the camping on a hill was annoying. Have more toilet blocks nearby. Have reasonably priced food and drinks.
Adding ride-out tour guides for road and off-roading.
Overall, it was a great experience that I’d definitely recommend.
Well done guys!
Discover more
In 2020, the pandemic had us all locked down at home so ‘The Sidecar Guys’ decided to put a fun, virtual adventure travel event on to keep everyone entertained. The idea was just to tell some fun stories about adventure and to remind everyone that there would be a time when the pandemic would end and we could all explore again.
The event snowballed and in one year raised £12,500 for charity while entertaining around 40,000 armchair adventurers.
The Armchair festival 2022, will be held at:
MT EDGCUMBE • CORNWALL • 22-25 SEPTEMBER
Find out more, and purchase tickets, at:
https://www.armchairadventurefestival.com/
Follow Kerry the Adventurer on her adventures!
I am Kerry and I'm vegan. I was born in 1993. North France Arras and raised in Scotland.
I have been riding from the age of 4. My first bike was a Yamaha pw80.
My dad taught me to ride and got me into off-roading and into motocross racing from a young age.
