West Country Wanderings - Leominster

It's my birthday!  I gave myself a castle!

West Country Wanderings - Bristol

After being out in the Somerset Levels, I had a day in Bristol.  I came in on the Park and Ride bus, and got slightly turned around, but once I'd found the tourist info building and picked up a street map, it was full steam ahead.

Or sails?  Full... sails ahead?  I don't know, I can't boat.

West Country Wanderings - Cheddar and Wells

For my birthday this year, I did a little road trip...

Malham Cove

Some friends invited me on a day trip to Yorkshire - somewhere I'd never really been before!  We were walking a route to the famous Malham Cove, and I don't think there were many geological features we didn't come across on the way.  Plus we had gorgeously hot weather.  I wore shorts and a Tshirt the whole day!

Me and Janet

Winter Solstice 2018

Did my usual pilgrimage up to the top of Beacon Hill to watch the sun come up on the shortest day of the year.  It was just me and Craig this time, and its always a gamble as to what you're going to get in terms of visibility.  But I seem to be lucky more often than not, and it was another stunner.

Injury? What injury?!

I pulled a tendon in my foot at the end of August, at the worst possible time.  They take a notoriously long time to heal - a couple of months even if you're letting them rest properly, which I... did not.  I had no time for that so I resorted to a lot of sports tape and sensible shoes.  I had places to be...

Woodland Adventure Posse - Assemble!

It was autumn, it was warm, it was dry... I had a real need to go walk in some crunchy leaves.Since I'm trying to invite more friends to more things, I put out a message to see who might want to come with me, and thus the Woodland Adventure Posse was assembled!

Six people (including me).  Three dogs.  One wood full of crunchy leaves.  Let's go!

To be beside the seaside - North Norfolk Coastal Path part 3

We're back at the beach! Yaaaaay!

Cromer to Mundesley - 8 miles

South West holiday - the Villages

Got up and checked out early to give Jenna, another guest, a lift to Moretonhampstead where she was catching a bus. It was a drivingly wet day on the high roads, and persistently drizzly as we came down, so I was glad I'd chosen today to see some of the villages.  I was heading North East to my sister's in Bristol, and there were a couple of stops I wanted to make on the way...

South West holiday - the Tors

I ad a little lie in this morning while the others showered, but I still managed to be on the road by 9am.  I drove through the picturesque little village of Widdecombe-in-the-Moor, slowing down for ponies on the verges and cattle being herded down the road by a farmer on a quadbike.

Breakfast

South West holiday - the Moor

Up around 8am today, breakfast, and then off for the first walk of the day, up Bellever Tor which is just outside the hostel.

South West holiday - the Guide

Drove to Dartmoor - a harder task than it looked!  It was a drizzly morning in Dorset, but as I got into Devon everything went very grey and saturated and 'orrible.  I was driving through quite a thick fog bank at one point, and getting rather worried!  However as I got towards Exeter it ended up as just a bit spitty and even a little blue sky.
Getting onto Dartmoor is a mini challenge in itself.  Once you turn off the big roads suddenly it's all steep climbs and sudden turns, much like the Peak District, and then you pop out the top onto an expanse of moor like entering another world.  There are vast spaces, Tors everywhere you look, moor ponies (shaggier and rougher than their New Forest counterparts) and the heights were hidden in clouds.  As was Princetown, where I was meeting my walking guide Simon Dell.

South West holiday - The Sea

Today the cheap holiday was briefly derailed so I could go buy a new raincoat, the old one having finally succumbed after years of hard service and The Kinderscout Incident, after which it has never been the same.  I like the new one though, and it's a little bit smarter so it will do for work as well.

That done, I let the sat nav drive me to Burley by any number of tiny back roads.  Some lovely scenery though, and it gave the day time to turn from a misty cool morning into a day of cloud breaks, sudden sunbursts and, dare I say it, warmth.  I stripped right back down to my Tshirt.

South West holiday - The Forest

Sunday today, and it has been raining quietly but insistently all day.  Had a slow breakfast and chat with Grandad, who was doing Bible study before the morning church service.  He was full of rejoicing over the subject, as he usually is.  I was mainly full of tea and chocolate croissants.

Around 9.30, slightly later than planned, I headed off to Lyndhurst.  It seemed sensible to try that far side of the New Forest today, partly in case the rain was less there (it wasn't) and also to see if the visitor centre was open (it was).

South West holiday - The Boat

This blog is fast turning into a travel journal! I think it's because I'm doing so much paid work that the 'Fun Things I've Made' aspect of this blog isn't really needed at the moment.   I'm sure it'll pop back up soon.

At the end of the summer, in the first week of September, I took myself off on a much needed holiday. I'm trying to buy a house at the moment, so I knew it had to be as cheap as possible.  I emptied the contents of my kitchen cupboard into a cool bag, and brought along a sandwich box.  No lunches out for me!  This was also the least planned holiday I'd done in a while.  I'd had no time to look up any activities, other than where I'd be sleeping.  Instead the idea was to turn up at a location, talk to people, get hold of a map, and figure it out as I went.  In some ways this took a lot of the pressure off.

I also knew that that I'd be travelling alone.  Given that I've been very out-of-sorts lately, I wasn't sure if I'd be in the right headspace for this,  so I decided to go visiting.  The week-long trip would connect me with friends and family I don't often get to spend time with (with the bonus of being able to sleep on their spare beds and couches, saving money on accommodation).  Although in the end it turned out that my favourite location was the one where I was completely alone after all...

My first stop was in West London, where I joined my friends Matt and Eloise on their narrow boat, the Tittlemouse, travelling from Hayes to Brentford...

To be beside the seaside - North Norfolk Coastal Path part 2

Holkham to Blakeney - 10.9 miles

After Holkham the next stop is Wells-next-the-Sea, which is a small town with more facilities.  It's a walk I've done before, along the beach, but this time we struck to the path properly and found ourselves wandering down wooded lanes, behind the tall dark pine trees that this stretch is known for.  On another breezy but still sunny day, the shade was nice, and we had company!  A relay race was taking place, beginning at Hunstanton and going all the way round to Great Yarmouth over the course of a day or two.  We kept moving over to let runners pass, each wielding their barcoded baton.  We emerged at the carpark for Wells Beach and followed the sea wall back into the town.  

John captains the clinkerbill boat, so called for the Viking-style rivets in its hull.

To be beside the seaside - North Norfolk Coastal Walk Part 1

My birthday falls in May, conveniently between two bank holidays, and with the weather getting warmer I'm wanting to be outdoors all the time.  My mum and I (occasionally accompanied by my dad and youngest sister) have been walking the North Norfolk Coastal Path between Hunstanton and Cromer.  We did stretches on it in May and September 2016, and this May did our final section.  It's not a massive walk - about 45 miles or so, but that combined with the incessant flatness of my home country it makes for a really manageable hike that's less about clocking up the miles and more about appreciating the scenery of one of the most beautiful places I know...

Although I admit I am heavily biased.

The dunes at Holkham

Highland Fling! - 2 of 2

Day 5 - CairnGorm and Loch Morlich

You can get the Funicular Railway up the UK's 6th highest mountain, CairnGorm, but for some reason we decided to walk between the two stations along the very aptly named Windy Ridge.

A Highland Fling! - 1 of 2

This year the family had our summer holiday early - we went to the Scottish Highlands!  When I was young we had a holiday by Loch Ness, going as far north as Fort William, but it was long enough ago that I only remember bits and pieces of it. On my last solo trip I went to Edinburgh and Aviemore, and had wanted to explore further north again, so this was the perfect choice for a trip away together.

Wonderful Welsh Waterfall Walk - Day 2

On our second day, we took a longer, windier walk up to Sgwd yr Eira.