Sometimes you think you've got a place sussed out. You're pretty sure you know the lay of the land and what it might throw at you. I'll admit I didn't exactly expect the house to be struck by lightning but I knew we'd get a little rain, even in the middle of a heatwave. I did not, however, expect half the things I saw on this walk. 

I'm not certain of the route's actual name as we didn't get our hands on an OS map to find out if there was one so I've christened it the Slater's Bridge walk, so named for the bridge we crossed. It's just under a mile and you can check the route out on my map here, going anti-clockwise. 

London and I are permanently in a love/hate relationship. 

The more I travel, the more I realise how comfortable I feel in mountainous landscapes. The incredible view below and ones like it relax me like nothing else and are wholeheartedly one of the reasons I chose to go to Stirling for my degree. But London, as I'm sure you've noticed, looks nothing like those rolling hills. London has enough culture, icons and landmarks to rival all of mainland Europe (as well as being the home of my friends and family) but it's also polluted, overpopulated and flat. Very, very flat. Flat is okay for a while but I get a true yearning for hills and mountains after too long.

This trip to the Lake District was slap bang in the middle of my summer break from uni so it has thankfully been able to tide me over until I'm back in bonnie Scotland. I got to see some incredible feats of nature and it didn't rain half as much as we thought it would! To top it all off, this was my first real trip without the input of parents, with just my uni friends. It was great to see everyone again even if it was only for a few days with some people. In this post I'll lay down what I got up to while I was there but save my favourite part of the holiday for the following post.