Just us 2 girls, adventuring off to another country... 

We packed up and left Keswick at 6am Friday Morning, drove 6 hours to London, stopping in at Stratford-Upon-Avon for some tea and cake. Caught our 7 hour flight into Boston and arrived home in Maine around Mid-night. 

Honister via Ferrata "Xtreme" is located at the head of Honister Pass in the centre of the Lake District. The only still active slate mine in the UK, It produces world famous Westmorland Green Slate, a beautiful, functional 450 million year old material that has been extracted there for centuries. 
Using the original Miners track up the steep outer incline of Fleetwith Pike, the addition of a continuous cable made climbing this magnificent Lake District Mountain achievable. The course includes edge exposure, vertical climbs, cliff edge ladders, plus a Burma Bridge & Cargo Net crossing. The climb took about 2 hours to complete and was an experience of a life time!

I editted the 2 hours of GoPro helmet-mounted video into 4 abreviated sections:
The Ascent, The Rock Crawl, Wires and Ropes and the Last Bit.
​Enjoy!
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It was everything I wanted in a village.

Lydia and I packed up early and headed west for salt water. Finding St. Bees lighthouse was a bit of a trick... it sits within a working cattle farm complete with sloppy spring mud and a questionable parking arrangement. St bees towers above sheer cliffs dropping into the Irish Sea.
From there we headed strait into the mountains, towards Buttermere. A quaint little village with a perfect British cafe. Water falls everywhere!

The ascent up Barf was strait up and wet. The challenge was welcomed and we scurried up the rock faced waterfalls without reservation.

We started our day at Castlerigg Stone Circle just outside of Keswick. The weather was cold and sleeting but it was majestic! From there we headed down A5091 to Caudale Moor Slate Mine. We hiked our way up through a Sheep pasture with an inch of snow covering the slippery rocks and grass. Lydia had to help me cross a roaring stream as I was sure it was too slippery for me to jump. We climbed a thousand feet of elevation in 1 mile! Strait up! The mine was cool, great views, but it would have been better without the slippery stones. The view for the hike down was awesome with the half snow covered mountains.
Windermere is both a cute little village and a Lake. The Village was full of shops and people. I couldn’t believe there was a line of people waiting for boat tours of the Lake. It’s was too cold for me to even consider it! I made friends with a bunch of Swans and Doves and ducks.... the birds were accustomed to getting hand outs and flow right up on my arm to get some oaks. We also saw Owls ‘on display’ from a rescue place. I loved seeing the birds, it made Lydia uneasy. We than continued driving south around the southern end of Windermere and to Claife Folly for another look at the Lake.
Our last stop of the day was at Ashness Bridge, a narrow “I can’t believe this is a road” stone arched bridge surrounded by towering mountains and a view of Keswick. We hiked up a little knoll to the best view of the day. The sun was shining, the green moss covering the rocks and trees glowed with life. It was the perfect end to our day!

PS no where did we find St Patrick’s Day. It is definitely not a holiday here.

Feet up next to the fire, drinking tea, listening to the rain drive on the windows. Everything feels very British

Robin Hoods Bay, over the North York Moor and into Keswick. We turned the corner into the town and the first thing spotted was not one, but 2 Bernese Mountain Dogs! Lydia called it fate, it was obvious and perfect.
We had a run around with the keys but more on that later...

London was a great place to visit but we were excited to get into the country. We picked up a little black Hydni something from 2 handsome, gentlemanly, Enterprise men in suites and fancy shoes. We drove through a tunnel that we don’t know how to pay for...
The 4 hour drive went smooth getting into York around 5pm. We called ahead and got two twin beds on the third floor of a small restaurant around the corner from the York Minster. The breakfast here sounds amazing! and it’s included 😁
We grabbed a bite at The Slug and the Lettuce and a brisk moonlite walk around the city.
York appears to be a city with a long history of death, brutal deaths. Tomorrow we tour...