Tha Winter Light

Its amazing the rubbish you can find adorning shop windows in some of the tourist towns of this country of ours. Little metal buckets with random words daubed on them, small wooden animals, wreathes shaped like hearts with little red bows.

I know this, for I spent the majority of the weekend chaperoning Lucy through the miriad of chintz shops to be found in the towns of Grasmere and Ambleside in the Lake District. Lucy has been somewhat distracted by home and leisure type magasines of late, for we, finally are about to lay down some roots and enter the housing market. A big step for two people who haven't lived in the same house for more than two years since leaving home.

The only problem is, that with Lucy in charge I think our house may end up looking a little like a cross between a Beatrix Potter scene and an old peoples home. Its all I can do to veto the purchase of porcelain ducks.

In between viewing tiny blue bookshelves which are not big enough nor strong enough to actually hold a book - we once more got a little walking in.

This time we were blessed with not only good weather, but excellent light for photography. I always love getting out in the winter.


Left behind!


Clucky the Chicken


Flat Light

Spooky!

We may have come face to face with some real ghosts this weekend. Or at least, if ghosts did exist, they would be sure to hangout at the place we stayed last night.

This weekend we went down to Lea Hall, in the heart of glorious Derbyshire. Yes, its a bit far south - but I promise you it looks a lot like the north, so it is probably worth a visit!

Lea Hall was the childhood home of Florence Nightingale and so had some proper history and that. The rooms were fantastic and Lucy got this rather shadowy shot of the bed which I like:



(the toblerone you can see was a present to me, and lasted approximately 2 hours)

The reason for this visit was the 6 year anniversary of us getting together. I didn't reveal to Lucy where we were going until the blooming sat-nav gave the game away when we were about half a mile from the house. I probably made a mistake by hinting that passports may be required for the weekend. This may have potentially led to a problematic heightening of expectations. It was a damn good weekend though!

View Over Valley

Lucy and I are close to making some big decisions at the moment. With my new job has come a 1 hr 20 minute each way commute and we need to figure out a way to narrow this down. We're pretty close to actually getting off this goddam rental train and actually purchasing a place of our own. Its about time really - but we both still harbour sectret desires to sack everything off and go and live in a tent in some faraway place. Pretty difficult to do with a big fat mortgage in tow.

As we usually do when we have things to discuss, we head for the hills. I took this one in some valley I dont know the name of - while walking near Derwent reservoir. The reds of the moors are fantastic in the Autumn, and I always think you can do much better photography in the winter months than summer if you get a clear day:

Ho Hum.

I have made the decision that I really need to get back into this blogging malarkey. Its been a hectic 12 months, but hopefully some of that should be dying off and I should have some free evenings again.

That job I wasn't sure I wanted - I took it, and we are even looking at buying a house at the moment (though a major issue is the fact that I am the crappest negotiator ever to grace this earth).

I thought that in order to get hings going again I would have delve into my Flickr account for any photos which I have stashed away and could use. Then I had a minor heart attack when I found out all of my photos were missing! Thank god it was just my account expiring and I can recover them - otherwise I may have cried.

Here's one of the boys standing on the top of a via ferrata route we did in the Dolomites in May. A little too dark to see faces, but still I like it:



Hopefully I will be around a little more from now on!

Went Camping

Went Camping.

It rained.

A lot...

Actually I have to say I don't really mind camping in the rain much. so long as I have the right gear to stay dry and can retreat to the local pub for a few when it all becomes a bit much. Because we waited out those two days of misery and  wet feet. Because we spent those nights awake, with that 'desperate for the toilet' feeling, the one where you are waiting for that one bloody gap in the rain to allow you to get outside and pee against the hubcaps of your car. Because of all that, we were one of a few campers to witness the perfect weather that came in on Monday morning in Langdale.

On the way back home ... for the second time, I got to meet my beautiful baby niece Imogen. In fact I can now post up a photo of both of my nieces together. We Hugheses are multiplying don't you know.

Fair Verona

During our may trip to Lake Garda in Italy, we made a day getaway to the infamous city of Verona full of visions of glorious balconies. Verona itself is beautiful, full of some fantastic architecture - not to mention the best pizzeria I have ever been to.

The balcony itself was a bit confusing for me. I admit I am not an expert in Shakespearean literature, however I was under the impression that that the play was a fiction, and not in fact, a fact. 

Not the way these guys were selling it - the tour guides and the placards were there preaching to the amassed throng of tourists about the various comings and goings of the descendants of the Capulet family over the centuries?! You mean the Capulets - that made up family? I mused.

I was further confused over the logistics of the whole scenario, in that in order to climb into the courtyard, one would have to climb onto the roof of one of the smaller buildings. Not a problem in itself - but on surmounting said roof, surely it would be far more simple to just climb onto the balcony (around 4 ft higher than the roof) rather than down into the courtyard where young Romeo would have to make a 20ft ascent up a sheer wall to Juliets arms. It just didn't make sense to me.

On our trip we visited some stately gardens which we walked through with our friends. Lucy and I took a walk up one of the steep banks at the rear of the garden, and I spotted The Nurse and his girlfriend in such a situation as I thought would make a nice photograph. I probably took 10 photos of this type from various angles. I was quietly smug because I thought I had a good shot.

It was only afterwards, that I realised that I had invaded one of the most private moments a person could have. For this shot was taken at almost the precise moment that the Nurse offered a proposal to his girlfriend - and she had accepted!

So belated congratulations and as my engagement present have this photo of your engagement to keep.

I have also landed myself the duty of joint best man, so stag-do here I come!

Famous Borders

In 'the village' we crowded into a sweaty minibus and headed toward the border. We had decided after a little deliberation, that there was no real risk and it should be ok. After a 10 minute journey and one downhill bump start we made it.

The border between Lebanon and Israel was not how I expected it to be. In my mind I saw a desolate strip of wasteland between two huge wire fences. In reality the fence was small and on the other side were the green irrigated fields of Israel and a rather pleasant looking village with sunbaked red roofed houses. A couple of workers were planting next to the fence and though there were a few soldiers and a big white UN tanks, there was nothing that inconspicuous about the scene.

In fact I found it very peaceful. No traffic (its seems to be pretty hard to avoid the traffic in Lebanon, particularly in Beirut), no hustle and bustle - some nice looking villas and a view of a wide valley. Its hard to believe that only a few days before, this very area (a spot no more than a mile or so away) - was the subject of international media coverage, due to this unfortunate incident. The serene fields which filled my view, had actually, in recent years witnessed large tank battles.

The reason for us being at the Lebanese border last week was for the wedding of Lucy's brother to his Lebanese girlfriend in Beirut. Her family invited us out for a day trip to the village where her father was brought up close to the border (you need to show your passport to get into the village). We had an amazing reception from all of her relatives who still lived in the mainly Christian area which was the brunt of a fair bit of military action in the 2006 war. Everywhere new houses were being put up in the place of old, abandoned shells, including a rather majestic looking villa being erected by the bride's father. 

The views were fantastic, though I was told that I couldn't go wandering in the hills, as is my want - for there are still a few land mines around.

Beirut - where we are staying, is now a favourite city of mine. Its a city - full of contrasts. It appeared a playground for rich Arabs, but was also full of culture and history. You are never too far away from a soldier on patrol, a wal full of bullet holes, or the burnt out shell of the old Holiday Inn tower block. 

Beirut is a real party capital. We spent one night partying till 6am with a 3 litre bottle of vodka to keep the 10 of us going on a rooftop club full of rich socialites. You could only get into the club if you booked a table - and you could only get a table if you spent an obscene amount of money on spirits. We did both.

During our days, we took a trip to see impressive Roman ruins in Baalbek (which put the Hadrians Wall to shame), and went to the craziest (and most expensive) beach I have ever seen (where waiters bring you drinks, and there is no sand!).

Lucy at Baalbek

But the whole point of being there, the culmination of the week - was the wedding. The wedding was something out of this world.

For starters, it was in a 5 star hotel, the likes of which I have never seen before. All gold plating, crystal and glass. The kind of hotel which I wouldn't pay for, even if I was a millionaire (the rooms ran from $400 to $20,000 a night).

There were violinists and fire spitters to start us off, then the bride appeared on a balcony high above the crowd, and the music began. Th bride disappeared as the groom entered complete with 4 professional dancers who glided around him whist fireworks threw sparks over the edges of the stage. All credit to the groom - he took it in his stride with no complaint!

And then there was food and free drink all night...

No stuffiness and formality - jost a lot of good food and rum! It was an excellent all round experience.

The Bride and Groom

Big Red

Of Iron Roads

As we got higher up the mountain, we nervously ploughed into thigh deep snow, putting into practice some of the winter skills we learnt during our course, but this time without the comfort of having an experienced guide directing our every step. We weren't quite sure what to expect and whether the going would get tougher, the snow drifts deeper and the danger or falling down the mountainside on our left, even greater as we wound our way upwards.

The guide book gave directions based upon landmarks, but we must have gone past several, a signpost here, a memorial plaque there, a fork in the road. They were supposed to be ten minutes apart, but it was hard to know what ten minutes should be, being as our progress was much slowed by the snow. Round the corner to fantastic views down the Lake Garda, the guide book said. We could just see grey sky.

The cloud began to lift as we were closing in on our first bit of Via Ferrata. Descend 200m into a large bowl, but be warned, this may contain some snow early in the season. Some snow! It contained massive bloody sheets of ice! It was only on the good advice of the chap in our local outdoors shop, that we even took ice axes. It would have been very difficult without.

The Nurse followed as I chopped steps down the mountainside to the first wired section. 

Via Ferrata routes are essentially long sections of wire attached to steep bits of rock, to which the quick fix climber can attach himself using a specifically designed lanyard. They were initially built in the Italian Dolomites to assist soldiers in the first world war by helping them climb quickly to great height without the use of ropes. This route was considerably newer than this (or at least I hoped so), and I am presuming just set up for sport.

When we got to the bottom of the bowl, we put on our harnesses and lanyards and began our ascent. The first section was a fairly easy chimney, up which the Nurse led the way. 

We then hit a massive patch of snow which was concealing all of the cables into which we needed to clip. The next clipping in point was visible about 10 feet away from us - the only problem being the traverse unprotected accross an icy slope with a massive drop on one side. We decided a much better idea was to spend 20 minutes furiously chopping through the snow to get to the submerged cable. Neither of us was prepared to stand on a slide away to nothing, without at least being clipped on somewhere.

The next pitch up a large crack was a little more challenging. It wasn't quite hard enough for me to think I was going to fall off, but still hard enough for me to spend my climbing time thinking about what the concequences would be, if I did fall off. 

Place hands, place feet, haul self up, look down, remind self never to look down again ... and repeat. It was a fair distance to the top crawling over the edge and making that final clip with no small sense of relief.

'The final pitch climbs at an easier angle', said the guide book. It didnt seem much easier to me with tired arms. The water cascading down the rock didn't assist slow progress, but did add to the adventure.

Wearily we drew ourselves over and walked the short distance to the top of the 2,200m peak. We opened the metal box which contained a climbers log. The last entry - October 2009, meaning we were the first climbers of the season. Something to be proud of I feel, and perhaps this explains why we were wading through virgin snow  the whole way up the mountainside. One thing was for sure, the second group of climbers of the season would have a much easier job digging those blasted cables out. 

We thought to rest until thwarted by an act of nature. 

We looked each other tentatively up and down. Two lonely souls on the highest peak on the range, caught in a thunderstorm! Luckily we had long metal sticks in our hands to ward off the bad weather. 

It was back down for us through hail and snow to sun-burnt girlfriends, cheap red wine and pizza.

We had a number of good little adventures on the trip. But I will save something for future posts!

Grey Crag

The Lake District in the UK has the reputation for having by far the worst weather in England. It basically pees it down 24/7. Which is why, when we went climbing yesterday - we were extremely surprised to see that glorious sunshine was forecast all day, and even more surprising was that there was to be not a smidgin of wind either.

We headed up to Grey Crag near Buttermere for some easy multiple-pitch climbing, and a not so easy 1 and a half hour 600m ascent walk to the base of the crag in baking hot sun with all out gear (my legs feel as though they are no longer under my control today).

Weirdly there were no other climbers at all. It not often you get perfect climbing conditions in the lakes (i.e. no wind or rain), but beside a few walkers, we saw not a soul.

I didn't get ay 'killer' shots (i.e. single handedly hanging off a rock by our little fingers 'cliffhanger' style). But here is one that I like (which was actually from when we were nearly back at the car):

Oh - and to the guy who decided to park his £1 ice cream van right next to the car park. Thanks, it was needed.

Its Been a While

I was just emptying out my camera in preparation for a trip to the lakes tomorrow (a brisk 5am start for me!), and found a couple of shots that I like from when Lucy and I were out walking on Mam Tor in the Peak District a month or so ago.

The snow had built up on the northern side of the hills and the strong sun we had that morning had melted everything on the south - creating this weird stripe down the landscape:

Hopefully I'll have some new photos tomorrow.

Snow

This Christmas I got a brand spanking new set of crampons for a mountaineering course I am doing in Scotland in February. Given that we have had an unusually large amount of snow recently, I wanted to go and try them out in the hills and I am glad I did!

The main problem with the idea was actually getting to any kind of hills being as many of the passes in the Peak District are closed at the moment. I managed to make it as far a Ladybower reservoir (with a bit of wheel spinning) and did a few miles over Wym Hill (i jut looked at the map for the most contour lines close together). 

It was pretty cold (I think around -3 deg C). But being as I had all my gear together for the course - it was not too bad.

I took a few pictures too (though they did no kind of justice to the actual views):

I particularly like the sheep which had been burying its face in the snow:

Another Year

In the absence of anything exciting to write about this week - bar the usual misery around another year passing me by and feeling like I all but missed the noughties (surely it was only just 2000?), I thought I would post up some pictures of some walking in the snow that Lucy and I did this weekend.

We've had a fair but of snow in Sheffield, which in normal countries wouldn't really matter and things would go on pretty much as normal. However in the UK we are crap at snow...

We don't use snow tyres (for the 10 days or so per year they would be useful), don't use snow ploughs, we have tiny little narrow roads, we don't stock enough grit (if you believe the papers), its not really that cold (so snow generally becomes slush and ice pretty quickly), and generally people dont really know how to drive in snow. 

Its the English way. 

We purposefully don't help ourselves in any way what so-ever in order that it increases the chance of us being able to have a good moan when things do go wrong. Oh yes we love to moan.

I was actually quite surprised yesterday when I spotted someone cleaving through the snow in snow tyres. Very un-British. Far too prepared.

In the Hills Above Ladybower Reservoir

Lucy Rests at the Botanical Gardens in Sheffield

A Tree

A Photo I Missed from the Last Set!

Seasons

A few different people have mentioned to me recently that they love the changing of the seasons, and in fact it is one of the best things about living in England.

I am inclined to agree. Especially after a walk we did today to the top of Kinder Scout in the peak district in the freeing cold. The failing light (failing so much we had to use head torches for the last half hour) was pretty spectacular on the peat bogs and the red heather. 

I took loads of photos that I really like that I have uploaded onto Flickr, but I really can't figure out which one is my favourite - so here are a few for you...

Lucy facing the winds on Kinder plateau

Walkers in the distance above Jacobs Ladder

Footpath to Nowhere at the Start of the Pennine Way, Edale

Rock Formations on Kinder Plateau

This Can Only End Badly

After a really good day at my sisters wedding, about which I will post at some point in the near future - I got up super early to speed on up to the lake district for some climbing. 

I appear to have got in with a bad crowd at work, and have been tempted by some of the more hard-core outdoors enthusiasts amongst them to delve further and further into outdoor sports. Over the winter I will be undertaking a 5 day mountaineering course up in Scotland (and may potentially have to pay for the expensive equipment I will need by selling a kidney!), and I am getting more and more into my climbing.

In the lakes we did some multiple pitch climbing. I will attempt to explain what that means (though I am not completely sure myself). One person leads up on the rope, putting in safety gear along the way and being belayed from the bottom. The bottom person then follows being belayed from the top. Both people are now half way up the cliff face and repeat the process until all the way to the top.

We had three people, which made everything a little more complicated and made each climb pretty lengthy. To the point at which we had to abandon out second climb on the third pitch (and abseil down) to avoid having to walk home in the dark.

We all hauled our cameras up with us and tried to angle the lense such that is appeared we were doing much harder climbs than we were. This is my favourite of Graham (though if I had proper photo editing software, I am sure I could make it better):

Notes from a Small Island

We got back from our Cyprus adventure last night (or early this morning). I am not a massive fan of Cyprus I have to say. 

Due to its colonial past there is a very large British ex-pat population mixed in with the Greek and Turkish residents and large swathes of the coast are covered in concrete apartment blocks, partially completed luxury villas and strips of cheap restaurants and bars. 

Though I don't doubt that there are other aspects of Cyprus we were unable to see, those parts which we did manage to get to within a few hours drive which were not covered in concrete monstrosities were also very touristy though with a little more authenticity and intrigue.

All this, however didn't stop us having a great time as we were also bombarded by the exceptional generosity of Lucy's parents who were out there with us, and paid for a pretty huge villa for the week, and we managed to get up into the mountains which was pretty cool.

I struggled a little with photography, partly because the sun was always so high in the sky and set very quickly, meaning that interesting light was hard to come by, and partially because it was so hot that I couldn't be bothered to exert myself for good angles for photos.

However I did manage to take a few nice ones of Lucy during a sunset at the villa:

This one was taken at the 'Tombs of the Kings' in Paphos, which was pretty spectcular:

Other photos should be available on Flickr shortly (when I get around to uploading them).

Ottawa

I am back home finally now, and I am working hard to keep my eyes open as I work up the energy to go to our regular Sunday nigh pub quiz. I thought I would take this half hour of opportunity to post up the last of my photos from the trip - Parliament Hill in Ottawa which I visited on the way to the airport - and another Charleston Lake photo, which I have my eye on for an extended canvas.

Pleasantly Surprising

Just finishing up work for the week, sitting in my hotel room contemplating what to do tonight.

Should I go to the cinema alone? Should I go to a bar ... on my own? Or should I just give in and buy a massive pile of junk food on expenses and eat myself stupid in the hotel room? On my own.

This is my fifth work trip to Canada (I think), mainly Ontario, but I have been to New Brunswick once. It is the only trip I have taken outside of the winter... and I have to say it is an altogether different experience!

One can do things such as 'going outside' or 'walking somewhere' both things I enjoy doing very much which were previously not possible. I have also located the nearby gym and made friends with a guy from my client's site who invited me around for dinner. All very pleasant.

In the spirit of trying to make a little more of my business trips these days, I went out to a local hiking spot the other evening to practice some photography and am planning a little jaunt into Ottawa tomorrow.

I liked the reflection off the water on this one:



Charlston Lake, Ontario, Canada

Kinder Scout

Just a few more days to go until we do the 6 day section of the Pennine Way on Wednesday.

The weather is beautiful at the moment which is annoying me for two main reasons:

1. I have generally been at work
2. If it is sunny this week when I am at work, the 28th law of sod dictates that it will pee it down next week when I am hiking across hills and camping.

Last weekend we did a bit of a two dayer (3 of the crew that will be starting the walk) carrying tents and camping overnight by way of preparation. The first day was around 13 miles and relatively good going. The second day was 10 miles over Kinder Scout which pretty much wrecked us (as we were force marching to get to our pickup point by 1pm).

The wort thing was that I stupidly didn't wear proper hiking socks and my feet are a bit of a mess of blisters. I also didn't wear any sun-cream which turned out to be a bit of  mistake. 

Here are some photos (I love the Peak District when the mist ascends in the morning):

Tackling the 'Old Pennine Way' ascent of Kinder Scout

Near Kinder Scout Summit

Lost Amongst the Rocks

Some Nice Time Off

When I was over in Australia, I clearly remember having a conversation with one of my Aussie friends in which I relayed to her that one of the things I missed about back home was the british countryside.

She appeared as confused as most Australians do when you say that to them as most of them don't even realise we have trees in the UK. Only the timely input of one of my other friends persuaded her that we had things like grass and hills. It is a very rare thing to find an Aussie who has managed to find their way outside of London.

I have mentioned this before, but I am really beginning to love the proximity of the peak district to my house. The weeks Easter holiday that I am on (purely because I have to use all of my holiday entitlement up) has really allowed me to go to ome places that I haven't been before - cycling and hiking.



Stanedge (The local climbing spot) as modeled by The Nurse

For those who are bored and have 10 minutes to spare

A video I made of our Australia and New Zealand trip while waiting for Lucy to recover from a hangover. For some reason its very bad quality when uploaded.