Epic journeys

Well thats me well and truly back from my trip to the UK. As usual it seemed like a whirlwind trip fitting in all the family and catching up with old friends.  We split the trip into two halves this time, spending half with my family in the North East of England, the second half of the holiday with my husbands family in the Lake District.  

If you have never been to the Lakes, then you should! Its a beautiful part of the country with so much to do and see.  We took the kids on hikes, on a steam train, a cruise across Lake Windermere, which is 11 miles in length and is Englands biggest natural lake - this should make all you Canadians chuckle, thats almost like a paddling pool for you.

Englands highest mountain is also in the Lakes, Scafell Pike which is 3200 feet. I have climbed it a few times now, the most memorable being at 5am in the morning, during my 3 Peaks Challenge. Here you climb all of the biggest peaks in the UK, which are; Ben Nevis (Scotland), Scafell Pike (England) and finally Mount Snowdon (Wales). The aim is to do this in 24 hours, we did it in 21 hours being the 3rd team home. 

The reason for mentioning this is because I love the idea of climbing one of the Worlds biggest peaks. Aconcagua in Argentina is the largest peak outside of Asia, measuring nearly 7,000 metres.  When I was in the UK I watched a documentary called 'Cycling the Americas'. And this is the epic journey I am referring to - Mark Beaumont from Scotland, cycled the whole length of North and South America, in addition to this he climbed the two highest peaks Mount McKinley and Aconcagua - basically without any rest!  Its an amazing documentary, and I am watching like a hawk for it to come to Canada so I can indulge myself again.

(image from www.peakware.com)