Today a friend of mine bought Diablo 2, a game about 7-8 years old. I’ve heard about this game before, how great it is, but I’ve never actually played it myself. She told me I’ll have to get it cause it has an online mode too, so we can play through it together. Sounds kinda cool

Discussing this made me think back to all the games of old. Dungeon Keeper was a classic, I loved it It would be great to go back and play through it again. Back then I went through a phase of playing god games like that. Theme Hospital was awesome, such a laugh Populous, Black and White, lots of Tycoon games etc. I guess back then was the original The Sims days as well. They used to be the only types of games I played, but then as my console collection grew I got into more and more genres. N64 and Dreamcast got me into platformers (Banjo Kazooie remains one of my favourite games to this day), I started playing the Final Fantasy series for a taste of RPG, and when I got my Xbox, Halo introduced me to the FPS genre. Before then I hadn’t really been a fan of shooters, but seeing as Halo was bundled with the console I gave it a go and loved every minute

For me games need to be one of two things (or even both ) to be considered of the best. The first one is to be simply really good fun. Banjo Kazooie fills this perfectly. The humour is fantastic and I can play through it over and over, having a blast every time. The second type is that with a good story. Halo and Final Fantasy are the examples that come to mind. The stories really pull me in and I want to keep playing just to find out what comes next. I enjoyed Halo so much I even bought all the novels to read too If a game can fill either of these two categories, then it’s a winner in my eyes

Looking back at these great games.. wanting to play them all over again, it makes me wonder how I can, given the equally exciting games released soon that I would like to play. There simply isn’t time! So perhaps these retro classics are best left as good memories? “Out with the old, in with the new”? I guess it depends on personal choice in the end, but I personally will go back to the classics when I have time (including Diablo which I shall have soon!). If they still have it in them, they should still be allowed to shine

Whilst I was away, I realised some things. The major point of it being that I need to start giving my life some order. The summer is coming to an end, holiday is over and it’s time to start acting. Details will come tomorrow or so. It’s a bit late now to make a start, as it could take a while to put it all together. For now, nn

So I was supposed to have internet at the camp site… turned out it was down! So I’ll have to just summarise Yorkshire here. There wasn’t really a lot to it anyway. The aim was to climb each of “The Three Peaks”, one per day. We only managed two though, as I’ll explain below.

First day was Pen-y-ghent. The weather was lovely and clear as we set out, and luckily stayed that way throughout the day. It got very hot but as we got higher the heat was countered by a nice breeze. The last part of the climb was pretty steep. I had to climb some rocks about half my size at one point! Scary stuff with a big drop behind you! The last stretch was a gentle slope to the summit, but it was hard to lift my legs for each step at that point. Shows I’m not quite as fit as needed for these big mountain climbs but I did make it over and down the other side Pics below are of the mountain itself and looking back down the steep part.

The second day, we went to attempt the largest of the peaks, Whernside. The weather was nice when we started… but as we walked along the base of the mountain, following the path, and started to ascend, we entered the cloud that was covering the mountain top. It started as a bit of rain, but the more we climbed the heavier it got and the stronger the wind became. We could hardly see a thing as we went up, the fog only allowing us to see several metres ahead but nothing else.

As we reached the top, the rain was almost completely horizontal, flying across the field and over the wall next to the path. It felt like tiny daggers being flung at my face. My whole body was soaked, literally head to toe. My jeans and raincoat clung to my skin and my trainers were full of water. We were walking in those conditions for a couple of hours until we neared the bottom at the other side. I didn’t get any pics up the mountain due to the weather… I didn’t want to risk my phone Below is a picture of the bottom of Whernside though. The white at the top of the photo is the cloud on the mountainside… the mountain itself stretches up much much higher

The third day would have been Ingleborough, but it was wet again and we were on our last set of dry clothes. I’ll have to go back another time We were going to look in some caves in the afternoon but unfortunately they were flooded due to the amount of rain! Instead we just visited some local towns, and had a pretty quiet day.

And that’s the end of the holiday. Don’t want to drag on too long Already home and unpacked, so now it’s time to rest!

My blog was down last night, so adding the last two days this evening

Yesterday was a trip to Portmeirion, a strange little village built in an interesting architectural style. It’s sort of european in nature, but also very very colourful It was the village that the old TV show The Prisoner was filmed in apparently. You have to pay to get into the actual village, which is located on the hill side next to a large lake, and once in you are free to look around and visit the various shops and buildings. Some of the buildings were off limits however, as they are hotels and villas that people can stay in.

It was interesting to see the village but if I’m honest, the charm didn’t last too long. Seeing as we could only look around, there wasn’t a lot to do once you had walked around it all. After that we went to see a castle and visit the puppies again! Well… the people who sell them at least We just went to see how it works, in case we may want one in future. I’m staying out of the decision though, seeing as it would be the “family” dog, and not mine.

Portmeirion:

As for today, we went to a castle for the morning. It was a mostly ruined one but with towers to climb (awesome kind ). The view was lovely from there as it stands on a cliff side. The sun was shining too, which was a bonus

For the afternoon we just went to Porthmadog for a walk through the town, and to visit a few shops. While walking along the main road, I had a call from M. It was a really nice surprise After taking a look at the harbour we headed back to Barmouth for some fish and chips (well.. no fish for me as a veggie ).

Well tomorrow morning I head back home But then it’s straight back off to Yorkshire for some camping. Will be back then!

Why can’t i post on my own site?!

This site is online… So mine should be aswell!!

Only thing is… My comp says it isn’t !

*grmbl*

So I have a bit of time to blog this evening

Today was the day to climb the mountain at Barmouth. It took about an hour and a half for my brother and I to reach the top. It was a typical mountain in that the top that appears to be the top, is in fact not the top.. if that makes any sense You see the “top” but when you reach it there is always more beyond it. The very top was a little difficult to get up. The path was way behind us, the fields had been passed, and all that was left was the rocky peak to climb up. It was worth the extra effort to get up there though, even having to pass a huge spider sitting in its web… brrr!

When we got down again (which took just a half hour!) we went for a nice ice cream, and set off walking again This time across Barmouth bridge, the rail bridge that crosses the estuary. Was a nice walk and got some nice photos along the way

Below is a view from about half way up the mountain. Seems I didnt take one for the top.. took a vid though

Will have to be a quick note today. Going out shortly.

Yesterday the weather was nice. Hardly bothered by rain. We went to a little farm which sell puppies. I picked up one of them, a little sheep dog. He was biting on my coat (teething I guess) but then lay down on my arm and went to sleep. It was so cute! If a dog picks its owner… that was the way to do it

However it turned out that he was already sold, so there was no choice in the matter. This isn’t a good time to be taking on a puppy but I was still a little disappointed They should have had a sign up to say they were sold already.

Also while there, my mum was bitten by a pig while feeding them! It wasn’t a vicious bite.. they just got a little overexcited We had to go to a health centre afterwards so she could get a Tetanus jab. They found the situation slightly amusing

Well, I’d better run. Below is the dog I “almost” had