Anyone do part time i.e. weekend and take groups out. If so do you do it as an amateur venture or do you have your guiding certs, insurance and what do you charge etc? Just interested really but have thinking about it recently?

You had a good weekend then? 🙂

Yeh the guys were a good laugh although a bit knackered after 3 days of riding the hills around Dartmoor 🙂 At least I only did 2 days of riding. Only thinking of doing a bit of paid guiding on theoccasional Saturday poss but wanted to see if it was too much hassle to organise 😉 I've been thinking for a while about it but came to the front when the guys told me how much they had paid for guiding in the past and that they wern't fit or very knowledgable about the trails ! 😯

Yes, but I live/work in France! In the UK, you don't actually need any qualifications to guide legally (a wee bit different from France!) but you'd be an idiot to do paid guiding without any insurance and you'll find that difficult to get if you're not qualified. Do the SMBLA and you'll automatically get insurance cover along with your British Cycling membership (which is cheap). See http://www.scottishcycling.com for dates/venues/prices.

Ahh cool Stevo – yeh thats what I though but wanted to check 🙂

i suspect you'll find that by the time you've paid for your public liability insurance, done smbla and first aid stuff, advertised, and sorted business insurance for any vehicles you intend using too, the margin might be a lot smaller than you think.
if you 'just' want to guide for the fun of it and earn a few beer tokens as well then maybe give Woody at bike-dartmoor.com a shout and see if he wants any help?

Yeh probably – just been looking – may go on a course anyway just for the fun of it 😉

Wouldn't get put off by the costs. Should be able to get through SMBL for less than £400, then it lasts forever (no refresher courses required). 1st aid about £150 and lasts 3 years. Think (annual) silver membership of British Cycling (which includes public liability insurance for SMBL holders) is only about £50. Also, plenty of people rely on their clients using their own vehicles for transport (although I have to admit, having our 9-seat minibus + posh bike trailer is the awesome!).

I would recomend a guided trip with you being one of the weekend riders who has a big cheesy grin today top weekend cheers Rich 😀

Cheers Dalepoint (ANDY) – yeh top weekend and great weather Saturday!

Nice of you to book the rays as well most kind.

in qualified leader and instructor with both mias and ctc. i have ctc insuraunce too

Doing my CTC Trail leader next month!! 😀

I'd recommend the SMBLA route. Cyclewise do very good courses and also host an excellent 1st aid training course.

http://www.cyclewise.co.uk/index.php/smbla-awards.html

AJ that frequents this forum is a guide working around Aviemore/Cairngorms area. Haven't seen him post for a while though.

I might try doing the trail leader course then for an excuse of a holiday then have another think – would only be a part time thing I think 🙂

Dont forget the life work balance though and making a hobby a job can take some pleasure away.

Oh yeh def Andy – this would def be on an adhoc basis if I ever did it – i.e. spare Saturday – a bit of cash but nothing serious I think. If I could get teh insurance as part of my BC membership which I already have then should be OK – This isn't a REALLY a serious idea!

You have somebody who does guided hols down there you could always see if he needs a back up guide to take people out as and when on a cash basis. you might be covered under his insurance then.

Yeh good point Andy – Maybe get my TLC then approach someone 🙂

You might find that TCL is sufficient for the area you want to guide in. The restrictions on TCL are:

Below 600m altitude
Trails 95% rideable
Never more than 30mins WALK from a road (accessible by ambulance)

Other than that, the differences in technical level between TCL and MBL are less clear-cut. TCL is certainly sufficient for any red-graded trail-centre trail I've ridden.