Adventures in the Peak District

Living in Manchester provides great opportunities for travel and exploration of the nearby areas; The Peak District, Lake District and Wales. So recently we've spent time exploring the peak district, as its places of interest can usually be reached within an hour from our home in Manchester.

Lathkill Dale

The first pretty place we visited was Lathkill Dale. To find this location I basically googled "pretty places in the Peak District" and this was in their top ten! So that made the decision where to go simple.

Lathkill Dale is situated in the peak district not too far from the town of Bakewell, the home of the Bakewell tart. Running through Lathkill Dale is the river Lathkill. This is a very picturesque location and is tremendously green in the summer. It is often recommended to photographers, as the river runs in little steps, well it's actually separated into weirs, so it appears as there are a series of waterfalls as you follow the river further upstream.

Pretty flowers!

The lush vegetation and plentiful flowers provide a number of photographic opportunities. One could spend and entire day here, strolling through the valley and woodlands. 

Across the river lies and old dilapidated house in which only a small portion of the wall remains but beneath something a little different can be found. Stepping below the remnants of the house is a deep well, unfortunately the smell is not the best down here but it is an unexpected find within the woodland.

I, myself did not have much time to explore this landscape but I do intended on returning. There is much wildlife to be found here and plenty to do; whether it's relaxing by the stream with a picnic or taking photos of the landscape.

It is an enjoyable experience for everyone and I witnessed many dogs enjoying the water with their owners encouraging them to swim. This area is a great place to exercise and entertain your dog! :)

Playing in the sun!

A couple of weeks later with nothing to do we took a trip to Ladybower reservoir. At the bottom end of the reservoir there are two deep wells which excess water flows into when the water level is high. They look very impressive when flowing with water achieving awesome photos, however they are still really interesting without the water but the shot is less dramatic.

We have actually ventured here in the past for this exact reason but the water was not high enough and the same was true on this occasion. I think a storm must be needed for the wells to be effective! :)

Today the weather was not on our side either and the sky had become very grey, which is the complete opposite to the weather we had been blessed with yesterday. It was beautiful, blue skies and 20 degree heat! Awesome! Why couldn't it have been like this today! 

Oh well, it was not to be and the grey sky soon turned to rain, which is not the best for cameras! Fortunately, the rain didn't last too long and had soon passed.

Ivy!

I can't believe how beautiful life is in the summer, the flowers and plants were out in full bloom given the whole area a light green hue.

We ventured up to the first dam, which actually looks more like a castle, with its large brick walls and turrets at either end. This area is great to walk around and even better for cycling and it's only an hour from Manchester city center. It's a great day out. Again we only spent a couple of hours here and most of that was spent taking pictures, so we didn't actually walk that far and as it was getting a little cooler we headed home. Oh well more to explore next time. :).

The next trip out to the peaks lead us to the roaches. The roaches is well known amongst climbers and is popular place to visit. I have been there on a number of occasions but only actually climbed once. I'm a bit of a chicken really.

But tonight was all about the sunset and the roaches had a great view. We had arrived just in time even though the sat nav had taken us the scenic route and we had decided to scramble up the back of the roaches instead of walking along the main path but we had made it! The sunset looked impressive! 

The only real issue was the wind! It was terrible, who'd have thought that it would be this windy on a beautiful sunny evening, so I was definitely thankful Rob had insisted I wore my down jacket!

We were successful in our sunset photography and proceeded to head home but first stopping at a small waterfall in a cute little town and apparently nude swimming was permitted here (according to a sign printed on a railing anyway). However, I doubt you could actually swim here. It would be more like nude paddling! Eeek! :)

The sat nav took is a less ridiculous way home, which was great considering I had taken over the driving responsibilities and I am not a fan of getting lost! We did however drive passed a wedding barn in Leek, which had a bride and groom outside made from hay bails. It was quite cute!

Samx

Another Bank Holiday Weekend!

I love May, not only does the weather in the UK start to get a lot better and it starts to feel more like summer but May is also great for another reason, as there is a bank holiday at each end of the month! Fun times! :)

However, this bank holiday was not as action packed as the last, but I still managed to have a good time. We were originally meant to spend the weekend camping in the peak district but our friends cancelled at the last minute. So we arranged some activities with our Manchester friends to keep us occupied. 

Friday 22nd May

Friday night was kind of a lazy night, we just chilled out at home, as Rob was rather tired. In the afternoon after Rob finished work he took a two hour nap on the couch, so I just watched TV. I watched a program about sharks, (exciting!) and another show about the effects of alcohol on the human body, whilst Rob slept. And the evening pretty much carried on the same way, fairly standard and nothing out of the ordinary. Later Rob made us tea, which consisted of fake chicken burgers with sweet potato chips and peas! Yum! :)

Saturday 23rd May

This morning we drove home to Rob's parents house to collect some old home movies, as Rob had decided his next YouTube video was going to be a short movie about life. Rob's YouTube 

However, when we arrived at his parents house no one was home so we just collected the DVDs and left. Nice short trip. After eating sandwiches on our balcony in the sushine, Rob got to work on his video and I got bored. Luckily, my friend Dan was bored too as his girl friend Harri was spending the day revising for her upcoming exams. I met Dan at the town hall in Manchester where he was helping his brother James and his girlfriend Natalie take additional photos for their kickstarter campaign (Bryt Socks).

So after Dan had finished helping out his brother we wandered over to the Manchester Art Gallery for something to do. Dan hadn't been there before. I had been a couple of times before and I would highly recommend it. It's just something to do for an hour or so, it's a nice relaxing wander around. However, unfortunately the exhibitions they were featuring this time weren't as good as my last visit but I guess it depends on your personal taste. Manchester art gallery.

After the art gallery we found this nice little coffee house called Pot Kettle Black. I had actually already found this place on twitter but had not got round to visiting it yet. Therefore, it was nice to happen upon it and we popped in for a drink. :) We both purchased a long black coffee which is actually a filter coffee but it was quite nice considering I would usually chose an americano. Anyway the drink came with a funny little biscuit straw and a small glass of water. There is also free lime water available here which you can just help yourself to if you need refreshing. :) 

Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!

The cafe itself is a good size with a few large table with plenty of plug sockets, so Dan liked it as he is always looking for a good coffee house to do a little bit of work in. I think he may have found his favourite new spot. :) PotKettleBlack

A little later Dan received a phone call from Harri to say she had finished revision and was sitting in the beer garden at Lucha Libre having a drink with some friends, so Dan and I made our way over to enjoy some sunshine before the three of us had to head to Nandos to meet some friends for dinner. We had an early dinner as we didn't want to vomit at trampolining. Yes, we are going trampolining again. :(. I wasn't really ready to go again so soon but our friend Chris hadn't been before and wanted to give it a go. It was quite funny, Chris picked it up fairly easily but this time Lewis and Amy were trying to learn front flips and kept landing very awkwardly at the edge of the trampolines every time! I'm sure they will have bruised bottoms tomorrow. ;). I on the other hand just stuck to bouncing it's exciting enough for me. :) 

Right, back to Nandos I just wanted to make a point that Nandos is very good for vegan options, you just have to remember to ask for it with out mayo. Here is a nice little video by Tim Sheiff to help you out. Vegan Nandos.

After trampolining we went for a couple of drinks before heading home for bed, as standard we had a quick drink at the Dockyard. We then went to Brewdog for another. This was a massive mistake as the beer here is terrible! I've had it in the past and thought it was OK and the really strong ones I actually found enjoyable but this evening no one was impressed by the beer and we wont be going there again! :(

Considering I had only drank a pint of beer in total I actually felt quite tipsy on the way home. I don't think my body can tolerate alcohol anymore! Eeeek!

Sunday 24th May

This morning was a pretty lazy one just ate breakfast and watched TV, as Rob had spent most of the day yesterday working on his video he wanted to make sure he got it finished and published online today so he did a little bit of video editing before we went the gym. 

I just went the gym to go to the yoga class as did Harri but Rob, Dan and James did a quick CrossFit work out beforehand. The yoga class was good it's just a shame that it's right the the middle of the day so you have to arrange your plans around it if you want to attend the class. Oh well. This is exactly what we did today, as the plan was go climbing so we arranged it for after yoga. It wasn't really an issue as the people we were meeting there wanted to go in the afternoon anyway and you can only do so much climbing at a time. So a couple of hours is usually enough. 

Rob and I arrived on time at 3:30 pm which was good as our friend Dave had arrived a little early, so it was nice he didn't have to wait too long. The others were almost an hour late which has become pretty much standard now. 

I hadn't seen Dave for almost a year so it was great to catch up! We used to see each other perhaps two or three times a week in the past but with people moving away and jobs getting busy it's a bit hard to stay in touch. :( I left it as a surprise for everyone else so no one knew Dave was coming. Haha! It was a nice surprise for them as they hadn't seen him in over a year.

We managed to climb for about two hours before getting tired and the climbing wall was due to close anyway so we made our way out. Before leaving we checked out Dave new LandRover, although it was new to him it was actually 24 years old and need quite a bit of working doing on it. Especially seeing as he wants to use to tour Europe for six months! He does have some time to fix it up though before then as he will be leaving his job in a couple of months and will be able to spend the summer working on it. I wish the best of luck to him! :S

There was a bit of confusing about the rest of the evening as Dan was under the impression we were meeting him at the cinema at 9 pm but no one had actually agreed to that as the rest of us spent the evening eating pizza at James and Natalie's house. Awkward! 

Monday 25th May

Today we had planned to spend the day at Windermere canoeing on the lake. We hadn't really organised anything, even the time we were due to leave. But we were all suppose to leave at the same time. However, James and Natalie were a bit slow to get ready and as we were travelling with them our party was a little delayed which resulted in us arriving nearly and hour after Lewis, Amy and Dan. In the end it didn't actually matter too much as James and Elizabeth only arrived 5 minutes before us.

Once we arrived at Low Wood Watersports we chose to rent three canoes and James and James would go on their own paddle boards. The price was fairly decent in which a two person canoe could be rented for £21 for two hours. The girls were taking ages to get ready and I have no idea what Dan and Lewis were doing, so Rob and I just got in our canoe and paddled round the corner to see if James and James were in the water, which they were. By the time we had paddled back the others were getting in there boats and I think they had made a mistake. The three girls were in one canoe and the boys were in the other. This subsequently lead to them swapping over at a small beach around the corner, Lewis went with Amy and Natalie and Dan went with Elizabeth so both the boats could paddle a bit faster. Paddling is so hard though, I have no idea how to control the boat. That's why I was glad to have Rob help me and even then I struggled to learn anything! :(

We stopped for lunch on a small beach on the other side of the lake when the sun came out, as it had been fairly cloudy up until then. I think the sunshine made us stay a little too long and we only had 20 minutes to make it back to the other shore in time to return the boats. I was puffed out at the end of it and my poor shoulders ached but we made it. We were actually quite tempted to rent them for another hour but decided against it and went across the road to the cafe at The Low Wood Hotel for coffee and cake. Yum! 

Once we arrived back in Manchester we went to Revs for dinner (50% off on Mondays, woop!). I got a veggie burrito as I wasn't too hungry, which was a good job as the burrito was a bit on the small side. After food we headed back to Dan and Harri's to watch Game of Thrones but before that we played cards against humanity. In which, you have to create funny answers or sentences in relation to a card that is read out before that round. It was really funny, I don't usually like games but this game required no skill at all! The games however could be considered a bit offensive but that depends on your sense of humour! :)

Take care and hope you had a great bank holiday weekend too! :)

Samx

Bank holiday Weekend

This weekend was the early May bank holiday weekend or May day if you prefer. Woop! Three day weekend! And we made it as action packed as we could! It's good to be busy all the time. So here is what we did......

Friday 1st May

This evening a few friends and I had booked a session at Jump Nation, Manchester's new trampoline park. There are 139 trampolines all joined together, awesome! Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take cameras on to the trampolines so this is the only photo I took. :( Rob managed to sneak his mini camera on though and captured a few videos. Our friend Lewis however was not as stealthy and got told off for taking photographs on the trampoline. Oh well. Anyway, we booked the last session of the day at 9 pm thinking there may be less children around at that time, but no it was still super busy! The staff later informed us that Fridays are usually the busiest days. We had fun though, I hadn't been on a trampoline, well a proper trampoline in about 20 years. It was crazy! The 1 hour session is not too expensive at £8.95 and you can buy an additional hour for £5 with the prices being slightly reduced for children. However, the first time you go you must buy special trampoline socks for £1.50 but you keep them and use them again so it's not really a waste of money. If you want to check it out then this is the website http://www.jumpnation.com/ and I would highly recommend it. They also run fitness classes! Bouncy bouncy! :) 

Jump Nation Manchester! 139 trampolines all joined together.

After the trampoline session we re-hydrated ourselves at new bar called the dockyard near our friends apartment in the city center. And believe me you do work up a sweat with all that bouncing! Just make sure you wear the appropriate clothing, which is not jeans and a jumper. So I was definitely looking forward to a well deserved drink.

The dockyard is actually quite a nice pub it is minimally decorated with a sort of warehouse style finish but offers plenty of seating and a wide selection of beers at reasonable prices, with the house ale being the cheapest at £2.95 a pint. We arrived at the pub shortly before last orders so it was fairly quiet and we easily found a seat to enjoy our drinks and a quick chat before heading home to bed.

The Dockyard, beer time!

Saturday 2nd May

Today started off as a fairly last day, we lay in and just chilled out until around lunch time. Rob had allowed himself one lazy day this weekend and then decided that was a waste of time. So we thought it might be fun to head over and visit my family and play with dogs, maybe strap a go pro to them and see what they get up when they are off the lead or just see the world through their eyes. Unfortunately, it wasn't as successful as we had hoped because as soon as we arrived in Skem at my family home it started to rain and the sun disappeared behind the clouds. So we thought we'd wait it out and wait for the rain to ease. During that time we enjoyed a cup of coffee with a few biscuits and just played with the dogs inside the house. This kept us entertain for a while but once the rain had stopped we strapped the go pro to Max, my parents labrador and headed out for a walk. Max got to wear the go pro rather than Miya (my family's pug) as he is a little more adventurous and doesn't just follow you around, as for the majority of the walk Miya was hanging around either mine or my brother Jamie's feet. Ridiculous! 

So of the camera footage we got from the dog was pretty funny, as we hadn't realised he had actually gone in the river until we played it back. But for the most part, the video we got from the dog camera was quite bumpy due to the camera bouncing around too much on the dogs back. So we couldn't really use any of the footage. Max didn't seem to mine wearing the camera so if we bought him an actual dog harness I bet we could get some decent movies from him! Yay! Then maybe Max could start his own YouTube channel, as everyone seems to be doing that these days. I, myself now have one video on YouTube. Go Me! :).

So after we had dried the dogs down and fed them their tea we fed ourselves some pizza before heading back to Manchester to play some crazy golf. I'd invited my brother and sister along but I don't think they had the motivation to come all the way to Manchester for an evening. It's not actually that far but oh well. 

Dan and Harri gave us a lift to Paradise Island (mini golf) where we met Amy and Lewis for some golf time! I was useless, I don't know why I am so rubbish at golf I think it's because I have no patience, that is my problem. I did get two hole in ones though! Woop! (probably just luck!). Anyway, I broke my camera this evening, it started having some issues with the lens were it wouldn't retract properly after zooming in. My poor little camera! Oh well, It wouldn't have made too much difference this evening anyway as the mini golf place was far too dark to get any decent pictures. Meh!

Sunday 3rd May

Today started off with a quick trip to John Lewis in the Trafford Centre in an attempt to either get a new camera or get it repaired. Although they agreed with me there was an issue with my lens it would have to be sent off for repair as they don't do it in store. Gutted! I was told it usually takes about 12 days to get fixed. Hopefully, it won't take that long I need my camera! Oh well, I guess I still have my phone anyway. That will have to do for now. :)

A couple of my friends were visiting Manchester this weekend so I met them at the pub for a few beers whilst Rob went to the Skateboarding park, Beast Ramps. I think he just went there to take photographs and videos of the more professional skaters to add to his newly acquired YouTube channel and he is currently making a video on how to have a productive weekend. Silly Boy. It keeps him entertained anyway. I on the other hand sat in the sun catching up with Jon, Steph, Andy and Sarah who I hadn't seen in months maybe not even at all this year! Crazy, time goes so fast! I really need to make sure I stay in touch with people. I have no idea where the time goes, it just seems to be accelerating each year at an even faster pace.

My friends had other plans and had pre-booked to go bowling so after two small beers I headed back home to meet Rob. However, Rob had not returned and was not answering his phone. When he did finally get back in touch with me it was to inform me that his car had been locked in the climbing wall's car park as that had closed two hours before the skate park and he was now going to have to walk home. He had parked in the climbing wall's car park as it appeared safer than parking on the street, which I guess is sensible as its not the best area of Manchester around there. Hopefully, this will teach him next time check the closing times of places but I doubt it.

Rob being late home actually worked in my favour this evening as it meant by the time he got home he was starving so we didn't have to cook and we went across the road to Wasabi for Sushi! I was sooooo full after 6 plates of veggie sushi! So full! :)

Sushi Time!

Monday 4th May

All weekend we had been meaning to go mountain biking at Llandegla forest in North Wales. Today was meant to be the best day of the weekend for it, weather wise anyway. And I am glad we waited as today was perfect. It was the sunniest day of the weekend with not a rain cloudy insight. I hadn't been mountain biking in almost two years and Rob hadn't been in about 18 months, so Rob promised we would take it easier. He actually kept that promise this time as we stuck to the blue route. So I was happy, as the blue is not as challenging or as long as the red but it is still loads of fun. It was a nice way to get back into it after so long. It probably took us around an hour to complete the route, which was much quicker than we had expected so Rob played on the dirt jumps afterwards! Fun times! :) 

Crazy!!!

Before heading back to Manchester to head out for pizza at Crazy Pedros for our friend Natalie's birthday, we popped in to see Rob's parents and clean our mountain bikes as we have nowhere to clean our bikes in our apartment building. Sad times. Well, Rob did the cleaning while I just chilled out. Nice and easy. 

Crazy Pedros is a new pizza parlour in Manchester and has happy hour everyday from 5-9 pm in which you can get a whole 14"pizza for £7.50, which is awesome. Another perk is if you don't finish it you can get it to go, which is useful if you want pizza for lunch the next day too. The pizzas are really tasty and you can adapt their menu to your dietary requirements, as they were able to make me a cheeseless pizza! Delish! :)

Hope you had a great weekend! :)

Samx

Easter weekend, Skye - A photographic adventure

For our Easter weekend, we took a photographic adventure to the Isle of Skye. I was very excited about this, as the further north I had been in the UK was the area surrounding Ben Nevis. Rob had previously been to the Isle of Skye on an ice climbing trip a few years ago and thought it was beautiful. He had researched some great places for photography and camping, so this was our destination for our Easter weekend trip.

Travel time by car form Manchester to Skye is a little over 8 hours, so we decided we would take it easy and stop at Glen Coe (which is approximately half way) and wild camp on the way up to Skye. We set off on Thursday afternoon after Rob had finished work for the day, he had worked extra hours in the week so we could set off early and put up our tent before it got dark. 

After 2 hours of driving Rob got very sleepy so we switched over and once we hit Glasgow, whilst I was driving we got stuck in loads of traffic on the motorway. Typical. What can you expect though when driving round Glasgow at 5 pm on a Thursday. We swapped the driving responsibilities again before reaching Glen Coe and overall we appeared to be making good time and would reach Glen Coe before sunset. Unfortunately, just as we were about to enter area of Glen Coe the road surface of the bridge was being resurfaced and traffic was only allowed to cross every 30 minutes. This ate up some of our time and with the light fading fast we quickly found a place to camp, down a side road in Glen Coe. 

Upon driving through Glen Coe, which incidentally is one of my favourite drives in the country, we were surrounded by deer. We must have seen around 50 deer whilst driving to our chosen campsite. I have never seen any deer along this road before but then again I have never driven along this road at dusk. Which it seems is peak deer time in this area. Anyway, I digress, we set up camp close to a stream at the side of the road and ate a quick meal of macaroni cheese before going to bed. That night I found it very hard to sleep and awoke at several points throughout the night, I was freezing! Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little warmer. :(

The next morning we packed the tent away and made our way to Skye. We took the Skye bridge and headed to Elgol,  Rob's first photographic location. The views here are supposed to be spectacular with a very picturesque panorama of the Cullins along the shore. Unfortunately, the fog was so bad I didn't even believe Rob that there were mountains across the sea. We couldn't see a thing! We decided we would give the cloud some time to clear so we popped into a nearby cafe for a coffee and a hot chocolate, then took a stroll along the beach to see if the weather would change. This time we were not in luck and decided to call it a day and make way to our campsite at Glen Brittle forest.

Glen Brittle campsite has been voted the best in Britain. I guess this is based on the views and its perfect location at the foot of the Cullin mountains by the side of the sea. However, again the weather was not on our side and the fog prevented us from seeing any evidence of the mountains above us. After setting up camp and eating a small meal we took a walk along the beach. The sand beneath our feet was black, volcanic sand. It was quite different to all the other beaches I had experienced in the UK and brought back fond memories from our resent trip to Bali. Rob explained some of the geology whilst taking a few landscape photographs but I either didn't listen or didn't care, as I couldn't tell you anything of what he told me! Eeeek! 

Selfie at the fairy pools.

Before the light faded we made a quick trip to the fairy pool. The pools are a beautiful blue colour and look tempting even on a chilly April evening. It must be wonderful taking a refreshing dip in this pools on a warm summer's afternoon. We spent some time here just taking a series of photographs at different points and in different poses along the river. Many people were doing the same, at one site Rob was even standing at the top of a waterfall, the crazy boy! Even though it was beginning to get dark there were still quite a few people walking around the pools, but anyway we decided to head back to our camp and get some rest.

Beautiful blue pool!

The next day (Saturday) we spent driving around the island to try and visit as many interesting places as we could. Our first stop was Neist Point, a lighthouse which also happens to be a BnB. However, on our way there whilst driving Rob noticed some seals in the water not to far from the shore. So we pulled over and walked along a some seaweed covered rocks to get a closer look. And yes there were in fact a group of seals on a large nearby rock and some swimming in the water. We sat for a while watching the seals and they were very inquisitive; swimming closer and closer to the rocks to see what we were doing. After a while I think they got a little bored with us and they continued with day to day lives and became less interested in us. They were very, very cute and it was fascinated seeing these seals in their natural environment, I did not expect them to come so close to us. It was great and maybe a little scary too! :) So anyway, the lighthouse; the lighthouse itself wasn't that impressive but the surrounding were fantastic. Rob spent ages waiting for the fog to clear so he could get some photos from the top. To his credit his patience paid off and weather got better, I on the other had just wandered round waiting for him to meet me. After we had taken many, many photos we relaxed near the beach watching the clear blue water, it looked so inviting and tropical. It was such a shame it would have been so cold to just jump in!

Sandy!

Our next location was the coral beach, the sand is white and the sea is blue. It was like a little paradise. I could have sat on that beach all day and just chilled out, it was so nice. The beach however is a bit of a walk from the car park, probably about 1.5 miles and at every corner you think you are nearly there but you aren't. Only when you are at the top of a ridge do you see the beach and this is when you know you have arrived. 

Quarang!

Our day ended by setting camp on a small hill at the bottom of the Quarang close to the sea. It was almost prefect. It could have only been made better if we'd had the spot on the slightly higher mound which had already been taken by some other campers. But other than that it was prefect. We left the car in a lay-by and climbed a small mountain before the daylight faded. We got some great shots of the cliffs above us during sunset. It was a stunning scene and its beauty was reinforced by its reflection in the lake below. This certainly compensated for the effort required to power walk,or perhaps even scramble up the mountain in order to obtain the pictures. And not to mention the possibility of being bitten by ticks after traipsing through the thick ferns and heather in order to reach the top. Before retiring to our tent for the night we ate tinned vegetable ravioli under the stars and a full moon, which was massive. It was so large and bright it almost looked like the sun. I felt at any moment we would hear the howl of a werewolf.  It was romantic and creepy all at the same time.

Argh! Watch out!

Sunday - our first stop today for photography was the Quarang, which was convenient as we'd camped just around the corner. We started the day off super earlier today and arrived at top of the Quarang at around 8 am. The view below us was awesome and we looked on in awe as the road snaked through the valley below. We then made our way to Mealt falls at the coast, again Rob stood at the top of the waterfall. This one was even larger than the last and dropped right into the ocean. For photographic purposes it was also pretty pointless him standing on top of the waterfall as he could hardly be seen in the photograph. He was tiny!:) Here, we met a couple of women who were also on holiday in Skye. They had flown up from Kent for the Easter break and were also taking many landscape and wildlife photographs. Rob was a little jealous as they had seen the golden eagle in the mountains the previous day. This was one of the reason we came to Skye and unfortunately we were not as lucky. So, on to the next place.....we decided we would take a walk up the Old Man of Storr, as we hadn't actually done that much walking on this holiday. The walk didn't actually take too long and I think we had reached the top in well under an hour. The initial part of the walk from the car park is very steep and I think this section probably takes the most time, but once you reach the grassy portion of the walk the incline is much shallower and more easy going. So, the walk is not much of a challenge.  

Cow!

As it was only earlier afternoon and the weather was great, Rob was dying to get the shot he originally wanted of the Cullins from Elgol. So we headed back that way. When we were almost there a herd of highland cattle had blocked off the road, they were so cute, fluffy and ginger! So we waited for them to pass before moving on. Once, in Elgol we walked along a footpath towards the mountains, now I actually believe Rob. They are in fact there! We took some lovely photos and relaxed in the sun for a while, just watching the little tour boats go back and forth out at sea. It was quite peaceful.

I wish I lived here!

Rob chilling in the sun.

It was still afternoon and as Rob had become obsessed with seals and I loved boats we caught the last tour boat of the day and took a trip towards the Cullins. It was great, albeit being a little cold we had a nice trip on the little boat. Rob got his wish and we saw plenty of seals, although they were too far away for my camera to photgraph them properly. And on the return journey we received a free coffee and hot chocolate to keep us warm, which was nice. :) 

Once we got back to shore we decided we would head back to mainland Scotland so the drive back tomorrow wouldn't be as long, as it is no fun being in the car all day! We crossed the Skye bridge and stopped for a short while at Eilean Donan castle before continuing to Ben Nevis to spend the night. We stopped at number of picturesque locations on the way before arriving at Glen Nevis campsite just after dark. We put the tent up and enjoyed at late tea of soup and bread, we've pretty much lived off tinned food this holiday. It's nice and cheap though, which is always a bonus. Before bed we took a drive down the road away from the lights of the town and campsite to try and get some star photographs. We were unsuccessful in that aspect but we did see a barn owl racing our car as we drove down the road and for some reason a flock of sheep seemed to prefer sleeping in the middle of the road rather that the grass at the side of it. Not really the safest of sleeping spots.

The Sea.

The next morning we set off on our journey home feeling a little sad and not ready to leave. We took a short break in Glen Coe to take some more photographs and after wandering around in the marshes Rob decided the best spot was in the river. I like the photo I got anyway. 

We were making good time so stopped at our favourite little cafe at the edge of Loch Lomond. When we first arrived we were the only ones there. I guess it was a little early for lunch so it wasn't too busy. We settled for tea and cake and it was even warm enough to sit outside. After a short respite we continued in which I took over the driving and what a mistake that was! We were stuck in traffic going about 10 miles an hour all the way to Glasgow! Damn, bank holiday traffic. Anyway, the traffic was fine by the time we were back on the motorway.

Glen Coe!

Before we had gone on holiday to Skye my mum had invited us round for Easter lunch but we had declined as we didn't think we would be back in time. However, as we had left earlier than we had anticipated we popped in, as its always nice to get food cooked for you! Yum, lentil "meatloaf" and veggies, home cooked meals are the best!

Hope you had an awesome Easter and if you want to check out Rob photos his website is www.robgrewphotography.com

Samx

We're off again! - Skiing Bulgaria

So after a few days at home to adjust for the time difference we are off again. But this time the climate is somewhat different. We are going to Borovets in Bulgaria to Ski. So yes, it is actually totally different, but I think we will be able to cope with the temperature change. We have colourful, cosy clothes! Woop! ;)

We usually go skiing every year but most of the time we stay with a friend in the French Alps, which is great. Their accommodate us very well with breakfast, lunch and tea. In return we help out in every way we can; setting and clearing the table, washing up, help clear the drive way, just little things like that. This year we opted for a holiday with another group of friends and the chance to try somewhere different.
This ski holiday to Bulgaria is very cheap, it's actually crazy! I think it cost us £600 for the two of us whereas a previous holiday to Italy (Sestriere) cost around £600 each.

Setting up our plane!

We arrive at the airport in good time for our flight only to find out it was delayed and our plane was stuck in Grenoble, due to bad weather and the fact there is only one plane deicer there. So everything was going slow. 

Many flights were delayed with some people having waited since 8 am and it was now 2 pm, the time our flight was due to leave. We later found out that our friends in London had also been delayed and were due to leave a little before 5 pm.

I felt so ill and was surprised I had even made it to the airport but I wasn't going to miss a chance to visit a new country! In an attempt to feel a bit better I decided it was probably best not to eat anymore food until we arrived at the hotel that evening. Rob also bought me a pair of blue Sony headphones to try an cheer me up (I had also forgotten mu mini ones). They were beautiful but it didn't stop me from feeling sick, bleugh! I just wanted to sleep. I tried to think why I felt so bad; it was either I had caught something in Bali or the meal I had eaten out on Thursday hadn't agreed with me, as I hadn't felt right for a couple of days. Personally, I think it was the fact I had eaten to many mini cheddars in the days leading up to today! I wont make that mistake again!

Anyway, at about 4:30 pm our flight was announced for boarding, Thomas Cook had found us a new plane. I have no idea where they found it, as it had no logo on it. It was just a large white plane! Shortly, after 5 pm we boarded, three hours after our initial departure time and it turned out that plane was actually run by Hifly, a Portuguese airline company. Fancy! :)

The flight took longer than I expected and then there was a bus journey to follow, so we only arrived at our hotel, The Hotel Samokov, at 1 am the following day. Our friends had only arrived minutes before and were in the process of checking into their rooms. We decided we would meet at breakfast in the morning, as everyone was pretty tired! 

Excited for our first day of Skiing!

Breakfast at The Hotel Samokov is not too bad. It is kind of like a canteen based restaurant where you serve yourself. They offered some fresh fruit and cereals, cooked breakfasts and breads. I mainly survived on fruit and mini breads. I love bread products particularly croissants and pain au chocolats. I know they are not the healthiest of things, but hey I'm on holiday I'm allowed to treat myself a little. Aren't I?

Unfortunately, the evening meals aren't great! We only ate in the main restaurant once and that was probably enough. The people we were on holiday with didn't really like it and they didn't offer any vegetarian meals. Apparently you can request them though. Our hotel also offered a free meal in the panoramic restaurant on the 9th floor as part of our stay. I wasn't expecting much from what we had witnessed at the main restaurant, but it was actually quite nice. We got a 3 course meal and the view was fantastic we had a great view of the resort and the night skiing slopes, we vowed we would definable have to try that.  

Anyway the resort/holiday is so cheap you can afford to eat out pretty much ever evening, so we tried all of the recommended restaurants/bars in Borovets. The meal at Bobby's bar was pretty good, I chose the vegetable fajitas and the portion was massive. I couldn't finish it, so if you want a big meal I would recommend going there. :)

Another great place was Hunters, the owner was some friends snowboard instructor and the atmosphere was great. We sat on a large table near the fire, it was nice and cosy. The place was so cute with tea-towels all of the walls from all over the world, many of them were from the UK. And some really weird places too. So funny!

Isaac and Emily relaxing at lunch.

One of the best places we went for lunch was Snack Bar Joy at the bottom of the gondola. They offered great pizzas made in an outside pizza oven. The service is a bit slow, as they have to cook them one at a time. But they are worth the wait! We ate here probably too many times!

Another, bonus of being in Borovets is the beer is so cheap! Definitely, a lot cheaper than our usual Ski holidays in Les Gets. 

Snow!

So, anyway on to the skiing! Firstly, a 6 days lift pass is half the price of what it is in The Alps, so this is great bargain resort and great for beginners. Now on to the conditions, in the weeks leading up to our ski trip Borovets had been very, very cold at around -15 degrees and had had quite a bit of snow. But during our stay the temperature had risen, so it wasn't totally freezing, which was nice for me. I do not like to be cold! But skiing keeps you warm anyway for the most part so even if it was super cold it shouldn't have made too much difference. 

Before we arrived there had been a big dump of snow so there was enough snow for us. It did snow however a few times during the week, so we did have at least one powder day. So Rob was happy, as he was initially quite disappointed in the lack of powder. For most of the holiday we skied at top of the sky resort, which is quite high at around 2100 m, so even on one of the last days when it rained in the resort, at the top we were high enough to still be in the snow. Woop, woop! I did get a little bit bored of skiing down the same black everyday though. But there is a really long blue run that takes you back down to the resort, which I particularly enjoyed. It was like you were strolling through the forest just enjoying the view.

The resort itself is quite small but it offers a lot of variety in different types of runs, with green, blue, red and black runs as well as a small park with a few jumps. Apparently, off-piste skiing is illegal in Bulgaria but we did a little and it was fine, no one said anything to us and we survived. It wasn't too dangerous! Rob however likes to do things to the extreme and took the off-piste to another level, he managed to break both of his poles doing a few jumps and crashing into both a large rock and a chair lift stanchion in the same morning! I think he hurt himself both times, so not really the best thing to do. :( 

Him, Isaac and John had decided it would be a great idea to climb Mount Musala and then ski back down to resort. It took them all day and resulted in Rob breaking his skis. They were all pretty tired on their return but had a good time and got some great photos. :)

I did not join them on their quest to the top of Musala. I must admit it was quite tempting to be on the highest point of Bulgaria, but mountain climbing is not really my thing. And anyway, I came on holiday to Ski downhill fast not go uphill slowly! So, I spent the day skiing with some of the other guys and drinking coffee out of a straw! Fun times, only in Borovets! It was so funny, why offer a straw with a coffee! This made me happy! :)

Coffee through a straw, only in Borovets! Love it!

As Rob broke his skis he needed some new ones for our last full day in resort. He chose to rent some of the better skis in the shop but apparently they were terrible. Borovets does not cater for experienced skiers. I guess this is more of a beginners resort. In the end he opted for a snowboard, as he thought it may be more fun! This was not the case, as he is much better a skiing so all he did was complain about being wet due to constantly falling over! 

I must also recommend night skiing. Okay, you have to buy a additional lift pass and only a few runs are open, but it's cheap and it was an experience. I think night skiing runs from 6 pm until 9:30 ish, which is definitely enough time to get a few runs in. As after skiing all day and feeling rather hungry I was ready to go by 8 pm. However, the experience of skiing after dark is quite a novelty and a must do! :)

Happy!

Our last morning before catching the bus back to the airport was spent on a skidoo. I thought this was so much fun! Okay, it was a little scary at first, as in an attempt to climb the first hill I pulled a massive wheelie but I managed to recover it and we didn't die! Phew! I think I shocked Rob a little as he was on the back. 

To accelerate you must squeeze a lever on the handlebars quite hard, so after a while it starts to hurt your forearm, so Rob and I took it in turns to drive. 

Rob drove somewhat faster than me, he liked the speed. It is quite relaxing driving through a quiet track in the snow covered forest, almost tranquil if it weren't for the noise from the skidoos. I had never ridden a skidoo before and I thought it was awesome! I would definitely recommend it. But if like me you lack forearm strength, go with a buddy and share the driving! :)

Skidoo!

A nice little fact about Borovets is that most of the town is actually illegal and doesn't exist under Bulgaria law. It is only the large hotels in the village that have planning permission and postcodes. The rest of the town consists of buildings which are just little shacks that have built up without planning permission. Quite fun really! 

You learn something new everyday!

Samx

Going Home :( - Bali Blog 13

Monday 16th February/Tuesday 17th February

Today is our last day. Well we only have a few hours left before we have to go to the airport. Our transport is already booked for 12 pm and our flight leaves at 4 pm, so we have the morning to enjoy the last little bit of Ubud.
We woke up and made sure all our stuff was packed and we would be ready to go once our lift arrived. We enjoyed mie goreng for breakfast, an awesome last breakfast in Ubud. We also ate fresh dragon fruit and papaya and drank coffee. Yum! I will miss this, enjoying breakfast in the sunshine. Oh well, maybe in the summer we can enjoy breakfast on our balcony back in Manchester.

Trees!

The weather was great, so we went for a last walk in the rice fields behind our hotel. We walked around for about an hour, absorbing the heat and getting our last dose of Vitamin D before heading back to cloudy England. We took loads of photos and saw two giant black and yellow spiders, they were massive! We had seen these spiders before but this was the closest we had been to them. Rob pointed the spider out to a woman working the rice fields. She tried to catch it and ended up ripping off one of its legs! I was like 'Crap! I don't want that spider anywhere near me!' and I backed away. Rob was the same. However, she was unsuccessful in catching it but she told us that you could actually eat them! Eurgh! :(

Fancy!

We didn't stay out too long as neither of us had suntan lotion on and it would be really annoying to get sun burnt on our last day. So we headed back and upon returning to our hotel Tagel informed us that you can actually eat those spiders and they're not actually dangerous. 

Giant spider. 

Whilst we were chilling out at the hotel waiting for our lift to the airport the two French Canadian guys arrived back from their Mount Batur trek! They were super tired, but we chatted to them for a bit and one guy enjoyed the trek more than the other, the other guy was totally knackered! :) 

Before we left Tagel tried to sell us a painting, I would have liked one but we had no cash left and didn't think we had enough time to go and get cash to buy one. 

This is my only regret from Bali, I wish we would have bought a painting. Oh well, it gives us an excuse to go back anyway! :)

Rob with his mates at the airport! Chinese New Year! :)

We arrived at the airport at around 1:30 pm and checked in to our flight and then got some food! More tasty noodles! It was Chinese new year and the whole airport was decorated in celebration of it. Red lanterns were everywhere!

We had to pay to leave the country! I had read about an exit tax but was unsure of the cost, luckily we had enough money! Our first connection was to Hong Kong and the flight was only 4 hours so it wasn't too bad, but there was a bit of turbulence. I guess this adds to the excitement of flying and it wasn't too much, so it was OK. But it was quite bumpy! 

We arrived in Hong Kong and had some very expensive sandwiches and fruit juice. After a while I got bored of waiting and just wanted to go home, plus I felt really sick. I don't think travelling agrees with me! :( Especially when the flight was at midnight!

The flight back to Manchester was much longer (approx. 12 hours), Rob slept most of the way whereas I watched movies and probably only managed to sleep for about 2 hours. So when we arrived in Manchester at 6 am (UK time) I was knackered! So we grabbed a taxi home and I managed to get rid of a Scottish fiver I'd been carrying around for years, just because I thought it was beautiful! Well, I only spent it as the taxi was a little bit more expensive than I had anticipated! 

When we arrived home we popped up to visited some friends as they were getting ready to head to the airport for their holiday. So we told them a little bit of gossip from Bali before we went to Cafe Nero for breakfast!

We then spent the rest of our day in our pajamas and went to bed at 5 pm! I've never been to bed that early in my life, what a great last day to our holiday! Not! Ha!

Have a great day!!!

Samx 

Sunday - Bali Blog 12- Recovery day!

Sunday 15th February

We arrived back at the hotel just before 12 pm, so we were out for almost exactly 12 hours trekking the volcano. The first thing we did when we got back to our room was get a much needed shower, it was so refreshing. Afterwards, Tagel's wife made us some strawberry juice. Now this was awesome! It was just what I needed so cool and juicy with so much flavour! I do love strawberries! 

We were so tired though after spending the whole night walking we ended going to sleep for a few hours and wasted our last afternoon in Ubud! :(

What we found out was whilst trekking Mount Agung was that it is nowhere near as popular as Mount Batur, as us and the two other groups were the only ones on Mount Agung last night. Whereas Mount Batur is so much smaller, loads of people do it. There can be more that 200 people on the mountain at one time in the wet season and I think close to 1000 in the dry season! Crazy! So I would definitely recommend climbing Mount Agung, even if it does take longer.

Bed time in Ubud!

We decided we would head out for some food and ended up in Warung Schnitzel with another strawberry juice (not as good as Tagel's wife's one but it was tasty enough) and a tofu stir fry. It was too hot and I was too tired to enjoy it, plus I don't think my body had recovered from being awake all night, so I wasn't very hungry.

I think I was also disappointed that we had wasted our last day in Ubud, so we just went back to our hotel and watched The Birdcage on Rob's tablet. It's one of my favourite movies and I do love Robin Williams, so funny! 

It wasn't the most exciting evening for our last one in Ubud but I was much happier in the room before bed then in the heat! 

So sad our time is nearly up! I wish we could stay forever but then if we did we wouldn't make it to Bulgaria next week for Skiing! Woop, woop more holidays! :D

Samx

Valentine's Day and Mount Agung - Bali Blog 11

Saturday 14th February

Today is Valentine's day and our plan for this evening is to climb Mount Agung. As, you start the ascent at 2 am we couldn't really do too much today. We needed all our energy for the climb, as well as making sure we get an early night. Tagel booked the trip for us, so we just had a nice relaxing day. On my friend Jen's recommendation we went to Taksu spa for raw zucchini lasagna and it was awesome! Granted, it was a little more expensive that I thought it would be at 50,000 idr but it was definitely worth it just to try it! It was so rich and creamy and very filling! Rob refused to order a raw meal and opted for chicken noodles, which I think he was happy with. 

Raw Zucchini Lasagna

We enjoyed our food from a balcony overlooking the spa, the spa is set in a mini jungle garden and looks great. So, we took a wander round, it wasn't very big but we saw some furry caterpillars, they were quite funny! We didn't stay long as there were so many bugs and Rob moaned about getting bitten, so we had to leave. I got bitten too and the bite became pink and swollen, I was not happy! Now I know how Rob feels. 

Taksu spa

Furry! So cute!

After chilling out at the hotel for a couple of hours we headed to Warung Sopa to get some coffee and cake. I had mango coconut pie and Rob had a slice of the gluten free chocolate cake. They were both super tasty! We chilled out for a while so we got some gyozas and I also got a sugar cane juice. I'd wanted to try it for ages and it was really good! So sweet! Rob really liked it too but he didn't get his own. He just drank mine! Sad times!

Warung Sopa

We went back to the hotel at 7 pm to try and get a few hours sleep before our trek. I think we probably managed about 3 and half to 4 hours before having to get up and get ready to go. I was not looking forward to this but Rob was super excited. Our driver Wayan picked us around 12 am as its at least an hours drive to the mountain from Ubud. He kept telling us to sleep whilst driving there but we couldn't,we were too awake. 

We arrived a the mountain about 15 minutes early so waited for our guide to arrive. First another guide arrived,so we were introduced to him first his name was also Wayan. He was the guide for the two German guys who had just arrived. A few minutes later our guide arrived, he was quite short and skinny and didn't speak as much English as the other two men but they all seemed nice. It turned out his name was also Wayan and we would all be climbing together. Team Wayan! Yay! :)

Pasa Agung!

So just before 2 am we met the two German guys and started up the mountain. The car park where we started from is at 1600 m. We then walked up 350 steps up to the temple, Pasa Agung at 1800 m. Here, Wayan and Wayan prayed whilst the four of us waited. It only took about 10 minutes and then we made our way around the back of the temple and into the forest. It was fairly hard going through the forest and we were walking quite fast, so I felt quite ill. My body doesn't work very well early in the morning and right now I should be sleeping not walking up a mountain! Anyway, as we were making good progress we had a little break just before the end of the tree line. Wayan and Wayan made a fire so people could dry there sweaty clothes before we carried on. Whilst we were in the forest our guides told us to be careful of leaches but we did not see any of these. Rob got bitten by bugs a few times (as usual) and as we were walking I noticed my leg felt really itchy behind me knee. When I scratched it I notice that there was a little black thing that wouldn't come off my skin, so Rob had a closer look and squeezed it like it was a spot. It turned out that a little spider like bug was trying to burrow under my skin! Eeeeew! Rob managed to get it out anyway and our guides told us that it looked like a chicken bug, which usual burrows into chicken's heads! Disgusting, I had a parasite! 

Selfie!

Anyway, we carried on and made our way out of the tree line at 2300 m. Even though it was dark the view was spectacular, we could see the whole island and oh my god, the stars! The sky was so clear we could see the whole milky-way, Rob got some great photos! The terrain became very rocky after leaving the tree line but at least I felt better now, so that was a bonus! :) 

After climbing for a little bit longer it wasn't as steep as it was in the forest and as we were going quite fast again we took another break, otherwise we were going to be at the top well before sunrise. As we were nearing the top of the volcano the sky became cloudy, so we continued to wait to see if it would clear before sunrise. The 20 minute wait didn't make much difference in the cloud conditions and people were getting cold, so we carried on. 

The temperature change from the bottom to the top is dramatic! It is so tropical in the forest and near the temple, perhaps a bit too hot for me in the day, but at the top it's around 12 degrees, which is pretty cold when you are used to 30 degrees. Anyway, I digress. The last 15 minutes to the top is a climb rather than a walk, so a little more effort is required! But I enjoy a good scramble so it was fine! :) 

At the top of Mount Agung!

We arrived at the top of the volcano at around 5:30 am approximately 30 minutes before sunrise. So while we waited Wayan and Wayan made us each a hot drink and served us a breakfast of bananas, bread and eggs. I couldn't eat my egg, as my body still wasn't fully awake so I put it in my pocket for the journey back down. Whilst we were eating a German girl and her guide joined us. 

We could sort of see the sunrise through the clouds but it wasn't so clear, so waited until about 6:30 am to see if the cloud would clear and unfortunately it didn't. The German guys were freezing so we headed back down. 

The Crater!

After we had descended approximately 100 m, we were below the clouds and the view was fantastic! We spent ages just taking photos, Rob loved it! The journey down took longer than I expected, as first we saw a monkey so we took some photos of him for a while, then he got grumpy and one of our guide had to chase him away! Then a little further down we saw a mini deer being chased by a pack of dogs. The deer was so fast and agile it out ran each of the dogs but a little later we could hear a lot of commotion and it sounded like the dogs had caught the deer! Poor thing! :( 

My guide was such a gentleman helping me down all the hard bits, most of the time I didn't need his help but I did nearly fall a few times. One of the German guys couldn't stop falling over, it was quite slippy on the way down with either the gravel or the mud and his shoes didn't have much grip. I think he became quite annoyed in the end. We took so long to get down that the German girl caught up with us and then over took us just before the bottom. I think her guide just wanted to get home!

Blue!

We arrived back at the temple at 9:30 am and our guides were informed that the other group that set out to climb the mountain at 2 am had only just reached the summit. We actually saw them when we were heading back down and the girl was basically being dragged up the mountain. 

After about 15 minutes rest at the temple we headed back to the car park and made our way back to Ubud. This time I could totally sleep in the car and it was good! :)

Samx