The Lake District - SCAFELL PIKE

Last weekend 10 of us, most of who were part of last October's Snowdonia crew, went to the Lake District. As you might have guessed, this trip, like Snowdonia, was no walk in the park (excuse the pun), rather an adventure-filled weekend and certainly a test for my rather unfit and out of shape body. Although my limbs are still pretty achy I can happily say that not only did I reach the summit of England's highest peak, I also had a go at rock climbing! I apologise for the picture overload but the Lakes were seriously beautiful, it was hard to just pick out a few. I'd not really seen anything like the spectacular peaks and lakes before, so I veered between starring at the scenery for minutes at a time trying to take it all in and then remembering I had a camera and getting incredibly click-happy. It's proper weird being back amongst the built-up streets of London, I feel like it was another world, or at least a different country.

Our home for for the weekend was a massive cottage in the tiny village of Ennerdale on the north west-ish side of the park. We arrived on the Friday night, met the neighbours (a couple of horses), went for a pint in the local pub (our next but one neighbours) and then cooked up a big old BBQ. BBC weather had informed me that Friday was going to have the clearest skies so, thanks to one of the group who brought his telescope, we did a bit of star-gazing. The night sky in Cumbria is nothing like the pathetic excuse for a night sky we get in London - it was amazing. So amazing in fact that we actually got to see three of the planets - Mars and Jupiter which to be fair looked similar to stars, but Saturn was clearly identifiable! I mean I actually saw Saturn - rings and all!!! Ever since I was little, I've always been interested in space. I feel like I've done my seven-year-old-self proud.

The next morning it was time to hit the hills. The group had only one fell in its sights: Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain which stands 978 m (3209 ft) above sea level. As a novice mountain walker I'd say it was pretty tough going thanks to the consistent incline. However, unlike Snowdon, there was no scrambling to the top (thank god!) and we were all rewarded with the most fantastic views on the way to and at the summit. I took about 2 and a half hours to reach the top, a good half an hour after some of the group, but once we'd all arrived we got some pretty good pictures ^. Coming down was a bit harsh on the knees and thanks to the glorious weather I got rather sunburnt. Showers, a pub dinner, plenty of booze, games of beer pong, table tennis and mafia were our rewards :) As with Snowdon, I'm glad I climbed Scafell Pike but I certainly won't be doing it again.

Still to come: Ennerdale water and rock climbing!