Little Swingers

Mum and Dad are spending a week or so camping at Hazelwood, so we went up to see them on Sunday, still feeling slightly hung over after the May Ball! A caravan lunch is always popular, but so was the swing in the corner of the field…

The Great Freeze!

Two weeks on from the first snow, it’s pretty much all disappeared now, but we’ve had some fun along the way (though that perhaps depends on your definition of fun!). School stayed open and driving there was a bit of a challenge on a couple of days in particular. Amy and Joel actually had great fun at school on the really snowy days, as staff made sure that everyone who wanted to got outside to throw snowballs, slide down the school lawn, and generally have some fun.

Grandpa and Joel built a whole family of snowmen in the back garden…

Then last weekend we went to Elvaston Castle and had some fun on the frozen fields, sliding (and falling) on the ice and throwing snowballs.

Here we are having a snack at the castle…

Joel’s 4th Birthday

Here’s Joel on his 4th birthday in amongst the presents and wrappings.

 

His favourite present was definitely his Sportacus outfit. Joel loves his Lazy Town hero!!

Family Photos

We had some lovely family photos taken recently. Here’s a taster of some of the photos of our beautiful children.

Amy

Joel

Jude

Joel’s New Bike

OK, so it was quite early to get Joel a birthday present! But hey, he was ready for it and the weather’s a bit better for bike riding in August than October. So, we got it for him and I put it together (yes, really!). As you can tell, he was pretty pleased with it. We also bought a TrailGator so he can tag onto my bike if we go for a longer ride, which seems to be working out pretty well.

Three Peaks By Rail 2008

Well, the weather could have been kinder but in all other respects everything went exactly according to plan as myself and my three team mates took on the challenge of climbing the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales over the course of 36 hours. All of us made it up and down all 3 peaks with no problems (I was convinced I’d get at least one blister!) and the beer on the way back tasted particularly good!

It has to be said, though, that the start was not auspicious. The special charter train arrived at Crewe over an hour and a half late and though we didn’t fall any further behind, it was around midnight before we got to the start of the climb up Snowdon, the train having taken us to Bangor, from where coaches took us the rest of the way to the car park at Pen-y-Pas.

The forecast was apparently for it to be dry but almost as soon as we set off, it started raining, and it rarely relented throughout the 4.5 hours it took to do the walk. Around 200 people took part (50 teams of 4) and we were soon strung out in a long line, trying not to lose our way as we climbed by the light of our head torches.

When we got near the top, the rain kicked in for good measure and we probably wouldn’t have taken this photo were it not for the desire to help promote our main sponsor, who had been very generous in the amount they had put up. As it is, I think it captures the moment perfectly!

Snowdon at 2am!

Back down the mountain for about 4.30am and we had about half an hour of waiting in the cafe before we were back on the coach, then at 6.20 back on the train heading for the Lake District. I grabbed a couple of brief snatches of sleep but no more than 20 minutes in total before, at around 11, we were disgorged at Ravenglass, on the west coast of Cumbria.

The next part of the journey is undoubtedly unique to the Three Peaks by Rail. We got on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway for the journey to Dalegarth, which was consisted of half an hour squeezed into a tiny carriage, before setting off for a 4 or 5 mile walk just to get to the base of the mountain! The weather hadn’t been too bad up to this point but as we started the ascent, it started to rain and continued on and off throughout the climb. Here’s a shot of the walk from Dalegarth, then one of the lovely view from the top (not!).

Walking to Scafell Pike

Almost exactly six hours after we started walking, we were back at the foot of the mountain and happily not having to walk back over to Dalegarth station, as buses came to take us back to Ravenglass and get us on the train.

Dinner was served as quickly as possible and everyone was keen to get to sleep as soon as they could, so sometime after 10 I found myself in my sleeping bag, lying on the floor of the carriage under the table. Between each team of 4 we basically had six seats, two on one side of the aisle, with a small table, and four on the other, with a larger one. So, a couple of us slept on seats and the other two on the floor – good job we were all so knackered!!

What we needed was lots of sleep. What we got was a 3.25am alarm call! As the train rolled on towards Fort William, we were up having breakfast. Then it was a brief coach journey out of Fort William before we began the ascent of Britain’s highest mountain at just after 5am.

I have to say that I enjoyed this climb the most. The route seemed just that bit more interesting, there were hints of some great views before we inevitably went up into the clouds and then, near the summit, there was even some snow to walk over. Just over 6 hours it took us and the most fun on the way down was passing the people just starting out and knowing how far they still had to go! It was hard to believe it wasn’t even noon yet when we got to the bottom.

So, a great experience, and we raised over £7000 for Railway Children, with all teams combined raising over £200,000. Here are a few more photos to finish: a view from half way up Ben Nevis, the finish at the bottom and the team on the train…

On the slopes of Ben Nevis

At the finish

John and me on the train

Mike and Gary on the train