Three Peaks Challenge

August 03, 2014 • Leave a Comment

In the UK there is a challenge called the Three Peaks challenge. Individuals or teams seek to raise donations for charities by climbing the three largest mountain peaks in the UK. Namely Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scarfell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales. My son was involved in a team challenge for the Prince's Trustfor charity. Having completed Ben Nevis and Scarfell Pike yesterday, Snowden was their target today. Unfortunately with winds of 50mph, poor visibility, heavy rain and two teams members suffering injuries they were only able to make it 2/3rds of the way up before they were advised to abandon the attempt. However what they achieved was magnificent and I am very proud of my son.

Maximising the seating capacity of a motorbike in Bangalore

April 06, 2014 • Leave a Comment

motorbike Six on a bike

If you own a motorbike, and decide to have a sunday afternoon with the family in Bangalore, then you might as well maximise the seating capacity of the motorbike. I bet the driver was thankful his wife didn’t want to come along as well. If you look closely you can see six people on the bike!

Nirmala Vidyalaya School, Bangalore

March 20, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Nirmala Vidyalaya, Bangalore is a village school on the outskirts of the city of Bangalore. It is a school for under privileged children but is growing rapidly. The children do not usually sleep during class time but this young chap had a very hight temperature and as much as I tried to waken him it was not possible. The school were taking good care of him and my latest news is that he has recovered and was back at school to do his exams!

As can be seen from the image below, when they are well, the children enjoy coming to the school and work hard.

Nirmala Vidyalaya School, Bangalore.

Nirmala Vidyalaya, Bangalore, a small village school on the outskirts of Bangalore

Holi

March 15, 2014 • Leave a Comment

On March 17 India celebrates the Festival of Holi or sometimes called the Festival of Love. This festival is to mark the end of winter and the coming of spring and also the triumph of good over evil. This Festival is not so popular in the South of India as it is in the North. As it is not a public holiday in the South some people took the opportunity to celebrate a day early.

Holi the Indian festival of colours

Walking in Northumberland

March 07, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Craster. Northumberland coastal path

Second day of walking and the weather has been remarkably kind. Decided to walk the coastal path from Dunstanburgh Castle to Boulmer. It started out quite pleasantly with a mix of light showers and sunshine. At times the sun was so warm that it felt more like a Spring day rather than the end of Winter. However a couple of hours into the walk the wind started to get up and was blowing at some 30mph but then gusts of 50mph started to become more prevalent. Such was the strength of the winds that walking became very difficult and it was necessary to turn round and return. However the total walk was still approximately 15 – 18 miles so all in all a good day.

With some spare time took the opportunity to visit Bamburgh Castle and walking along the beach it was like walking in the Sahara Desert with the wind whipping the sand across the beach. A fantastic exhilarating walk that gave me a good appetite so am now ready for dinner.