Salewa is conducting a voluntary recall of the product Alp Trainer 2 Mid GTX (Item Code men’s version: 61382 – Item Code women’s version: 61383).

Why are they doing this? If these boots are laced loosely or untied, unlaced at the ankle support section, not laced through the eyelet, or lace hooks are left unlaced, etc., it is unlikely, but possible that the lace hook on the inside of one boot can catch on a loose cable on the inside of the other boot, posing a tripping and/or fall hazard and risk of injury to the consumer.

WHAT BOOTS ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL?

Recalled ALP TRAINER 2 Boots can be identified by the production date on the inside of the tongue label of the boot. The production date on the label starts with an “FS”. The numbers on the label indicate year and month of production as follows: the first number is the last number of the year of production and the second number designates the month of production. For example, FS 2-01 designates a production date of January 2022.

All AT2 Boots with the following production dates are subject to recall: FS 0-XX, FS 1-xx, FS 2-01, FS 2-02, FS 2-03, and FS 2-04 (only for Men’s Alp Trainer 2 Mid GTX Boots 61382 in Black/Black 0971). Production dates starting with FS 2-04 (apart the one cited before – 61382-0971) and later (e.g., FS 2-05, FS 2-06, etc.) are not subject to the recall (the “Fall 22 AT2 Boot"). 

Men’s Alp Trainer 2 Mid GTX Boots, Item Code 61382, were manufactured in three color options: Black/Black (0971), Raw green/Pale frog (5322), and Walnut/Fluo orange (7512). The recalled Women’s Alp Trainer 2 Mid GTX Boots, Item Code 61383, were manufactured in two color options: Black/Black (0971), and Duck green/Rhododendron (5085).

The Fall 22 AT2 Boots can be distinguished from the Recalled AT2 Boots by examining the sides of the boots: the Fall 22 AT2 Boots have a covered steel cable and different lacing point (15mm or 1.5 cm closer to the tongue) than the Recalled AT2 Boots.

If you feel your boots may be affected by this recall or are unsure please get in touch with us immediately. 023-8829706 or email info@wildsidesports.ie 

Black Friday is not for us! Instead (and for the sixth year in a row) we are picking a charity to donate a percentage of the days sales towards. This year the charity we've picked is the Cork Simon Community. Cork Simon believe That everyone should gavefair access to safe, secure And affordable housing. With rents skyrocketing and the cost of living crisis in full swing this is somthing we want to support.

So shop small, shop local and buy stuff that lasts this Black Friday! 

It's great to see so many Irish businesses thinking this way and getting behind @championgreen and #greenfriday this year. #supportlocal #corksimoncommunity #greenfridayireland

Lots of lucky folks heading back out on the Camino this summer. We thought we'd re-share our old blogs from 2016 when we did some of the Portuguese Camino. 

How we got there: We flew with Ryanair from Dublin to Porto, overnighted in Porto, spent the following morning sight-seeing in Porto then took a lunch time bus from the Bus Terminal in Porto (Casa Musique, Goeuro Bus - €36 including taxes for the two of us) to Tui. Duration: 2 & 3/4 hrs. 

When we went: Early September 2016. The weather was unseasonably warm with temperatures averaging 30°C.

Tui

We arrived in Tui and walked the 1.5km to our hostel, Hostal Albergue Villa San Clemente, where we had booked a private room for €40 (for two). The room was fine, no air con - just a very noisy fan (not a super night's sleep) and we shared a bathroom with two other rooms.

We had a lovely time exploring Tui. It's a beautiful town on the Mino River with lots of nice bars, parks and cafes.

We had drinks in a funky bar called Bar Central and ate in a restaurant just around the corner from the Cathedral. All very good.

Anywhere to swim?

We saw people swimming in the river and also spotted what looked like a public pool in the main park. There was a small 'dip' pool in the garden of our hostel. 

Credencials:

We picked up our Credencials from the Cathedral in Tui. We had read on-line that you could only get credencials up until 2pm but we arrived at 5pm and had no problems. They cost us €2 each. 

Day 1: Tui to Redondela (took us 34.8km and 7.22 hours)

Our first day on the Portuguese Camino...in Spain! Up and on the road for 8.15am. It was a beautiful morning and 20°C already. The first few kms were off-road, walking along a forest path.

Underfoot it was a mix of gravel path and we walked over this beautiful stony bridge. 

After about 10km it started to get busier. We hadn't had food yet and our stomachs were rumbling so we stopped at a roadside cafe beside a busy factory a few kms outside Porrino. Breakfast consisted of a tasty roll with serrano ham, coffee and juice and it hit the spot. 

In your guidebooks there is a lot of talk about the industrial estates on the way into Porrino but now you can bypass that. There are lots of signs indicating a detour that enables you to avoid the section into Porrino that takes you through the industrial areas. We chose to take the detour and it was quite pretty, walking along the rio Louro and through woods again. 

Porrino is a popular place to stop for a lot of people. However we had chosen to walk on to Redondela so we walked straight through Porrino. The Old Quarter looked quite pretty but nowhere was calling to us as a lunch spot!

By lunch time temperatures were up at around 30degrees...hot!

The next stretch from Porrino to Redondela was a lot of road and concrete footpaths. Not so nice and quite monotonous.  We eventually arrived in Mos which was a lovely surprise. Cute little village with a super cafe (the first one you see as you come into the village). We stopped here for lunch and enjoyed a delicious tortilla, patatas bravas and a tasty beer.  There was a beautiful view down through the valley and off to the east. 

Onwards, we had about 10km to take us to Redondela. There was a solid uphill out of Mos and then a steep down hill to Redondela which was hell on the knees. 

Redondela seemed quite nice but we had booked a hotel about 5km outside the town so apart from a quick stroll around and a post-walk beer we didn't get much time to explore the town properly.

We were staying in Pazo Torres Agrelo which is a beautiful old estate. The staff from Torres Agrelo very kindly picked us up in the town centre which was super handy. We checked in and were shown to our room which was lovely, it had a bath, a comfy bed and best of all it overlooked the pool which we promptly hopped into! Such joy after a long hot day!

We had pre-arranged that we would eat in the hotel which was a good decision as we were too far to walk into town. The meal was very good. It was a set menu so no choices but all courses suited our palettes. Delicious breads and olives to start, then scallops served in a sort of curried carrot puree. Followed by monkfish and pepper kebabs which were really tasty. Dessert was the only let down, a local delicacy of a dry sponge with whiskey poured over - interesting though.

That night we stupidly left the window open and Laurie got destroyed by the Mozzies....25 bites...not that she counted. So top tip - CLOSE THE WINDOW.

Our dinner, b&b cost €130 including wine and an after-dinner drink - for the two of us. That was great value compared to Irish prices.

This blog is a repost from 2016 so I'd expect a lot of the prices to have changed.

As lots of families prepare to get kitted up for summer and watersports camps I thought I'd reshare this post from 2018 on the update on the Alder sizing. 

We have lots of families who come back year after year for Alder suits for their kids so we just want to warn you all that Alder have changed their sizing! Previously their sizing worked like this, 4-5, 5-6, 7-8 etc now they are like this 4, 6, 8 etc and we are finding that the new size 4 doesn't necessarily correspond to the old size 4-5. Confusing or what? If you need help don't hesitate to give us a shout. 

Here is the new sizing chart:

If you need a smaller size then look at our Alder Toddler suits. There is no sizing chart for these but they are pretty close to the age they say in our experience.

This is where and how you should be measuring by the way....

For anyone who is particularly interested in how the age 10's are sizing up compared to the old age 9-10 Phil prepared the following spreadsheet for a customer which I thought would be useful to share (this is the accountant in him!)

And here is a picture he took of the old 9-10 on top of a new age 10 and you can see there is nearly 6 inches in the difference.

I hope I haven't confused you too much. If in doubt call into the shop or if you are buying online measure your child first! That will give you the best indication.

Cheers, Laurie

This post was originally published in May 2019

This year we are expecting the couriers to be busier than ever. To that end, we're recommending that all web orders are placed by the 13th of December for pre Christmas delivery. We will continue to ship after that, and our staff make every effort to get web orders out on the same day they are placed (the couriers pick up at about 4pm so if it's after that you roll into the next day) but we can't promise anything. 

So far, so good and the packages all seem to be moving fairly swiftly. 

We also offer click and collect if you'd prefer to err on the side of caution. 

In summary, the 13th of December was the last day for guaranteed delivery before Christmas but we will continue shipping daily. However, we won't be able to do too much chasing of the couriers for any order placed after the 13th that doesn't make it in time. 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to get in touch!

Laurie

Black Friday is not for us! Instead (and for the fifth year in a row) we are picking a charity to donate a percentage of the days sales towards. This year the charity we've picked is the Bandon Playground Group. The project requires funding of €100,000 plus grant assistance. The team behind it have done stellar work so far and are nearing their target but there is still some way to go and we think a decent playground will be a great addition to the town. We might be slightly biased given that we have two small kids who will get a lot of use out of it once it is built! 

So shop small, shop local and buy stuff that lasts this Black Friday! 

It's great to see so many Irish businesses thinking this way and getting behind @championgreen and #greenfriday this year. #supportlocal #pietahouse #greenfridayireland

This video was filmed in as part of the Sea Swimming Webinar run by Cork County Lifeguards earlier this year. Here you will hear Liam, an expert sea swimmer, explain the kind of gear you will need to get started. To see more of these products please visit the Sea Swimming section of our website here. 

https://wildsidesports.ie/collections/swim

UPDATE AS OF MARCH 15TH

Click and collect is suspended for the moment in line with government guidelines. We are still shipping and processing orders through the website. 

Orders are shipped daily. If you get your order into us by lunchtime we will do our best to get it out with the couriers that evening. 

We use GLS couriers.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!