knittering: OMG, three months until the wedding!

Finally completed all three Yorkshire Peaks :) We reached the summit of Whernside!

Our starting point was the Station Inn in Ribblehead, where we planned our route. Instead of taking the easy climb up, we decided to take the steep route. Nothing like a bit of climbing to get the heart pumping.

We started the walk with a beautiful view of the Ribblehead Viaduct. Absolutely gorgeous surroundings and a good day for walking.

The steep climb up. There were only a few other people, who decided to take this route up, the majority were like a wave coming against us down from the summit.

When we arrived at the steep incline, there was a bit of fuss, with helicopters circling, mountain rescue everywhere. It seems there was an event on with people trying to complete the Three Peak Challenge (all three peaks in 12 hrs) and a few participants had injured themselves. A reminder how important the volunteers of Mountain Rescue are to us walkers.

Made it!

Views from the top of Whernside. Amazing.

After the long climb down, we were treated to lovely scenery.

Back at the Station Inn in Ribblehead. The guys were quite amused with this weather forecasting stone.

More photos here!

Go out and explore!

Finally I have completed our cake toppers! Another wedding diy to strike of the list. I’ve been delaying it for months, because I didn’t know what to paint me as. Mr H = scientist, obviously, but I was agonising how to portray moi!

I know I asked for suggestions and I got quite a lot of good ones, but nothing ever seemed to be a perfect fit. Yes, I’m a gardener / an artist / debater / witch / etc, but I’m not that all the time. I have to be in a mood for that. Then I realised, what do I not need to be in the mood for? What do I enjoy without working myself up to it?

Well, a full blooded red wine drinking - shoe shopping - travelaholic, of course! Hurrah!

These were so much fun to make and cheap too. Got some basic peg dolls and took out my acrylic paint set, drew on the basic image in pencil then painted in the lines. Tadah!

After four weeks of no outdoor adventure, I’ve been dying to get out and get my hands on some wilderness. Well, as wild as it can get here in the UK ;) So I nagged and nagged and finally, I got to go climb Pen-Y-Ghent!

Pen-y-ghent is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales. It is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Whernside. - Wiki

At the base of Pen-Y-Ghent, now heading onwards and upwards!

The beautiful views along the climb. The weather was changing every time.

Lovely little rock formation.

Look how far I climbed! And yep, coping so much better with heights these days.

At the summit. Hurrah! What a rush! It’s such a great feeling. I’ve now done two of the Yorkshire three peaks. Just Whernside left, but I hear that is a bit of a boring walk. Might leave it for my outdoor days when I’m not in the mood for a climbing challenge. Hrm maybe Peak district or the lakes next?

The view of Pen-Y-Ghent after our descent and our walk to the pub.

We didn’t end up in a cafe this time. But a pub is good enough. I was dying for some crisps!

More photos here :)

For Mr H’s birthday, I decided to bake him a cake. After my last baking journey, which ended in green cardboard cupcakes (disaster!), I was understandably wary. But this carrot cake recipe worked like a charm and it’s dead easy. Safe to say it was a brilliant success and it definitely did not taste like cardboard :) It was enjoyed at a little barbecue get together in our back garden.

Whiskey wanted cake too, but had to be content with just a pair of pretty shoes.

The first rose to bloom this year was surprisingly my Frau Karl Drushki Rose, which I tracked down since discovering the variety in Mainau last year. This is the lovely climber with gorgeous buds. Extremely white!

But not long after came the stunning display (and smell!) of Gertrude Jekyll. You just can’t go wrong :)

And that’s my first geeky rose obsessed post for the season ;) I apologise for the many more future posts such as these!

The minute we get sunshine here in the UK, it’s time for a barbecue!

Mmmm beef teriyaki!

Nomnomnomnomnom!

Ultimate Frisbee fighters! Rawr!

Even the mess we leave behind is stylish!

Ps. Just realised, it’s now exactly four months until the wedding. Tomorrow it will be three months and a bit. I still have tons to do! Cake toppers, favours, seating plans…I better get cracking on my crafting. Thankfully the weather is taking a bit of a turn for the worse (fortunately for my thirsty garden), so that should keep me away from my outdoor adventuring and hiking. But still thinking about it! Next planned target is camping in Horton in Ribblesdale and taking on Pen-y-Ghent.

The weather is amazing at the moment here in the UK. Hot hot hot! Tons of sunshine and blue skies. We couldn’t stay at home, so we headed over to Canon Hall on Saturday to enjoy the beautiful grounds and gardens.

Lovely red Rhododendron. I’m hoping the cutting I took from this will take root. The branch was broken! And I’m not as bad as my Grandma who takes secateurs and a basket everywhere she goes…well not yet anyway. Must be the Ilocano blood in me.

I wish my wisteria had a floral display like that! Lovely purple tear drop petals.

More photos here.

Oh, remember my New Year’s resolution to lose weight by June (ie. today)? Well, not only have I lost 4 kg, but 7 kgs in total. Hurrah! Must be all the stress from wedding planning. And it’s staying off too! No yoyoing. Thanks to eating better (more veg, less meat) and doing more exercise. I’m glad I met that target, because I seem to be failing the rest of my resolutions!

The potato patch.

Strawberry flowers.

Red Onion for Red Onion Marmalade later this year.

Pretty little buttercup.

Garden wildlife.

More photos here.

Up Ingleborough, one of the Yorkshire three peaks (surviving water shortage by finding a natural spring) and then down Gaping Gill via a winch. 365 feet deep and pretty dark down there! Beautiful waterfall though.

More photos here.

An eventful day, we had so much fun getting there and then walking on the North Beach to Sandsend where we stayed for tea before walking back. About to head home and our car broke down! Radiator leaking :( Luckily we were across a Petrol station and not out in the moors. Got towed safely home, but it definitely scuppered our plans to go camping in Horton in Ribblesdale on Sunday night! Thankfully friends could give us a lift for our Sunday expedition…await next post ;)