A History Lesson

What the Lakes didn't offer in terms of great weather and dry rock. it made up for in abundance with history.

Seeing a plaque by the side of the narrow, winding road we were on, we pulled up to discover a Roman fort ...


Apparently this place used to be home for up to 500 soldiers, and had a granary, offices and a fancy home for the bigwigs. It was surrounded by a stone wall (with four gateways, and a tower on each corner), and just outside it - there was a bathhouse! Complete with sauna, too.

And then later in the day (after our soaking, as discussed in Optimism), we came across a variety of stone circles. Why did they need several of them, all so close to each other?!

Although she's posing here, Jen did let the team down, as she could not be convinced to dance around them naked.

Optimism

Def: Carrying two ropes and a full trad rack, with the aim of climbing at a crag 6km away with 600m in elevation to gain, when you're in the Lakes, the weather is "changeable" and it's already after lunch ...

Shortly after this photo was taken, the heavens opened and the wind became a gale. We were soon soaked.

The wind and rain didn't last long, but by the time it stopped, our desire to keep hiking uphill to find these climbs had somewhat diminished.

Lighthouse Arete

The view from the top

Rappelling down

First pitch, traversing out

Green but not slippery!

Up we come ...

A day at Holyhead Mountain

It had rained in the morning, so we decided against a sea cliff - and there was a crag on the nearby mountain with a selection of fun (and easily accessible and escapeable!) things to climb. This was the view - looking out over the ocean.

Jen is still learning to lead on trad (after how many years?!), but Mark had placed the gear on this route, so she lead it whilst placing a few more bits of her own. A little scary, but Jen got to the top in the end.

Jen then dramatically dropped the grade and lead another route ... placing the gear herself (and lots and lots of it - just for practice, of course!). No dramas there - maybe trad leading isn't as scary as she thought?

Evening was approaching, but there was time for one more ... Mark's lead this time. And a great route, too!

Just in time for sunset from the top.

Bugger!

OK, so our trip to the UK didn't exactly get off to the best start.

As we pay for roadside assistance insurance for all of Europe (ANWB), we thought we'd just make a quick phone call and some lovely person would come along and fix it for us. We called and called and called again. We were promised that someone was on their way and would be there soon.

We waited so long that we eventually decided to fix it ourselves.

We now know how to change one of Fred's tyres. And we've cancelled our roadside assistance insurance!

Waiting

So we've done the "trial run" to Chamonix for a few weeks.

It was so great that we didn't want to go back home! Particularly not when this also meant having to finish up work (booo!) and pack up an apartment. Summer time was ending and the storm clouds were moving in.

It's not all doom and gloom and boxes, however. We've broken up this time with the wedding of good friends (yay!), a trip to Switzerland for Jen (yay!), a trip to Luxembourg for Mark (yay!) and so on. There's also the regular fun stuff, like climbing at the gym, catching up with mates over a biertje or three and enjoying our last days by the canals.

We'll be on the road again soon!

Snow Camping

We did a couple of snow camps this trip. We were the first on the Italian side in a while to really dig in, building a pretty spectacular snow wall (whilst all the other tent-dwellers looked on enviously before trying to replicate).

We don't have a great photo of it, but when we returned back to the tent at the end of the day, our straight, snow-brick walls had become Gaudi-esque - curving in towards the tent, due to a combination of a hot sun and strong winds, but thankfully not caving in!

Note the kitchen area, to the left.




And for the other on the Aiguille du Midi side, we merely needed to borrow a spade from one of the many other climbers there and dig out someone's old placement. We were spoiled for choice, really, and went for a hole with walls higher than the sides of the ten - we couldn't see the tent from a distance - that also had space for the "kitchen", of course!

We're not entirely sure whether you're "allowed" to pitch tents above the snow line in the Mt Blanc range - apparently you're meant to take your tent down during the day, and there is of course the issue of waste.

But the reality is that everyone camps up there, leaving their stuff in their tent whilst they climb, and considerate climbers sneak into the huts' loos when necessary. (Wardens of the huts may see this differently, but in the interests of keeping the glacier poo-free - I say: bugger the wardens, keep using their facilities and support the huts when finances allow!)

And in good weather, it's a lot quieter and cozier than a hut - with a much better chance of a good night's sleep!