The Friday Matinee

If it's Friday then it must be time for the Friday Matinee to help you while away the hours until the weekend and as we've been looking at the world of Via Ferrata this week it's going to be a rock and cable-filled session.

Starting out in the Dolomites, the home of Via Ferrata, here are some stunning panoramas to whet your appetite for the sport...

If that doesn't get you ticking, here's another dose of steep Italian rock, cracking views, and - thank goodness - the odd bit of metal here and there to make sure life doesn't get too exciting.

And now that everyone's itching to get their helmet on, there remains the problem of flights to Italy without becoming marooned on the oh-so-hospitable island of Heathrow terminal 5. Or is there? Perhaps it would be best to get started on some home grown via ferrata until there's any prospect of your harness making it safely through the baggage handling crisis.

Here's footage of the first Via Ferrata in the Lake District, complete with comic subtitles and suitably grandiose music for the assault on Mount Doom / the Honister mines:-)

Hope you enjoyed that. Have a good weekend in the Lakes:-)