I was in Amsterdam the other weekend with Cookie. We wondered the streets looking in shop windows and stopping for beer and steaks. The occasional snowflake added to the atmosphere. But my favourite find was a hot tip off from @whatkatiedoes - The Cat Museum! There are real live cats in there. I counted 4 but there may be more…. Filled with vintage posters and painting of cats, cat sculptures, and toys. And a shop of prints to take home.

My favourite by far was the discovery of Zwicky! A charismatic cat drawn by artist Donald Brun. There were several more works by Donald i hope to buy prints of. I’ll let you know when i find them ;)

I know. At first glance that seems kind of coo coo. And maybe it is, but, how much fun would that be ? Cookie and i have a dream to make a documentary about New Zealand. And to do it we’re going to walk from the nothern tip aaaaaaaall the way down to the southern tip. Mental eh ? Yes! We are hoping to do it in about a years time. To help us save up the funds to get there and pay for equipment, and porridge to eat on the road we looking for people to sponsor us. It’s a bit of a challenge! We’ll be camping wild so there’d be no luxuries on this trip. But every penny counts when it comes to making the DVD’s etc as when we get back we’ll be penniless :)

It’s a pretty special trip as the route won’t officially open til next year so ( if it all comes together ) we’ll be some of the very first people to do it. Proper adventurer stuff!

SO! If you’d like to see the documentary of a boy and girl struggling against the elements ( and their will power ) to quite literally walk to Mordor in a Frodo stylie then your luck is in! If you’d like a DVD or want to help us then read all about it here and you can Donate a small amount if you wish towards to costs of the film. Thanks so much Monster-Munch followers! And if we raise the monies you will of course hear all about the trip live here on Monster-Munch :D

Help us :)

Kickstarter are kindly helping us with a donations page - but we only get paid if we raise the whole amount! So we have only less than 90 days to see if we can…. You know we love you! ;) xx  Nicky & Cookie

Get cool stuff made by us

Kind sponsors will receive a selection of things designed and made my me and Cookie ( of Made-In-England.org ) including the DVD, Specially designed A2 Posters, route planners and the right to give us very special challenges to complete on route! Read all about the Pledge Prizes here.

As some of you know, the other special thing about this trip for me is that i’m not, lets say, the most athletic person in the world ;) So this is going to be a mission and a half to say the least! And more than a mountain to climb. In fact you might know that a little while back a was rather ill, and to even dream of something like this would have been unimaginable. So in a way, that’s something that’s spurring me on to try and confront and conquer the impossible :) It might be a bit crazy but i’m damn well going to give it my best! Thanks for listening Monster-Munchers. x

One week, two weddings, several hangovers, and a biblical amount of rain. That’s a holiday in the UK for you :) Brilliant fun though. We managed to get all over ‘the North’ to a bunch of gorgeous places i’ve never been. The Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Snowdonia, Cumbria, Loch Lomond ( way up in Scotland ), and many a tiny village on route. Many village pubs, and pub lunches too - i think i managed fish and chips at least 3 times. Amazing ;) We tested local ales where ever we went. I quite like Cumberland Ale but the Cocker Hoop was also very much worth a tipple.

We made a wedding cake. Well, Cookie baked it ( his first cake! ) and we decorated it with tiny marzipan characters. A labour of love but well worth it. To see the making-of shots, more pics here.

Cookie and i visited the Wensleydale Cheese making place, watched the cheese being made, and stuffed ourselves with an enormous Ploughmans cheese selection! And then headed underground to the White Scar Cave ….

We stopped off at the Keswick Pencil museum - the village where the pencil was invented! Saw the longest pencil in the world… wooOOOoo … And went nuts in the shop buying one of every colour they had.

( Van Photo by Akrabat ) - It was raining of course!

Cookie became a conductor on a vintage bus, punching tickets of the happy wedding party.

We listened to bag pipes, we smuggled wine, went on a boat trip, ate Haggis for the first time, ( it tasted amazing by the way! ). Did traditional Scottish dancing … and a few ‘power slides’ on the dance floor for good measure.

And we made a few new friends along the way :) Here’s the blushing bride El with The Cake! More wedding photos here.

Beef Club in Zürich. God it was good! Amazing steak on fire with Cognac, followed by Crêpe Suzette. An awesome conclusion to the holiday. I fully recommend it to Meat Club as an away day trip :)

Nice review by Cookie here.

Playing at the water park and thermal pools in Brigerbad near Brig ( Switzerland ). Cookie can’t wait for the slides to be open. This is his childhood campsite so we thought we’d see if it’s changed. Apparently it’s “a lot smaller than it used to be” ;) I think maybe Cookie has grown.

They do a wicked salad here. Check out the watermelon portion!

Cookie almost drowned himself earlier by busting into the circuit current pool before it was fully filled and getting a face full of a giant water jet. Very funny.

More rowing action. Today was awesome. Could hang out on this lake for days and still be impressed. Waterfalls, mountainscape, snow, glaciers, campfires, beach, and pub all within sight. Pretty cool I reckon.

Today Cookie and I popped on a train to Brig - a town near the Italian border with a campsite he visited as a child. Apparently it has a wicked doughnut river ride. Can’t wait!

It’s harder than it looks honestly! Cookie was an awesome navigator today as a bounced from shore to shore missing shore fishing lines by inches! But we made it back to camp all crew in tact.

A casual row across the lake.

Cookie and I smuggled some of last night’s bacon out on the boat along with a survival tin fishing kit ( from when Cookie and Knotty went on a special Poke trip ).

The water was beautiful. Absolutely clear and turquoise glacier melt. Surprisingly not too freezing to the touch.

I rowed us out, and most of the way in, while dangling my bacony goodness off the back. No biters sadly. But the Blue Pearl did Captain Cook and I well for some welcome sunbathing.

Shame tho. I was looking forward to the fish fry up on a beach campfire. Oh yes.

A bunch of dried fox skins were hanging up under the roof of the cafe with the post cards. They were super soft to touch. Poor fellas.

Marmot poster spotted at the first beer stop on the way down to the lake. The little fellas are about the size of a large cat, and look pretty cute, but I notice usually seem to be dipicted in comedy giant size :)

Yesterday, battered and bruised we made it over the evil black rock pass. And down to the Oeschinensee Lake. I am absolutely shattered! Beers and sleeps in order. Beautiful blue water here. I can spot some rowing boats. Maybe we’ll get to try out our survival-tin fishing kit!

Swiss money is wicked. It works from far away and close up. So many gorgeous details. Extremely well designed family of notes and beautiful too. I almost don’t want to spend them.
ps. Sorry for crap shot! All these posts are from my iPhone. Works well in good light. But sometimes not so awesome…

Beautiful river. I’d have fancied a swim if it wasn’t for the strength of the water. Amazingly powerful. Bloody freezing too I imagine!

I’ve decided not to post the picture, but suffice to say it doesn’t look pretty!

Injury List: Nicky
Broken arse ( Scrapes scratches and bruises )
Small chunk of flesh missing from little finger
Bent back thumb
Piece of toe-nail missing
Buggered knees ( left one sporting tasteful Tubie Grip bandage )
Mozzie bites
Sunburn

Cookie
Splinter in hand