Friday, 26 March 2010

Magic Cake Arrives

Just a very quick post to show you all the magic show cake,  it was created by Janice who works in the Stop Smoking Team in NHS SoTW
 The cake in all its glory, almost seems a shame to cut it up  
 
Cake Maker Jancie in the middle and the smoking team who all contributed
The cake will be at the magic show tonight where it will be cut up and sold to those who are coming along.

If you fancy a piece the only way to get some is to come along.

Tickets available on the door £25 per person with drink and food and magic and of course cake included.

Meet Some of the team - Taken at Scafell

Some pictures of the team while on our Scafell Trek
Gillian, Aaron, John, Emily, Chris, Jessica, Karen and Stephen



Thursday, 25 March 2010

A Big Big Thank you - Cake Competition

I wanted to say a big thank you everyone who took part in the cake competition,  and guess the baby  competition that took place in Rapier House. Sadly I was on annual leave so was not able to taste the wonderful cakes, however Hannah stepped in the breech and helped out as a cake judge.

The cake rush  
 The baby competition
 There we so many cakes that i can't show them all on the blog, but thought I should show you the first and second place cakes, well done to Jane and Judith.

The event raised over £113 thanks very much it is very much appreciated.

Training weekend 5: Camping and Scarfell 20th - 21st March

On 20th March, with less than 4 weeks to go, we had our final group training weekend we were staying at Wasdale Head campsite in the western lakes, on Saturday night for camping before walking on the Sunday. The campsite nestles under the Scafell mountain range at the head of beautiful Wastwater, the deepest lake in England.
Map of the Lakes  
We arrived in Wasdale head on Sunday afternoon and put tents then headed down to the local pub, the Wasdale Head Inn. Sadly the pub had no TV signal so we couldn’t watch England getting beaten, we had a good meal and a good discussion about the remaining things we needed to do for our preparations for Kilimanjaro. 
Then it was back to the tent, to try out my new sleeping bag and roll mat, which I had bought earlier in the week in Keswick. After much searching I went with a down bag and I am pleased to report it was lovely and warm, so I am very happy to take it to Kilimanjaro with me.  
  Our tents in the morning lightly frosted
Breakfast was provided by the duo that is John Anderson and Scott Elwell who we refer to as our version of the Hairy Bikers, although they don’t have bikes or big beards. They supplied us with tea & coffee and cracking bacon butties with beans. Top quality mountain climbing food. Jonathan was to be the maitre'd but sadly had to miss the trip after he bruised his foot kick boxing and was told to rest.

After breakfast we set off on our expedition up Scafell, the day was really pleasant as we set off with reasonable temperatures and even some sunshine, you would think it was spring.
 
 Setting Off 
Scafell hidden by cloud
It was scary at various times getting to the summit, including a precarious route which we called the wall of doom on the journey back to Sunderland. The trip back down was challenging too, with the rain and the mud on the stone steps, provided by the National Trust, I managed to slip at least 3 times and put a slight bend in my walking pole.  
The scramble
 The view at the top
 
Ski Sunday on the way back down
So in the space of one weekend we have camped beside the deepest lake in England and climbed the highest mountain in England, this is all good training, but Kilimanjaro is 6 times as big as Scafell, oh well at least we have 6 days to climb it.