top of england

i don't know what's happening to me with this new year, but i'm getting too active for my own good.

val challenged sofian, harriet and i to a slightly ambitious hike on saturday to the top of sca fell pike in the lake district, a whole 978 metres. we got geared up quite early in the morning (val was kind enough to lend me some hiking shoes) and we set off with a packed lunch. it was quite an easy climb actually as most of the way was constructed kind of like stepping stones. there were a few dodgy moments when we had to cross a little waterfall (i had memories of falling into meshaw falls at the french river some years back), but the really challenge started to come as we got high enough that snow started to appear and we found ourselves in the clouds! but we made it up, ate a sandwich in the freezing cold and then slide back down. it was a five hour hike but we definitely felt like we'd *done* something with our weekend.

we went to one of the local pubs that night for dinner and then carried on to the next one where we made the mistake/good move of sitting in front of the fire. very toasty and warm, but also made us extremely sleepy. it was a great weekend and as always nice to spend time with val, sofian and harriet.








on our way up















sofian makin' sure he speaks no evil






















further up














at the top...you'd think we'd done something exceptional the way this looks. it was a completely different world up there...like something out of narnia.