Pyrenees

Following our trip around Mont Blanc, we packed up the car and headed south to the French border and the Pyrenees. I was due to do my IML (International Mountain Leader) assessment, but we had about a week before to do some travelling around and hike up some of the more interesting summits including Pic Carlit, Puigmal and Cambre D'Aze. 

Wonderful scenery, especially the area around Pic Carlit and the lakes at Bouillouses.


Then a fairly intensive and nerve racking four days under the microsope being assessed and thankfully passing.

The view up towards Pic Carlit from the lakes at Bouillouses

The view from the summit of Pic Carlit with the lakes below.

Looking back up towards Carlit and the foreground shows how beautifully clear the water is.

Walking up from the Segre Gorge and the hot springs.  Pic Carlit is the triangular summit in the background.

A bit chilly on top of the Cambre D'Aze, but great view.

An early morning shot with cloud still hanging in the valley

On the way up Puigmal on the Spanish border.

Relaxing just below the summit.  Very popular with the local Catalan community.

Chilling outside the tent.  And its a tea cup Yen has, not a can of Carlsberg special brew.

A view across the gorge to one of the more adventurous and exciting paths along the gorges de la carança.

Andy one of our assessors, does a passable impression of the bolt.

On the summit of Pic De Mortiers.  Loosely translated as the summit of death, but it was much friendlier than that.

Tour De Mont Blanc

Earlier in August, Yen and I embarked on our Tour De Mont Blanc reccy.  We are aiming to run this as a trip next year, so wanted to do a scoot round and check the route and accommodation on the way.  We had a great trip although the weather wasnt as kind as we hoped, or as good as we would normally expect.  Its a spectacular route, as anyone who has done it will testify, and for anyone who hasnt done it, we can say that it definitely has to be on the list of great routes to do, so maybe think about joining us next year.

We started in Les Houches and headed anti-clockwise stopping off at Les Contamines, Les Chapieux, Elisabetta hut, Courmayer, Rifugio Bonatti, La Fouly, Champex, Le Tour, and Flegere amongst others.

Many highlights, but the views on the section to the Bonatti Hut, and Flegere were probably my favourites.  Some of the huts themselves are lovely and in spectacular positions, so it was a great trip.

A short selection of photos are below:

Helvellyn Deluge

Those of you in more southern parts of the country will possibly have missed the torrential rain we had here in the lake district over the weekend.  On Saturday the rain came down in biblical quantities and refused to budge at all until later in the afternoon, and then Sunday wasnt much better either.
However, we soldiered on with a great group, who luckily had a great sense of humour and a determination not to let the weather dampen their spirits.  

After a briefly dry start from Helvellyn Hostel on Saturday morning we made our way up Whiteside where the downpour and winds really started in earnest, before heading onto the summit of Helvellyn.

This is on our way down to Grisedale tarn, but this is pretty much how the weather looked all the way along.

Thankfully the weather did improve a bit later in the day, so we still managed to a couple of descent views.

So Sunday we opted for a short Ferry ride and a low level walk along the shore of Ullswater.

Followed by lots and lots of tea and cake...

Malawi Expedition July 2014

Malawi Expedition - July 2014

I returned from Malawi on Sunday after an amazing 21 day trip.  We had a few challenges along the way including a 14 hour delay at Lusaka on the way out, 4 bags which turned up 24 hours later and a few tummy upsets.  But met some amazing people and had some great experiences during the trip, so this will be a fairly abbreviated summary of some of the key moments.

Arriving in Lilongwe

Our first night camp site before heading off to the project site.

Matapila School House Project

Mount Mulanje

After Matapila we headed south past Blantyre, to Mount Mulanje for a 3 day trek.

Lake Malawi and Liwonde National Park

For the last two stages of the trip we stopped off at Cape Maclear for a Kayak trip to Domwe Island on Lake Malawi and then headed to Liwonde Wild life park for the final leg of the trip.