Tips for walking the Three Yorkshire Peaks Challenge

It's been one week since completing the Three Yorkshire Peaks Challenge, and boy was it a challenge. 

It was easily the hardest but most rewarding challenge I've ever done; made harder by the fact that we decided to do it in November, one of the months for the shortest daylight hours... GREAT IDEA GUYS!

The average duration for the walk is 12 hours, and we really hoped to complete it in this time but we made it back within 12.5 hours, just 30 minutes over the average time. We decided to go the standard route of anti-clockwise and started in the dark at 5.30am and finished in the dark after a horrific climb down Ingleborough. Battered by gales and hailstorms at the top of Whernside (peak #2 and my personal nemesis) we were exhausted by the time we finished... but we did it! We did it!

We stayed in a lovely B&B in Ingleton (Seed Hill in case you're interested) and drove to Horton-In-Ribblesdale in the morning, you feel like it's a long drive in the car and you know you'll be walking that way in the next ten hours, which is psychologically not a great start to the walk...

Buuuuuut with the benefit of hindsight there are a few things I would have done differently that I'd love to pass along to you. Some are just plain old common sense that just didn't occur to me (thanks brain) but some are just having done it once, listen to Auntie Baxter on this:

* Get a good night's sleep the night before. Your body is full of adrenaline to get started and I only ended up getting three hours sleep despite going to bed at 9.30pm. I just kept thinking 'Don't forget your walking pole' and other annoying thoughts. Don't underestimate how much adrenaline you'll have.

* Take change for the car park (or find somewhere free to park). Funnily enough it didn't occur to us to bring change and so we wasted time moving the cars (in the dark) to somewhere free. We parked by the school which worked out fine, or you can pay £5 for all day parking.

* Take a thermos but only fill it with water at The Station pub. You'll be ready for a tea at the top of Whernside (#2) so just ask the nice folk to fill it up rather than carrying it around for the first 13 miles.

* Have a pint at The Station at your peril. It's pretty hard to drag yourself out of the pub (especially if it's raining like it was for us). It's a good morale booster to stop there but don't stay long!

* Take the gear seriously. Spend the money on your walking boots/waterproofs/clothes and your body will thank you. Waterproof socks are worth their weight in gold when you walk through the boggy fields and your boots get submerged.

* You WILL struggle with Ingleborough - the last peak. By that time you'll have been walking for around 8/9 hours and you come face to face with a mountain of stairs. I hate stairs. Then there's a scramble to the top which turns

* Bearing in mind we took the challenge in November, the path down from Ingleborough to Horton back to the car was in bad condition and tough to navigate in the dark. Pretty sure it'll be better in the summer, but don't underestimate how long it'll take you to complete the final stretch. It's still a good five mile walk from the top of Ingleborough - a long time after your final high five and photo at the top!

The time factor is annoying and I don't like that there's this pressure to get round in 12 hours (you got a certificate dontcha know?) because it's such a stunning walk and you don't get the time to appreciate it when you're head down just digging deep to climb all three peaks. We didn't get the time to stop and take in the view (mainly because it was foggy!) and you don't want to stop for too long in case your legs decide they just don't want to go any further.

Overall it goes without saying that this is a huge challenge. Expect it to be hard, expect the worst and you should even be pleasantly surprised by yourself and the walk. The views are stunning and you'll be very proud of yourself for completing it.

Sunday Photo Album... On Monday Again

Oh who am I kidding? I'm never going to remember to post a photo album on a Sunday. I'm just going to call it Photo Album and not give it a day of the week.

I was just talking to The Boy about Zanzibar, so I fancied revisiting that photo album from my trip there in 2010.

For some reason we decided not to venture from Kenya to Zanzibar while we were both in Mombasa earlier this year. I think the flights were expensive and the bus would have taken DAYS so we decided to explore more of Kenya instead and save some cash.

I want to go back to Zanzibar for many reasons but mostly for this reason:

I can't lie. I'm changing the picture size on this album from medium to large on this one.

WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT HOW BLUE THAT WATER IS???!

I only spent five days in two different parts of Zanzibar, Stone Town and Nungwi so I know there's plenty more to see but I really enjoyed it and respected the amazing amount of culture there is to see there. 

I hope you enjoy this album!

Not so keen on this fella... spider from Zanzibar

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh when's the next flight out there?

How to save cash for travel - Part 1

1. Stop buying CRAP

Like this:



Oh yes, at first glance I'm like "want! want! want!" and could talk myself into buying it... then I think about what that cash could go towards if I was abroad... is it better to pay £100 for a table? or £100 on a week or more of accommodation, or a few excursions or a few slap up meals?

Exactly. Switch off the computer and stop buying crap you don't need.

Look around your house, I'll bet you already have everything you need for a comfortable home. Keep buying groceries of course, you still have to EAT after all.

Look at your wardrobe. When was the last time you wore that thing you keep meaning to throw out? When was the last time you bought something new?

Exactly. Why don't you bloody well WEAR that old thing and not buy that new dress you saw the other day and just have to have?

You'll easily save a couple of hundred quid over a month or so (if you're anything like me anyway) which will go towards a flight to a sunny destination - that's better than a new dress isn't it?

P.S. I'm more than happy if anyone wants to buy me that table as a gift, by the way.

5 City Breaks I Want To Do

I'm coming around to the idea of a weekend city break. I want to cram in as much travel in my life but sadly the whole full-time-job thing doesn't allow as many opportunities for travel as I'd like (or my bank balance allows)...

Having popped to Barcelona for a weekend a few months ago, I loved how you could be sat in an airport freezing your socks off, then be sitting at a bar sipping sangria a few hours later! I felt so smug at work on Monday when my colleagues asked what I did at the weekend... they hate me.

Here's a few destinations I've got my eye on for a weekend break:

1. Paris

Pinned from http://pinterest.com/pin/564849978234850759/

Slightly cliched perhaps, but I can't believe I've never been to Paris and it's so close! I've been to Disneyland Paris twice but I guess that doesn't count because you can't see the Eiffel Tower from Davy Crockett's Ranch...

I'd love to wander around the streets of Paris, stopping for a chocolat chaud or a macaroon or just to hear a man playing an accordion... I'm all out of stereotypes.

Naturally I would spend the entire weekend riding a bicycle wearing a stripey jumper with a beret atop my head.





2. Prague

Pinned from http://pinterest.com/pin/432627107924648114/

How have I not been to Prague yet?? Surely I'm the only person left who hasn't been.

I know it's got a bit of a reputation now for lads and stags, but it's still a beautiful place and I'd love to visit on a cold winter and be all bundled up and popping in to warm bars (you're getting an idea of how I behave on weekend breaks...)

Plus, while the beer is super cheap I've GOT to get myself over there!








3. Iceland

Pinned from http://pinterest.com/pin/549861435724921060/

I know Iceland isn't a city by the way. I'm so fascinated by Iceland. I'm desperate to go and visit for a weekend. I'd take a dip in one of the lagoons, I'd go and visit the geysers, party all night, trek on a glacier...

Best of all... I WANT TO SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS! I remember reading about them in a book when I was little and being so in awe of them. I was also in awe of the book as it was personalised about me and had my name in it and everything, I was Santa's helper!

So yeah, Iceland is on the list.





4. Cities and towns in Ireland

Pinned from http://pinterest.com/pin/84161086756052982/

One thing I've wanted to do for a while is travel to Ireland, hire a car and road trip around a few places along the coast and inland.

Maybe I've watched too many chick flicks that involve road trips around Ireland, but I want to dance Irish jigs in bars and have the craic and listen to live music!

You won't catch me drinking Guinness though, I just cannot stomach it, it HATES me.

5. Dusseldorf

OK I'll admit that I'd never really considered Dusseldorf as a weekend destination before... but browsing online showed that weekend flights were going cheap, so we're giving it a try in October! Watch this space! I'm off to my favourite website www.airbnb.com and find a nice apartment!

What I Want...

There are so many things I want in life right now I thought I'd sit and get them all in a blog...

I want to be sitting on a beach watching the sunset somewhere, anywhere. I want to just sit and watch the sun dip in to the sea. If there was cool music playing, a beer and a blanket around my shoulders, I'd be fine with that.

I want to do a parachute jump. I don't but I do.

I want to stop overhearing petty conversations and squabbles that DON'T matter in the grand scheme of things. Some people have no idea what is out there and how good they have it, I don't ever want to slip in to that danger zone of normality.

I want to be snuggled up here:

I want to know where this cat came from...

I want to stop typing and go and drink some red wine.

Stopping now.

Sorry About The Silence, I've Been in Kenya...

Wow. I'm back in England.

I'm not allowed to say Kenya anymore because I've been talking about it so much I've been banned from saying it out loud.
What a difference a week makes. I spent one week in Kenya and I went with absolutely no plans other than to make the most of a week away from my desk.

It was easily one of the best weeks of my whole life! Everything just fell in to place and worked out so well, I met some amazing people, some amazing little people and visited amazing places.

In one week I:

• Navigated my way around Mombasa alone on public transport
• Hand fed a giraffe
• Drank countless Tusker beers and tequila shots
• Met 15 amazing children at Lunahome Children's Home
• Raised £600 in donations from friends and family back home for Lunahome
• Spent a very pleasant afternoon drinking whiskey in a safari park and playing cards
• Ate roadside chicken and regretted it
• Blagged my way into a 5 star hotel saying it was my birthday
• Had an average of 4 hours sleep a night
• Sang 'Sweet Child of Mine' on a micrphone with the first butch Kenyan lady I've seen
• Learnt even more Swahili and managed to argue with a tuk tuk driver in Swahili :)
• Feel even deeper in love with Kenya

I have to go back and quickly. 15 children have stolen my heart and I don't mind one little bit. I'll tell you about them all in another post as I'm too emotional about the whole trip to even try and sum it up.

I just loved being there and feeling so independent. It helped that this was my third visit, but I felt smug for some reason when chatting to people who were flying there and had no plans to leave their resort. As they were being bussed there in their air-conditioned buses, I was in a tuk-tuk on my way to the supermarket to get some fruit and Top Deck chocolate - do you remember Top Deck? White chocolate and then milk chocolate at the bottom? Anyway, I digress.

Here's a few picture highlights of my trip:

That's all for now, but trust me, you haven't heard the last about Kenya on this blog :)

Kenya believe it?! Standby, I'm going to Kenya on my own...

One of the rare perks of working in travel is that I can put myself on standby for any flight belonging to one of the world’s biggest holiday providers (I’ll give you a clue, their logo is the red smiley face).

I’ve known that I can do this for the five years that I’ve worked in travel, but for some reason I’ve never got around to doing it. I know, I'm an IDIOT.

I guess it’s the uncertainty of not knowing if you’re going on holiday or not. There are many things to be uncertain about in life – going away shouldn’t be one of them in my opinion. So there’s always the chance that you won’t get a flight on standby because all those other greedy buggers have booked themselves a flight at full price and taken up all the seats. Christ. How SELFISH.

I'm making up for it now though! I’m biting the bullet and trying something new. I’m really pushing myself at the moment to stay out of my comfort zone.

It’s bad enough that I work full time and am restricted to being adventurous and keeping busy in my evening and weekends, I’m NOT going to be a couch potato in my spare time, there’s too much to and… you guessed it, life’s too short!

So, I’m going to try and fly to Kenya for one week in one weeks’ time to see my mate Alice. On my own. Yep, all by myself.

Yes, it’s a 7 hour flight and I’ll probably be tired, but I’d rather be tired in Kenya and meeting up with old friends than always wondering what it would have been like to go to Kenya for a week. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m happy to say that it’ll be my third trip to Kenya, it makes me so happy to say that.

I’ve got no idea what I’ll do when I get there. I’ve got a few options, but I’m not going to put pressure on myself and plan too much, I don’t have time for that. I’ve been learning Swahili because one of my goals is to speak another language at beginner level, and I’ve chosen Swahili because I love East Africa and plan to go back there again and again.

So please, keep everything crossed for me that I get a standby flight next Monday 2nd July and can try something completely new. I’m not scared, I’m excited.

The only thing I’m scared of is not wanting to come home and settle back again in to my ‘normal’ life, because that’s happened a few times so far in life, but I’ll get used to it. Or I’ll make another plan that involves travel and some form of stability so that I can see my husband and cat every now and again :)

My Favourite Africa Photos

It's official, now that Pinterest and Instagram are in my life, I feel more complete. And now that I have myself an iPhone (am I the last person to get one? I think so.) I have this at my fingertips, so I'm even more antisocial focused.

I love photos. Sometimes on a trip out or a holiday, I worry that I've spent too long behind the camera instead of just enjoying the trip for what it is, and it's important to have that balance. Overall I think I'd rather have too many photos than not enough. So there.

I thought I'd try my first photo essay type thing of my favourite photos from Africa so far, hopefully there are so many more to come:

2007: Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

Look what the African sun did to my camera! It looks like I was there in the sixties rather than 2007. I love this photo because I have so many memories of my trip to Uganda and trying to navigate that dug out tree trunk on the water was just so funny for all of us. We didn't think we'd ever make it back to shore. Happy days.

2007: Nyakisiru, Uganda

This was our last day in the village and we had our photo taken with the elders of Nyakasiru. I had my photo taken with a 90 year old Ugandan man who, when translated, said he never thought he'd live to see the day where we had his photo taken with a white girl. Brilliant, glad to be of assistance.

2009: Mombasa, Kenya

Clearly I make a great, fascinating and lively teacher. Here are my students, asleep in class. To be fair they were only 4 years old and were far too young to be sitting in a small classroom at a desk, similar children back home here would be running around screaming and playing with jelly moulds or doing finger painting. The dude on the left later peed his pants in his sleep. Bless.

2009: Tiwi Beach, Mombasa

I don't know why I love this photo so much but it's always been one of my favourites. We went for a walk around our beach resort (Tiwi beach is beautiful but quite remote) and stumbled upon these guys who let me take their photo - asante sana rafikis! I REALLY wanted that wooden ship.

2009: Mombasa - Nairobi train, Kenya

Look at me! I'm on the Mombasa to Nairobi train. I wrote another blog all about the 15 hour train ride to Nairobi, but one of the things I really wanted was to take a picture of the train going around the bend and by jove I did! I might not have had a fandangled camera like the other people on the train, but I got the shot I wanted and then just enjoyed the view.

2011: Lake Naivasha, Kenya

This photo is cool for so many reasons (well actually, just one reason really, the giraffe) We did a walking safari after being reassured that there were no predators in the area and it was amazing. I fell in love with warthogs on this walking safari, they're just so damned funny looking, I love it.

2011: Nakuru National Park, Kenya

A true Lion King moment at the top of this hill overlooking the park. How amazing is this place? Everything the light touches is your kingdom.

2011: Tanzania (A beach somewhere)

Oh my. I just love this photo. This photo represents the one morning on this trip that I was one of the first people awake and up. Every other morning I had to be dragged from my tent so we could get going (what? I love sleep) but that morning we'd slept in a hut on the beach, so the sea woke me up and I got up to enjoy the view on my own. Serene hey?

2011: Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town holds the prize of the hottest place I've been to, twinned with the place I've covered up the most in despite the heat. Out of respect for the Muslim community, my translucent skin was covered up resulting in around five outfit changes per hour. Stunning place though, you soon get tired of the winding alleys as you get completely lost and have no idea where your hotel is...

2011: Nungwi, Zanzibar

No words are needed really, just admire the picture.

The scenery there was so beautiful, it should be illegal. I HAVE to go back there.

And that's all for now! Hope you enjoyed it. Does that count as a photo essay? Let's pretend it does to make me feel better.

The 5 Most Daring Things I've Done So Far... dum dum dum!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I've been training my cat for car travel and it's taking longer than expected. Bloody cat.

Anyhoo. Whilst I have travel on the brain, I have exciting news!

No, I am NOT pregnant!

We're doing a charity skydive at work. Not at work technically, that would be the lamest skydive ever. No, the drop location is yet to be announced but we're all throwing ourselves out of a plane in the next few months. Scary hey?

It got me thinking that I've done some scary/daring stuff already in my life, am I tempting fate by signing myself up for yet another risky activity?

I figure life's too short to spend it hiding away 'just in case'... it's better to live it than worry about it!

So in no particular order, but starting with the scariest first, I give you my list:

1. Camping in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Ain't no lions getting in my tent!

Woah. Poopantsville this one. It was one of those moments I thought to myself 'What the hell are you doing spending the night in the Serengeti in a tent?!!!' and I honestly didn't think I'd last the night but it was reassuringly uneventful. The camp was completely open and there were zebra all around us but no sign of any KatieEaters. We sat around the campfire hearing stories about tour guides waking up in the night to find lions around the fire... gulp. My recipe for surviving a night in the Serengeti? 1 beer, 2 sleeping pills and some sturdy earplugs. You'll soon wake up to sunrise feeling like a hero.

It wasn't until the next night where we camped at the Ngorogoro Crater and a fully grown elephant appeared a few feet away from our truck that it sank in just how cool this was. TIP - If you ever find yourself being chased by an elephant, just run in diagonal lines and you'll soon lose them. Or is that a rhino?

2. Flying solo across the world

Sadly not like Amelia Earhart, I was just a passenger, this time. No, I flew to Honduras a few years ago, and not only was it my first flight alone but I had THREE flights to catch (SIX if you think about the return journey as well mmm hmmmm) 19 hours and THREE planes later I was feeling mighty proud of myself let me tell you.

Two main horror stories were the guy who I sat next to asking me if I wanted to watch Air Crash Investigation with him on his laptop (true story) and the final flight after two long previous flights turned out to be the equivalent of a paper airplane, it was the size of a private jet on a windy night. My nerves were shot to shit after that long journey, but I calmed down pretty quickly with a glass of wine in my paw.

3. Zip Lining in Honduras

While I'm talking about Honduras, I'll drop in the absolutely insane and completely unsafe amazing zip line/canopy tour I did in Copan. I hear you guffawing 'that's not daring!' but if you'd care to watch my video and stay tuned until the camera pans around, I suspect you might think otherwise. Especially when you get to the end of the line and note that the wire that is the difference between life and death has been wrapped around a DEAD TREE. Don't tell my Mum.

One guy we were with got wire burns because they let him do the course in the dark and he didn't see the end of the wire and slammed full speed in to the tree. They made him finish the course because there was no other way down. Ouchville.

4. Still with me? Impressed at all? How about visiting a Mexican Doctor who used Google Translate to treat me?

This one is SO weird. I got an infection on my leg from a open scar (quick sick story that still makes me retch...I was sunbathing and looked down to see A FLY SITTING RIGHT ON THE OPEN WOUND!) Anyway, I needed antibiotics and quick, and found a Mexican doctor. My Spanish is fine if I need to order a cerveza or get the bill, but explaining the situation to the Doc was going to be tricky.

Luckily for me, he had an iPhone! We conversed through Google Translate for a while, I got my pills (to this day I don't know if they were antibiotics) and as I was about to leave, he called me back for one more translation which was 'Don't eat pig during the healing process' ... *blank look from me* 'sorry, pig?' nodding from the Doctor. I checked with a doctor when I got home and in his many years of practicing medicine, he has not come across this seemingly Pig-ist reaction. But I'm open to any comments from anyone in the medical profession!

5. I got married.

Collective puking from readers! Whatever.

I still maintain that buying a house is more of a commitment than getting married, but it's the most intense and full on day of my entire life, no regrets as yet my friends! Married life is NO different to life before, but with this weekend comes wedding anniversary #1 and it's been a fab year. Thank you for bearing with me, I kept it short on purpose.

So, I'll leave it on that note. I'd LOVE to hear what your most daring moments are and I'll let you know how the parachute jump goes. I REALLY hope I don't get the work experience guy rolling up my parachute...