AND THEN THERE WAS SNOW!! ... oh it meeellted =[

I’ve not blogged for a while … partially due to the face that I can’t be bothered because I’m too busy having fun (and studying) in CANADA!!

What is this fun Emma is talking about you ask? Well … since I last blogged, Me, Steve, Chris and a few others managed to make it to Mount Neom for a very cold few climbs, we stopped of at MEC on the way and witnessed a car chase … so far everything’s normal.

We managed to organize secret Santa on our floor and everyone has had an interesting time getting to the mall in amidst the bus strike. We had secret Santa the other night … it was like Christmas morning. Alisha got me loads of stuff to make a scrap book with and a Christmas hat and loads of other stuff =]

Went to see Shauna in the ‘Rejoice’ concert in the cathedral down town, me and Lizzie walked and took a few pics on the way. Got a ride back with Karim and Abtin and the others where we discovered how funny it was that I called the trunk the boot!!

I certainly have the nickname as ‘Manchester’ in deli, me and Shauna had dinner in the café with a few people who got a lot of fun out of asking me to pronounce words … it was funny!! I can’t go anywhere without people yelling ‘Hey … Manchester’!! It’s so funny; we all have a great laugh. Spent the other Sunday night when I should have been at karaoke, in the formal lounge as deli was having a talent show … a few hours of watching and listening to some amazing people with amazing musical abilities went along way into relaxing everyone for the up coming exams!!! On the other hand … playing ‘GotYA!!’ seems to get everyone a bit too worked up at times. ‘GotYA’ is a game where most people in residence (soooo about 100 people in my building) all get a picture of someone to ‘get’ we get given a sock to catch people with and the aim is to hunt down that person … people actually camped outside people’s rooms and followed people to class … scary stuff!!

I’ve been spending a few last times with all the international students who are leaving at the end of this semester at the Spoke, and I’ve reeeeally developed a liking for root beer!!

Finals have started as of today, instead of spenging all my time in the Dendro lab underground … I’m in Taylor library mostly now … unless me and Brittany are having an ‘OC night!’ Me and Brittany went downtown to Jim Bob’s last Friday, we met Emily and Emily and their boyfriends there and met loads of other people and got a lot of guys to buy us drinks … me and Brittany are a good team! Anyhow, I left my purple cardigan there that night which I’m gutted about, and Emily’s boyfriend has my camera which I want to take pictures of the snow!!! Yes SNOWWW!! And just campus in general as it’s all Christmassy!! Even Einstein’s café in Taylor library is all decorated and the coffee tastes better I’m sure!

Yeah … it’s snowed a few times and one night, the night of my weather and climate final it was soooo snowy and icy and blummin' fffreezing!!! That was an interesting exam, I and Keith were totally panicking outside the room and then Brennan and Jess arrived and were like …..’Yerrr its going to be fin’ … fun times. Not much more to say, as for the last few weeks everyone has just been studying. I’m sure ill have many interesting things to write about after Christmas!! Whoop!!

The last few days have been fairly quite with people finishing exams and escaping back home. Although I think Morgan left because I threatened to beat him up if he didn’t recycle … ‘I DO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND KKKKARRRATEEEE!!!’ much to Andrew’s amusement.

Had a bit of a blow and I’m hoping for a bit of a Christmas miracle as, as I write this, mum, dad and Vicky are in a hotel in Bristol trying to get a flight to Toronto as there origional flight got canceled … grrr. So I went for a wonder around campus and had a moan about being left in rez with TMZ who has an exam tomorrow. I hope they get here …

KA-BOOM, FLIP-CUP, MEDWAY AND KARAOKE!!

Ok so … I did have a blog written for the past few weeks, however due to my laptop blowing up … (not a total ka-BOOM number, but I swear smoke came out of the hard drive…)

Met up with a few climbers in the Spoke bar on campus and decided to checkout the Ontario rock on the Niagara escarpment the following Saturday. I slept for most of the journey there, but we stopped off at Darren’s house on the way, which was awesome! All the houses in the Ontario back country are in the woods and totally in a different world! We met his dad and his mum had baked us cookies!! We set up a few top ropes to get warmed up as we were all feeling a bit rusty. The problem was, that the latest guide book is from the 80’s so where we were told ‘rock in great condition!’ we were met with uber greasy, polished, crumbling rock … not good at 30ft elevation! Anyhow, me and Darren actually got a really good climb (5.10) done in the afternoon, which involved some interesting chinmeying and a super flat but well pocketed wall which made the climb soooo satisfying. There was actually a climb we didn’t get around to called ‘quick sex session – short, but satisfying!’ … hmm. A great time was had by all and the weather managed to hold off for the most part of the day!! Must do again soon =]

Been busy with assignments, labs and mid-terms mostly the last two weeks, I’ve never worked so hard in my life, but its well worth it. I’ve spent many hours in the Weldon and the Taylor library with my coffee mug learning well into the night … it’s not so bad with a café on every corner of the building!

Halloween was an interesting night … partly because my laptop blew up so I spent most of the night in the library trying madly (my fingers hurt after =[) I got back to rez at some point, put on my ‘scary climber costume’ and had a laugh with my floor mates before crashing in Kerrie and Shauna’s room to watch a film.

Spent this weekend shopping for operation Christmas child with Lizzie and Carlen, and moseying around downtown London, only to get back to people playing violins and guitars in the corridor … which quickly turned into a game of super flip-cup … where we actually got caught... oops.

Went back to Medway creek with Vivian this afternoon to do some more field work … was an interesting trip especially as we didn’t have a clue where we were going, lucky I managed to lead us down the stream, through about 300m of wilderness and bushes, across a river … and to our site. We actually got a lot of work done, although emerging at the back of school from the woods a few hours later covered in scratches would lead people to think we had been attacked by bears!

Im just off to Karaoke downtown with Jakob and Thomas now!!

LAKE HURON & ALGONQUIN CANOEING!!!

Since this is the first weekend I’m actually staying on campus, ive decided to update my blog ... and explain what ive been doing all the weekends previous to this when ive not been here!! Ok so, the other weekend a bunch of us from the outdoors club went to the Pinery, a national park on Lake Huron, we just spent the whole time exploring, cooking pancakes, and downing copious amounts of maple syrup! Went down to the beach at night and Pil and Francesca went for a swim in the cccollld dark water! We walked nearly down to Grand Bend one day and then warmed up by the fire at night making smoors and singing oasis ... oh its a good life =]

Last weekend we made the long trip up to Algonquin national park near Québec border. The drive up was interesting enough with lost of Tim Horton’s stops for Kevin to stay awake whilst driving. We stopped off at Lake Simcoe and the way and I, Pil, Carl and Kevin took a few snaps before jumping back in the car and carrying on up North. Arrived at about 1am (atleast our tents were up by then!) and crashed straight away. Apparently i tried to get out the tent in the middle of the night whilst talking rubbish ... thank goodness Pil stopped me or i would have gone for an involuntary swim most likely!! Damn my sleepwalking!

Anyhow, the next morning, we discovered that Frank, who had been in charge of food for our group had decided not to make an appearance ... thankfully Matt had got our food (even though it was the worst combination of food and we had an interesting time making meals out of the 45minuet cooking time rice, cucumber and some kind of meat paste ...) after much messing around, we got our canoes and paddles and set off into the wilderness!! The first night was a bit of a survival epic, our group having being split up in an unfortunate set of circumstances, its was getting dark and the wind was picking up ... a full blown storm commoth!! We pulled into the land and overturned our canoes to the others could see them (they were white) when they came in. We set to work to getting tents up and a fire started as the wind and rain picked up. I sent people off to get firewood while i found my tinder and me and Shannon got to work on the fire. Anyhow ... a while later we were all safe in our tents after a slightly unnerving night ... we had pitched out tents in the woods away from the lake for some shelter ... but now were closer to any bears .... Oops ... we hung food in trees anyhow and tried to sleep through the storm.

The next day was somewhat more successful, we covered a large distance and were really starting to work as a team and get into a fast routine when we got the each portage ... i have to say, me Shannon and Louise did an ace job of taking turns of carrying the canoe on our backs for as long as 1.6km at times through the backcountry ... we girls are tough! We actually nnnnearly saw a moose ... Reggie and the others in front yelled ‘MOOOOOSE!’ so it ran away lol. Spent the second night somewhat warmer and dryer, however had quite a job crossing the last lake as the winds were quite horrendous and waves were coming into the canoe! We tried so hard to keep ourselves at an angle to the waves so as not to capsize and eventually with allot of team effort from both canoes in GROUP OOOONEEE!!! We made it =] had allot of fun cooking out 45min rice and cucumber and cheese (because that’s the silly food we got given as out group shopper was ill) then moves quickly to roasting marshmallows and being smoked to death when silly people put damp foliage on the fire ... no names here.

Last day!!! Got out of camp after a few brave soles decided to brave the cold and go for a dip, and came across another group who had been stranded on an island by the storm and the worry of not finishing the route if they went further so we took the word they needed rescuing. A good few looooong hours later we were on the way home and after stopping off at a nice pastry shop and Tim Horton’s a little later ... we were pretty shattered, loooooong weekend =] very satisfying though =]

This week ive spent many hours with Emma, Vivian and the others in the glaciology lab modelling glaciers ... which is actually not as fun as it sounds!! Been to karate with Thomas and Jacob, and met up with a few new climbing busied in the Spoke bar on campus (its huuuuuuuuuge)!! Just off to meat up with a few friends for a mean and a rave after then off to examine the Ontario rock outcrops tomorrow ... oh ... and climb them of course lol. All for now fokes =] x

NIAGARA FALLS, TORONTO ... PARTYING =]

In the last few weeks I’ve spent many hours underground buried under areal photographs of glaciers across the world ... in other words ... ive been in heaven Haha!! My glaciology proff is English! He’s pretty cool and I, Anne-Katrina and Vivian are really enjoying the course. Ive been a busy bee joining every club but the knitting club this week!! Joined the Outdoors club, the climbing club, the karate club and EnviroWestern (which ive applied to be a project leader for much to the delight of the exec) had two training sessions for karate so far, Thomas and Jacob have joined two, we haven’t done much yet, just doing basic which is fine by me, its a good recap. Went out in a limazine to a club that Marco does some promoting for on Thursday night, turned out to be a pretty good night. We got in fairly early at about 12:30 as we had a floor party from about 8:30ish then went out early. Met so many people in the last few weeks it’s like living in a big family here!

The work load is starting to kick in though, but i kind of looking forward to getting to learning done. Me and lizzie have been church hopping for the last few weeks. We made some new friends last week when we were all stranded at the bus stop and got a lift there and back and having an explores of random people’s houses on the way back who keep shopping carts in the back garden!! Coincidently the same thing happened this week only going to a different church!!

Ventured out to Niagara Falls last weekend! I took (and names) Niagara 2nd!! Me, Line, Francesca, Jacob, Thomas, Nicolai, Phi and the others had a good look around and marvelled at the falls for a good few hours before taking the ‘Maid on the Mist’ our close up!!

Went to Toronto with a few friends yesterday. Had a brown around china town then walked to upper Toronto through the city outskirts to the shoe museum ... where Thomas’s foot got run over. Me and Lizzie decided to go to the Mall (which had 5 floors!!!) and found our way to the mountaineering shop, which turned out only to stock rollerblades ... which lizzie had to talk me out of buying. We then proceeded to go buy me a moose!! (Called Geoff).

WESTERN O WEEK!! GO MUSTANGS!!!!! =]

Okay, I’m going to add to this as I go along this week, as I want an accurate as possible account to look back on ... so I’m doing it while its fresh in my mind. Arrived last night after 20 hours of travelling. Got up at 5am, sorted out a few last things, said bye to my room and left home at 6am. Totally lost it just before I went though security and cried like never before. Encouraging words from Mum, Dad and Vicky helped and off I went. Managed to compose myself after an hour on the plane, and watched ‘You’ve got mail’ on the in-flight movies. Arrived at Newark, passed customs, claimed baggage and sent it onto my connecting flight, got the train to terminal C, found my gate ... and waited. Slept for most of the flight to Toronto then stepped out into Canadian ground. Got my transfer from the airport to London, and got dropped off outside Delawere, got my key and met TMZ and Intro who are the Soph’s on my floor, got my stuff up to my room and arranged to go to the Mall with TMZ and Intro the next day to buy some things.
Went for an explore around campus the next day and did a bit of unpacking; campus is absolutely massive!!! Theres a river running though the middle of it and tonnes of green space. Went to Western’s book store and bought some books, a mug and a Mustangs hat (Go Mustangs!!) Bought bedding, hangers, towels and a hairdryer at the mall and helped TMZ and Intro get some supplies for O-week (aka firewood!! And glowsticks!!) got the bus loaded with stuff ... and pizza and headed back. Spent the rest of the day browsing around in my room, then went for another explore later on and got a subway =]

Sunday was official move-in-day, and i woke up to madness!! Its not like move-in-day at Lancaster for sure! There was music blaring, people waving flags and doing chants outsideDelewere, and everyone was helping you!! Anyhow, went to the mall again for more supplies, went to the drug mark where Jennifer (the manager) helped me get all the things i needed and even gave me a free make-over so i could see what i liked! Got a coffee and muffin from a cofe bar and went to Zellers again. Spent the next two hours or so getting so much stuff, but it was fun. Unpacked back at Delewere later. Did the rounds and went to say hello to everone on my floor (3East), had a meeting at 5 to get to know eachother then went down to dinner in the cafe. We all learnt Delewere chants in the main lounge that evening then headed out into the Deli grounds for volley ball and a bonfire. I hung around with Emily and Emily from down the hall and their friend in 3West, Kirstin. Met loads of people, everyone is so friendly here ... especially when they realise in English!!! Hung out with the Emilys in their room for a while, were going to go into Toronto one weekend (there both from Toronto).

Basically the rest of the week was spent throwing paint at the opening ceremony, at concerts out on University Hill, having ‘Rez Rally’s’ and some friendly banter with our residence cheers against other residences. Spent alot of time with the other international students, we went for a bus tour of downtown London one night then went out for a Mexican which was amazing! Did the ‘Shinearama’ campaign, where we go around London collecting money for cystic fibrosis. There was a carnival one night, with each department having a stall (Science was ‘Walk on water’ ... which was really corn flower) there was also ‘Wax a Soph!!!’ and the engineers were chopping things in half with a guillotine and then steamrolling over shopping trolleys etc ... was fun! Went to the game on Saturday, the Western Mustangs kicked Laurie’s ass at the Home Opening game 30-7!!! And our cheerleaders and hoarse that runs around the track when we score are so much better then anything Laurie could give! Plus there was free pizza everywhere! Checked out the gym too which is huge with an Olympic swimming pool!! There’s a hockey arena too, not to mention all the shops underground the UCC and the cinema!! ... It’s pretty good here!!

Had a few lectures so far ... not done much yet, but I’m sure that will change =]

Summer Part Three!!!

Okay ... so we flu back from Copenhagen and got home at midnight on Sunday 9th Aug. Emma came over the next day and we had all day to work on Bex’s scrap book and watch Mama Mia! We took it to Bex that evening and stayed for a few hours, picking up Rach, Claire and Jon on the way.

Spent the next few days sorting out things for Canada. Andy was leaving for Denmark that Sunday, so we had a party for him on the Saturday ... his mum thought it was for Andy, and Andy thought it was for his mum’s birthday!!! All were surprised, we ate allot of cake and drank allot of beer ... was a good night. Went to church the next morning, then met Emma, Jon and Andy (Emma’s brother) at Dunes to play badminton ... i think I’m getting worse and apparently think Hitler is watching as i seem to salute before i hit it according to Vicky!! Went over to the Knight’s residencs with the Hughe’s for a BBQ that night ... many interesting things happened ... mainly involving snails in Kathryns shoes. Had a great night with Amy, Kathryn, Mike, Josh, Vicky, Angela, Ian, Peter and Felicity, Mum and Dad. Mike got to enthusiastic with the chimnea as usually and the flames grew to one meter above the top over the night.

Went up Herod Pike with mum on Wednesday, was a bit cluffy to begin with, but stayed dry. Wasn’t a nice climb to the top, fighting through bracken on 60° slopes is never fun at the time. Absolutly chucked it down on the walk off.

Not long till I go to Canada now!!! Had my leaving do on Thursday. Went to Tesco the night before with dad to stock up on vodka and beer, made two fruit cocktails in flowerpots! Spent the night with most of my best friends. Me, Rach, Claire, Samuel and Mikul went out after ... interesting putting make-up on when your tipsy!! It was A level results night in town and Ive never seen Apres so packed!! We resorted to dancing on the tables after downing £1 drinks as the floor was totally jammed!! Ran into Liz Fern (back from the days of Liz and Emma in maths!) and Tom Percy and Alex Moran were DJing. Left at about 3ish, back to mine with Rach and Claire, ate alot of toast and chatted about things that actually matter for about an hour then crashed on my floor.

Met up with Neil for a few climbs at Stannage ... little did we know the midges had heard we were going and decided to come along too ... we only manages one climb before running away to the pub (I’m not complaining though!)

An early start on Saturday as me and Dad were off up Helvellyn at long last! Set off at about 7ish, got into Glenridding early, had breakfast and set off for Striding edge via Grisdale Brow to do the cuircuit, summiting Helvellyn and Lower Man, decending over Swirral Edge and bagging Catstye Cam last. It was a glouriuos day a midst a rainy week and it seems most of the UK had had the same idea we had to get out in the hills. We made the ridges as interesting as possible and had a good scramble for a good hour.

Spent the next few days playing badminton with Emma, Jon and Eddy, helping at the local YMCA climbing wall for my Gold D of E service, and packing bits for Canada, went up to the caravan at Hoddom Castle the Thursday night for a few days of rest and adventuring before i flee the continent. Read most of my Ice Age book on Friday, and headed for the hills of Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Grisdale Pike on the Saturday with Mum and Dad. I must confess ... ridge walks are my favourite, they give great views down valleys all around and once your up... your up!! They can be scramble too ... always good =]. Had a great laugh that day with mum and dad, although it was so windy assending Whiteside we could barely stand up ... some interesting rock formations along the way too! Stopped off in Cockermouth on the way back to see Jack and Gemma for a chat about all things steep and craggy, and cup of tea. watched Butch Cassedy and the Sundance Kid that night ... classic western film. Most of Sunday was spent with me reading up on more Ice age related things and going for a walk around Wood-Cock-Air ... me and Dad loosing Mum and Vicky ... giving up looking ... and heading back for a cup of tea =] only to find Vicky in mid air climbing through the window to let her and mum in.

Home on the Monday night, packed up final things for Canada and watched a film. Ive exhausted the last few days by seeing all my friends for the last time till May (except Bex ... shes coming to Canada to see me in Feb!!!!!). Ive got a big smile on my face right now as Angela and Kathryn have just brought round a huge piece of 'Angelas Famous Chocolate Cake'!!! and Claire has just popped in to give me my scrap book everyone made for me =] ... Ive got the best friends in the world! Its going to be a great year and Im looking forward to all the new experiences ill have and friends ill make ... but I know where I belong (for now), and where my friends are, although I know there with me in my heart, where ever I go, no matter how much Ocean is between us. Thank goodness for facebook and skype!!! My next blog will be from Canada ... =] xxxxxx

summer Part Two - Cruising up the Norwegian Fjords!

I don’t go on many ‘relaxing’ holidays ... so cruising up the Norwegian Fjord sounded like a good plan to me! We flew to Copenhagen and spent a few days avoiding being hit by the Danes riding there bikes everywhere and eating lots of pastries.

Boarded Costa Atlantica, our ship and ... WOW ... the last time we went on a cruise I was 14 and didn’t fully appreciate how ornate and ... beautiful and HUGE the ship actually was!! I’m not going to say much on this as I’m going to Canada tomorrow and should have written this as soon as I got back really.

But we had a great week, seeing some of the most stunning scenery on the globe. Gerange was especially amazing; the ship was so huge that the horn was blasted before turning every bend to get up the fjord. The weather was glorious and had we had more time I would have liked to go up into the mountains for an explore =]

The food was exquisit ... over the course of the week I had just about every exotic fish you can eat! The evening dining room was so.... there’s something nice about walking the ship to go to dinner and stopping off at piano bars and violin lounges along the way (cafe Florien is a copy of the cafe in St Marks Square in Venice ... they have silver trays!!) The waiters were extraordinary and the shows after in the theatre were just what you needed to settle a 7 course meal! We always went for a stroll around deck three after, to take-in the scenery, weather it be stretching ocean or blood red sunsets against the fjords.

Met loads of people on the ship ... most of them were Spanish ... I actually said to one guy ‘me encanta la sopa’ ... which means ‘I love soup’ ... apparently, saying ‘Hola’ was too hard for me. Me and Vicky spent most of our free time with Brennan and Luka, two guys who could actually understand us!

Bergen was a fascinating city; we got the ... right up to the top of the hill, and walked down. Also having a look around a Norwegian marked was fun ... lots of dead animals ... and live sea creatures.

All in all ... an incredible trip ... food remarkable!! I’m still expecting trays of cakes all around me 24/7!!!

Summer - Part One =]

Spent the last day of uni packing up and eating all my leftover food, mum and dad came tp pick me up that evening and we got home just over an hour later. Picked Amy up from Preston station the next afternoon as she was comming to stay with me for a few days before she moved into her new house in town. Showed her around Southport for a bit and we bumped into Rach, Bex and Pauline outside Rickies ... conveniantly! Good to be back again and see people =] walked through town and down by the lake and over the bridge. Rach and Amy got along famously and had alot of Bio talk much to my amusment! Got ice cream and went through the hall of mirrors ahahahah. We all went to the cinema that night to see Public Enimies which me, Amy and Vicky thought was really good! Me, Amy, Vicky, Rach, Bex, Adam, Eddy and Mike and Andy went. Went to Liverpool with Claire the next day and Amy bought a dress ... and I was good and didnt buy anything! Saw Rach, Bex and Pam too =] and went for lunch at Bella Italia.that night Me, Amy, Vicky, Bex, Rach, Eddy, Adam and a few others went to Pizza Express (where I worked last summer) for 2 for 1 pizzas. Me and Amy had an ‘Indoor-Outdoor’ day on the Friday ... watched episodes of ‘On Thin Ice’ and ‘High Altitude’ and flicked through climbing books and magazines inbetween naps (Amy lol). Took Amy back to Lancaster on Saturday morning on our way up to the lakes for a church walk up Catbells. It was one of the hardest goodbyes ive had to do ... knowing ill not see her till next summer ... mabey not even till next septamber when were back at Lancaster for our 3rd year.

Was a good mosey up Catbells ... got the boat across the Derment Water and informed everyone that I was now the trained first aider (and was ‘more quallified’ than Ian who is a GP hahaha) had a great catch-up with Peter and chatted to Andy =]. Found a rope swing on the way back along the lake which was fun. All good walks end in going to the pub/cafe ... so thats when we did! Rach came over that night for a curry with the Cairns family and to ‘plan’ our adventure to Germany ... we seemed to leave it a bit late to plan things as we were going the next monring!! And the planning we got done was very limited! Oh well ... we were spontanious ... always good =]

Rach picked me up at 10ish the next morning and we were on the plan by 1ish. Got stuck in to Heinrich Harrier – The White Spider (awsome book about the assents of the Eiger ... and its disasters). Landed in Dussledorf a few hours later and were greeted by Rach’s uncle Adrian. A few train rides later and we arrive at Adrians, unpacked and went for a walk through the woods before going out for a pizza, collapsed into bed later and had a great catch up for a good few hours =]. The next day we went to the ‘Gasometer’ which is a solar system exhibition and has ... as Rach put it ... ‘the biggest moon on Earth!!!!’, had loads of fun and got all ‘sciencey’ together then went to the biggest shopping centre in Europe for lunch and an explore. Went into Dortmund the next day ... had a bit of train fun getting there in the process and had to work on our German! (too bad the ‘Romance section’ in the guide book we bought it for didnt come in handy here ... as that was the only section we’d lernt phrases from! Hahahaaa) spent most of our time posing next to / on rino’s with wings ... found a park and ate lunch and read under the trees ... before climbing them! We decided to go for a walk in the woods at the back after ... turned into a bit of an epic when the thunder started when it got dark and we started to hear strange squeeking nioses (like on midsummer murders!) decided to get out of the woods and got frightened by glow works and a car starting up down an dark lane which made me scream... which made Rach jump inot a ditch! Got in drehcned .... but happy =] On the wednesday wen went to the zoo with Adrian ... and it rained!!! Met up with Adrian’s friends later at the pub and had a great laugh ... and German Beer!! Went to look round some old towns on the last day and had a nice strole through the woods surrounding and planned more adventured for the summer =] packed up the next morning then left for the train and our flight, got home about 11pm and crashed ... good trip =]

Got up the next morning to help at Andy’s carwash to raise money for Denmark ... our carwashes are always good fun with more water thrown over people than cars ... the bacon butties and cake are alwys good too! Kathryn came round that evening to stay over. Church the next monring and then went for a bike ride around Churchtown and down the coast road with Kathryn and Vicky ... was a bit windy but good fun as always =]. Went to the gym with Emma the next monring as we hadnt seen eachother for aaaaages! And met up with Carrington for a drink as he didnt have time for an adventure in the lakes as he was leaving for the Dolomites the next day!

Went out for a curry the next night for my birthday (16th July) then Claire and Rach came round to mine to get ready for going out and some per-drinks ... me and Claire had some clothes swapping as usual ... bras ... dresses etc hahaha. Went to Malones first where was saw some of our ex-teachers from Greenbank having a leaving party!!! Mr, Lennon was funny ... had jagar bombs and a fish bowl then migrated to Staryskey where we met alod of random people and Garys, Hitch etc ... I went to the bar and ordered 6 drinks as no one else wanted to go up ... silly. I think me and Claire ended up tap dancing with Arron then we went to Apres as usual!! Met up with Mike, Luke and countless other people we knew from KGV etc ... wes a great night with some interestings goings on ... good birthday ... got in at 4ish and ate a huge piece of cake ... not such a good idea! Spent the next day sorting stuff out for Canada. Went round to Rach’s on the Saturday night with Zenal and got ready for Emma’s birthday do! Got to Chiquitoes for 9.30ish ... and got into town for about 11.30. had a great night ending up in apres again with the usual crowd ... the night ended with me and Mike arm wrestling for aaages and having a very long convo about all things silly like climbing, skiing, go-ape and the cornish economy... Mike and Pete got a pizza with us and at some point we lost Rach and me and Luke walked round the block looking for her while she was under the stairs the whole time. Mike and Pete walked us the the taxi and Mike payed for it too!!! Got in to Raches at 4.30 and chatted for half an hour before falling asleep. Reslised the next day that we had left Ian ... who was alseep on the table ... turned out he had woken up in the bushes down Rotten Row at 6:30am!!! Was the big lunch at church the next day and i ate soooooo much ... then bounced on the bouncy castle tooo much ... not such a good combo, especially after a long night out! Was funny to see peter on the bouncy castle too!!

In the last few days ive been sorting out Canada stuff ... Been to Eddy’s Baptism ... which was the funnyest one ive been too! He’s a natural at speeches! Went back to Bex’s and Adams after, chilled out in her new front room listening to Enrique Iglasias =] with hot chocolate and recording Adam and Eddy’s sketch for camp ... was a bit funny! Was Hannahs birthday on thursday. Spent the aftenoon chilling in her garden with everyone and fighting with Vicky on the bouncy castle, then me and Rach walked home (from Ainsdale!) went out with Rach, Claire, Eddy, Gary, Hitch, Samuel, Mike, Pete and loads of other people (saw Lucy!!!) that night. Got ready with rach who ended up with a sparkly face when not paying attention while i was talking rubbish to people on her msn while putting bronzer on. Noticed for the first time theres an owl in Apres! Matt stole my hairband at some point and lost it ... it fell on Petes head from the roof after Apres closed ... odd. Me and Mike arm wrestled ... again, stayed around for about 30mins chatting, then had a rave in the car on the way home =] Went for a run yesterday, down to the bridge and around the marine lake, back along the coast road ... quite an achievement after a night out and going to bed at 5am. Planning climbing trips today and having a chill out with vicky. Going to watch as many Friends episodes of friends as we can and order in pizza later!!!

Went to Parbold Quarry with vicky the next day just to do some top-roping due to my embarrissing lack of gear. Had a fun drive there and a fun tumble down the hillside trying to find the quarry ... which when we got there was sooooo dirty!!! I knew it wasnt the cleanest ... but this was pure hell ... and oh!!! soooo greasy!! I manages four climbs, which were tough ... we left the guide book in the car, so what did I expect!!! ... So dirty ... I actually feel abused!!

LAST DAYS OF UNI ... CLIMBING AND PARTYING!!! =]

Been some time since I last updated my blog ... so apologies to anyone who reads this!

Allot of things have happened since ... first of all Ive done all my first year exams! And got my grades to get to Canada I might add!! Spend the days before my exams revising in the garden at home, having BBQ’s with Kathryn, Mike etc, and in the library with various people eating magic stars and buttons (mainly Lindsey, Jojo and Mark).

Had 'Bonners Weekend' as the last club trip of the year where we all meet Sir Chris Bonnington and go climbing for a weekend and go for a meal with him! Most people went up on the friday, but me Amy, Mark and Struggles went up on the Saturday morning because of exams. Lee out sensi who we had run into on the Pioneeres bar-crawl gave us a lift. got to the hut abouit lunch time and were greeted by Lindsey. Spent the afternoon bouldering on Bowderstone, doing bits of revision and exploring and playing around on ropeswings down by the river. Went out for the meal that night, the night ended with me and Roz chasing after Chris shouting 'Sign my kapkin!!!' He's a great guy ... and an 'Excellent' Mountineer as Jojo put it. we all ended up sleeping on one section my the bunk beds that night in a 'Mass Spoonage' as Amy put it ... was rather funny. Went climbing with Maxi, Mark, Sadi and Amy the next day where a did a few leads. the protection was so crap i basically soloed a HS!!! back to the hut for lunch and met up with Struggles anf Jake, went down to the quarry after and i climbed a 6C+ sport route which no one else could do!!! really proud of that. Got back, packed up and headed back to rainy Lancaster.

After the last exam me and Struggles finished at the same time ... I got outside and he picked me up and spun me round ... well ... getting used to it now lol. Me and Amy did our Karate grading on the Wednesday and I got my Yellow and Amy got her Green belt.

Had a few fun nights out with fellow climbers too. Went to the Carlton after the Pioneers bar crawl ... which consisted of everyone dressing up like ‘climbers of the past’ either tweed or 80’s lycra mainly. Had a go at some bouldering round Cartmel then headed to the Carlton ... drank allot of champagne and ended up stripping off with Ros and proceeding to encourage everyone else to follow suite (we had bikini tops on) was a great night with Amy, Ros, Claire, Mark, Struggles, Jonny, Ed, Bed and many other people we bumped into! Me, Struggles, Mark and Gary went bouldering the day after ... we were all pretty shattered and spent more time lying around on the mats than bouldering really.

Went out on the Wednesday after to Toast with some friends from ES. Had the ‘informal formal’ as the last climber’s party of the year. Went out for a meal in town first and tried not to cry when Ros made her toast at the end. Then headed for Cuba! Again ... great night dancing to live bands, playing cards for drinks and ending with Gary streaking through County screaming ‘SESSION!!!’ ... which he’s been saying for weeks at grad bar for our pre exam day nightly drinks. Spend many a night at Amy’s drinking Scrumpy =] on the Friday it was Friday Fury! So we went round the bars collecting drink and badges before heading back to Amy’s for ... Scrumpy!!! And we also tried on Moulan Rouge outfits for Cartmel Extrav!!!

Took part in an Outdoor First Aid course offered by Bowland Mountain Rescue on the thursday and friday ... we all did quite well considering we were all out on the wednesday and thursday night! we spent most of thursday rolling around on the floor in Fylde lecture theatre, and friday, rolling around out on the fields attending to eachothers rediculous situations we 'got our selves into'. Was a great course, we learnt loads and had a laugh ... mostly at how if Mark tryed to do first aid on you ... you'd probably be worse off at the end of it. Me, Amy, Mark, Struggles, Roz, Andy, Craig, Ben and the others all enjoyed it ... I think were going to try and arrange 'First Aid Bar Crawls' for the future!!

Got round to Struggles’ at about 10ish on Saturday morning for our adventure in Buttermere!!! Got the bus into Lancaster ... bought Yorkies and got on the bus to Keswick ... was a three hour trip which we slept for most of really. In Keswick Struggles stocked up on loaves of bread and cheese from Booths, while i went to Needle sports for gas, didn’t have room for the Whisky though lol. Got on the Borrowdale rambler and got into Buttermere an hour later. The journey was made fun by a stow-away cat on the bus which kept meowing!!! Payd for three nights at the campsite and put up then tent then collapsed for a bit. Went down to the pub for tea and had a narrow escape of not getting out of Buttermere as Struggles nearly payed for the meals with our only money left to get the bus out ... until my card came to the rescue. Had some good food and got all excited about all the climbing we were planning to do!! We even saw one of our old lectures at the bar!! Walked back along the lake and found a fallen tree where we sat for a while absorbing Buttermere and the surrounding hills =]

Got up at about 8 the next day, and walked up to the bottom of grey crag. We did a 5 multi-pitch, a 2 and a 3! Each taking over the lead for the next pitch ... my belay building and gear placements were rocky at first, but i soon got the hang of it (climbs .............................) we got down a good few hours later and had fun cooking tea on my little stove and eating proved difficult as Struggles didn’t have a fork. Washed up, planned a walk for the next day and got to bed early. Up at 8 again and headed for ......... the mist came in ... or rather we got into the mist and, very embarrassingly got a bit lost. Decided to head down Ennerdale, past blacksail youth hostle where ive stayed before, it’s the most remote in the country. Stopped off for lunch, an explore, and a mug of hot juice. Set off up to Haystacks and did the ridge along high crag, high style and along to Red pike, sharing the carrying of the rucksack. We practically ran off Red Pike, and stopped off at the tarn for a feet cooling session. The pub was closed when we got back much to our distress, to we got an ice cream and headed back to the tent to find we were the only people there! Had a sort of ‘bath’ in the huge sink at the farm and washed my hair before cooking tea and heading down to the lake again. Up at 8 again to pack up, and walked down the lake to the bus stop in intense uncomfortable heat. Sat around for the bus then began the journey home. Tuesday night was Furness Extrav!!! Mexican style!!! ARRRIIIBAAA!!! Borrowed Antony's sombrero and went round to meet Amy, Lindsey, Jojo and Josh for pre party Scrumpy as per usual. Was a great night with far too many tequila shots and nachos all over Amy shoes which i tried to clean up while she kept walking around. Partied the night away with Amy, Jojo, Lindsey, Gary, Struggles, Josh, Toby, Sam, Katie and soooo many other people I’m going to miss so much (already am!) the night ended with Struggles walking me home ... was rather funny.
Spoke to Amy the next morning; she had woken up with a mustash, a sombrero, a gun and other random items. Spent most of the day packing up and i might have gone to the bouldering wall with a few people later ... i think. Went shopping for Cartmel Extrav Moulan Rouge at some point meeting up with Jake first to discuss our Wasdale adventure. Saw Struggles in town still drunk from the night before. Bought a dress and some ridiculous shoes each from reef. Went round to Amy’s on the Thursday night at 7 to get ready and we took soooo many pictures. Went over to see Struggles and say bye to him and Gary. Jake came round later and we set off down to South-west to Cartmel after bumping into Maxi. Had a dance and a few drinks then qued up for pancakes with everyone and had a round of Gin like old ladies from Jojo’s famous ‘Handbag Gin’. At about 2am we started so say some goodbyes for the last time = [and me and Amy headed to Sultans for curly fry’s and cookies. Ended up in Struggles’ flat at 3am with Amy shouting ‘Struggles come and say bye!!!’ left a bit later and back to Amy for post party Scrumpy and to film us dancing to Lady Marmalade. Walked round campus to mine at 4.30 in the light.
Met up with Mum the next morning (still a bit unsteady on my feet) for a drink and lunch and a mosey round Lancaster before the year was up. Went to the beer festival at Grad bar later and ended up getting roped into Friday Fury somehow ... got back to Amy’s again to drink Scrumpy again! Up the next morning to go to Wasdale with Mark and Amy!!!

Wasdale was amazing! Packed up the car, drove through Lancaster, ended up stopping off to buy more Gin!!! Had fun on the windy (almost vertical) roads into Wasdale, and laughed at the satnav which had direction turrets! (Right, right, turn right, ri, ri, right, right, right!!!) Put up the tent and went to the Wasdale head for a pint of Wasd-ale!!! Ahahah, and a meal before having a laugh and drinking Gin in the tent, planning with to do the next day and making friends with the Irish man next door to us who lent Mark some loo roll! Went up Great Gable, Green Gable and Kirkfell the next day where somewhere Amy lost her sunglasses. Stopped off at a waterfall and pool on the way back and went for a swim to cool down before heading back to the pub for tea. The Wasdale Head has such a great atmosphere, we chatted to various people and marled at some of the exhibition photographs on the walls. Went up Yewbarrow the next day as we only had half a day as Mark needed to be back to go to Spain! Talked rubbish most of the day and had a quick boulder on a glacial erratic lol. Went for a quick dip in crummock water (the deepest lake in the Lakes!) to finish off with then had a rave on the way back in the car again, said our goodbyes at Lancaster, and parted ways. Spent the next day packing up and gave Amy my left over food. Mum and Dad picked my up that night ... was a sad day really.

In conclusion, it’s been a fantastic year, made some great friends, going to miss people and going bouldering so much next year in Canada ... third year will be awesome!!! xxxxxxxxx

Bits and pieces

Just a quick note about the last few days. Was back at uni for a week, and the weather was GLORIOUS!!! Went climbing to Trowbarrow on the Tuesday after 9:00am lecture with Matt and Struggles, got the train to Silverdale. Did ‘Ramp Art S 4a’ which I could have lead ... yes ... need to lead trap routes soon. Then had a mess around on other easy stuff. Moved in for the kill, as an attempt at ‘Jean-Jeanie HS 4C’ which we didn’t really get up but drew blood anyway. Had to wait for an hour at the station to we lay around listening to music on my phone. Went out for a curry at bottom weatherspoons on the Thursday and home on the Friday.

Saw Andy on Saturday and we went for a huge trek again. Got to church at 6:45 and helped everyone set up for the gig that night, still had words to type up and sound checks to be done. Anyhow, Envisage were amazing as per usual with Kathryn, Vicky and Ben singing. Ben on acoustic guitar, Tabz on electric, Andy on bass and singing, Mike playing TWO keyboards and Josh on the drums! Sang in church the next morning with Kathryn and gave Angela my Bible to write in. Went to visit Gran in the afternoon, then back to Lancaster.

Karate on Monday was inspired by Amy’s trophy from Kyu Grades competition and I think I may compete in the KUGB National Championships!!!!!!! Had my first BIO practical on Thursday, and one of our worms escaped and we found him in a cupboard! Went to see 17 again that night with Struggles after stopping by Furness bar to see the climbing crew for a drink. Went to collect sediment samples from Coniston copper mines on Friday ... was rather damp but we had fun and went up to the tarn although we could hardly see anything, ended with Gary half naked and head first in a waterfall trying to retrieve a sample pot. Went to the pub after to recover the back on the coach we had caravan trauma down a narrow road for about 15mins ... enough said here.

Climbing on Saturday ... trains were changed ... took our time ... but we got to Trowbarrow in the end. I did my first two leads on ‘Rampant S 4a’ and ‘Jomo VD’ apart from one; I was told my gear was solid! Did a quick E1 on top rope to finish off the day. Headed back to the station at 4ish only to wait for about an hour ... more trains delayed ... I seem to be spending allot of time waiting around Silverdale train station after climbing at Trowbarrow. Went out to Heather’s cocktail party at her flat in town later. Collected Amy, and stopped by Struggles who was reading a book when we burst in shouting ‘PARTY PARTY’ ... and took him with us. Was a great night, and chocolate fountains were involved. Went home about 12ish and me and Amy carried Struggles (who fell asleep on the bus) back to his flat.

Tuesday! Went out to Cuba for Jojo’s birthday ... got home at 5, covered in hay!!! After going to Jojo’s after for cake at 4am!!! Went to lecture at 12 then back to Jojo’s for a recovery party, then me and Amy went on to Karate which resulted in me getting punched in the eye and Amy kicking Henry in the nuts. Climbing social on Thursday (after Bio field trip to Trowbarrow ... which all the climbers tryed to turn into a climbing trip), turned in to watching top gear in Furness bar TV room and watching E11, where some Scottish guy falls off the crux of on E11 repeatedly ... stomach still squiggly from that. Had lectures and lab practical on Friday and Andy came round at 5ish? We walked round campus, and then went out for tea at the fleece in Preston; back to Andy’s to watch films. . .

Met up with Vicky after she had finished work in town to go job hunting and we got to Mike and Kathryn’s to meet them, Andy, Tabz, etc to walk round the Knight’s residence. Walked in with an awful lot of beer ... that looked bad. Anyhow, spent the afternoon, evening and night with Vicky, Kathryn, Andy, Mike, Amy, Tabz, Josh, Angela, Ian and Peter and Felicity having BBQ (thanks Rev. Peter!), chocolate fountain, dancing all night to silly tunes and drinking beer head hahahahahaaaaaa funny times!!! got home at some point. Church the next morning was ... blurry. Went to see Gran and Grandad that afternoon, then back to Lancaster.

Spent the week on the phone with the Canadian Embassy, Southport Rotary Club and sorting out various other Canada related things. Spent many long hours, and done some good routes at the bouldering wall with Amy, Matt, Struggles, Sam and Gary ... played ‘plus one’ which got quite interesting ... some great moves though! Andy came to visit me on Saturday, went to the bouldering wall and out to Pizzeta on campus for tea. Spent Sunday, Monday ... and Tuesday AND Wednesday revising for my module tests ive had this week, in amongst going to karate twice (where we played ‘practice kicks on lee the fun instructor’) went to the climbing social at some point and our lecture forgot to turn up to our 115 exam ... fun times. Going up to Scotland this weekend for some fun. Can’t wait till exams are over and for summer and seeing my friends!! =]

Recent things of interest ...

Just a quick note about the last few days. Was back at uni for a week, and the weather was GLORIOUS!!! Went climbing to Trowbarrow on the Tuesday after 9:00am lecture with Matt and Struggles, got the train to Silverdale. Did ‘Ramp Art S 4a’ which I could have lead ... yes ... need to lead trap routes soon. Then had a mess around on other easy stuff. Moved in for the kill, as an attempt at ‘Jean-Jeanie HS 4C’ which we didn’t really get up but drew blood anyway. Had to wait for an hour at the station to we lay around listening to music on my phone. Went out for a curry at bottom weatherspoons on the Thursday and home on the Friday.

Saw Andy on Saturday and we went for a huge trek again. Got to church at 6:45 and helped everyone set up for the gig that night, still had words to type up and sound checks to be done. Anyhow, Envisage were amazing as per usual with Kathryn, Vicky and Ben singing. Ben on acoustic guitar, Tabz on electric, Andy on bass and singing, Mike playing TWO keyboards and Josh on the drums! Sang in church the next morning with Kathryn and gave Angela my Bible to write in. Went to visit Gran in the afternoon, then back to Lancaster.

Karate on Monday was inspired by Amy’s trophy from Kyu Grades competition and I think I may compete in the KUGB National Championships!!!!!!! Had my first BIO practical on Thursday, and one of our worms escaped and we found him in a cupboard! Went to see 17 again that night with Struggles after stopping by Furness bar to see the climbing crew for a drink. Went to collect sediment samples from Coniston copper mines on Friday ... was rather damp but we had fun and went up to the tarn although we could hardly see anything, ended with Gary half naked and head first in a waterfall trying to retrieve a sample pot. Went to the pub after to recover the back on the coach we had caravan trauma down a narrow road for about 15mins ... enough said here.

Climbing on Saturday ... trains were changed ... took our time ... but we got to Trowbarrow in the end. I did my first two leads on ‘Rampant S 4a’ and ‘Jomo VD’ apart from one; I was told my gear was solid! Did a quick E1 on top rope to finish off the day. Headed back to the station at 4ish only to wait for about an hour ... more trains delayed ... I seem to be spending allot of time waiting around Silverdale train station after climbing at Trowbarrow. Went out to Heather’s cocktail party at her flat in town later. Collected Amy, and stopped by Struggles who was reading a book when we burst in shouting ‘PARTY PARTY’ ... and took him with us. Was a great night, and chocolate fountains were involved. Went home about 12ish and me and Amy carried Struggles (who fell asleep on the bus) back to his flat.

Tuesday! Went out to Cuba for Jojo’s birthday ... got home at 5, covered in hay!!! After going to Jojo’s after for cake at 4am!!! Went to lecture at 12 then back to Jojo’s for a recovery party, then me and Amy went on to Karate which resulted in me getting punched in the eye and Amy kicking Henry in the nuts. Climbing social on Thursday (after Bio field trip to Trowbarrow ... which all the climbers tryed to turn into a climbing trip), turned in to watching top gear in Furness bar TV room and watching E11, where some Scottish guy falls off the crux of on E11 repeatedly ... stomach still squiggly from that. Had lectures and lab practical on Friday and Andy came round at 5ish? We walked round campus, and then went out for tea at the fleece in Preston; back to Andy’s to watch films. . .

Met up with Vicky after she had finished work in town to go job hunting and we got to Mike and Kathryn’s to meet them, Andy, Tabz, etc to walk round the Knight’s residence. Walked in with an awful lot of beer ... that looked bad. Anyhow, spent the afternoon, evening and night with Vicky, Kathryn, Andy, Mike, Amy, Tabz, Josh, Angela, Ian and Peter and Felicity having BBQ (thanks Rev. Peter!), chocolate fountain, dancing all night to silly tunes and drinking beer head hahahahahaaaaaa funny times!!! got home at some point. Church the next morning was ... blurry. Went to see Gran and Grandad that afternoon, then back to Lancaster.

Spent the week on the phone with the Canadian Embassy, Southport Rotary Club and sorting out various other Canada related things. Spent many long hours, and done some good routes at the bouldering wall with Amy, Matt, Struggles, Sam and Gary ... played ‘plus one’ which got quite interesting ... some great moves though! Andy came to visit me on Saturday, went to the bouldering wall and out to Pizzeta on campus for tea. Spent Sunday, Monday ... and Tuesday AND Wednesday revising for my module tests ive had this week, in amongst going to karate twice (where we played ‘practice kicks on lee the fun instructor’) went to the climbing social at some point and our lecture forgot to turn up to our 115 exam ... fun times. Going up to Scotland this weekend for some fun. Can’t wait till exams are over and for summer and seeing my friends!! =]

EASTER FUN =]

It’s been so nice to be home these last few weeks. Got back from El Chorro and flopped for two days, went to church Sunday morning and evening and went to David Atwater’s later and. Was good to see Mikul Wallbank and danced around church with me standing on his feet just like old times. Was pretty tired by the time I got to David’s and nearly fell asleep on Andy. Helped Jenny at the climbing wall on Monday night and Met up with Rach, Andy and VJ in Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon and went out for lunch. Went out that night and got in at some silly hour in the morning ... about 4ish ... ordered pizza and watched friends and fell asleep. Went to the gym with Emma on Friday in her new car!!!

Went to Awesome walls on Saturday with Vicky, Andy, Adam and Amy before meeting Vicky in town for lunch and chatting to Tom. Warmed up by doing some bouldering then taught Andy how to tie in and belay. Top-roped some harder stuff then attempted to lead some 6a’s but got freaked out two thirds of the way up ... I don’t like indoor walls. Got home and went out to Bella Italia with mum dad and Vicky and had a right laugh with more Mr and Mrs jokes ... the less said about this the better for everyone I think!

Sung at church Sunday morning then out to Chiquitoes for Eddy’s birthday later picking up Rach and his cake on the way! Was a great night with everyone back together again and me and Emma planned going to Canada next year!! Helped at the climbing wall again on Monday then had my Motorway driving lesson Tuesday which went great!!! Now I can drive to the lakes and go adventuring no problem!! Saw Andy in the afternoon for a drink and a walk around town and the park resulting in blisters for me and Andy getting cramps in his legs and a drive to ... somewhere spontaneous. Was supposed to be going climbing to Wilton quarry with Struggles on Wednesday but the shooting was on and the weather was dreadful ... or supposed to be. Ended up watching films at Andy’s instead than night.

Went to a comedy night at the Mount on Thursday then back to claries to get ready for a night/morning out in Southport. Got into town at 11ish and met up with Andy, Mike and a few others. Saw loads of friends from college I haven’t seen for aaaaaaaages and had a Jaegarbomb (?spelling?). danced the night away in Starskeys etc ... got in about 4ish after pizza in town and fell asleep in claries living room. Woke up 5mins before we had to leave for churchy things if we wanted time to go home first ... jumped in Emma’s car without getting dressed properly and still half asleep.

Went for a walk with friends from church down the beach on Friday ... which may not have been the best idea was it was ... damp. Went to the cinema with Andy on Saturday then went to the worship session at church that evening. Went to church on Easter Sunday and wore a dress =] spent the afternoon in the garden and chatted to Rach on the phone. Gran and Grandad came over in the afternoon and we had an early tea before church in the evening. Me and Jenny were getting baptised so we arrived early ... in swimming gear under our clothes! Peter, Ban and Ally talked us through the procedure again to calm us down. Jon, Rach, Emma, Bex, Adam, David, Hannah, Adam, Lucy, Kathryn, oh gosh I could go on forever ... were there. Did a few songs first ... and Andy dropped his bass making Peter laugh. I and Jenny gave our testomy and Rachel and Tabz did a reading. Finally it came to the ‘dunking!!!!’ It was Sooooooooo c c c c cccold!!! Peter and Ally ‘dunked’ me and I came up gasping, then felt strangely calm and I could certainly feel something happening and the Holy Spirit over me as Peter finished things. Jenny went under too ... and now we were both standing completely drenched in the middle of church, got changed in the back. Got loads of nice presses from everyone and a bear hug off Angela!! Went to drop Emma’s car off at mine and all went into town for a meal in Bex’s car meeting up with everyone else who had walked there. Had a nice ... but spicy meal at fuego’s then headed back to mine to watch ‘Angus thongs and perfect snogging’ and me and Rach fell asleep on the couch ... and I woke up on the floor ... AGAIN!!!!

Monday ... ive been looking forward to this day for Sooooooooo long!!! Mike had come back from teaching in Uganda after months and months!!! Angela and Ian had planned a surprise party for him. It was a great night with everyone back together again =] me Andy, Tabz and Jenny went on facebook ... and did devious things and facebook raped many people. As the night drew in we all gathered round the cinema with blankets, beer and tea!!!

Tuesday!!! Got to Rachel’s at 7:15am!!! We were driving up to Penrith to meet up with Andy, Rach’s flatmate at uni who ive met before. Had a rave on the mway on the way up and arrived in seathwaite many hours later. Went up Great Gable and Green Gable in an interesting misty-fog. Had an immense chat all the way up and down and we’ve planned many more Lake District adventures for the summer months. Got home at 10:30 after going out for a meal with Andy’s friends from home, one of which goes to Lancaster!!

Wednesday, met Anyd, Mkie, Vicky, Kathryn, Becky and Jenny and Mikul at the cinema to see 'The Boat That Rocked' which was amazing! back to mine after while me and Andy went to Tesco to get pizza. Ended up going back for a second load of pizza with Mike and Jon too!! played manhunt in the garden after ... resulting in Andy breaking his elbow jumping off a wall (i did not push him, just to clear up any stories!! lol). Drove Andy to Ians to look at his elbow and took Mike and Kathryn home. Drove Andy home then got back and went to bed while Andy went to A&E.

I drove up to Lancaster on Thursday morning to dump my stuff then home, and then Dad drove us all up to Scotland for the annual caravan trip to Hoddam Castle in Dumfries!!! Spent Friday revising and moseying around the grounds of the castle, the river, the gold course and surrounding fields. Watched Pirates of the carribean at worlds end after tea and ate an enormous amount of Easter egg and felt sick. Saturday mum and dad left early to do one of the wainwright fells in the lakes, me and Vicky did some revision in the morning then walked up repentance tower, over the fields and to the old ruined house with a humungous rope swing where we spend most of the day. Sunday we just walked round the grounds again and did bits of revision sitting out on the caravan deck in the sun! Also found time to play draughts down in the courtyard (there huge drafts on the floor) sitting here in the caravan while finishing my blog ... it’s been a great Easter =] (Pics to come soon!!)

EL CHORRO CLIMBING ADVENTURE!!!!

El CHORRO – DAY ONE
Ok, so, up at 5:30 sharpish, had a huge breakfast and a shower and packed last few bits, met Jojo and jumped in the taxi with the others for Liverpool airport and promptly fell asleep, which was for the best as according to Heather, the drivers driving skills were questionable. Got stopped at security as Heather had a fork in her bag! Got on the plane and touched down in Malaga a few hours later. Had fun using the ticket machines for the trains, but managed and got two trains to Malaga and then El Chorro after having an interesting luggage storage experience in the train station and food shopping at the local supermarket which had HUGE vegetables! Was pretty late when we got to the cottages, so we cooked tea, and then went to the bigger cottage for a chat and to plan the week together. Emma and I left earlier as we were shattered.

EL CHORRO - DAY TWO
Had a late start the first morning and left at about 10:30 to do the ‘Via Ferrata’ King’s Walkway. We weren’t too impressed with the weather so far as it way mighty cold and windy especially in the gorge. The sun made an appearance after lunch when we were trekking through the gorge and getting across the river heading for Los Cotos for some climbing. I invented a new form of climbing called ‘shallow water bouldering’ crossing the river. Got to the crag and threw myself in at the deep end and decided to lead my first climb which was a 4+, followed by Jojo who decided to scrape all the skin off her knees slipping down the horrendously polished few meters just before the last bolt. Lead two grade 5’s after that and learned what it felt like to find a huge jug at the top of about 3 meters of smearing on ‘Bitchios on the Wailers’ which certainly lives up to it’s name! I and Jojo coiled the rope with me holding it and Jojo passing through my hands as my hands are too small to hold all the rope! Made our way back through the gorge along the ‘via Ferrata’ and then abseiled into the dark off the top. Got back and had ‘pasta and red’ for tea. We couldn’t to the ‘no red food’ challenge, so we went for ‘red food’ every day.

EL CHORRO DAY THREE
Today was our first full day of climbing, headed down to the bottom of the fontales with high expectations and allot of sun cream. Lead a few 4’s and 4+ to get into the flow, then we moved up the crags and had a crack at some harder routed on top rope.

EL CHORRO – DAY FOUR
Me, Jojo, Emma, Heather, Lizzie, Toby, Ben and Rob had decided the night before to go further up the crags to Sector Sergio. Took about an hour and a half trek up the road carrying ropes and quick draws and we were all a bit tired. The weather was looking questionable as Toby and Ben split off from us to go and do a multi pitch while the rest of us carried on up. Did a few climbs in slightly damp conditions and me and Jojo both had a bit of a scare on ‘kiwi’ and both took a bit of a fall dynoing for a jug that wasn’t really there! We decided we had had enough of leading for the day and went round the corner to join the others to second and top rope some harder 6a’s and 6b’s. One of which was the scrappiest rock I’ve ever climbed on and I took a chunk of my leg off and left blood all over the rock face. For the last climb of the day me and Jojo lead an easy 4 ... which gave us allot more trouble than was anticipated ... as Jojo got stuck and couldn’t undo the screw gate on the sling at the top. Lucky Toby was around and climbed to while Lizzie belayed him, however, Toby couldn’t undo it either!! He came back down and went to get my penknife, climbed back up and did a ‘vertical limit’ style cut though the sling. We were slightly worried when the rope started smoking as the friction from both Jogo’s and Toby’s rope going through the same bolt at the top was too much. I managed to film most of this and by the time Toby had rescued Jojo it was getting dark, and we wanted our chilli we were cooking that night. Got back and Heather and Emma had cooked the chilli and we all sat down round the table like a family =] and chatted about the day ... and ‘The Great Rescue’!!! After tea, ma Toby, Jojo and Lizzie went and star gazing on deck chairs by the pool with blankets, and found the alphabet and numbers 1 – 20 in the stars.

EL CHORRO DAY FIVE
Our last day of climbing was interesting for me and Jojo ... we detached from the group and went down to the fontanels with the plan to work our way up filling in the gaps of climbs we had previously missed. Started off with a few easier climbs and a few 5’s, laughed at a guy wearing a ‘hankie’ on his head and packed up to move on up. It was a bit further than we reaslied, and as we only had a 50m rope we were slightly limited in what we could do. We were getting hot, Hungary, and tired ... so tired I didn’t bother to duck for a tree, shut my eyes and walked through it. Hours and hours, up and up, round and round later we finally found the others and collapsed. Me Toby and Jojo decided we had had enough and walked back to the pool where Al chased me in wearing a ‘man-kini’. We also found a cat. The others got back soon and me, Jojo and Toby cooked tea for everyone and we sat down to our last ‘family tea’. Went to the pub later where a parrot and Heather and Ben fighting over beer amused us (not the parrot fighting over beer). Staggered back, took blankets out to the pool and we all fell asleep under the stars.

EL CHORRO DAY SIX
Got up late and we all decided to make pancakes so we wondered down to the ‘shop’ and I bought some flour. Spent our last few hours making pancakes and lying around the pool then packed up and headed for the station, said goodbye to El Chorro and hopped on the train to Malaga. Had a pizza out in Malaga and I was the only one who finished it!!! It was amazing ... with tomato, cheese, onion, chicken, pepper and a fried egg!!! Anyway, we got to the airport eventually, and I fell asleep on the cafe floor. Got on the plain a while later and got a shock when we got back to ‘tropical England!!!’
All in all, had a fab time with some great people I know better now. Did some amazing climbs and feel so much more confident. All pictures up on http://picasaweb.google.com/Emmmmmmmmmmmma

BONDAGE CLUB, VICKY’S VISIT, CORRIDOR CLIMBING AND GRASMERE.

Got back from the Cairngorms on Tuesday night, went to lecture on Wednesday and spent the day reading up on notes and recovering from Snow and Ice. Went out with the Mountaineering club on Thursday night, we were having a ‘roped bar crawl’, which consisted of splitting into two teams and all tying in to a rope on an overhand knot and running round campus in the most interesting way possible (through trees, in and out of lamp posts and jumping over the rope and getting all in a tangle, also sneakily attaching other people into our mess in Pendle bar). At some point we played the game where you put string up and down people’s clothes down a line, which is difficult when some people are wearing skinny jeans! Got to Fylde bar and had a challenge to get as many people as possible in a photo (we managed about 50 I think!) and to collect random items such as bras, belts etc...
Vicky came to visit for a weekend; I met her at the train station, got the bus and ordered pizza on the way. Walking into Furness bar door and apppologised to it ... collected pizza and spent all night eating and watching Robin Hood and playing the guitar and singing!!! Spent Saturday making pancakes, at the bouldering wall and moseying around campus then want to grad bar for a pint (between us). Went into Lancaster in Sunday and spent money money money!!
Spent last night with Amy and her flat mates climbing her corridor etc then got up early this morning, met Mark at central, got to Rachel’s (Lisa also there) got in the car and drove to Grasmere and had an interesting outing up on helm crag with me and Mark doing some ‘scrambly bits’!! Rachel found out pecans (in pecan pie) are not birds and many other things. We stayed in the Red Lion Pub for about 3 hours after having a look around Grasmere and a walk round the daffodil garden! Drove home about 8ish listening to 60’s songs on the radio and mark singing. Had a great laugh about anything and everything and decided to do it again after Easter when Mark has his car up ... may try a proper hardcore adventure next time =] had to undo my belt on the way home for comfort reasons and forgot to do it up when walking back to my flat ... yes my trousers fell down to my thighs ... I hope no one saw ... anyway, great day. Still don’t understand the strawberries and pepper they gave us to sample in the pub.

SNOW AND ICE AND MORE SNOW!

SNOW AND ICE – GETTING THERE

Ok, so the day began with exams ... then nipped back to my room, grabbed my gear and jumped in the car back to sunny old Southport to collect extra stuff and sort some stuff out that had need sorting for a while ... now its sorted lol. Got to Martin Freeman’s for 4:30 and met Jenny, Kim and Jess (and Martin also) there, Ash showed up after a while and we loaded up the mini bus and whizzed down mways for 6 hours. We set off late but were in the unrestricted bus so soon caught up. Spent a few hours chatting and playing this amazing game of Jenny’s called ‘Dirty Minds’ ... wont go any further here. Stopped off at Carlisle to pick up Lewis, grab some food and leave Katie and Phil for the next mini bus. Got on the A9 a few hours after and I was starting to feel ... mountainy ... so much snow! Arrived at Nethy house around midnight which is a good few hours earlier than last time! Took are gear to be checked by the leaders ... ‘Matt can you check this waterproof please ... that you helped me pick out’ was funny Matt being a leader. Got to bed around 1ish.

SNOW AND ICE DAY ONE!!
Woke up to Balamore being blasted out of the stereo in the kitchen at 7ish, sat down to a nice cooked breakfast, grabbed kit and got on the hill for 9:30. covered the basics of winter walking, ice-axe arrests, walking with ice axe and crampons avalanche pits, snow holes etc etc etc. I could tell I learnt something last time as I knew everything! Was a good day spent with Katie, Kim, Gemma, Jenna, and Jess. We saw and stroked some reindeer too! Back to the mini bus for 4:30 where we were supposed to be meeting Geoff with his group, but, Geoff being a machine, he probable took his group 40km up Ben Macdui so something silly like that. I had him with Matt and Phil on the training day last year (I didn’t have a gently intro to winter mountaineering at all!) we ended up doing ice axe breaking down the headwall on Cairngorm then traversing the ridge all the way around Caorei and t’snecter and coming down the goat track and walking out. Got to Glenmore lodge too late to go to the bar so headed in to the avalanche lecture. Yes, many people fell asleep but it was quite interesting (although it has been the same for about 10 years). Ate loads for tea when we got back, then signed up to do ski-mountaineering for the next day, had a meeting about it, then packed for the hill, played cards and hung around the bar for a few hours.

SNOW AND ICE DAY 2
Up and out for 8, drove down to the hire shop to pick up ski mountaineering gear, they didn’t have any, tryed another place, they didn’t have any, drove back to Nethy House to get climbing gear in the hope of catching up with people on Fiacaill ridge, car park was full, went to Glen More ski hire and got cross-country kit. Me, Harriett and Stubbs had allot of fun falling over as we got used to the new skis. Your boot is not attached at the back like on normal skis, so I kept trying to lean forward in the pathetically flimsy boots we had, only to fall face first in the snow, leaving cartoon like person shaped holes everywhere in the fresh powder. Followed a track through the woods for a few hours, then went round the back of Glen More Lodge where there was a huge tree to navigate round.

SNOW AND ICE DAY 3
I had decided to go climbing today, as the real aim of snow and ice, for me was to do some harder winter routes, gain a better knowledge of the rope work and building belays and start to think about the possibility leading. Snow conditions were somewhat unusual, in the sense that there was an awful lot of it! Too much you might say, making spike and gear placements hard as you were pulling at loose slushy powder most of the time and frozen never was hard to come by. Anyhow, being ready early, me, Andy Brown, Stubbs and Lewis left at about 8 in Andy’s car and met the others at the coire cas car park later after having a hot drink in the cafe. Handed out gear and ropes and began the walk in to coire an s'tsnector. The weather was slightly overcast but the worst was yet to come the next day! I climbed with Phil, and we went up Aladdin’s mirror not taking the direct route as there were already two other teams at the bottom of the icefall. We dug an axe belay, a ‘mushroom’ and bucket seat and I also took in coils to make the rope sorter between the three of us as we were climbing on a 60m. Did the climb in about three pitches placing minimal gear and topping out just after Andy had yelled at us to put in another belay to get Phil to the top more safely. Being the first group to top out, we hung around a bit and observed some idiot coming up a few hundred meters to the right and sitting on the actual cornice to bring up his partner. Didn’t fancy the long drag down the goat track to we walked out past Jacobs ladder, and over to cairngorm way. Discussed ski mountaineering for the next day, skinning up cairngorm and off the top coming round in a circular route. Back to Nethy house for some food, signed up for climbing for the next day as I wasn’t sure about ski mountaineering due to my lack of experience off piste.

SNOW AND ICE DAY 4
Last day, and me, Katie, Jess, Jenna and Gemma (Kim was on an overnighter building snow holes) had to get up for 6 to cook breakfast. By 6.15 I was flipping pancakes and feeling rather peckish. My kit was basically packed from climbing the day before, so I just grabbed some extra food and my stuff out of the drying room and a rope and was in the mini bus for 8 again. Began the long walk in, with me leading us as everyone else was totally shattered but I didn’t feel toooooooo bad. Conditions deteriorated into wind, clag and drizzle, and so did my mood as we met the ‘English hordes’! Had a quick pep talk was we geared up and a few people didn’t fancy it and turned back. Me and Phil decided to go for a gully to the left of the goat track, but ended coming back down as the gully had turned into a waterfall from all the snow melt, we headed up the goat tack instead. Things were beginning to feel peculiar underfoot (and crampon!) so we dug an avalanche pit, and a huge block slid off in one piece on a clean plane with little effort ... so we just caught Ash and Phil coming up a gully to the left then we all ran away. On the walk back out we were up to our knees in melt water which was not pleasant, so much had melted in just a day it was unbelievable. Sat in the cafe with hot drinks to recover while waiting for Matt, Martin and the others who were now on there was out and we discussed the Welsh Meet, March Activity Weekend and the Dolomites trip in the summer. Ended up at Mambos and met Lewis to do more recovering as we did everyday. Then got back to Nethy House in time for tea and a hot shower.

THE NIGHT THAT BLURED INTO DAY THAT BLURED INTO NIGHT …
Got all are packing done after tea then went down to the bar, took a lot of pictures, tried on a lot of hats, played pool and darts and generally did daft things. Ash got his guitar out at about 1ish and we had a slightly drunken sing along for an hour or so while me and Stubbs drew on each other. Went to get some toast at about 2 and found Kim, Tom, Lewis, Stubbs and a few others in there. We decided to play a really hard drinking game (without the drink!) (I don’t think we would have managed it if people had been drinking. It involved a lot of numbers, changing numbers to nonsense word and other numbers, the ‘thumb rule’ and the ‘pointing rule’ and many other silly rules. Went to bed for an hour or so at about 3:30 as I was feeling rather sick. Work up at 5:30 to get the coach at 6. We were all waiting in the dining room for a while when it was announced there was a problem and it wasn’t coming. Sooooooooo we sat around and slept on the floor and in the bar, ate a lot of toast and talked rubbish for hours till another coach came. Slept most of the journey, but I think I was so tired my mind was playing tricks on me, when I was half asleep and still flicking through my iPod I kept thinking ‘what was I doing in 1999?’ and then ‘was I on snow and ice in 1999?’ then Jenny Barret appeared and told me to pick up all this grated cheese off this hill … odd. Stopped off at Gretna services and had to wait another hour for the next coach so got some food. Finally arrived in Preston at 6ish and Dad and Vicky picked me up, and I couldn’t find the staired up the multi-story and ended up in the staff canteen. Got home, had tea, had a bath then Dad took me back up to Lancaster.

CONCLUSION
Really good trip with great people. I feel like I want to lead some winder stuff or at least do harder routes. Planning on going to the next Network event. I also now feel sick and ill from lack of sleep … means it was a good trip … I’m very happy =]

Helm Crag, SNOW! Resist, Break'falling and paper Monoply =]

The day after ‘Friday fury’ (where me and Amy meant to go out, but spent all night watching climbing videos of the assent of the Eiger ... in German!!!) Dad, Mum and Vicky picked me up and we headed up to Grasmere. Set off for Helm Crag with me navigating (and making a right hash of it at first). Stopped for lunch at the top, then carried along the ridge to Gibson Knott, Pike of Carrs and Calf crag before heading back down the valley. Dad mum and Vicky took the path, and I moseyed along on a higher traverse having some scrambling fun =] me and Vicky made some funny videos along the way involving falling in waist deep snow and rolling down small hills and snowmen with croissants for noses). Stopped off in the Red Lion pub for some tea on the way back, then I jumped out at Lancaster.
Had my Geography Synoptic unit resist on Friday, so get the train to Preston and the bus to Southport. Did some work then realised what work I thought was at home was, in fact, still up at Lancaster, as I needed it for the exam and after a 15 minuet ‘absolute panic mode’ session, and after ringing Emma to see if she had the notes (which she didn’t) Dad said he'd drive me back up to Lancaster, and even stopped off at the petrol station to get me some sweets =]long story short, did my exam, went fine, chatted to Mr Porter who I hadn’t seen in aaaaaaaages, had a brief convo about what we’ve been up to and plan to be up to in the near future involving all things adventurous. Back home for lunch, and back to Lancaster.
Anyhow, in the last few days, I’ve been thrown around in karate learning how to ‘break-fall’, been to the bouldering wall and the gym, played snakes and ladders, twister and monopoly (all made out of paper) in Biogeochemical processes practical. Done quite a bit of revision in the library with Rachel (after going to Pizzeta and eating galaxy). Going to Langdale on Monday with Amy and Jake ... ooo ... and laser quest 2mo!