6 minute read
ADVENTURES WITH AN AXE
IF YOU HEAD south down the A1 and pass the Nene Valley Railway turning and look to your left (safely!) you might notice a large lake. I would bet quite high odds that you never have though. None of us ever had.
Welcome to Adventure Rutland’s new home, Sibson Lake, which lies right next to the River ene. t’s a very pretty spot, a six acre lake sitting amongst 20 acres of grassland and trees which runs into the river. nitially dug out for gravel in 201 , Dan Wallace took over the lake in une 2020 thus establishing his mobile adventure centre in one spot. Previously he had worked from Yarwell on the River Nene and from Rutland Water as well, specialising mainly in water sports. ‘It was great to come here because we had a complete blank canvas to work on,’ he told me. ‘The lake was here and nothing else. Everything was completely overgrown so we were able to start from scratch including the buildings.’
But as well as watersports, for which they are well known - paddle boarding, SUP yoga, SUP club, kayaking, canoeing and open water swimming, dventure Rutland o er archery and axe throwing indoor and outdoor. And today the three of us were going to have a go at the axes!
Dan passed us over into the capable hands of instructor Charlie and o we trotted. The axe throwing set up is within the bushcraft area of the site. This area is used by a lot of school parties and for
corporate days too. There were wigwams, trails and tarp covered shelters to get you out of the sun and rain. There are cooking areas too along with sensory trails and tracks. And then we came into a clearing where the targets were set up.
Charlie had brought the equipment with him and we were given a thorough safety briefing before being handed the first axe which they call the angel and you can see why, that is exactly what it looks like. Charlie told us how to hold it, how to throw it and where to stand. And most importantly to make jazz hands at the end of each throwing session to ensure no one was throwing whilst we were clearing the targets. Safety was obviously stressed throughout the session.
And then it was stand behind the plank on the ground and throw. You bring your elbow up above your head, as close to your ear as possible and then bring your arm forward quickly and let go when you can see your hand. If you get this technique right, in theory the axe flies through the air, rotates and lodges itself in the target.
Well technique and theory are all very well. Let’s just say it’s harder than it looks. We all hit the target but none of us managed to get our axes lodged. Try again.
‘You need to be cutting the cake, not slicing the butter,’ said Charlie, demonstrating what he meant. Meaning the axe needs to be kept vertical not hori ontal. o that means not flicking the wrist. Strength doesn’t come into it. It’s all about placement and technique. ate uickly got the hang of it on the next attempt with the perfect throw and Lisa wasn’t far behind (once she got angry). I was not so good (useless in fact) and seemed to manage to twist my body and wrist so my axes were flying through the air hori ontally mainly hitting the target but not sticking in.
I don’t know if you have ever seen knife throwers on programmes such as Britain’s Got Talent? Well I now view them with much
greater respect. As I said, I found it much harder than it looks and to achieve such consistent accuracy is no mean feat. Talking of accuracy, Kate at the far end of the targets was now getting ready to join the circus; hitting the target every time, with every axe, and placing them incredibly accurately. If she didn’t join the circus, she’d make a deadly assassin.
Eventually I managed to get an axe to stick. As soon as I threw it I knew it was going to; it felt right. But I found it hard to be consistent whilst the other two were away flinging axes accurately every time. Charlie had us competing then as the targets are marked with scores. I won’t bother telling you who won that little competition….
And then it was on to knives. Let’s just say that they bounce a lot and it’s very important you ‘cut the cake not slice the butter.’ The circus performer of course got the hang of it immediately and was a natural. A word of warning, never get on the wrong side of Kate, particularly not in the kitchen…
Lisa channelled her inner anger and was away and I was trailing behind again bouncing knives all over the place. I think it’s easy to overthink which I was obviously doing; and you need to concentrate. Charlie set up another little competition and the stand out winner again was Kate, but Lisa was giving her a run for her money. Then Charlie had us pinning playing cards to the targets so we had to specifically aim. Harder than you think for some of us.
And then it was time to move on to the big boys; the tomahawk axes. Well if you have ever played cowboys and Indians, or watched a western you will know exactly what I mean. Probably think more Comanches fighting paches in this instance rather than cowboys and ndians as there were no rifles involved. These axes were big and quite unwieldy. If you got one on the target you then had to stop as it would have been easy to split the axe throwing another at it. Well Hiawatha next to me (Lisa) got hers in the first throw. nd virtually every one after that; she was loving life. Kate and I were flinging axes everywhere with very little success. ate eventually worked it out; I never did. Apparently you can throw them two handed as well.
By now we were coming to the end of the hour. We reverted to the angels and Charlie told us we would find it much easier, which think we all did not that ate and Lisa found it hard first time round. nd then it was the final challenge walk along the targets and hit all six as you did. I chose the angels, Kate the knives and Lisa the tomahawk. And it turns out I’m much better on the move hitting
four out of six and winning that challenge. robably a bit of a fluke well most definitely but also because had something else to think about.
We all really enjoyed the axe throwing and can see how it would make the perfect hen or stag do, family party or corporate event. It’s good fun, competitive and unusual. There’s nothing to be scared of as safety is paramount and you are closely watched. Charlie drummed ‘jazz hands’ into us at every point. t was interesting how the three of us had di erent skills and possibly explains why we work well together. In another life; think Robin Hood and his merry men maybe ate would be the natural assassin, never missing; you’d never go near Lisa with an axe in her hand and ’d be picking o targets on the move. Thankfully that’s a fantasy life; go and indulge yours with an axe throwing stint at Adventure Rutland. And maybe Kate should just join the circus, it might be safer.
Up to six people £90 an hour. £15 per person extra for up to 12 for 8 years + www.adventurerutland.com
