Dan has two kidneys

... and a liver.  I took part in a study which involved MRI scans of my abdomen.  I've included evidence that I have insides:

Keswick and Catbells

After an early start and a morning of travel we arrived in Keswick still not entirely sure where we were going to stay. After hanging outside Booth's we decided to give the camping and caravan club site right on the Derwent's edge a try. Luckily for us there was plently of space on the backpackers pitch, the staff were very surprised when they asked us the size of our tent (5 man about 4 x 3 m and tall enough to stand in). Apparently no backpackers had ever hiked in with a tent that big before!!! We figured if there was a chance of it being wet, we wanted to be comfortable with a baby and not trying to scrabble around on our hands and knees. After getting set up and unloaded we headed off on an open top ride to take in some of the views.

An early morning paddle

Amy gets the hang of sleeping in the tent

Castlerigg stone circle Dan looking for people on Helvellyn

Amy decided that she could walk on a short break on the way back to Keswick from Castlerigg. I think it was the 23rd May so she must have been 11months and 1 week!!!

At the start of the hike

View on the way up Catbells

Amy enjoying a quick snack

Dan chose all these photos don't ask me why he picked a giant sandwich photo

Intrepid mountaineers

Our little pitch

Amy all ready for the rain at the bottom of Skiddaw

Watching clouds forming over Bassenthwaite Lake

Dan having fun with a water bottle

Moving day

Borrowdale

The staff at Keswick started getting funny about us staying over the bank holiday as they said they had the most popular camp site in the country. We thought otherwise and decided to decamp and head down into Borrowdale so we could be right at the foot of some of the bigger mountains right in the heart of the Lake District. After a little investigation we found a great (basic) little site just outside of Stonetwaite on the road to Seatoller. It was fun setting up, lugging all our stuff including the newly acquired deck chair on the bus only to be dropped off a couple of stops too early. Quickly setting up camp, so Sneha and I could nip back to Keswick to buy all our provisions for the next 5 days. That was quite a job but we did it and did it well. As you can see we had quite a cozy civilized set up. We were very comfortable even when it rained.

Enjoying a yummy egg curry

Dan and Parag set off on their long hike

Views across to Scarfel from Castle Crag

Meditation!

Amy seemed to learn so much during the course of the holiday, she got so much better at walking considering she'd only started a few days earlier and was eager to get on the move.

Dan, Amy and I got the bus over Honister pass to walk over Haystacks and back to the campsite. This is the view from Buttermere just as we were setting off. Haystacks is in the centre.

Nearly there!

At the top

I really enjoyed this hike, the scenery was so varied and we saw so many of the big mountains all in one day. The weather was still fantastic, a little windy, but dry.

We just chilled out on the last day, we had a little feast by the river. Followed by a stroll to Grange, where we had the worst milkshake I have ever had in my life!! We paid good money expecting thick creamy refreshing milkshake... but no, they gave us watery nesquick!!!

We had such a brilliant holiday. We managed to hike loads and the scenery was absolutely spectacular! Amazingly we only had a few rainy days, the Skiddaw attempt, the day Dan and Parag were coming back from their long hike and the day we went home. Amy did incredibly well at sleeping through the night in the tent (I was expecting the worst). We also stayed in brilliant places. I was slightly apprehensive about camping with a baby and with no car but it all worked out very well. It was such a big help having extra pairs of hand and eyes to look after Amy.

Parag looking very pleased with himself after managing to fix his rain cover over the roll mat.

Home at last!

3 Peaks

We're going back a bit now to the first bank holiday in May, but we have a lot to catch up on. John annually seems to do the Yorshire 3 peaks now, so this year we tagged along. Mum and dad had booked the camping barn at the bottom of Pen-y-ghent (Dub-Cote Barn). We had a great laugh and loads of people stayed, Ken, Bev, Denise, Dayle, Helen, Scott and kids. In the morning a load of other people turned up like Martin, Ashley plus lots of John's friends.
When Amy was in bed Dan and I headed out to Pen-y-Ghent, the light on the mountain was absolutely gorgeous. The surprising thing was that there was no one else out enjoying the scenery.
Helen, Harry, Dan and I headed off from Dub-Cote, while the others all clocked in at the cafe in Horton in Ribblesdale. Everyone made it up Pen-y-Ghent and we continued on to the Ribblesdale viaduct. Despite extreme weather conditions on the next two mountains dad and John completed the 3 peaks challenge in brilliant times (under 8 hours). Dan being Dan decided he wanted to do the last peak Ingleborough in the rain. Everyone had a great time and we all slept very well when we got home that night!