2014 A Year of Adventures - Part 1

Seriously - December again, already?!!  Must be my age but time seems to be going quicker and quicker these days.  Someone suggested time goes faster because it takes us longer to do things as we get older which I'm quite inclined to believe.  Or it could be that time flies because we've been busy tearing around having loads of adventures again - and you're certainly never too old to do that!  So where has 2014 taken us?

January

The New Year saw us taking my mum to Hawes - she's 79 and loves waterfalls but god didn't put many of them next to nice easy viewpoints - however in Hawes you can get fab views and a lovely cuppa too.

January was also a month of storms, high tides, beach cleaning at Walney Island and stunning sunsets on the way home.

Extra high tide at Levens

Beach clean at Walney

An hours work...

Nice treat for all our hard work.

February

February saw the last of the storms.  We got off a lot more lightly than Devon, but for Grange-over-Sands this was pretty impressive!

Next up was our first jolly out in Delores for the season - a week in Derbyshire.  We cycled, we walked, we explored many, many caves and we ate a LOT of Bakewell puddings. :-)

Cycling calories...

Central Bakewell

Heights of Abraham

Monsal Head

Speedwell Cavern

March

The first thing we did in March was go to Glasgow so I could audition for a role in the Commonwealth Games.  We'd never been to the city before and had a fabulous time exploring.  Who knew then where it would all lead..?

Howgills looking lovely from the train.

The amazing Waterside Museum

Clyde by night

And then there was one of the most spectacular inversions.  Just me, him and a couple of skylarks above the clouds in the sunshine on Red Screes for the whole day.  Bliss!

Then after a quick pause to enjoy a Windermere Cruise (half price for local residents, very nice!) I did my bit for Cancer Research.  While the rest of the world was taking #barefacedselfies I decided to don full make-up and a tiara and climb Hampsfell.  Looked bonkers but raised over £100.

My usual look...

Hampsfell in Heels

April

Started off fairly sanely in the Langdales with a friend, and ended with us in Kielder. climbing stuff and cycling lots.

Ever get the feeling you're being watched..?

Kielder dawn

Next stop, the Eiger

Art around Kielder

Then, before we'd barely had chance to draw breath, we were off again - to Land's End - for hiking and surfing and and inordinate number of cream teas - oh and we took a zipwire right over the Eden Project.

Knightshayes - the best NT property we've been to yet.

May

First there was Ingleborough, then there was Malham and the amazing Goredale Scar and then there was the tree top trek at Brockhole with the nephews. 

Just love the views from Ingleborough

First time to Malham. Won't be the last.

Goredale Scar took my breath away completely.

Yeah, I wasn't scared at all...

Then it was off to a Camping and Caravanning Club event in Scarborough and a chance to interview the lovely Julia Bradbury before heading off on a walk along the glorious Yorkshire coast.  We finished off with a visit to Bempton Cliffs to catch up on our seabirds.

Julia is the very good looking one on the left...

One of my favourite walks to date.

Gannets.  Lots and lots of Gannets...

June

June started with an interview on the BBC Breakfast sofa all about volunteering.  Not sure what was scariest - the TV cameras or having to wear make up.

June is my birthday month and this year I'd set my heart on seeing the puffins and the terns on the Farne Islands - I wasn't disappointed!

Incoming!

The puffins were MUCH better behaved - and even bought lunch!

Then I stormed Bamburgh Castle - then we got locked in - honest!

On the way home we stopped to explore Corbridge Roman town - utterly stunning!

And then spent a wonderful weekend at Greystoke with me learning to paint while Steve made a longbow.

Da di da di da da daaaa, da di da di daaa da  (Archers - geddit?  :-)  )

Not bad for six months eh?  If you want to see some truly SUPERB pics of our adventures then check out Steve's blog here - and he said he'd given me all his good shots...

I'll do part 2 next week - still loads of adventures and a few surprises to go!

(Here you go - Part 2!)

Surf far, surf good...

Work took me down to Exeter and an over developed sense of adventure took us on to Sennen Cove.  It's an awfully long drive from Cumbria but the weather was stunning with the twinkling blue skies and stunning sandy beaches evoking idyllic childhood memories of old family holidays.

Steve on approach to Sennen Cove

Having gotten used to the tidal extremes of Morecambe Bay it seemed odd that the tide didn't really seem to go out here but that just meant I didn't have to walk too far for a paddle.  Well, when I say paddle I mean "roll up your jeans, we can paddle around those rocks without having to go back to the cliff path honest - oh well never mind I'm sure they'll dry soon"

Views from the cliff path to Lands End

Fuelled by an unseemly number of pasties and cream teas we headed for Lands End - the views are spectacular but the cliffs are suffering from a combined attack from tourist and mother nature (here's a pic from last winter's storms in case you missed them...) but they're made of tough stuff so I'm sure they'll survive!

Tough cliffs

If you're hiking in Cornwall be prepared for a challenge if you head inland.  The coastal path is magnificent but the interior paths are blocked, overgrown and largely unsignposted.  We gave up trying to find the paths halfway through our planned walk from Sennen to the Minack Theatre and stuck to the roads instead but regardless of the challenges the views were worth it.  Rowena Cade was a driven, and clearly very fit, woman who planned, built and financed the theatre during the course of her lifetime - my only regret is that I've never seen a show there.  One day...

Minack Theatre

Our last mission in Cornwall was to get up close & personal with the waves so we booked a session with Sennen Surfing Centre - they had their work cut out for them as I have a lousy sense of balance, even when there's no gin involved - but we had a fantastic time and I hummed the Hawaii Five-O theme tune throughout.  If you're ever down there look them up and give it a go - you'll definitely get your money's worth!

Da da da da daaa da, da da da da daaa....

Plundering the tourist leaflets at the campsite Steve decided that the most sensible thing to do en route to our next stop was to whiz along England's longest zipwire which flies high above the Eden Project - one of those "it seemed like a great idea at the time" moments.

The faces of fear...

It wasn't nearly as fast or scary as we expected but that could be because we're used to being strapped into tight harnesses - as a result of our visits to the Calvert Trust I hasten to add...  It was a great experience though and definitely worth a whiz if you're visiting the Eden Project.