With Jim still away in lands afar, Ed set off into the Lake District last weekend for a part training-hike and part weekend-getaway...
It was really great to get out into the hills and do some serious walking again! I took a lot of extra weight with me that I wouldn't really need for the weekend because I wanted to make sure I would be happy carrying a pack of similar weight to the ones Jim and I will be lugging across Iceland. Most of my time was spent near Borrowdale and in quite a short space of time I was able to climb a few of the large hills in the area (including the uncompromisingly steep Great Gable at 899m) and do a fair amount of scrambling - essential things to practice for part of our journey across Iceland! Just before the Vatnajokull ice cap we will be crossing what appears on the map to be a mountain range (by British standard anyway). The only defined route skirts around the outside but it will add many days onto our journey following it, so we are planning to take the "shortcut" - straight over the top!
For anyone interested, you can check out the photos in Ed's Picasa gallery at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113419761180934624957/LakeDistrictJul
(Yes that is sticky toffee pudding!)
