Warrior - simply one of our finest, an award winner and fibre worth getting in line for!

Lesley - our fine fibre enthusiast and heart and soul behind our Bowmont breeding program, has the below to report.

Hi Tom,
Yes all’s well thanks. The sheep have just been separated from the last of the lambs and we’ve got this year’s breeding females into a field for a few weeks to get them into tip top condition before going to the rams.
Some good news on the other farmers front. I met someone via the National Sheep Event at Malvern a couple of weeks ago – an Australian living in the UK who is very impressed with Bowmonts. He has family who run some of the best Merino flocks in Oz. He’s just gone out there for 6 weeks shearing but when he returns he is coming over to talk. He wants to have Bowmonts. He sounds ideal.

The other piece of good news is that while I was at the Sheep event I spoke at length to the Chairman of the Wool Marketing board. The upshot is that I had a phonecall last night from john Thorley who is working with Prince Charles on The Wool Project – an international 5 year programme to promote wool. M&S, John Lewis and loads of other big names have signed up. There’s a big launch week planned for October when they will be grassing over Saville Row in London. They want Bowmonts there! I’ve had to send pictures (see above for one of Warrior ) and it sounds as though we are the chosen sheep! It’s being organised by Australian Wool Innovations (the org behind the woolmark) and they particularly wanted a British Merino derivative for some reason.

Anyway, if this comes off as seems very likely, there will undoubtedly be a huge opportunity to promote the sheep to all and sundry so we must jump on the bandwagon!
It finally sounds as if Tom has got all the processing organised so if this Saville Row thing happens we should i hope be on course!!

Best,
Lesley

Share this, tell the world, get those in love with the natural world, product and ethics involved.

Now anything blues/sound of a harp and the workshop kicks off, so when we heard that a talented blues player, was going to get on a bike, which happens to have a beautiful Brooks Saddle (and we love bikes) and we happen to be in the fine art of weatherproof clothing, it seemed like a no-brainer.

So we asked the three questions we often do, before we get behind anyone:

1) Do we dig? In this case his music.

2) Is what their doing in line with us and original?

3) Will their adventure produce content?

So we began with his music, the guy is incredible on the slide guitar (and he can waile on the harmonica), lyrics are brilliant, the band has a rad look and has overall hints of AA Bondy/Ben Harper and some classic country. So the answer to the first question, a hands down yes.

On to, is what he’s doing, in line with us/original? Prior to this little tour, he’s been on the road and all over the world, to list a few: in 2005, in the Himalayas, he broke the record for the world’s highest ever gig above Mount Everest base camp, at a staggering 5,545m above sea level. In 2007, in search of the roots of blues music, he motorcycled across Mali in Africa, meeting traditional musicians to improvise music with. This admirably restless spirit has led him to navigate Australia, India and Nepal, not even going to answer that question.

Last but not least, will the adventure generate content? Well he’ll be getting on a bike made specifically for the tour, has got a blog, can write, it involves blues music and bikes… again, no contest.

Product:

If a person’s going to be on a bike for a prolonged period of time and battling weather, our merino products and Anabatic lightweight waterproof are built almost specifically for this type of job and with the most recent review of our Anabatic on Tree Hugger, we’re pretty confident that he’ll damn near be, the coziest cyclist with instruments, a harmonica and tent on the planet.

So he’ll be off very soon (a day to be exact), he’ll be keeping us up-to-date with the gigs and whereabouts and as soon as he gets closer, we’re going to join him, on bikes, consider it a mini-peloton to see the man home and a finish at Eden. We’ll be there at Eden, I’d imagine the libations will flow and music will kick off, so keep coming back to this spot, or for immediate up-dates sign up to our newsletter and you’ll get the news direct to your email, or you can get involved on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.

A bit more on the Trip:

Starting in Newcastle, Martin will be cycling down the country on a Surly “Big Dummy” Cargo Bike, to his final destination, the Eden Project in Cornwall. Along the way he will be playing venues of all shapes and sizes, from concert halls to village halls, as well as playing the Isle of Wight’s phenomenal Bestival and TV’s River Cottage Canteen.

www.bluesgonegreen.com

Well, we’ve never been much for convention, nor has the easy way ever appeared attractive. Kind of like when we decided to get into the business of designing top outdoor clothing against companies who have been involved in it for over 60 years. 7 years later, the workshop is here and with it a flock of Bowmont sheep.

We’ve been growing the heard for over 3 years, working closely with Lesley to make it happen and without her - this would be impossible. In the end: we make some of the finest product in the world, work with some of the most inspiring people in the world and have a real flock of sheep, we help grow, sheer, feed and pet from time to time.

In a way - the closer we get to growing our flock of sheep, the closer we get to yielding enough wool to put into manufacturing and therefore, the closer we get to our commitment to British wool, manufacturing and ethics. A tall feat, but we’ve got the strength of 50+ sheep to push along the way!!

The more product we sell, the wider our way of doing things gets and we’d like to think, it’s one of the best ways out there. So TELL MORE PEOPLE, let’s grow the flock, build better product and get more sheep out there surfing - super stoked, we love you Mildred:

How do you get involved? Get onto our Facebook site, see the list of over 50 customers and their dogs and join. Keep sending us images of you, your hound and Finisterre product and we’ll get you up on the blog, with that shot of you and your loved pooch!

Shot of the Week:

Sniff and Madie, product: Storm Track, place: an igloo

We invest product and a bit of time and the occasional financial help on a trip or two, but we’re far from bank rolling either of them and the return on this investment, as of late:

2 back-to-back cover shots, in Britain’s most loved surf magazine - Wavelength.

Just to clarify, we’ve got 2 Ambassadors, 1 a hell bent surfer and the other a photographer and they happen to be at the right place/right time, manage a photo and get not 1, but 2 covers and in back to back months - July and August.

Just for the record, this is unheard of, these things just don’t happen and so perhaps you could say, that the Return on this Investment, has been outstanding. If only playing the stock market was this easy.

Boys, super stoked with the coverage, absolutely blowing our minds. If you’re keen on us and the people that make this place tick, pick up the August issue of Wavelength (in WHSmith’s nationally or Online) - it’s their photo annual and a collector’s edition - sensational.

Ian on the cover of this months August issue of Wavelength - backside and deep, in Scotland.

Ian once again backside, somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean, cover of July’s issue of Wavelength.

“From one session, at lowtide first wave…..made the first barrel……got drilled backdooring and not making the second one, quite heavy impact on chest, and aqua massaged off the reef….came up coughing blood for ten mins or so. Watched waves barreling down the reef for ten mins and 3 people in….. had to get back in”.

“bit of blood and sweat product testing for you boys, thought nunns first pic here might make you laugh ha.”

***IMPORTANT TO MENTION HERE, CHECK OUT BLOOD ON CHIN, IN FIRST PHOTO***

All of us gathered around the computer to flip through them Ian - super chuffed hombre

Ian, after being a bit rattled in surf we wouldn’t even think about, Finisterre Merino T-shirt in full Product Testing form.

Perfection - Ian paddling over the shoulder

Ian locked in, backside.

Picture of the take off, elevator drop and if you stick it, you’re navigating a backside freight-train.

Ian after a long day of work, Anabatic giving some cover of a quick passing Indian Ocean storms.

Anabatic reviews, coming in think and fast:

We have fond memories of throwing the Frisbee, bbq’s in the caravan, seeing him in Peru upon a mound of sand trying to catch a once in a life-time shot of some blissful sugar cane fire, him charging at Thurso and the list goes on. He has supplied us with images since the early days, stories and the occasional waltz through the workshop doors only to be embraced by us all.

We don’t see him that much and so what we can get, we’ll take - the odd phone call, image, or story. We just recently heard that his film processor, the famed Robin Bell, was going to be putting out a documentary, we found the trailer, it’s only 2mins and a bit… the point - to see Mack’s image (early in the trailer, keep an eye out), amongst the greatest photographers of the 21st century - is amazing and so this is why we do it, why we put ourselves through months without him, only to see this - so very, very proud!

Lewis and Clark were explorers, frontiers men, skilled drafters and spear headed the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back.

The overall expedition, took over two years, involved 33 hands, it involved the help of the Shoshone Indians, who were skilled at traversing the great rock mountains with horses. The Yankton Sioux, who were experts in moving large loads up river. They reached the edge of the Great Plains, where according to US records, was the largest site of free roaming elk, deer and bison.

Thomas Jefferson hoped that Lewis and Clark would find a water route linking the Columbia and Missouri rivers. This water link would connect the Pacific Ocean with the Mississippi River system, thus giving the new western land access to port markets out of the Gulf of Mexico and to eastern cities along the Ohio River and its minor tributaries.

We’d like to think that Tim Nunn and Ian Battrick are our own Lewis and Clark. They’ve both documented some of the most remote areas in the surfing world, met with locals in these areas and forged brilliant relationships, have slept under the stars for weeks at a time and paddled across large bodies of water with gear to set up camp.

Tim has just returned from a 3 week stint in the Indian Ocean, leaving Ian behind to continue surfing and camping on the edge of a little island. They left with the hope of capturing some beautiful waves and documenting their time amongst nothing more than a bit of nature and loads of sea. The full story is in this months issue of Wavelength, but above all, they returned with more than we could have ever asked for - the cover of Wavelength - with Tim taking the photo and Ian backhand in a picture perfect left hander and although not clear, we’re told that Ian is in one of our Merino T-shirts - stoked.

So, like Lewis and Clark, they left as frontiers men, looking to carve out their own little story and came back with more than we could have ever imagined - so super rad!

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