So what did I do for Halloween this year, well I made my own costume this year, 2 in fact. I had quite a number of parties to attend this year, so I figured I diversify my arsenal a li’ ol bit. I made a Half-life zombie costume using a bloodied labcoat and shirt, coupled with my iconic head crab hat I’ve got from the Valve store few years back, but didn’t had the chance to use it proper till now. I wore the hat to lectures on halloween day too, which gave me many thumbs up among the school crowd. Awesome experience. The college parties is a very good way to get to meet people and new friends alike. There was a werewolf pack, the undead pack (guess I am part of the undead) as well as a large number of drag (lady gaga) queens.

The wolf pack!

College halloween party!

Spin the tunes baby!

There were party events such a performances and best costume auditions. Music kept going courtesy of our resident deejay Timothy, who is an English senior from Singapore too. I made a space pirate costume for another 2 more Halloween parties in other venues, namely a pub/club called revolution, we students call it Revs here for short, which feature a pub on the ground floor and the club/dance floor on the upper. My costume feature a rather formal looking space captain coat, decked with the Starcraft 2, Matt Horner styled large shoulder pads which I made out of dominos pizza coupon cardboard. The captains/pilot hat I bought off Ebay was customized with an internal red LED circuit I made and integrated into the cap, which glowed a bright red through a plastic acrylic piece like a futuristic argumented reality heads up display.

My niffy HUD!

Saints and Sinners!

Lady ga ga?

The early part of term is a good time to catch up on parties. Chilling out with the Singapore society was fairly interesting- they are not much of a party bunch. Time and always and unlike most other halloween parties I’ve been to (like those with the local British and internationals) most Singaporeans will just wait out by the seats in the club, preferring the sit around, stone rather than party or dance on the floor. I am not implying I am heck a party animal myself, but sometimes I find really weird having to drag them out to dance as if it’s their virgin experience on the dance floor. I mean, why pay to enter a club just to sit down on the sofa the whole night and chat with blaring music all around you? Weird. It’s sad seeing most Singaporeans here in Cambridge such lowlifes, much the study bugs who had not entered a club their whole lives, yesh! And we definitely don’t get this kind of crowd in the Polytechnic, that’s for sure! College is one of the best times of your lives, make the best out of it!

Meet the ghouls

Got punkin?

By the eye!

The last of my Halloween party saw an awesome boat party along the river Thames in London. The boat is more or less a self contained floating club with active lighting on the dance floor itself. You party on any of the decks on the boat which loops around the Thames from the London docksides to Westminster/London Eye. Awesome!

Check out more photos of the Halloween event here.

As part of my university internship and industrial experience requirements, I spent the last summer back in Singapore working 8 weeks from the 26th of July to the 17th of September. I’ve got the opportunity to work on improving a large caliber weapons system currently actively employed in the Singapore Armed forces. The organisation is no Stark industries, but with some of it’s bells and whistles as a defence agency almost like Darpa in the US or the DSTL in UK. A little background, the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is a statutory board set up under the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) in Singapore. It is responsible for implementing defence technology plans, acquiring defence material, engineering, innovation and developing defence infrastructure for MINDEF.

In a hind side, DSTA aims to provide leading-edge technological solutions to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) so that it continues to be a formidable fighting force for the defence and security of Singapore. I am tasked to work under the Guided Weapon & Armament (GW&A) Competency Community under Systems Management. The security in the organisation is much more strict than most military intuitions I’ve been to, despite the fact with interns having one of the lower security clearance in the whole building. Working in a high security environment is definitely an eye opener for me, we deal with a greater deal of classified material, it’s unreal yet cool at the same time.

With an allocated mentor supervisor, I was given the role as a junior engineer, taking on the mini project of my own. Tasked a project to independently assess, work and suggest the most cost effective solution to improve and fulfill the night engagement capabilities of a locally developed weapon system. I am given the flexibility to manage the project directly, working autonomously and deliver the project findings with respect to project milestones and datelines.

There, I’ve given the opportunity to research and work with several interesting technologies and hardware to go with it, namely:

With the following engineering procedures I applied on my own in my analysis of my options and eventual result:

Extensive life cycle analysis, including product disposal were considered. It was concluded that a modular add-on to the weapons system will give the army the flexibility to operationally deploy a variety of night aids found in the SAF inventory, which is both cost efficient and easy to implement/deploy logistically and on the field for the soldier. The suggestion of the weapon enhancement does not stop here, with areas open for further improvement as well as noting future technological possibilities which can be used to further employed to enhance the solution in the future. Following my presentation to my superiors and department head on the last week of internship, the presentation feedback is largely positive with a good chance of the recommended solution being implemented in the Singapore army itself!

Awesome!

Disclaimer: Please mind the vagueness of this post, particularly the mention of any specific weapons system. There are just so much information I can share openly besides the obvious already on the public domain. Cheerios!

Rydal is a small nature area close by are Grasmere to the north and Ambleside to the south-east. It is home to few interesting attractions, we have the Rydal water, which is an enclosed lake by a small wooded area overlooked by a fell, the Rydal hall and mount which are historical houses. You can stop by Rydal or the nearby town of Grasmere using the bus services plying between Keswick and Windermere along the A591, which was done on my visit.

Most of the attractions are situated along the roads, Rydal hall and mount is just a short northern walk uphill from the bustop along Rydal road. Essentially located near Ambleside, Rydal Mount is a house and is best known as the home of poet William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850. On a little background, Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in Cumberland in 1770, the Lake District being his native childhood home. He moved away to study at the University of Cambridge in 1787, and then traveled in Britain and Europe for 12 years. He spent over 8 years at Dove Cottage in nearby Grasmere from 1799 to 1808, but was forced to move to accommodate his growing family and many visitors. After a period in Allan Bank in Grasmere, the Wordsworths moved to Rydal Mount in 1813. The building still stands today untouched by time.

Rydal lake here we come

the Rydal community!

hall from the gardens

Situated just opposite Rydal Mount, Rydal Hall is an early 19th century Grade II listed historic house on the outskirts of the village of Rydal. It used to be owned by the Le Fleming family. The house is now used for retreats, conferences, courses and holidays in a beautiful situation near Rydal Water, north of Lake Windermere. There are also formal gardens with a fountain and balustrades open to the public, with donations accepted and The Rambler’s Tea Shop, also known as The Old School Room Tea Shop open daily except Christmas. It is located centrally on the “Coffin Route” between Dove Cottage, home of Wordsworth before he moved to Rydal and Rydal Mount, with good views.

a sight to behold!

fantastic gardens

squirty fountain!

Both Grasmere and Windermere lakes can be seen from the hillside grounds of Rydal Mount. William Wordsworth designed the layout of the gardens at Rydal. The gardens, build on a hill incline essentially spots the main hall building overlooking the lush gardens itself, accessible by a 2 tiered stone staircase just a floor below the ground level. The spotlight of the gardens is a central fountain flanked by two nicely manicured lawns with flower beds, you can view a 360 degree panorama of the gardens below:

Photostich
Rydal Hall. (Fullsize)

Wordsworth often frequented these gardens for work as opposed to the spacious office/writing room in his house. On the high side of the grounds, tucked away from the main house, but overlooking both the grounds and the two nearby lakes, he built the “Writing Hut” where he spent most of his writing time. This hut consisted merely of a bench with a small roof, but it provided shelter from the frequent rains and escape from the house. He lived the rest of his life there until his death at the age of 80, and he frequently was visited by Samuel Taylor Coleridge who would walk down from his home in Keswick.

Overlooking a field

onto the lake!

relaxing flowing river

From the gardens, you will be treated by lush views of the open plains by a stone sundial and with the Rydal peaks filling the horizon over the background. Just across Rydal mount is the Rydal water, or Rydal lake as we come to know about. The path to Rydal lake starts with a small entrance by the road side along Rydal road by a hostel and the Rydal Lodge Country house, bringing you across a small wooden bridge over a small river. This area across the road is also home to the Cote How organic Tearoom.

Armed with my trusty trekking stick, the trek to the lakes start here. The tranquility is awesome! With excellent weather to boot, I saw myself making my way from the open trail towards a wooded area. This forested area is really nicely shaded with several nice open areas to hold gatherings by the lake and enjoying the bank side views. There is a surprising lack of fishing activity on the lakes, as this will make a perfect fishing spot. It’s only where passing by a notice did I come to realize that you actually require a permit here to fish. Much to the relief of the wildlife here I guess.

Trail to the lake

tide levels optimal!

Uphill ho!

In a nutshell, Rydal Water is essentially a small lake in the central region of the English Lake District, Cumbria. It’s location near the hamlet of Rydal, between Grasmere and Ambleside in the Rothay Valley can be seen passing on the main roads from Windermere. It is a popular recreational spot, with swimmers frequenting the lake and many joggers on the stone trails on my visit.

Tide levels are optimal, there are regular open areas in the forest running eastern of the water body, allowing you access the lake side, and busk by the banks over the shady forests, enjoying the nice reflective views of the water. The air here are fresh, dry and cool. A further trek west will bring you out of the shelter of the forest and into the sunny open stone trails by the lake. Here is a panorama of a view of the lake by the banks taken from the stone trail.

Photostich
Rydal Lake (Rydal Water). (Fullsize)

The bank views are wicked! The lake is 1.18km long and varies in width up to a maximum of 350m covering an area of a third of a square kilometer. It has a maximum depth of 17m at some points and an elevation above sea level of 54m. A small narrow stone trail runs along the edge of the lake bank, bringing you further west. At times this trail is crossed by small shallow fresh water streams which look like mini rapids, seamlessly flowing across the stone path into the river itself. The lake is constantly circulated fresh, both drained and replenished by the river Brathay, flowing out of Grasmere upstream and into Windermere downstream.

Looking awesome!

the views just gets better

long straights

Soon the stone trail will bring you away from the lake towards into the hills, where the gradient slowly builds up to a climb. This stone trail is swarming with trail joggers, and apparently also makes an excellent mountain bike route when you come to think about it. There are nice off road inclines and nicely laid paths circling all round the hill, meandering it’s way up towards the top. There are many long straight paths allowing for a level walk (or a straight dash on a bike) along the ridgeline. It is only a matter of time where I gained enough altitude on the hills to have a view overlooking the lake of Rydal, and it does look rather different as I saw it on the ground, not to mention distant too considering that I was just by it’s banks just a short moment ago!

Photostich
Rydal Fell Peaks. (Fullsize)

As shown in the photostitch above, this spot taken midway between a ridge line trail shows the various fells surrounding the lake. The path on the left is the western trail which I took from the lake, heading east towards the top of the mountains. A walk further east will bring you near the peak of the mountain and home to another attraction of Rydal, the Rydal caves.

Rydal cave was a former quarry working previously known as Loughrigg quarry, it was operational 18th century serving as a source of natural slate in the region. Much of the quarry and mine are abandoned and now left as caves for exploration. There is one single large cave near the top, with a large iconic open granite space in front of it. The cave is daunting at first sight, but I was later disappointed by it’s size, yes it may be the biggest cave I’ve seen to date but hey it’s essentially just a big hole. Can’t beat the cavernous caves I’ve explored previously in China highlands with taverns so big you can even squeeze a Boeing 747 inside. This cave in comparison, is tiny. The front of the cave is water logged and cover with some sticky algae laced mud which could be as viscous as quicksand.

Rydal cave!

Lookie inside?

The cave interior

There are some small stepping stones leading into it, allowing you to pass the waterlogged entrance where it’s slightly raised on the insides. Sounds of echoed dripping of water from the cave ceiling constantly adds to the thrill of exploring the darkened cave within, not a bad place to spend the night in if needed be.

another baby cave not too far

nicely forested cobble path

Enjoying the moment

just a short distance below the main caves are 2 smaller ones, with an entrance only the most 2 meters in diameter. They are accessible only by climbing down a short cliff about 5 meters down and climb up the vertical rock face to a plateau which is the cave entrance. Not that I bothered doing so, but I caught these new caves by surprise too after exploring the small trails around the area, the shrill echoes of a cave nearby always catches your attention when you pass by one.

I made my way back to the lake using an alteranate route, following my gut feel and natural compass towards the lake. That brought me to a rather nice looking forested cobble path which looks almost like a scene from a mystical land, almost like Alice in wonderland, except that we have cave holes instead of rabbit holes. These cobble paths, though visually excellent ot the eyes are a pain for the ears, not to mention your shoes as well. You get dust lifted with every step, not to mention making a huge din with the rock clatter while stepping on them. Maybe I was just in a hurry, but hey it’s not something you get to do everyday right? So why not make the best of it.

priceless sunset view

who’s that?

pub chill out!

I was back by the lake trail in a matter of no time, apparently there was a small connecting path from the exit of the forest leading directly up to the caves. I took some time by the beautiful lake again, chilling out by the lake banks at one reflecting with nature. It’s about the early evening on this mid summer period then, about 8pm and the sun just starting to set. This sunset view here is priceless.

This views here at Rydal very much wrap up my visit to the Lake District for now. Bidding farewell to the views behind me, I reluctantly made my way through the woods towards the A591 main road, catching the hourly bus service back to Windermere. It was not long where eventually reached my destination for a farewell feast and a chill out at a downtown local pub, complete with local steaks.

A well deserved meal and possibly a great way to end a trip to remember. Peace out for now.

More great photos of Rydal in it’s own photo gallery here.

Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It is largely a rather developed town with a population of about 5000. It is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, and about a 90mins drive north of the town of Windermere.

We arrived by bus from Windermere right at the city center and town hall, home to the The Moot hall which now serves as a visitor information center with maps and a rundown of the places and mountains to climb in the vicinity. The town hall area, blessed with it’s vast open spaces are popular for it’s Saturday market. No wonder, the town is recorded in the 13th century as Kesewic, meaning ‘farm where cheese is made’. The name is from the old English word “cese”, meaning cheese, with a Scandinavian initial ‘k’ and wic, which stands for a special place or dwelling.

The market square

journey beckons

along the yellow brick road…

As with every new town we visit, it pays to give their gift stores a visit, particularly the postcard section, where we will more or less be informed of the local sights we can expect to see from the surrounding mountains. A short trip to Gregg’s and Lakeland sandwich shop yielded full trekking bags loaded with packed sandwiches for lunch, we choose Latrigg Fell to climb. Lunch up on the mountains was something we’ve not tried to date and is something worth trying (not to mention bringing all the way up) for a change. A tough journey and climb beckons.

Armed with a free map from the visitor’s center, we made our way through the town and local park by the river, into the countryside. There, we met several seniors by a ball park who pointed us in the right direction after seeing us navigating around with a map in hand. It was not long before we reached the out skirts of town in the vast open fields. There we followed a path leading right into the mountains from a distance, passing through several quiet residential estates and a motorway bridge.

start of the climb

Got forest?

we were there!

It was not long before we hit the bottom of the Fell, with a the dirt path slowly transitioning into a gradient climb. This path is wide enough for single-way access for vehicular traffic only up to a certain point 200 meters up where it slowly tapers into a dirt footpath just over a meter wide. We had a short chat with an elderly couple decked in trekking gear and sticks making their way down, asking about their journey, they said the views up there are fantastic with distant sights of Scotland in the background, a must visit. But it will be about an hour’s climb here before hitting the top though.

race to the peak!

views near the top

Spot the Shaun!

True enough, this path clings onto the contoured edges of the mountain, circling endless all it’s way up. The mountain is covered with a reasonably sparse vegetation, with certain dense spots along the path. The main path serving the uphill route cuts through these forests at some point, often spiting into Y-junctions, offering several alternative routes uphill. There are times where the vegetation clears out considerably, offering rather nice intermediate distant views of the country side. As always, the views just gets better with each climb. We decided to take a direct route up the peak, following a shortcut through the highland forests before coming face to face with the mountain peak with a nothing but vast steep open plain just between us. The real climb had begun.

This final stretch proved to be the most challenging. The peak looked much nearer than it actually is, with an occasional tiny distant silhouette of a human climber appearing over the ridge line allowing us to realistically gauge and reaffirms the true distance we were from the peak. The terrain is largely variable too, at times, going on all fours to scale the steep faces of the mountain through grassy plains and shrubs to the top. At least the weather was good.

It was not long where we finally reached the top, in half the estimated time too. The reward is of course the breezy scenic views in all it’s glory. Here is a photostitch of Keswick, Derwent water and the surrounding fells, as viewed from Latrigg north.

Photostich
Keswick, Latrigg Fell. (Fullsize)

Surprisingly there were many climbers up on the peak enjoying the views over lunch too, easily 8-10 separate climbing groups excluding ours, they were all mostly seated along the wind-shielded south bank of the peak overlooking the town. In the midst of the dung covered mountain, we unleashed our lunch sash from our backpacks as a highland treat on the mountains. The grazing Sheep on the mountain are largely to blame for the large aerial bombardment of dung all over the highlands, there is simply just no area too isolated or too steep for dung to reside, proving quite a challenge in finding a reasonably dung-free site for our little picnic. Well, not that it actually spoiled our lunch, but I would appreciate my meal better if I won’t sitting on or next too a pile of sheep dung.

a lone bench

it goes on and on!

A moment of zen

The winds on the mountains were surprising strong too, we had to shy from the open areas and go under cover by the bank side to avoid having our lunch being blown away. Guess that’s all part of the experience you get at the top. A meal on a mountain with the strong highland breeze in your face is simply just unreal.

The sights were unreal too, from our vantage point, we could make up the town of Keswick with several neighboring lakes in the vicinity, namely the Bassenthwaite lake on the west and Derwent water on the wast behind the town. We could even trace back in the distance the route we took through the country side up into the mountain. There is still much to explore, with our lunch wrappers packed and area clean, we made our way further down the mountain ridge line, occasionally chancing upon and scaring Sheep along our way.

Much of the highlands are openly sparse, with trails seen leading into the distant adjacent mountains. We trekked further inland over few nearby mountains, occasionally chancing an occasional patch of vegetation or trees which seem completely out of place. There were surprising so many Sheep on the mountains too, they seem to all magical cluster and appear on the highest and steepest spots you least imagine. You can even make up little white dots on the distant mountains which are clusters of these four legged dung factories. The excellent fair weather allowed a clear far visibility of the distant mountains, we could almost make out the Scotland highlands on the northern edge of the fell.

view awesomeness!

Graze graze graze

Cool river reflections!

We spent few hours on each mountain high spot, hanging out and enjoying the views, only to make our way back to town by early afternoon and passing by the beautiful reflections of the River Greta. There, we got the chance to explore and appreciate more of the town of Keswick. In a nutshell, the place much more built up and developed than most other towns we’ve visited so far. The town is bestowed with buzzing city streets, a huge town center compete with a hall on a parade walk as well as a fine healthy selection of eating places and pubs to name a few.

You can find rather good buys on outdoor gear too, not to mention lower prices presumably from the competition from the number of equipment stores around the area. For instance, I brought a trekking stick for use on the mountains at about half price than what it costs back at Glenridding. Accessibly plays a part too, with the town served by a large bus terminus with few major bus services.

There, we took our direct bus towards Grasmere, which is a small town just along the route towards our next destination for the day- Rydal. Grasmere is a tiny town just off the main road, but in size is much smaller than Keswick which has a span of just over 2 kilometers. It’s another quiet little town with few rather nice gardens, churches and stores, but didn’t warrant a need to alight from the bus for exploration.

Check out more great views in Keswick in it’s own photo gallery here.

Glenridding and Ullwater are one of the must-visit sites in the lake district. Without transport, it’s isolated location gives it some degree of challenge in getting there too. A single public bus services, served by stagecoach departs to Glenridding 3 times daily excluding weekends. Visitors will have to endure roughly an hour long trip by bus through winding canyon roads, often surrounded by high mountains and thick fog.

Greggs sandwich bar in Windermere were having a breakfast meal special for £2, so we packed breakfast for the trip on the bus. Not only satisfying our hunger but killed time on the bus too. This is of course with no disregards to the jaw dropping views on the scenic route along Kirkstone Pass (A 592 ). They were breathtaking enough to keep us awing with every passing mountain.

To Glenridding!

In the clouds!

Destination get!

Winding between the mountains and snaking through the long passes and ravines, a drive through this road is definitely not for the faint of heart. Occasional bouquets of flowers seen left along the road to those who lost their lives on these roads. It started drizzling on our way there, adding to the hazard our our journey, but not much to a bother to the bus driver. His long days of plying the route allowed him to handle the route by second nature, skillfully navigating the large pass through the small narrow roads which you thought were nearly impossible to pass. You do really need to keep both eyes open on these mountainous roads.

At our destination, the town of Glenridding is a very small nucleated town surrounded by a wall of cloud covered mountains. Just like most nucleated towns in the Lake district, the place is largely self contained tourist attraction complimenting the attractions in the area. Having said that, many shops and restaurants dot the town, serving the locals and guests alike. The place has quite a number of parked caravans too.

The whole town is surrounded by ever looming mountains, which drafts the settlement, their size beckoning a memorable trekking experience awaiting in the surroundings. There are also a number of gift and outdoor/trekking equipment stores littered around town too, an indicator and clue of the town’s main economical focal point and it being quite a tourist orientated site too. The main road of Kirkstone (where we came from) runs pass this town and the 2 main attractions Glenridding has to offer, namely the Ullswater river cruises as well as the challenge in in taking on the nearby mountains.

We approached the information and visitor’s center for directions to nearby iconic mountains the staff there were very helpful in setting out a small itinerary for the given amount of time we intend to spend here in Glenridding. Besides serving as a recuperation point, the visitor center also sells maps, camping and navigational equipment.

Dude where’s my boat?

2 mountains apart

feel earth move, under my feet

The highlight of our trip there will have to be the river cruise, we boarded an authentic steamer boat called the “Lady of the lake” with more than 150 years of history behind her. Much of her past and history were proudly showcased in the bowels of her interiors, which is also home to covered seating areas and a mini bar. Her forward and aft are open observation areas, offering unobstructed breathtaking views of the the sights along the lake as she chugs along the Ullswater lake, England’s second largest lake.

A parnoma of the views from the ship’s deck top can be seen below:

Photostich
Onboard Lady of the Lake Steamer at Ullswater. (Fullsize)

Many regard Ullswater as one the most beautiful of the English lakes, even surpassing Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. The popular sailing spot forms the border between the ancient counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. It is a typical Lake District narrow “ribbon lake” formed after the last ice age when a glacier scooped out the valley floor and when the glacier retreated, the deepened section filled with meltwater which became the lake we see today. The surrounding mountains give Ullswater the shape of an elongated ‘Z’ with three distinct segments that wend their way through the surrounding mountains, providing new sights on every bend throughout the steamer’s course.

Aft forward!

Captain Shaun!

Terrence, mountain, Shaun

There is much to explore on board the ship too, we got to meet and chat with many of the trekkers on board the ship, who notably are mostly retires spending their golden years climbing mountains- something we can’t even get to do back in Singapore! The crew were a joy to talk too, we got to talk to the skipper and the linesman on deck, learning much about their lifestyle, history and culture here on the lakes. The captain even allowed us onboard the bridge and gave us a crash course on marine navigation, piloting as well as explaining the various controls of the ship to us. I was even given the opporutnity to take control of the ship too!

mid stop dock

canine approved views!

someone let me in?

The steamer will take us on a full course of the lake and back again, a trip lasting about 2 hours. There are intermediate stops throughout the route, allowing visitors to disembark from the ship at any time to explore river-side pubs or settlements or scale the various mountains lined throughout the lake itself. There are 3 stops in all along the lake. We spotted quite a number of mountain climbers along the distant hills who always waved back whenever any of us started waving to them.

With the river tour completed, it started drizzling quite abit. We left the steamer grounds and made our way towards the nearby mountains, where we embarked on a short climb up towards Helvellyn through Birkhouse Moor. The climb is largely manageable and well directed with signs, and demarcated with gates, trails and stone paths along the way up the mountain.

Stream in Glenridding

That way?

an ancient!

The trek started passing by several residential areas and past a stream before breaking up to a path uphill. There we passed several open plains home to grazers and sheep. The trail thereafter led to a forested area accessible by a wooden spring-loaded park gate. There, a stoned cobble path brought us up further uphill through the woods. Offering much needed shelter from the pounding drizzle, which didn’t quite drenched our sense of exploration. There, we found a rather cool looking ancient tree led up by a slippery stone path (which proved quite a challenge getting a foothold in the rain).

Climbing into the heavens

In the clouds again!

height views!

The views just get better which every upward climb. At the top, we were treated with a fantastic view of the adjacent mountains, flanked by a gorgeous valley on the left and the Ullswater lake on the right. The town of Glenridding sits humbly between these 2 great features drawfted by the surrounding mountains. The air is cool and moistened from the rain the patter of rain in the background simply just paint absolute tranquility at one in the highlands with mountains. You can view a 360 degree photostitch of the sights near the top of the mountain.

Photostich
Glenridding-Helvellyn. (Fullsize)

Notalby surprissing, nearly on our way to the peak of the Moor, it suddenly stopped raining, only to start pouring again on our way down. We came to conclusion that with us nearly walking in the clouds on the highlands at some point, we could have passed a point where we even climbed above the clouds to avoid the rain. Our trek up the mountains took about 2 hours, staying up there exploring the nearby forests and the nearby Helvellyn with some time to spare.

It was not long where we finally made our way down from where we came from, which actually took much longer than expected given the slippery surfaces downhill which added to the step hazard, we took extra precautions and went down slower. We eventually made our way back down to the Glenridding visitor’s center and catching in time, the last direct bus back to Windermere.

Ooleleheehoo!

Highland greens!

It’s another long hour long bus trip back to windermere, but the clouds and fog on our journey back was so bad, visibility is limited to the most 5 meters in front of the bus. But that was nothing much of a hindrance to our bus driver, who skillfully tackled the impending dangers (not to mention cars suddenly appearing out of nowhere). From my observations, always approaching narrow single lane roads with great caution, given the chances of a head-on being too high in such conditions, these are some of the things I learnt traveling on these dangerous roads. Glad we made our way back safety.

We heard much about Bowness in Furness and it being a nice city area south of Windermere to chill out, with intial plans to spend the evening and dinner there. It was not until when we were kindly approached a friendly local in Winderemere while waiting for the bus there where she gave us her frank recommendations to explore other better sights around the area other than Furness, which is totally a dead down that day. She gave her thoughts on the grounds as a native resident of bowness herself. “You will be disappointed when you get there” she said.

In place, she also gave recommendations to check out other better sights around the district, such as Coniston. Coincidentally we had some friends traveling on a separate group in the vicinity visiting the area as well. We joined their group on another hour long jouney towards the little town of Coriston, with the Corniston falls and the old man montains as highlights.

At Coniston!

clouds follows us everywhere!

40 degrees climb!

Coniston is a village in the region of Furness, England. It is located in the southern part of the Lake District National Park, between Coniston Water and Coniston Old Man; about (29 km) north-east of Barrow-in-Furness. Coniston grew as both a farming village, and to serve local copper and slate mines. It grew in popularity as a tourist location during the Victorian era, thanks partially to the construction of a branch of the Furness Railway, which opened to passenger traffic in 1859 and terminated at Coniston railway station not too far away.

We passed few landmarks, such as the St Andrew’s Church, the Black Bull and Church Beck without much local knowledge of the ground and without a map. We took to the local knowledge of the whereabouts of the Coniston waterfall (Furness Fells), something strangely not listed in my iPhone GPS. Many people there surprisingly do not know of a waterfall in the area, with most of them in the eateries and petrol station clueless of the attractions in the area. Thankfully, we told by some elder locals in a pub directions to the Coniston waterfall.

This is really tiring!

what waterfall? a cave hole?

grazers of the bahh! kind

Coniston is a popular spot for hill-walking and rock-climbing. Hill climbing it is- the route we took up towards the waterfall were extremely steep- the steepest we’ve ever encountered so far about 30 to 40 degrees in gradient, you can literally climb this never ending stretch almost completely leaning forward throughout. These are few of the fine walks to be had on the nearby Furness Fells and Grizedale Forest. The Grizedale forest is a small wooded area which runs along side a stream and is home to some of the finest rock in the Lake District on the eastern face of Dow Crag, three miles from the village.

Disappointingly, the waterfall is not really flowing, it’s essentially a mini stepped rapid reduced to a trickle with a small cave hole beside it, so much of a waterfall! The sights of the mountains in the region pretty much made up for everything though, with sights you can never be sick of, there we were able to catch iconic mountains, such as the Coniston old man.

Bahhh!

Bye Coniston!

Cheers to a great trip

We carried on walking along the road towards the highlands, apparently this road is popular with off-road vehicles, with many 4×4, particularly jeeps and land rovers taking on the steep slopes and challenging their way up to scale the old man. No wonder, as the roads here are actually stages of the Grizedale rally held in Coniston itself. We left the area just before sunset and in time to catch our return bus trip back to Windermere where we treated ourselves after long day of traveling to freshly caught local trout from the lake itself.

Cheers!

Check out more great views of Glenridding, Ullswater & Coniston in it’s photo gallery here.

Ambleside is a town in Cumbria, in North West England historically within the county of Westmorland. It is located not too far off the city of Windermere at the head of Windermere and within the Lake District National Park. The “mere” in Windermere here means a long, thin lake, which is also England’s largest lake.

Many regular public bus services serve the roads running along the lake directly, you have a choice of taking the bus from the Windermere rail station or a river cruise across the lake. We took both with a 20 minute bus ride from the train station to the lakeside pier at Bowness-on-Windermere, followed by the boat ride. The pier side is the southern most tip of the lake, which is also a popular spot for picnic goers, parades and tourist like us alike. Many food stalls line the dock sides offering a variety of refreshments by the pier. We had ice cream to cool ourselves down after our climb earlier in the day, and it just gets better with a river cruise across UK’s largest lake.

Bowness on Windermere

All board!

And we are off!

Operated by the Windermere lakecruises company, the river cruise is rather afforable £7, we took a return trip to Ambleside, with the last ferry leaving about 5pm back to Bowness. The ride was a narrated nice relaxing river cruise across the water body, passing through few historical sights along the lake. There are several camping spots along the banks of the lake as we come to learn about, not to mention several summer camp grounds too. The lake is not only a spot for tourist, but a popular recreational site for the locals as well, power boating, rowing and sailing are common sports seen. The weather for the day was clear and fantastic, offering long distant views of the lake.

The sight of the Lake house by the pier signaled our arrival at Ambleside. We were greeted by the enthusiastic locals residing at the docks. The dock is built near a sandy beach area, with many chill out places to boot too. We consulted the friendly staff at the nearby tourist information center for the location of a known waterfall we intended visiting in the area. They were very helpful in pointing out the location to walk, using the a large topographical map in the shop for illustration. I was able to grasp the location after noting few notable landmarks in the area, with the rest depending much of my past topographical skills in the army and my trusty iPhone compass to set us in the right direction.

Sailboats!

Pier docking up!

YEA DUDES!

It was not long after where we started navigating our way along Lake road, towards the Stockghyll passing many open fields and tent camping sites. We eventually reached the main town pass Churchill arms and hotel where you can catch the buzzes of activity within the town itself. There is even an electric shuttle which ferries visitors between the pier and the town itself, not that we actually needed that!

We finally came to this particular spot, called Market lane which is home to many food stores, bookshops and outdoor stores selling items and postcards, reaffirming the place as a nature getaway attraction with much too see. Jokingly, so even if you come unprepared on the sights to visit, all you can do is simply just check out the postcards in the local gift shops and you can roughly expect the very same nature sights within the vicinity.

Market place

On the right track!

In the forest!

The entrance to StockGill force is a small road leading up the hills behind the town from Stockghyll place. A that point of time, it’s a detour off the main road by a pub and Natwest bank. There you will pass through a long shaded road (Stockghyll lane) through some residential areas before hitting the reserve’s main entrance. This road also runs parallel to a small river, where several houses are built alongside too, the fast flowing water here affirms the presence of a high water body in the area, such as a waterfall. You can never get tried of trekking in the temperate forests, the air is just so fresh and cool you will be just so tempted to stay inside for as long as you can. We followed a trail regularly demarcated with little pointer arrows through the forest, the place is maintained by the council and features several resting spots such as benches and safety railing where the trail overhangs a ravine.

Stockgill force!

refreshing water feature

huge ravine below

Based on consulted local knowledge, we won’t be expecting much of a waterfall at the site, we might be lucky if we can see a water trickle during this dry and hot period in summer. Otherwise, we might stand a better chances catching the falls just after winter where all the highland snow are melting, which will make it pretty much of a gusher at that time of the year.

However, with some light rain few days ago, we were in luck- The falls were not dry at all and it was not that bad. The waterfall, though not totally the biggest I’ve seen was flowing with an omph more than a trickle. At least it’s a consolation for the long trek up the forest for the sight. The water fall comes down in 2 or 3 stages, over deep rocky ravine spanning over a 20 meter drop, thereafter it flows as a small river downstream.

stones insitu

Drinking hole?

ultra clear

Not too far off downstream on our way back is small wooden bridge spanning the stream which serves to link the forest trail in a loop around the waterfall and back to where we came from. The stream side is an area of complete tranquility, a perfect place for relaxing and meditation which ample open areas and flat rocks to busk in the openness and serene sound of the soft flowing river, birds chirping, and trees rustlings win the winds in the background. It was pure zen.

I was surprised how clear the water is too as well, you can literally see through the fresh water stream right into the stream bed as well. You can actually taste the pureness, well not that I actually tried drinking the water! We started on our walk back to the market place where we checked out the local stores in produce in the area (namely local art, book shops and outdoor shops). The town is also known for their rich local collection of desserts and chocolates, things the lake district is known for as well.

Castaways…

wonderful sights

ferry back!

With time to spare, we made our way back along Lake road to the Ambleside pier head beach to busk and appreicate on the beach front before catching our cruise return trip back to Bowness-on-Windereme. Despite it being out the late afternoon, the summer sun is still out and shining offering fantastic views of the beach and the reflective lake in the distant background, the sights just look simply look postcard-like unreal.

Our return trip on the ferry took a different route, allowing us to catch different sights of the lake, such as the various hilltop houses and mansion seen dotted all along the lakeside mountains. It was not long till our ferry arrived for our trip back to Windermere. We arrived with some time to spare on the dock sides, greeted literally by a swarm of invading swans. We didn’t recall seeing them on our departure, but they all seem to amass right on the pier front on the late afternoon, it was a swan-tastic sight of white to behold. You can check out the Ambleside photo gallery for more pictures of the ferry journey and swan onslaught.

sky, land and sea

Oh swans!

Worldcup match with the gang

We continued our tour of Bowness on Windermere, exploring the town we passed-by on our journey to the pier earlier in the day. We remembered seeing my good eateries and pubs in the area, intending to find a eating spot or pub to call the night. It was there where we took the opporutnity to check out the various attractions around the area such as the Peter Rabbit display and few shopping areas around town. The town is a self-sufficient with a healthy collection of markets and services.

We were spoilt for choices on eating places, but we could not settle on one to eat. After all, they were not exactly affordable either, as we come to release after scouting around for awhile. We initially intended to take a walk back to our inn, but we decided we took a bus back to the railway station instead due to time constraints, after all we intended to catch a World cup match at a pub after dinner.

Few in the group craved Chinese food, so we settled for dinner at a Chinese restaurant before heading to a nearby pub for few drinks over the US vs England Worldcup match. Goal!

You can check out more great views on Ambleside in it’s own photo gallery here.

Trip date 11-12 June 2010
My trip to the Lake district is a continuation of my previous trip from Alton towers at Uttoxeter near Staffordshire. Our journey there requires a single change of trains (from the Virgin express) to the internal First great western trains at Oxenholme station. The Virgin trains are Alstom liners, all loaded with tech and nice quiet carriages. The trains even auto banks to curves and feature in carriage cars and automated toilets too. Our connecting train arrived with an hour to spare. The station was completely quiet, creepy but otherwise rather serene, allowing us to explore the place like a scene in the Blaire Witch project.

This station serves mainly as a transit point for trains between Windermere and Preston, most of the group conked out asleep upon meeting the benches in the waiting area which was essentially just a sheltered shed between the platforms. I took the opportunity to check out the tourist corner of the station, intending to find out more of the attractions in Windermere. The train serving Windermere arrived 30 minutes early, and stayed put at the station before departing, allowing us to crawl all about the train station and carriage itself.

Tracks to Windermeme!

Alstom trains

Transit train to Windermere

We arrived at about 11pm at Windermere and checked into our pre-booked backpackers hotel. Like most backpacker’s inn, there was a self-help reception and no staff around. The current occupants in the inn opened the door and welcomed us in, everything is based on trust, including paying for the accommodation and settling in upon your arrival. We had a full room to ourselves, complete with 2 bunks beds accommodating all four of us for the trip. After settling down in our rooms, we decided it’s time to get some dinner, at the same time exploring the town at night.

Most of the stores in town are already closed. But there are few pubs still open at about 10pm, but none of them serve hot meals at this time. There isn’t much to eat. After chatting with few locals and asking some of the eateries and pubs in the area (who already packing up for the day) we were introduced to an Indian cuisine restaurant who is widely known to serve meals till late, not a bad spread though on the pricey side, but good enough to keep us filled for the night. We circled the and checked out the town further before playing some pika pika with LED lights on the empty streets. Surprisingly the place is very safe at night.

Windermere at night

arrival cheers!

Fun with pika pika

We were up early the next morning checking out the day sights in town and getting a bite or two. We got some real good recommendations on places to visit from the staff at the tourist information center, such as hills and lakes within the area, which reaffirms the attractions listed in the brochures I found at the railway station. We started our exploration in the lake district with a starter climb up one of the near by peaks in the town. The Orrest peak is a small hill located near the train station just behind the Winderemere hotel, offering great sights overlooking the whole town of Windermere. The entrance to the foot of the hill is just about a 50m walk from the backpacker’s inn across the main road. You will be greeted by a large sign at the path entrance, reassuring you being on the right direction.

Our stay for the trip

The town in day

iconic windermere hotel

The climb started with us passing several residential houses on a paved road, which carried on a winding narrow road up the mountain, snaking along it’s contours. Overall the gradient is rather gentle and the sights just gets better with every step we take up. We met a number of locals on the trail as well, it was not long where we passed several 4 legged visitors of the park too- dogs, and horses to name a few. Apparently this spot is a popular trekking spot for equines as well. Halfway up the road, we took a shortcut through a small path cutting through the woods. It allowed a quick alternate rapid accent to the peak rather than taking the long winding road which seemed to snaked towards the back of the hill.

Orrest Peak that way!

dense forest at some parts

3 guys and a rock

We effectively left the security of the road for the wilderness of the forest, this with it’s own adventure as well. The forest trail is very much home to a secondary forest, with some rather thick undergrowth, with obvious trails cutting through them presumably by frequent climbers in the air. The air is cooling and calm, contrary to the hot humid tropical jungles I grew up bashing through. In comparison to this forest is like a walk in the park. There were even no mosquitoes at all, remarkable! The trail saw up climbing up 20 to 30 degree slops through shrubs, at some points going on all fours to scale some small vertical rock plateau surfaces. The climb took about 20 minutes in all, and in no time we found ourselves up on the sunny exposed top of the peak.

We left our brains in the inn!

That way!

The town of windermere

The views are great, you will get full views overlooking the town of Windermere with lake Windermere in the far distance, here, you can make up little dots of traffic on the roads and tiny people on the streets. You can even see sailboats on the lake too. All the views here feature a stark contrast of blue over green, separated by the earth’s horizon. Do a photo time lapse here and you can even see the distinct passing shadows over the distant hills. Awesome. Of course we went very much trigger happy with our cameras, the rock plateau on top of the peak offered a great overlooking vantage over the nearby forest, allowing a clear 360 degree view from the hill top.

Photostich
Windermere from Orrest Peak. (Fullsize)

Overlooking Winderemere, the town though not as buzzing and sizable like in other cities/towns I’ve visited (such as Cambridge and Cardiff), is rather developed with a good range of attractions, excellent pubs and eateries. The town have a good cosmopolitan mix of races and a variety of stores serving a wide range of cuisines (Chinese, Indian, Italian, etc) just to name afew. The very conductive atmosphere of a cosy yet self sufficient city is itself a major selling point for me. Did I mention the town is relatively safe too? You can literally walk out at night without fear of being mugged, even as a tourist.

Once satisfied with our time on the peak, we tried a different route on our way down via the open plains and away from the forests, snaking and passing stone fences and keeps (which presumably used to keep life stock in). Here we spotted a few bovines and a random deer hopping along the ridge line as well, painting how this place is very much untouched by man with the nearby forests.

touch the sky!

anti-gravity moments

like my desktop wallpaper!

It was not long before we found our way back down onto the streets behind Winderemere hotel, here you can take a tour of the nearby rockfaces with the Windermere offroad tours. Their iconic large offroad land rovers parked along the road side is a great giveaway of their location. Lunch is on the cards fro us now, with more to explore in the afternoon. That is all for the town of Windermere for now, the second part of the trip will see us sailing across the Lake towards Ambleside.

You can check out more great views on Windermere in it’s own photo gallery here.

Altontower Mini (Extraordinary) golf- Trip date 11th June 2010
An idiot’s way to playing golf in a whacked out world is what miniature golf have to offer, (well not in a bad way of course), often with many interesting challenges and finds too. The Alton towers mini Extraordinary Golf one is no exception either. It’s a fairly new attraction too, opened in 2007, The mini golf course sit about a small 100 by 100 meters plot housing an 18 hole golf course split between 2 difficulty levels of 9 holes each. It is an independent attraction by itself and is situated near the theme park within walking distance from the Alton Towers water park and splash landings hotels.

As with all fun courses, no previous knowledge of golfing is required. Infact how the way you play the some course requires you actually unlearn your golfing techniques just to get them across. Everything here requires putting (mostly), sand/dirt traps and an occasional water hazard if your ball strays off course.

Stick in O

The golfers for today

The Nemesis hole

There are no spinning windmills or ball gobbling dogs in this course, the holes lined throughout the course allows you to play through in a contained manner without spilling over to other holes and golfers. All the holes here is largely customized in Alton towers style with several theme park themed the various attractions in the theme park itself. Names like nemesis, air, ripsaw and hex are familiar names given our visit to the theme park yesterday.

Adventure mini golf it is, you can literally play the holes as if you are a complete idiot, often with bizzare results as well. Each hole features a small instruction stand telling you the “right” way each hole is to be played. With a variety of normal (we call easy) or hard courses to play through in a single setup. Usually the easy way is the most straightforward play, and the more or often having to go through rounds or obstacles so, often resulting in more strokes and a higher chance of the ball going out of course. It pays to justify whether your strategy in the most retarded manner to get your ball across seemingly by almost any wicked means possible in the rules

Some hard holes require trick shots which send you ball in jumps over obstacles, mini hills or water obstacles including streams often resulting in rather hilarious results, with more often having the ball stuck having to use nearly unlimited number of strokes (and counting) to get them unstuck. Unlimited number of strokes are also not limited to our godsend putting skills on the green, which will definitely make Tiger woods squirm in his pants.

Ripsaw loop anyone?

Dang Faucets!

Mirco Machines?

The place however, is quite weathered in some areas, and the course here is not really the best we’ve seen to date. The place is quite worn down and painting chipped in certain plastered elements made to mimic wood, the place is largely unsheltered and receive the full blunder of the raging sun on the fairly sunny day we played the course.

Sometimes even with idiot-proof instructions, it seems nearly impossible to tackle some of the trick shorts required without skyrocketing your strokes to clear the hole (or maybe we are worse than idiots ourselves). We play the holes and calculated scores by the number of strokes taken to get each player’s ball into the hole, with the initial incentive of halving the score for “catchup” if completed on hard difficulty. Later we went ahead with the deduction of 2 strokes to the final scores for fairness moderation (also to cap my too trailblazing awesome score : p).

Overall the mini adventure golf course is a real fun way to unwind with some laughs and is a perfect compliment to the already existing theme park and water park. It is a great way to spend about an hour of your time casually tackling very hole in the most retarded manner possible, often with very hilarious results.

More photos in the Alton towers trip minigolf album.