On Saturday Neil and I got up at 5am and headed to Wales to meet Alex and watch some rally at the Wyedean Forest Rally. It was about a 2 hr drive in the M5 but we got there nice and early and saw all the cars run through on the first stage. The event was much more professional than the previous Tempest Rallies I’ve been too but there wasn’t too many risk takers so not a lot happened on the day. The highlight was the above video where a Metro 6R4 took out a fence and got stuck in a ditch – Neil ran off to help and I filmed the rescue.

Andy Burton and his famous Peugeot Cosworth

Number 211 - pink poker-dots

Alex said the rally was amazing in 3D!

Neil bleeds orange and blue in his 2 Sign-Up.to tees

Overall a great day and my first time to Wales (admittedly not very far in) however next time I’ll heed Neil’s advise and actually wear two pairs of socks because it was absolutely freezing in the Forest, in fact I’ll just double everything I wear next time.

Our hotel for the trip - Lake House

As Neil said we packed up yesterday and headed off to The Lake District. Emily and I have been quite ill over Christmas (caught the flu from work) so it’s good to get out of the house and go exploring. We had a good drive up with not much traffic and ‘True Lies’ on in the car. I didn’t get a photo but seeing my first Northerner driving his car with a crash helmet on was definitely a highlight. We are staying 4 nights in a place called the Lake House, the rooms are a decent size and there’s free WiFi so Neil and I are pretty happy. For the first night we put in some ale at a local free house and enjoyed a nice meal at a little place called Stampers.

The following day we geared up and walked from Skelwith Bridge to Elterwater in the snow and frozen over sheep paddocks. This would give me a chance to try the new walking poles Neil and Di bought me for Christmas and stomp around in some snow.

Showing off my new walking poles

I was actually pretty worried about slipping in at this point

Diane - Photographer Extraordinaire

Too many mince pies to cross this

One of the fantastic icy lakes

Once at Elterwater we had lunch at the locally renowned Britannia Inn and then made our way back to the car at Skelwith Bridge. For the following few hours we drove around The Lake District trying to get to Wasdale Head, however all the access roads were frozen over and pretty dangerous, so we headed back.

 

Mad Hatters - Italian restaurant on the 2nd night

On the second day we were up early again and off to climb Mt Hellvellyn. We didn’t have all the right gear on with the walking poles breaking but the new Camelbak from Neil and Di also got me for Christmas was nice. Given Em was still feeling under the weather I’m impressed we made it up at all but I think at the half way point we had to give in. The snow, wind and incline was rapidly increasing and with little left to hold on to it was certainly time to turn around. A great suggestion from Neil and now I really want to come back again and give it another go, perhaps without as much snow (or just more climbing gear).

Em looking at how far we've come

The view from halfway up Mt Hellvellyn

Neil in a bit of a snow storm

Once we made it back down Mt Hellvellyn we drove into Keswick for some lunch (and tea). Whilst wandering around the outdoor stores looking for crampons we found a good deal on walking sticks so I replaced my newly broken ones and Em and Di also picked up a pair.

NYE count down in Keswick

You're a goose!

That night we went back to the free house for a couple more ales and a whiskey before heading over to the ‘China Cottage’ for some extremely average Chinese dinner. The  next day we decided to go for another walk and try out new walking poles.

An old slate mine cave

Keeping up my fluids with the new Camelbak Neil & Di got me for Xmas

Di found another Robin that likes ginger biscuits

A little waterfall at the end of our walk

After our walk we drove over to Bowness-On-Windermere for a pub lunch and a little shopping. Another quaint little Lakes village with slate buildings and little boutique shops.

With this being our last night we went to the award winning ‘Log House Restaurant‘ for a fantastic 3 course meal and lovely wine.

Finally on Thursday we got up nice and early, had breakfast, paid our bill and headed home before light. The roads were fantastic and Neil got us back to Woking by 12:15, plently of time for some rest before the Mukerji’s big NYE party that night.

A fantastic trip and enjoyable way to spend the Christmas break, I can’t wait to go back.

_B

About a month ago now I went to Paris for the weekend with Emily, her sister and her Mum as Emily’s Mum was flying out of Paris back to Australia.

Although I’d been to Paris before it was nice to be back in Autumn when it was so damn cold. This time we got to do more exploring and managed to get up the Eiffel tower as it was fogged out last time.

After tracking our way to the hotel we found out that Emily had made up the address. So I used my trusty iPhone to find the actual hotel and GPS navigated our way there. That day we ventured out to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) which was amazing inside and out and then got a little lost (again) on the way back to the hotel. The first night we were booked into the Moulin Rouge and I must say it was fantastic and not *just* because of the topless dancers.

On the second day we went to the Eiffel tower and decided to walk to the second floor than take the lift, this wasn’t too bad but it was 701 steps altogether. The view from the top was amazing and I’m really glad we did it, the crowds however got a little much so we didn’t stick around up there too long.

On the last night we had a really nice dinner at a small café next door to the very place I spent New Year’s Eve last year. Fantastic service, very reasonably priced (for Paris) and I finally got to try escargot.

After dinner we walked back through the main street in Paris, the Champs-Élysées. This is where I found a mega Nespresso store (my new coffee machine).

On the last day it ended up pouring down rain which was fine as we were going to spend the day shopping. Unfortunately Paris closes down on Sunday’s and the shopping districts become homeless motels so we changed our Eurostar tickets and went home early.

It was good to see Emily’s Mum off back to Australia and finally use our free Eurostar tickets.

Where to next?

_B

After our night of absolute debauchery we rose to “wake up you bunch of fuck heads” in a thick German accent and beer cans being tossed at our tents. It would seem one of us had taught a rather large German these phrase the night before.
For those of us that didn’t wake up it was certainly inevitable once the Swiss started repeatedly banging on the race course armco with two hammers. It was like someone smashing saucepans together inside your head!

Once moving we all slowly made our way down to get some curry wurst for breakfast, this was perhaps one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Once back most of us got some more sleep and then finally we decided to make our way up to the festival, this is of course why we had crossed 5 Countries to get here.

After sussing out the grounds Neil, the Ben’s and I headed back to the camp for some rest while the others rocked on. After semi-recovering and putting on more clothes we ventured back for the night but not without finding ourselves a fantastic jungle shortcut.

The following day we were getting back on track however it absolutely bucketed down during the night and didnt stop until the early afternoon. So after an unsuccessful attempt at a gas burner breakfast we packed up and headed for town to look for more supplies and a hot meal. After ages in a local store laughing at all things German (and buying more sleeping bags and wet weather gear) we ventured over to Neil’s favourite hotel the ‘On-Road Cafe’ for a meal. A few beers, a massive schnitzel and a much needed toilet break we were ready to leave however not before Neil and I organised ourselves the next 2 nights and the rest of the guys the last night in their lovely warm and dry establishment.

That night we were all charged up again and made our way over to the festival (via our shortcut) but not without first getting a photo with some of our German friends.

The Gang

The shortcut

This evening we saw Machine “Fucking” Head and got down and dirty in the mosh pits for The Prodigy and Slipknot. After thank Neil and I snuck away and headed back to our warm hotel.
Once we got there I had a shower and meet Neil downstairs where a shot (of some Dutch drink) and a cold beer were waiting, it was fantastic. I think we sat downstairs talking to the owner and his wife until almost 2am again getting quite drunk.

Machine "Fucking" Head

Save on smoke machines, have your festival in the clouds

Slipknot tried warming things up

The On-Road Cafe

On the last day we spent the day at the hotel/cafe drinking and then went out for a fantastic steak on a stone, a local dish apparently. The first place we went to was closed because they were worried about the drunken festival goer coming in however the Taxi driver knew another place that served the dish so we all piled back in the cab and went there.

Steak on a Stone

Dig in

After walking back to the hotel (to burn off some of that protein) we pretty much settled in and decided to watch the last day of the festival on MTV in the warm bar. All except the determined Pete who layered up and set out on his own.

The last day we said our good byes and high tailed it to the French coast, all in all a fantastic trip, one I’ll never forget.

_B