A misty climb of the Old Man of Coniston

The Old Man of Coniston is one of the classic, beautiful walks in the Lake District. You would be able to see this from the photos if the weather hadn't been so bad...

The route from Coniston goes up past a slate mine, large parts of which are now derelict.

Our best hike yet - Great Gable

Today we hiked the GRRRRRREAT GABLE. We started out at the slate mine in Honister Pass, and raced directly up a steep slope up 1000 feet straight away. Quite a killer, but the views at the top were incredible. Then up by Grey Knotts and Brandreth, over Green Gable, down into the appropriately named Windy Gap. The next hike up to our final summit was the Great Gable, which stood at 3,000 feet with its wonderful views over the entire area, most especially over Wasdale and out to the Irish Sea. It was quite a scramble up some really rocky terrain, and Wendy was feeling so proud of herself until she met a 70 year old man coming off the mountain with a walking stick. Rob, in an effort to make her feel better, convinced her that there was actually a subway stop around the east side of the mountain which was surely from where he emerged. Wendy's new boots crapped out on her again and she had to climb down in sneakers which actually shot numbing sensations into her thumbs. Don't ask. Rob, as always, didn't break a sweat and told Wendy that because she finished this one in good time he was taking her to the next level on the following hike, which should be tomorrow if she has any feeling in her legs when she wakes up. All in all an amazing day, our best yet! Oh, and we took some great pics so if you want to see them blown up, just click on the photo itself.

Some videos to keep you entertained as the days get shorter

First up is the drive down the fell roads to Coal Yeat Cottage where we live. It is really beautiful. Watch it RIGHT HERE!

Secondly we wish to issue a rebuttal to all those (and you know who you are) who insisted we would never cook for ourselves and that we would order take-away or go out to restaurants instead. View our video HERE, and you might pick up a few tips. (Having said all that we did stumble across an awesome Michelin one star restaurant called L'Enclume just around the corner in the beautiful village of Cartmel a few days ago and it was wonderful).

Finally - and this is the pick of the bunch - here is Chris Sharma climbing a boulder problem in Arkansas called Witness the Fitness. This is the reason we should all get our fat asses to the gym and hit the local crag. Obviously this is nothing to do with us but I found it while I was uploading the other videos to youtube.

We are back in the Lake District and it is just so beautiful here

Wendy loves owls

Its amazing what you find out when you spend time together. I never knew she was so crazy about owls. Well she is. Which I found out when we went to the Owl Centre at Muncaster.

From Wendy - Come on! They are cutest freaking birds!!! With their little heads that spin around and their big eyes that make them look so wise and perky. And the way they hunt and can spot a rodent 5 feet under the snow from 30 feet in the air. How can you not love them! So this was such a treat for me, you have no idea. There were 45 different species of owls in the centre. And then you could meet them but we didn't have time so I am dragging Rob back to the Owl Centre again which i am sure he is very excited about. I need to meet the birds...

A visit to Muncaster Castle

http://www.muncaster.co.uk/

Rob's mum came to visit us for the weekend so we decided to take her to see Muncaster castle which is approximately 30 minutes away from our place. It had 77 acres of gardens that were unbelievable. The castle itself was from the 14th century and was built on top of some old Roman ruins. It was beautiful inside but freaking cold! Wendy had on two hoods and a scarf up over her nose like she was going to rob the place. She doesn't seem to be used to the weather quite yet...

It's been a while since we last posted an update...

so we feel a bit bad about that. We have been super busy running all over the place. Last Friday (21st sept) we went south for all sorts of fun and games. We spent a night in Warwick which is about as middle-England as you can get and surprisingly beautiful. The next day we went on down to Oxford to meet friends and a trip down memory lane. We stayed in student accomodation in Magdalen (Rob's college) which was a little primitive. Joji came down from London and Jonathan from New York and we all had fun. The highlight was probably a visit to Malmaison, a restaurant and hotel in the old prison. We visited their old haunts like Freud's, The Turf Tavern, Raoul's and the King's Arms where the majority of their education took place. We also visited Modern Art Oxford to see Stella Vine who we liked.

We then headed up to London for a few days for the Sylvain Tremblay's opening at Opera Gallery which was enormous fun - and Wendy despite not working sold a piece. We were very happy to head backt ot he peace of the Lake District after this hectic time.