On Friday evening, after the hype of the Royal Wedding, I made my way up to Euston and got the train up to Manchester and made my way to Si and Suzie's place and met Levi and Hannah there. I only got in rather late, but there weren't any plans to do much before our early start on the Saturday morning.

Early on Saturday we set off for Wasdale Head, near to West Water Lake, in the western part of the Lake District National Park, about a three hour drive mainly because of the small, narrow country roads the closer we got to Wasdale. After buying a map and some Kendal Mint Cake for the walk, we set off from the car park a bit before 11am, and after double checking our planned route with the first walker we passed, we realised we were heading in exactly the wrong direction for Scafell Pike. Luckily it was still early in the walk. So second time lucky we set off in the right direction.

After just under three hours of fairly easy walking and a few scenic rest stops and food breaks, Si, Suzie and myself made it to the top. The other two gave up after the first couple of hundred meters, but the three of us made it up in good time. It wasn't nearly as challenging as I somehow expected it to be, but just as busy as what Snowdon was last year. The weather was amazing, quite windy, but perfectly blue skies and hot sun - enough to even get a bit of colour on my arms and face. After sometime at the top, we slowly made our way back down, even stopping for a while for a nap in the sun, and still getting back down to the the Wasdale Head Inn before 5pm, less than 6 hours from when we set off (the second time).

After a relaxing beer in the sun at the Wasdale Head Inn, we made our way over to Hawkshead and checked into the YHA there, and after a quick shower, we took a walk down the road into the village. Everywhere seemed fairly quiet, but we struggled to find place at any of the four pubs - clearly thats where everyone in Hawkshead hangs out. But we managed to grab a table at the Red Lion and had an amazing lamb shank for dinner - one of the recommended local specialities.

Sunday morning involved a decent fry up downstairs at the hostel before heading into the village for a brief walk around there. The drive through Ambleside to Windermere didn't take much more than half an hour, where we parked the car and took a walk to the waterfront. We decided on the boat trip to Lakeside and back, where Si had worked at the YMCA outdoor activity centre a few years back. Spent sometime around the centre, not a lot going in there, then made our way back to Windermere again on the boat, and up to The Albert pub for a late lunch in the sun, and finally back down to Si and Suzie's place in Manchester.

After a shower and a chill out, we fired up the braai for dinner and grabbed stone shut eye. After picking Levi up we headed on over to the Delta Force Paintball center and spent the better part of the day shooting each other and trying our best not to get shot (too much).

After the paintball, we all went for a quick cider in the sun down the road, and then Si and I left them to get to Macclesfield Station and I made my way back down to London. Was definitely one of the better weekends in quite sometime, definitely looking forward to heading back to the Lakes again and not all that excited about work tomorrow, but at least its only a four day week which helps!