While we were in town yesterday it dawned on me that we are surrounded on all sides by mountain climbing shops, mountain climbing gear and mountain climbers yet we know nothing about the mountains in the area.

I went into one of the many shops and explained to an employee that we are cyclists passing through the area who know nothing about mountain climbing. I asked if there were any mountains nearby that we could climb sans gear that we shouldn't miss. We picked up a map and are now planning to hike to the peak of Helvellyn mountain (3100ft) before we leave the Lake District.

Sadly it has been raining all morning and it doesn't look like it will clear up in time for the hike today. We've decided to wait things out in our tent so we can climb the mountain on what is meant to be a sunny day tomorrow.

I'll probably spend most of the day working. Tara is feeling a bit under the weather so it'll be lots of reading for her!

Here are some photos of a friendly cow we met (and fed some grass) yesterday: