Author: jl.boreham

I’m back!!!! And what an adventure I’ve been on. I have so much to share about this magical place. I’ve been to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, 6,000 miles from the UK and 1,200 off the south east coast of Africa i.e. in the middle of nowhere!

However, I have so much to tell you that it’s going to take me a while to write this up, and for the next few weeks I have not got much time so I thought I’d just share some photos, a bit like a photo journal, to give you some highlights pending the full detail.

I returned on Thursday after a very cramped economy class 12 hour flight with Air Mauritius, as I swapped my flights to avoid the Middle East. However, that made for a very long direct flight to CDG, Paris. It was my longest flight, the furthest I’ve been before is the USA, and I’ve decided that I’m not really made for long haul, although I would do it again to get somewhere like this. Thank goodness for in flight entertainment! The film of the flight which passed some time was “The Fault in our Stars”………………………bit of a mistake for an highly sensitive person like me. Bit of a cheesy film but I started crying somewhere over France and stopped somewhere over Africa!😂 Tear jerking quote of the film “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.” Be warned, you need tissues if you watch this one.

I’ve not been to a resort on the beach, I’ve been to a sort of wellness retreat, with only 25 lodges in 12 hectares/30acres, in the middle of the forest canopy. I’ll tell you all about it later in my detailed post but it was bliss!! It was luxurious in an understated, unpretentious way. An eco resort, all natural materials, all local food, nothing glitzy and fancy……………..the beauty was in the location, the lodge/hut accommodation, outdoor bathroom, the vast forest site, the nature, the birds, the wildlife, the wellness facilities and above all…………..the amazingly attentive and beautiful staff who all come from the villages surrounding Chamarel. If I could give it 11 out of 10 I would. I have come back feeling thoroughly refreshed.

However, I needed to, because I arrived home on Thursday, just 30 days from my ultra run and a few weeks more from my Spanish exam. So it’s head down and focus now for a few weeks which is why the detail might take a while.

I’ve been consistent and continued with my yoga, weights and been on the running machine while away, but now is the final 2 week push before a 2 week taper. After a 12 hour flight on Thursday I did a 10 mile run on Friday (didn’t feel great with puffy legs and jet lag), 20 mile run yesterday (felt a bit better) and an hour strength and conditioning session with my PT at 7:45am this morning (I am now broken😂). So this Sunday afternoon is for Spanish revision and I might bake a cake and eat it!😆

However, Yorkshire is looking mighty fine in the Spring time and I’ve enjoyed my 2 long runs.

There are lots of baby animals.

I didn’t get spat on by my friend who lives nearby who likes to run along the fence with me and spit at me if I get too close………………he was good yesterday!

There was some cool fungus.

The bluebells are out.

And there were lots of uneven uphills as I tried to replicate the terrain I will be faced with on my 47 mile run. 🥵 There’s no point me training on a flat road!

So all in all I’ve decided that Yorkshire’s not too bad and I’m glad to be back for a while pending my usual summer exodus.

So, quick summary of Mauritius – what’s it like and what did I do?

I climbed some mountains!

I propped the bar up on a night! 😁

Drinking possibly a new favourite………………..the passionfruit mojito!

I zipped around the village of Chamarel on my bike to discover the local village and its people……………………..who were all very lovely……………..and speak great English as it’s their first language……………along with French, Mauritian Creole, and anumber of Indian and African languages, as the island is so diverse in its cultures due to its history – which I’ll explain when I do my more detailed write up.

I went to the coffee plantation.

And was taught how to do coffee tasting properly – dry nose, wet nose, and slurp test! It was fun and as you can see I took it very seriously. 😆

I spent a lot of time just lazing around my cabin ……………………….

…………………and dozing in the garden by the pool reading.

I visited the Ebony Forest reserve………………..

Where I stumbled across a giant tortoise called Ralph (well that’s what was painted on his shell so I assumed it was his name).

I lay in the garden at night marveling at the Milky Way.

I went to the village Rum Distillery and tasted all the rums. Rum is in huge production here.

I went scrambling through the forest……………………………..

……………….in search of amazing waterfalls.

So many of them……

I watched the sunset from the hotel ‘View Bar’

While watching the fruit bats fly above……………………..

I visited the chaotic and bustling capital of Port Louis………….

The colours.

The smell of spices.

The market

The street art

I visited the botanical gardens ….

Where I discovered waterlily ponds……..

Full of these…..

Beautiful flowers…….

And unusual flowers.

I wandered around the lodge garden……………

Visited Grand Bassin Hindu Temple (Hinduism is the main religion in Mauritius – almost half of the island) to pay my respects to Shiva……………

………………..and Hanuman, the monkey god.

I read my books……………………… ‘Silent Winds, Dry Seas’ by Vinod Busjeet has to be read if you are coming here. You will understand the caste system and the history and the geography of the island much better. It is a novel about a boy struggling to find his place in the world growing up in Mauritius. A really good read. I also read a Garret Carr new release, a Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a Claire Lynch novel, but more on those later.

Met and leant about the history of the beautiful, friendly and extremely patriotic local people.

Donned my hi vis vest………………

…………………to visit the tea plantation.

Went to the beach.

Met the local wildlife.

Went to the retreat spa for a lovely massage.

And spent a lot of time just being still.

So that’s Mauritius in a nutshell for you. It was my idea of Paradise…………………………….however, it’s not for everyone! I know people who have been and don’t like it. There are various islands in the Indian Ocean to visit and they are all very very different. I had done a lot of research beforehand and knew this was where I wanted to be. I like culture, I love mingling with local people without a tour guide but still feeling safe, I love diversity, I love sampling local food, I love adventure, I love nature, I love walking, I am very aware of the environment and the importance of its preservation. I’m not bothered about everywhere being clinical and pristine. In Mauritius there is evidence of the caste system and hierarchy. A lot of locals, whilst extremely happy and friendly live in shacks with a tin roof, they are very poor. If you don’t like seeing that then it’s not the place for you. Otherwise, if it sounds like it is for you……………GO………….it’s am amazing island.

Otherwise, if you are extremely romantic, crave seclusion and want nothing to do except lay on white sand in a little over water house and are happy to do NOTHING else then you need the Maldives.

It you have more cash to spend and need an expensive, gated resort like setting, better beaches, are not that bothered about the culture or exploring on your own and want things to be more like at home and have pampered luxury then you need the Seychelles.

The choice is yours! There’s no correct one. Just make sure you do your research. I’m happy with my choices! Even my choice of sunglasses………………..”Mum, why have you bought a pair of sunglasses that look like pastry cutters?” 😂😂😂 Don’t you just love your children! I suppose he’s got a point………….I think I was thinking flowers when I bought them, but now I can’t unsee jam tarts.

I had a very productive half term break in February and for the first time in ages I stayed in the country! That’s because, as I told you in my last post, I’ve had to make a few sacrifices for this here Ultra Run that I’ve taken on, and I promised a little update and some insight into what I’m doing, my plan, and the story so far.

So why am I doing this? Well………………they do say that if something excites you and scares you to death all at the same time you should probably do it! So I’m doing it!

So what’s an Ultra Run?………………..It is, technically speaking, anything over marathon distance, so anything over 26.2 miles or 42.195 km.

Am I doing it just to say I’ve done an Ultra Run?……………………………No! If I was I’d have chosen a 27 mile one on the flat. 😆

I’m doing one called ‘The Lap’. It is in the most mountainous region of the UK and is 47 miles long with over 8,500 feet of ascent. This is the profile of the course……………….if you are not running uphill, you are running downhill. It’s one full ‘Lap’ of Lake Windermere, hence the name. Windermere is the UK’s largest lake. It’s 10.5 miles long and 200 feet deep and it was formed by glaciers. Circumnavigating it and taking in all the fells and mountains around it is a 47 mile journey.

The route is on unmanicured, single track and raw trails. It includes significant sections of rocky, technical, mountainous and muddy terrain and takes in open fells and ancient woodland. However, it’s got a nice generous cut off of 8 hours for the half way point and 24 hours for the full route…….it’s a 6am start, running through the night until 6am the next day if it takes you that long.

So why am I doing it? I’m not 100% sure ………………. well, I sort of am sure but it would take a whole post and more to explain. It’s sort of all about me, facing myself. It’s about me taking care of my body, taking care of my mind, pulling back from the noise and distancing myself so I can rebuild quietly. It’s about turning turmoil of the world into structure and choosing growth over validation. It’s about handling things with discipline and dignity. Because, in that way I’m a little rare. I choose solitude over attention, always self improvement over revenge (I don’t do falling out and fighting), and silence over chaos, and that would be my little piece of advice for today I guess. Choose wisely.

But why this one and not a 27 mile one? I think the answer to that question is I know I can do a 27 mile one…………..I wanted to do something that I genuinely do not know if I can and will achieve. I’m interested to see what my body and mind does when it gets to that point where I think I can no longer continue. I’m interested in seeing what I can achieve beyond that point, because I am sure that ‘point’ will come and go numerous times in the latter half of the race, maybe even before. But how do you know what the limit of what you are capable of is, if you never push yourself to that point?

So I guess the main reason, from a purely selfish point of view, is to learn something about myself and achieve an element of personal growth………………both mentally and physically.

I didn’t really feel I achieved that in my road marathon. It was quite easily doable with the training I put in. I said I’d never do another road marathon and I meant it. I don’t like running on tarmac, through the city, and I don’t like running as fast as I can, which tends to be the objective of a marathon. I don’t enjoy that at all. This is the opposite. It’s infinitely harder, but infinitely more enjoyable. It’s in one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, part of the UK (apart from Yorkshire of course) 😆. It’s off road and across the fells and mountains – my happy place. And it’s NOT a race for the majority of people, including myself……………………….it’s not about finishing times, it’s more about finishing lines and getting there, no matter how long it takes you. It’s more about the process you go through to get there, and what you learn on the way. Ultra runners WALK! It’s allowed, and is often necessary at some point in a race like this. I’ve had to train myself in this mindset……………….it’s actually quite hard psychologically to train yourself to walk on a run. 😆

And it’s not just about what happens on the day. They say a journey of a thousand miles (or 47 in my case) starts with a single step………………..and it does. The preparation for this started months ago…………………….the biggest battle and the courage comes from getting to the start line, not the finish line. Hopefully I’ll get to the start line, but once I step over it, what will be will be, it’s too late for any adjustments at that point, what really matters is what has been happening since last Autumn to May this year.

So, what have I done so far…………………….sensible, steady progression. At the end of the day I have a life outside running, one that involves work, my boys and hobbies……………..a key word here is balance! I hated the marathon because it took over my life! I am only running three times a week – a short 6 mile fast tempo session, a session of hill reps and a longish 16 mile run on a weekend. The furthest I plan to run in one session before the day is 25 miles, which is 22 miles short of the distance, any further on a consistent basis and I risk a flare up of historic back and knee niggles. I can do without experiencing those until the day!

I have a Personal Trainer for one session a week and do strength and conditioning which includes lots of squats, lunges, weights and core work and I try to replicate my session at home later in the week too. This week’s was a warm up followed by reps totalling 100 press ups and 125 weighted squats. I was very pink at the end of the session!

I do yoga for 15 minutes every day and an additional hour on a Wednesday.

I try to eat properly and sensibly………………………….and yes, I do have cake and treats, I’m not a slave to my diet, I love food! It’s necessary fuel, you’ll not find me nibbling on lettuce leaves any time soon. This is this week’s bake…………………………………Plum, Blackberry, Almond and Bay Friand bake……..YUM!

I try to get 8 hours of sleep a night. This is my downfall………………………I don’t always achieve it and if I got this part of the equation right I know things would fall into place more, so I’m consciously working on this as it is the weak strand.

Because there are really only three strands to this equation……………………….consistency of training, nutrition and sleep. Get those three right and you are most of the way there.

So, less of me waffling on about my plan……………………..lets have a look at this route………because it’s a beauty!!! And how do I know……………………because I’ve already ran it!!!🤣

Now, you don’t honestly think do you, that little Miss Organisation would leave this purely to chance on race day! No! That’s just not me, and it would involve lots of lost sleep and me worrying about where the hard parts are, where I can push, where I need to hold back, where I’m likely to get lost. Anyone who knows me well will tell you I hate the unknown…………….I like a plan, a list, a strategy, a contingency plan……… I can get quite anxious anticipating something like this.

So I decided to put a little of my half term aside, after I’d done some life admin and household jobs, to go on a recce………………………..quite a long recce of 4 days and 47 miles. 😂 I don’t like to do things by halves.

But I was sensible………………….I find it hard to fit long back to back training days in because I work 5 days a week and I like one weekend day to rest and do other things. So I got hold of the GPX file and thought, “I can achieve a lot if I give up 4 days of my half term to the race preparation”:

• I can split the route into 4 and have 4 back to back training days running 12 miles each day and covering the whole route.
• I can test various shoes and other equipment on the terrain.
• I can take lots of beautiful photos and have some chill time in the most gorgeous place.
• I can have a mental reset and get away from all the horrible stuff going on in the world (I’m booked on a flight with a 7 hour connection in Dubai at the end of March and I daren’t even think about it – the risk averse in me says I probably won’t get on it – who knows).
• I can munch my way through my body weight in sweets and fuel in the name of finding the optimum race nutrition strategy.
• I can stay in a lovely pub in the countryside with white cotton sheets, a feather duvet, a roaring fire and a bookcase.

So that’s what I did!

I stayed in the Brown Horse Inn at Winster, a small hamlet only a couple of miles from the edge of Lake Windermere. The Lap passes the bottom of the road so it was the ideal starting point. The room was lovely, had a gorgeous view, was warm and cosy, the food was delicious, the staff delightful and it was perfect.

Well, almost perfect ………… 4.90 out of 5. The in-room tea bags were a blue colour! A small deduction has to be made for the absence of Yorkshire Tea! 😆

So come on a little run with me…………………..Day 1. Winster (the pub) to Finsthwaite.

First things first ……………………… pub breakfast…………………….delicious…………………just could not help myself!

I set off across the fields, up a moderate incline, when I came to my first tarn. A tarn is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or “corrie”) excavated by a glacier. There must be thousands of tarns in the Lake District and we pass a couple of my favourites on this route, which I’ll share later.

You then come out in Ludderburn, a small hamlet, which on the day will be the site of an Aid Station. It’s a pretty little place with snowdrops everywhere. 😍

Then it’s a nice easy run on a deserted country lane for around half a mile. I hadn’t seen anyone yet, it was so peaceful, just how I like it.

It was not long after that, I caught my first glimpse of the huge lake I was running around…………..Lake Windermere………in the distance.

Then I found myself in a heavily wooded area of forest………Blake Holme Plantation. Not my favourite part of the day. The path was indistinct, it was dark in the wood, mud over my ankles, running beside a beck, GPS jumping around all over due to the denseness of the trees…………..and to top it all……… I found the wood was full of wild cows and bulls!! My favourite!😮 They decided I wasn’t worth chasing and carried on munching their grass thank goodness.

After running for just over an hour it was time for half a bag of Colin Caterpillars……………….sugary caterpillar jellies from a certain UK supermarket with an M and S in the title! These were to fuel me up my first big hill of the day…………..Gummers How! It’s a smallish fell as fells go but with big views…………….360 degree views.

And the good thing about a summit is that sense of achievement on reaching that Trig point and the fact that there will usually be someone else at the summit to take your photo!

I better explain what a Trig point is if you don’t know. We have them on top of a lot of hilltops, mountains and high points in the UK. They are usually stone or concrete pillars around 4 feet high or taller. Designed by Brigadier Martin Hotine in 1935, over 6,500 were installed from 1936, by the Ordinance Survey, to create an accurate, national survey network. They were used for triangulation to measure angles between points, which mapped the country. Hence their name……..’trig’ is the abbreviation of ‘triangulation’ point. They are marked on all our UK Ordinance Survey maps.

A nice bit of downhill now across the fells and through the woods where the ponies and pigs live. 😍

This was followed by a huge climb up to Finsthwaite Tower. This was quite an interesting find and was worth a pause. It sits at the top of a very steep and long hill and is an old tower alongside three standing stone monuments. The stones commemorate three Naval battles which were won in the 18th Century against some of the UK’s European aggressors.

It was a steady downhill that followed into the tiny village of Finstwaite. A lovely little place with beautiful St Peter’s church, where the vicar has very kindly provided tea and coffee making facilities and invites you to enjoy the peace and quiet. He must have been expecting me…………………don’t mind if I do! 😆

Have a little look inside. Some lovely stained glass windows, it had a nice bright feel about it………………….it might have been the refreshments that made it better!

End of Day 1………a gorgeous 11.26 miles covered, 2,034 feet of elevation. I wasn’t questioning my life choices yet. Fuel consumed enroute…………one Chia Charge bar and a bag of Colin Caterpillars. Hydrated by 500ml of Tailwind electrolytes, 500ml of High 5 Zero electrolytes. Shoe choice – La Sportiva Mutant which held well on slippery muddy ground – no slips, trips or falls, and feeling good. A result!!!!!

More importantly 1,604 calories burnt. Refuel in the form of a minted Lamb Burger made with local hogget lamb and chunky chips and side salad. If you are not familiar with ‘hogget’, it’s lamb that has had two springs and two summers so it’s over a year old, around 18 months. The theory is an extra 6 months of grazing on rich Spring and Autumn pasture makes a big difference to the taste if it’s hung well. It was an outstanding burger!

This was at The Force café in Ambleside, who also serve the most amazing coffee so I’d definitely recommend a visit here if passing. They are all about fresh, locally sourced produce, and you can tell by the freshness and flavours! There’s also quite an amazing waterfall nearby, Stockghyll, Force if you are interested.

Just time to catch a gorgeous sunset over the lake on the way back.

An evening spent laid on my bed with my feet up, PJ’s on, rosy cheeks, reading my book.

Onto Day 2……………….Finsthwaite to the descent off Latterbarrow fell.

Forget the running shoes………………………..I need an ark! You cannot come the Lakes for 4 days and not expect a day of absolutely biblical rain and poor visibility, it is the Lakes after all and the water has to come from somewhere.

However, there’s no such thing as bad weather in the world of fell running, just incorrect clothing. Still feeling quite strong after yesterday’s big day I donned myself in every item of waterproof equipment I had brought and set off, looking more like I was about to skipper a boat than run 12 miles. Up, up and up through Finsthwaite woods to High Dam. The good thing about heavy rain though is that the water crashed down through the woods, and I love that sound.

High Dam, when I eventually reached it was still, grey and deserted……………….it had quite an ethereal feel in the mist.

Then followed the BIG descent! I liked this bit, not because it was downhill, because downhill is actually my least favourite, but because you end up on the shore of Lake Windermere, for one of only a handful of times you get so close to it in the whole race.

Lake Windermere is normally a very busy lake, full of weekend day trippers. However, on a day of biblical rain in February there was not a soul about, and I like it like that. Just the lake, the birds, the snowdrops and me…………………plodding along with by pack of goodies. Today it was Percy Pigs!

Then came the big climb through Station Scar Wood and the discovery of Claife Viewing Station half way up. This structure looks a little bit like a mini castle and is maintained by the National Trust. It was built as a viewing folly in 1790 in Georgian times. It was built during the ‘Picturesque’ movement and as such has strategically placed windows cut into it so each view is framed like a picture………very clever.

You then leave the lake and I found myself plodding through a misty and foggy landscape of farm tracks , dry stone walls and bare trees. Eventually I came out in the small village of Far Sawrey where there was a conveniently placed bus shelter for me to rest and eat a Chia Charge bar.

Far Sawrey is lovely little village and in Summer it gets lots of visitors because it is the location of Hill Top Farm, former home of Helen Beatrix Potter, better know as Beatrix Potter………..the much loved author and illustrator who invented and wrote a series of children’s books about the animal characters she created……………………….Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Tom Kitten and many more. I highly recommend a visit to Hill Top Farm, it’s magical and wonderfully preserved by the National Trust, who she bequeathed most of her estate to.

I have a full compendium of the 1970’s Beatrix Potter books from when I was small and they are one of my treasured possessions because I loved them…………………..and still do. When my boys were born I gifted them a Steiff Teddy Bear and a full compendium of Beatrix Potter books each ……………………they are very, very special books to me. The way how she uses the beauty of what she saw around her to create these wonderful characters and stories, her gorgeous illustrations and the way she managed to weave into each story a valuable lesson, be it the natural consequences of actions, the value of persistence, the importance of kindness and above all the way that they fostered within me a love for nature, a love for exploring, a love of animals and a love of reading.

Just after Far Sawrey, up a long farm track, you emerge at the most beautiful and serene tarn………………..Moss Eccles Tarn. This is one of my two favourites I mentioned earlier. In 1926 Beatrix Potter bought the tarn and surrounding land to preserve it. She filled it with brown trout and planted water lilies. She described it as a place of peace and joy. While her husband fished on the tarn from a little wooden boat, she wrote and sketched. The tarn inspired ‘The Tale of Jeremy Fisher’…………her beautiful story about Jeremy Fisher……………….a frog, one of my favourites in the compendium.

The tarn is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest……….valued for its aquatic and wetland plants, damselflies and dragon flies. It really is a beautiful spot. Somewhere to come back to in summer with a picnic! Perhaps you could look for Jeremy Fisher!

A long slog now through the forest, where there was some pretty impressive fungii on the birch trees, to reach the start of the last big climb of the day…………….Latterbarrow. This is a short sharp climb rather than a long shallow one. It does however, offer the most spectacular view over Lake Windermere, when you can see it for mist and rain.

Latterbarrow is beautiful though…………………………a really nice big trig point, excellent view all around, and quite accesible for everyone, as it’s not far up or down from a road if you can cope with the steepness. Better when it’s sunny though!

Trot to the bottom of Latterbarrow and I’m done for the day, having run up a large part of the western side of the lake. 12.02 miles covered, 2490ft of ascent, lots of ups, lots of downs, one bag of Percy Pigs, one Chia Charge, 500ml Tailwind, 500ml of Go Zero and 1460 calories burned. Shoes……………..my La Sportiva Mutants again …………… felt a bit tight as my feet swelled today though!

So that means that on the way back I can call for coffee and flapjack! A recommendation……………………..’Grain’ cafe in Ambleside. Fantastic fruit flapjack, fantastic coffee and lovely plants!

Uneventful evening……………………….Olympic viewing on TV, book reading and snuggling in my duvet after a long hot shower getting rid of the mud and transforming my feet into something a little less Frodo Baggins like!

It’s Day 3 now……………………feeling a little bit stiff in the legs and back, so a little bit of yoga before breakfast and then off I go. Today I’m running from the bottom of Latterbarrow all the way to Troutbeck. The distance is similar to the first two days, perhaps a little more, but the elevation is huge! 40% of the race elevation is in this one section so I start with my poles unfolded, normally I just use them when I get to a big hill.

It’s a nice start though…………………going through the farmer’s gate to the track below I can see some sunlight trying to poke through the clouds.

It’s even brighter as I run past the lovely Blelham Tarn. I’m feeling upbeat and positive even though low rolling cloud and rain is forecast for later.

I trotted through the lovely little hamlet of Skelwith Fold before beginning my first big ascent of the day up Loughrigg Fell. The views on the way up this fell, of the far reaching hills and mountains, are just spectacular. So many colours and shades……………… with sun, clouds and rain all visible in the distance.

Half way up Loughrigg Fell you come to Loughrigg Tarn, the second of my favourite tarns. This was also a favourite place for the poet William Wordsworth who said it was “round, clear and bright as heaven”. I like it for its seclusion and its setting.

It’s always nice and quiet up here and it is surrounded by pastures of Herdwick sheep, looked down upon by the most majestic hills and mountains cloaked in every shade of brown, green and gold at this time of year.

I pressed on up Loughrigg Fell and the views just kept getting better and better………………and the birdsong! This is why I love it so much……..just listen……..can there be anywhere better than this to be alone with the world. ❤️❤️ This is a video, and I don’t have much luck uploading them on here, I’m no technical wizard but I bake a good cake (we can’t be good at everything), so if it does not play you’ll have to take my word for it. Sorry about the birdsong being interrupted by heavy breathing…………..I’m a little out of breath.😆

I reached the top of Loughrigg Fell just as the wind started to get up and the grey clouds started swirling. There were plenty of people up at the top at the trig point so I stopped for a photo and had a quick snack. I’m back on Colin Caterpillars today.

As per usual I got a little lost on the top of Loughrigg Fell. It’s a huge hill but on top is a huge flattish, bobbly plateau. There are so many paths going in all sorts of directions and it’s really easy to become disorientated. On the day it will likely be signed and marshalled so I’m not worrying, but once again I got a little bit lost up here, but thanks to my GPS soon recovered and found my way down into the town of Ambleside.

I was quickly through the town of Ambleside and on my way up the side of the biggest hill of the whole route, Wansfell Pike…………………and this is where the wheels sort of fell off. The view part way up over the lake was amazing.

But I could see the cloud descending and a bad weather front coming in. It can change oh so very quickly out here. By the time I got to the summit the visibility was really poor and I was starting to feel really uncomfortable. I just hadn’t really prepared myself mentally for thick mist, and I don’t like it.

There were a couple of people about, but not many, as I tried to navigate my way to the trig point of Baystones, and then take a compass bearing to try and find the path down to Troutbeck. I could only see a few metres in front of me clearly and there are no more photos of the day as to be honest I cried all the way down to Troutbeck and completely panicked when my GPS stopped responding. Not that I need my GPS because I have my compass but I just find it reassuring to know I’m definitely not lost! 😂

I made it down into Troutbeck after 12.96 miles and 3353 feet of elevation. I was a little bit broken and today I did question why I was doing it……………..but I think that was just down to the trauma of the last hour. In hindsight, it had been a beautiful run. One bag of Colin Caterpillars, one Chia Charge, 500ml of Tailwind, 500ml of Go Zero electrolytye, but loads of tears too today! Shoes of the day were the Nnormal Tomir 2.0. A good choice and a possible one for the actual race. Much more cushioning than the La Sportivas, which I think I’m going to need for this distance, and a slightly wider toe box so no squashed toes at the end. Quite sticky to the ground too so no falls, but the lug is not quite as deep as on the Mutants (5mm as opposed to 6.5mm on the Mutants which does make a difference) so not quite as confident in them in deep mud.

Upside of the day though was the additional calories…………all 1,597 of them which meant that it was definitely a pie, mash and gravy night………..chicken and ham hock pie to be precise. Delicious and deserved!

Legs were feeling a little sore and puffy and I had a possible little knee niggle coming on. Not too much elevation tomorrow so it was an evening for a bath soak, wrap myself in a towel, elevated legs, Volterol gel, precautionary knee tape for tomorrow, little bit of book reading and Olympic curling final……….I know how to rock and roll on a Saturday night!🤣

Day 4 – the final section, completing my full circumnavigation of the lake…………………..and the sun was forecast to come out later. First things first, a lovely vegetarian breakfast. I’m not vegetarian and I love bacon but sometimes it’s just too salty and makes me really thirsty which is not great when I’m running.

I set off from Troutbeck, where I’d finished the day before, and the views down the valley were lovely.

Past Dubbs Reservoir and up the first climb of the day to the summit of Orrest Head. Today was about mud…………………………lots of it. After a night of torrential rain all the paths were thick mud and water, so the going was slow.

This was soon forgotten when I got to the top of Orrest Head, the view over the lake from here is quite something. This was a favourite spot of Alfred Wainwright, hill walker and author, and there is a lovely slate plaque in his memory at the top detailing all the mountains you can see in the distance and the view which transformed his life as he wrote, “Those few hours on Orrest Head cast a spell which changed my life.”

Onwards I went, around the outskirts of the town of Bowness on Windermere and up through the woods at Matson Ground.

At last, the final big hill…………………..Brant Fell, which was no less spectacular than Orrest Head. By the time I got up there it was blowing a gale, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining.

Just a couple of miles now until I reached the very spot which I set off from three days previously. I’d made it……………………a full circumnavigation of the lake and all its spectacular hills and summits.

A shorter day today 9.83 miles and 1499 feet of ascent. However, 1112 calories burnt which obviously meant that I was still entitled to a bite to eat on collecting my suitcase from the Brown Horse Inn! They make the most delicious fish pie here. It was divine. Cod, haddock, smoked haddock and salmon in a creamy sauce all topped with cheesy mashed potatoes.

So there you have it……………………….’The Lap’………….I’ve just got to put it all together and do it all four days in one day now! 🤣🤣

It will be fine……………………..remember it’s about finishing lines not finishing times…………………….and it’s not really about that……………….it’s more about the learnings and the process and the growth that come with getting to the start line. It’s about challenging myself and it’s about setting an example to my boys that anything is achievable with hard work, persistence and dedication……………..you just have to be brave and take the first step.

And on a lighter note……………………I’ve discovered a new setting on my very technical watch which irritates me to death as it never thinks I’ve done quite enough. Anyway………………….I’d quite obviously sent it into shock with my sudden 4 days of focus……………..for once it got it right……………training status ‘Excessive’…………………..85 hours needed for full recovery ………………….overall status ‘Exhausted’ ……………………… and it even has an image of a person doubled over holding it’s knee 🤣🤣 For once the watch and I are on the same page!

Mission accomplished!!! Four glorious days in the lakes. Because in the end you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing the lawn…………………..just climb that mountain!

So that’s quick update from me. My posts have not been quite as regular due to this mission as I’m pretty much focussed on it for the next two months and then I’ll be back up to my normal varied adventures. I’ll be back towards the end of April, if not before, with details of travels, which may or may not happen as they are via Dubai (not the greatest timing for a Dora style adventure!)…………and a final pre race update!

I’ve been exploring again in glorious Yorkshire…………………so this is a walk, a little bit of industrial history and an introduction to another part of my home county. Oh, and there’s a cake ………………………. check this out! It’s from Ottolenghi ‘The Cookbook’ and is the ‘Apple and Olive Oil Cake with Maple Frosting’. It looked delicious when it came out of the oven but with the frosting on it was divine. However, it was a bit too messy to take on my walk, so I had to take a substitute!

So, orange rucksack packed, day to myself…………………that equals fresh air and a mini adventure. The orange rucksack is looking a bit worse for wear by the way. It needed a wash so I crammed it into the washing machine and its branding has washed off. So if you have an Osprey rucksack, without the logo stitched on, the lesson is ……… hand wash it! But it still does the same job and is still my trusty companion, the perfect size for one day adventures.

I drove to the village of Gunnerside in North Yorkshire. It’s a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere. The iconic 268 mile fell race, ‘The Spine Race’, passes a few miles from here. In the winter when you get away from the village it can be a little bleak, but also beautiful on a blue sky winter day like this.

However, it was freezing cold. A day for wool long johns under my trousers, hat, gloves, scarf and even those little hand warmers in my gloves! I don’t have a lot of fat on me, despite the cake I consume, so I get cold really quickly!

What can I tell you about Gunnerside? It lies just above the River Swale. It has a Grade II listed bridge in the village over the river. It sits at the bottom of Gunnerside Gill (also spelt Ghyll). We have lots of Ghylls/Gills in Yorkshire and the North of England. The word comes from the Old Norse language and reflects our Viking heritage. It is the word for a really deep narrow rocky valley or ravine with a stream or river in the bottom.

Gunnerside Gill is exactly this………………….it is a deep, river filled ravine, running from 5 miles directly north of the village. It cuts through the landscape like it has been sliced by a knife and the river crashes down it from the hills and moorland above, and empties itself into the River Swale at Gunnerside village.

In the 17th to 19th century, through the industrial revolution, fast flowing water like this generated power. Combined with plentiful natural resources, small villages like Gunnerside sprung up, and industry flourished. In the ground around Gunnerside there was an abundance of lead. As a result, the gill was the site of a major lead mining industry during these centuries.

The area does attract quite a lot of walkers. The majority will just walk along the River Swale (one of my favourite walks) but if you fancy something a little more challenging and interesting walking up Gunnerside Gill is a classic day out.

It’s like a guided tour through the industrial revolution. All up the valley you will come across a preserved lead mining landscape. You will see old lead mines, lots of wildlife, waterfalls, dams, rivers, bridges and the most sweeping and glorious views.

It’s quite a tough walk but easily doable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. I say tough because all the way out you are walking up the gill side, so it’s uphill all the way. The gradient is variable, but in places it really is quite steep. There are some unguarded drops and the mine workings are not protected in any way and can be quite unsafe, so care is needed with children and animals. However, it’s worth it on a day like this.

These days Gunnerside is a sleepy little village. It relies on the income from tourism (hikers) and also hill farming (mainly sheep), gamekeeping, clockmaking and dry stone walling. It is very rural.

There was no-one around when I pulled up the car and set off up the side of the gill. It was minus 4 degrees and everywhere was covered in ice and frost, but the sky was blue and it was obvious the sun was going to make an appearance. I was wrapped up like an arctic explorer when I came across one of only two sets of hikers I saw all day. A lovely couple who took my photo for me. Hence there are not that many photos of me on my travels as I’m not really a selfie sort of person. I have to get at least one though to send and report back to my mother, as she hates me being out here on my own, so I have to send updates to assure her I’m still alive.

And that got me thinking a little bit on this walk about freedom and how lucky we are and how much we take for granted. I always tell Mum where I’m going, that I’ve got my map, compass, GPS, phone and I know the emergency numbers. There is much more chance of harm coming to me at home and in the city than out here, because I’m careful and quite risk averse. I am one of the least likely people to knowingly do something unsafe………………….but I’m quite brave, hence me being out here on my own in the first place.

Something happened the other week that really upset me and made me think. A fellow runner a few years younger than myself had entered one of the shorter versions of the Spine Race, when I say shorter, it was still 100 miles long. She was running for a charity which raises money for women and girls to receive an education in the only country in the world that bans women above 11 years from receiving an education. That woman, after almost a year of training, was withdrawn from the race and is currently in hiding and all social media posts are now deleted, as a plan was uncovered and threats were received that she would be executed by beheading mid race, 20 miles from my home.

It upset me so much and I thought a lot about it on this walk as it had only just happened. I’ve never really given it that much thought………………..I guess you could say I’ve taken my freedom for granted as I’ve always had it. I imagined what it must be like to not be allowed out on my own wandering, I’d be like a caged bird. I come out here to reflect, to work through things, to breath the air, see the wildlife, touch and smell things and to learn new things………………even if it is the history of lead mining! 😆 I’m not doing anyone any harm or threatening anyone else with my little adventures.

It’s also opened a ‘real can of worms’ as we say in the UK and a debate in the world of fell running. It’s different to road running, its more about endurance and mental fitness than speed. We run in lonely places, often alone as they are long runs and you are often separated from the field in your own little battle with yourself and your mind. I always end up on my own, I’m what you call a ‘mid packer’. I value the journey and the camaraderie, I’m consistent, resilient, but the enjoyment and self improvement is a lot more important to me that the position in the pack. So I’m never in the bunch at the front, never in the bunch at the back as I’ve usually trained well…………………I’m bumbling around in the middle, munching my way through my goodies in my running pack in a little battle with myself. It’s always been the case for big races that you wear a tracker, purely for safety so the organiser and medics know where you are, can see if you suddenly stop, are lost, have got your navigation hopelessly wrong or need some sort of assistance. And it’s a bit of a safety blanket for me as a runner as I can and do get lost.

The question now though is, is it that safe, for a man or a woman, as the data and the GPS from the tracker is publicly available for most races. So anyone can see who is running, where they are, the route they are taking and the speed they are going. You are an easy target if someone is hell bent on executing you or otherwise. It will be such a shame if that all has to change. I for one am an avid ‘dot watcher’ of races like ‘The Spine Race’ when I’m not running myself. I’m currently training for my first ultra. It’s in the UK, 50 mountainous miles, 75km, on the fell, I’m running on my own, I’m not allowed crew, and I’ll be running all through the night (unless I spot a bus shelter that looks like it might be good for a quick nap or I run out of sweets and cake 😂). I hope I’m wearing a tracker in case I get hopelessly lost in the dark, I don’t know what the answer is…………………perhaps make the data private so just the organiser can see the dots and people who you personally give the link to? I don’t know. It’s all such a shame and a shock to the system in a world where I’ve just taken freedom as a given human right and felt safe. It’s a strange world at the moment and I don’t really like it……….so all the more reason to escape into my own little dreamworld where everyone is friends, we all eat cake, the birds sing, the sky is blue, there are lots of books, and you go on these little adventures ………… The rest of the world and everything in it is forgotten for a while.

Anyway, that’s me thinking out loud, I don’t know the answer. So let me take you up Gunnerside with me because it’s so pretty, very interesting, and gets you away from the ever increasing and frightening polarised world we inhabit.

It’s quite flat at the start and you just wander up alongside the rocky riverbed.

On the way up you will pass a number of stone barns, sat on their own in the middle of the field. There are so any of these in Yorkshire. They are called a Cow-us (for cow house) or Laithes. They are used for storing food and hay and even shelter for some of the animals in the winter. The landscape is dotted with many of them.

You’ll keep crossing from one side of the gill to the other. Be careful though as some of the bridges are very primitive and slippery when icy, but very cute, sometimes not more that a beam of wood to balance on.

The valley then opens up in front of you and you come to the first site of the lead mining industry era…………………the ruin of Sir Francis dressing floor. A series of stone chambers used to store the rich lead ore or galena before dressing. This site was used between 1864 and 1880 and was an attempt to tap into deep lying deposits.

Carry on up the gill and it widens out a little and the river becomes wider and shallower.

A little further on you come across the remains of the mine office building, stood all on its own.

It was really slippery underfoot but the frost and ice looked lovely as the water had crashed down from the hillside and frozen on the grass on the way down. Some of the blades of grass had up to an inch of ice frozen on them as they pointed into the air like frozen fingers. And I have to report that at this point, despite the hand warmers, my fingers were frozen too.

As you get further up the gill it gets a little bit bleak and quite ugly. There are scars on the landscape where heaps of mining materials have just been abandoned.

On a bad day it would be quite easy to get lost up here as it all starts to look very similar with the path less defined. But on a clear day navigation is not a problem as people have piled stones, known as ‘cairns’, at intervals, to mark the way.

If you look back down the valley now it can be quite daunting, as all sign of life and the village have disappeared and there is just the occasional tree. Even the green grass seems to have disappeared, to be replaced by a brown and grey landscape. It feels a little lonely.

The next structure you come across is the tunnel entrance to the actual mine floor………….known as the Bunting Level. This accessed the inner workings of the mine.

The tunnel is around a mile long. However, when you look inside you cannot see anything but blackness.

Apparently there is an airshaft entrance further along the tunnel to gain access for those experienced cavers brave enough to want to take a look. However, due to a tunnel collapse quite close to the entrance you can’t walk too far into it.

Not really liking confined spaces, and not having a torch with me I went around 3 meters inside, had a quick look at the foliage and moss growing in there, and a listen to the echo of the tinkling gushing water, took a photo, and then shot back out again. That was enough of a look for me.

I do not envy anyone who worked down here in the lead mines. It must have been an awful existence…………………..cold, wet, damp and extremely physically and mentally draining.

A little further along and you come to a junction of paths and the aptly named sign to Surrender Bridge, by which time you might feel like doing exactly that!

However, don’t turn right to Surrender Bridge but go straight on until you reach the very last of the mines……….Blakethwaite smelt mill.

This one is right at the side of the water and is the most intact, complete ruin………………and also the prettiest in my opinion.

You will even see the remains of the old metal workings.

And there’s a pretty nice view out of the window!

The perfect place for a bit of shelter and the emergency supplies to fuel me for the way back……………….a huge chunk of Christmas cake! WOW……….. this year’s Christmas Cake is I think my finest. But I did use an awful lot of brandy, soaking the fruit for longer than I normally would (weeks) so it is really moist and the fruit so plump………………delicious!😍

It’s worth carrying on upstream for another 100 metres. You can’t see anything from the mine but on the OS Map there was a waterfall marked. It’s only a small one but it is quite pretty and worth the extra little bit of effort if you’ve come this far.

This is the point at which you turn back around and make your way back, and you have a choice. You can either retrace your steps, which I don’t like doing, or you can make your way back via the ‘shooters’ track which will give you a more direct route out of the gill.

The ‘shooters’ track is high up on the gill side so the advantage of this is that you get lovely views down into the valley. It is the route into the valley for the farmers who bring food for their cattle and the game bird hunters, hence the name ‘shooters’ track. It’s also easier underfoot unless it’s an icy day like this was where it can be a little bit like an ice rink.

It’s also a quicker route out of the gill and as the days are really short at the moment I decided to return this way as the sun was already starting to go down in the sky so I didn’t want to hang around, I was too cold.

The path seems to go on forever, passing grazing cattle……………….mainly sheep.

Eventually the path will spit you out in the little hamlet of Ivelet, a pretty little place with an ancient bridge.

It’s here where you will meet the junction with Alfred Wainwright’s ‘Coast to Coast’ path.

Take a left here and follow the ‘Coast to Coast’ path along the meadows and fields of Swaledale, alongside the river. You can’t get lost now as this is a very popular path and the trod is quite evident across the fields.

Very nicely the path emerges in Gunnerside, right at the side of the Kings Head Inn, and if you are lucky it will be open!

I was lucky! It looks like quite a plain pub from the outside and quite austere on a grey day with its dull granite stone.

However, the welcome is a very warm Yorkshire welcome. The fire will be blazing and you will be greeted like an old friend. The lone hiker with the orange rucksack was very cold and very hungry. Strictly speaking I don’t think the kitchen was open until the evening. But when I asked if they were doing food and did they have any soup the landlord was only too happy to warm me up some home made Brocolli and Stilton soup and I was so grateful!

They even had my favourite crisps………………….Pipers ‘Longhorn Beef’ flavour! These went lovely with my soup and a door wedge sized piece of freshly baked bread and butter. I was slowly revived in front of the fire.

I was rehydrated by a half pint of Timothy Taylor ‘Landlord’. Now if you’ve never had any of this, you’ve not lived. Timothy Taylor’s ‘Landlord’ has won the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Champion Beer of Britain four times. It’s a classic Yorkshire brewed bitter. It is brewed with unique Knowle Spring Water and finely selected Golden Promise barley. It’s got the most gorgeous flavour and of course………………………..it’s from YORKSHIRE!!!! No more words are needed as all the best things are from Yorkshire. 😆

Just an icy trip home to navigate, but it was worth it as the sunset I was treated to was fantastic. So fantastic I had to keep stopping for photos.

Another lovely day of Yorkshire adventures with the orange rucksack. Amazing views, tinkling streams, wildlife, frosty leaves, Christmas cake, crisps, soup, sunsets, beer and a little bit of industrial revolution history. Another worthwhile day having a bit of headspace and me time exploring God’s own county!

There have been other little adventures to Devon on business, and Cambridge to visit the big one, but I’ll have to report on those later. I’ve sort of disappeared off the radar of a lot of people I see on a weekly basis, just temporarily, as I’ve had a to make a few sacrifices. It’s 14 weeks to my Ultra run, all 50 miles and 8,500 feet of up and down, across the fells and mountains of the Lake District. I’ve entered my main training block, in addition to holding down a full time job, looking after family, and revising for an exam. 🤣 I’m getting a little tired and have questioned this little decision, but your time on earth is limited, I don’t want to age with grace, better to do it with mischief and a great story to tell, or so they say don’t they? I know that completion will be more about my survival than my speed.

I’ll mention it on here and will share my learnings and updates briefly at some point in the future, purely for anyone interested in endurance running, running in your 50’s, preparation, and other things that might be of interest. But no-one else knows I am attempting it, non of my friends, non of my running club, no-one at work…………………just immediate family and my strength and conditioning PT who is assisting me with that side of things. I’ve just quietly disappeared for a while. There will be no blowing my own trumpet or continuous Facebook posts leading up to the event as that’s just not me and I’m not doing it for anyone else, just me. I’m just going to get my head down, make my sacrifices, quietly prepare and hope I make it to the start line as this is an entirely selfish goal to prove something to myself and no-one else. I’m not quite sure what it is I’m trying to prove, and I’ve seriously questioned this life choice over the last few weeks, but I’m hoping it becomes apparent at some point. 😂 And I sort of need this focus at the moment. I guess I want to challenge my physical and mental limits, have an adventure, see if I can overcome the adversity, and just a little bit of personal growth………………….oh………………and I’m allowed to eat what I want when I want during the race and afterwards for a while which has got to be a bonus! But not before, I’m being quite disciplined.

So I suppose we need some words of wisdom don’t we, because goodness, I have really had to find some and scrape the bottom of the barrel of self motivation for all sorts of reasons on some of my long runs on these cold, icy, windy, dark nights, through the recent storms. It’s felt quite lonely and I don’t like lonely. Will this winter ever end?! So this week it will have to be Winston Churchill, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” So, if you are having a bad day, I’m talking about a running day, but it could be any day in general, remember it’s not a permanent state, just as winning or losing is not a permanent state, they are temporary. True success is defined by resilience, courage and moving forward rather than by a single victory or setback. So, on that note, I will have the courage and resilience to continue and see where it leads, one step at a time! And then I might just think about slowing down a little, I think it might be time.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It’s over now and as I sit here writing, I’m choking in a cloud of Christian Dior Sauvage as Mini Me has just wafted past me on his way out. But that’s ok………………..he’s clearly pleased with his smelly gift but didn’t get the ‘less is more’ memo!

I had a lovely Christmas because both my chicks were back in the nest! And that’s what it’s about for me. It’s not about the presents, it’s not about the food and drink……………………although they are both nice……………….it’s about resting, relaxing, reflecting and spending time with those who you don’t see as much as you would like i.e. my boys. Yes, the big one arrived home just in time for Christmas and graced me with a full week and half of his presence. So both of them together………………………….it was lovely!!

Gifts were exchanged and given. My favourite part, as I love surprising everyone!

And I must have been on the good list too. Thoughtful gifts…………………..three of my favourite things. I love running and being outdoors so there were some new pink outdoor shoes and a top.

The guinea pig (well that’s what the tag said) bought me a collection from my favourite coffee roastery! Weekend mornings always involve a sit down with a nice coffee. But only my best coffee on a weekend when I’ve got time to savour it. I think I may have mentioned ‘Darkwoods’ before. They are a local roastery importing beans directly from the farm, from mainly South America. I got Crow Tree (100% Arabica – Peru/Honduras), Black Hill (Arabica and Robusta – Columbia / India / Brazil), Under Milk Wood (100% Arabica – Brazil/India/Ethiopia) and Arboretum (Bourbon, Catuai and Caturra Arabicas – Panama / Costa Rica).

If you ever get the chance to get hold of some Darkwoods, do so, it’s fantastic stuff. You can even visit them if you are close by. There is a little synopsis of what they are all about on the back of their beans and that might be a clue as to why I like it so much and well what else can I say……………..it’s from Yorkshire!……………..need I say more!

Another exciting gift I got was a full box of ‘Chia Charge’ flapjacks! Why on earth is she so excited about a box of flapjacks when she can make her own you might ask! Well, this is another recommendation if you can get hold of it, for any runners out there. By the way, I am not paid by the manufacturers of any of these things I recommend, but if I come across something good I like to share. This again is made in Yorkshire! They also give 1% of their top line sales revenue (not profit) to environmental causes. In 2025 they gave over £60k to Bumblee Bee Conservation Trust, Trees for Life,  Fix the Fells and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. They also make mighty fine energy and endurance fuel………………….and that’s what these flapjacks are. My boys bought me a full box of my favourite flavours.

Another good thing about them is that you can choose to mix and match your flavours as you wish, they are packed to order. They have 40g of carbs in one bar and no artificial nasties that upset my tummy. It’s just good proper food, excellent if I am running a race over 10k or over an hour long. I need approximately 80g of carbs per hour, after the first hour, and these are just so easy to get down and I have none of those terrible pains in my tummy that some of the others give me after a few hours.

And the final recommendation of the day is a book……………………….but not a reading book……………………….a cook book!

I have read a book over the holiday. It was ‘A Woman in the Polar Night’ by Christiane Ritter. But I’m not going to recommend that because I can’t work out whether I liked it or not. 😆 Basically it’s a real life account of her one year in Spitsbergen in the Arctic, published in 1938. It’s a tale of Christiane defying society’s expectations in the 1930s to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime. So that bit I liked, her determination and the lessons she learnt about what’s important in life and what isn’t, and living life to the full and not slowly dying before you are dead. I also loved her writing and the description of the place, but some parts of it I found quite hard to read and I actually found myself getting quite anxious. I have a bit if a fear of being lost and I’m a little claustrophobic and it’s perhaps testament to the power and beauty of her writing that on the occasions when she was lost in the mist at minus forty degrees wandering around looking for the hut, or crawling through a snow hole because the storm had buried her in the the hut I was almost hyperventilating because I felt like I was there with her!

I could perhaps imagine it much better than someone who has not been to the Arctic as I actually went around 11 years ago to seek out the Northern Lights to a small village in the Swedish Arctic. It was on a similar latitude to Nunavut or the Northern Passages in Canada. It was minus 40 for the full five days, never got daylight and was absolutely devoid of life apart from the odd Elk or Reindeer. It was one of the best trips ever as I can’t describe how fantastic the Northern Lights are, and I wanted the boys to experience them………………..but for a girl who likes to be outside all the time, watching the wildlife and likes chitter chattering to everyone ……………… five days was long enough, I could not wait to get back home. I guess I read the book and just kept asking myself why on earth a year!?

The book I’m going to recommend is ‘Simple’ by Ottolenghi. It’s amazing. I actually got this one and Ottolenghi ‘The Cookbook’. My boys know that if they buy me a cook book that’s their meals sorted for at least the next few months as I love, love, love a new cookbook. I go into overdrive. I’ve made so much from it already but it really is as it says in the title……….’Simple’. His recipes are a fusion of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. You need to get a few spices that you might not ordinarily have in your cupboard but they are his store cupboard items and once you have them they’ll last for ages. For anyone that likes cooking and experimenting with food this book is a ‘must have’!

So far the highlights have been a delicious Salmon fillet with a salsa made with olives, capers, spices and fresh herbs but I forgot to take a picture. Then there was a cous cous with raisins, almonds, herbs and blistered cherry tomatoes. This was really nice and tasty and fresh as the herbs were coriander and mint and it had some lemon in too. Then a roasted butternut squash, lentil and Dolcelatte cheese dish which even myself, the meat eater, enjoyed.

However, the highlight for me so far has to be the lamb and feta meatballs! Oh wow, these were amazing!!!!! They go so well with the above cous cous salad.

And what’s even better is that there are cakes and baking in the book too. I’ve only made one so far……………….a blueberry, lemon and almond cake with a drizzle of frosting on the top. However, it’s had 10 out of 10 from numerous Christmas visitors and has had to be made lots of times over by special request.

So today’s recommendation has to be my new cookery book……………Ottolenghi ‘Simple’……………………it’s amazing!

However, what you’ll be wanting to know is have I been on an adventure or did I behave myself! Well, what do you think!? I went on an adventure of course. 😆 But instead of going after Christmas I went just before. There was only myself not working and my big one had not arrived home. So I thought, “Wait a minute, I’m going to try something different.” Usually just before Christmas I spend 4 days whizzing around making work and stress for myself and getting myself in a complete flap over Christmas because I do the dinner and all the preparation.

So I thought “I’m not doing that this year……………..it’s not what Christmas is about.” I reckoned if I prepared properly I could sneak a little three night solo trip in just before Christmas, be back in time for Christmas Eve final preparations, all refreshed and ready to go and still be able to put on the table a fantastic Christmas dinner. All of the food was ordered, I only needed a day to pick it up, prep and set the table. The presents were already wrapped and under the tree so I hatched a little plan.

24 hours later and I was on a Ryanair £35.99 flight from Manchester to Malta! I’d been driven to the airport by the best looking taxi driver ever (Mini Me) for the price of a new set of car mats for his new car he’s saved for and bought for himself. The return journey cost me a wind shield for it!🤣 It’s gradually getting ‘pimped up’ to a mere tiny resemblance of its former self!

Why Malta? Well, I’ve never been and I’ve always wanted to go. And at between 16 and 20 degrees it’s a lot sunnier and warmer than at home. Perfect for sight seeing. It’s had such a varied past and there is so much history on that one tiny island. I was so excited to go and discover some of its history, culture, food and architecture. It’s also the sort of place that only I would really enjoy, so I was better going alone. In fact, even on the way to the airport he kept reminding me of the one week cultural immersion to Rome I took them on around 15 years ago which to this day he swears will never be topped as “the most boring holiday of all time”.😂 Well, it would not do for us all to like the same thing would it?…………………..and to be quite honest, I was ready for a bit of respite on my own!

So I’m going to tell you all I know about Malta, what I liked, what I didn’t, where to go etc.etc. But in short…………………it’s amazing and I’d go back in a heartbeat. And the fact that anywhere in Europe is never much more than three hours away, it’s a bonus.

This was a sightseeing and city break and was just three nights long. I had almost four full days in Malta. It’s a very small island, 27km x 14.5km, but it was still a very full four days and if I inspire anyone to go then I would recommend five days to do it at a more leisurely pace and fit a few more things in that I did not get the chance to do. Ideally if you go when it’s slightly warmer and you want to visit the neighbouring islands of Gozo and Comino and the beaches then take a week.

It takes three hours to get there from the UK and the budget airlines have direct flights from a number of airports. I flew Ryanair from Manchester outbound and Easyjet to Liverpool return. Both flights were good, cheap and on time, I have no complaints.

I stayed in the capital Valletta, as that is where a lot of the history is located. It’s also a very lived in and beautiful city. If you are going for the history, culture, food and architecture, Valletta is really the only place to base yourself. From there you can get a regular bus from the main terminal to anywhere on the island. You don’t need a car. If you are on a relax, swim, drink, sunbathe holiday then you may be better in one of the resorts or even the island of Gozo.

I had a really special stay which I booked on Booking.com. There is all sorts in Valletta……………..big fancy expensive hotels, apartments, small boutique hotels…………..you name it and you’ll find it. However, if you fancy something a little different I can recommend Casa Rocca Piccola where I stayed. The house is 400 hundred years old. It was built by Don Pietro La Rocca, an Admiral and Knight of Malta and is a 16th Century Palace of a Maltese noble family. The family (Nicholas 9th Baron of Budach, 9th Marquis de Piro and his wife the Marchioness de Piro) still live there but in order to help maintain the legacy and upkeep on the house they have opened it as a museum which you can visit during the day from 10am, and one floor they have converted into a very small B&B of five rooms. I don’t know whether it was because it was a last minute booking but it was really good value for money and not at all expensive compared to some of the other hotels in Valletta and it was absolutely perfect for what I wanted. You really did feel like you were staying in a family home, as it is very ‘lived in’, except it’s a mini palace!

First impressions were good. I was led though the marble hallway and past the sculptures …………………………..

and up the spiral staircase and along the corridor to my room…………..

It was very beautiful. Not the choice of decor or colour that I would have in my bedroom at home but perfect for inside a real life palace! The bed was so comfortable and the marble bathroom was huge.

In the hallway there is a coffee machine which you can use whenever you want and a jar of Maltese iced lemon cookies baked by the Marchioness. These were lovely!

You can also help yourself to fresh fruit whenever you want.

By the time I had unpacked and had a short nanna nap it was just before lunch time so I had the afternoon to explore somewhere. I decided to walk down to the Grand Harbour in Valletta and catch the ferry across to the ‘Three Cities’.

The Grand Harbour is a UNESCO World Heritage site. On one side of the Grand Harbour is Valletta, but on the other side of the harbour are the ‘Three Cities’. The three tiny cities are Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua , which were there long before Valletta, which was built much later by the Knights of St John.

These three cities are fortified, walled cities and were the original base of the Knights of St John. They played a vital role in Malta’s defence. The ancient forts of St Angelo, St Elmo, and the British Lascaris underground War Rooms, from where the battle strategy was hatched and executed, are over here. For history buffs this is the place to be.

On the walk down to the harbour you’ll not fail to notice the colourful overhanging Maltese balconies on the houses.

When I got to the harbour I had just missed the half hourly ferry. However, If you are not scared of water and can swim (I’m not recommending you swim across 🤭) you can be transported across the harbour from Valletta to the Three Cities in a traditional Maltese boat, known as a Luzzu, which I’ll explain more about later. The cost is roughly the same as the ferry at 3 Euros but the fun is double! You might get a bit wet as it bounces over the wake of the bigger boats but it would be my preferred option after hopping in one and bouncing across. If you are doubtful, just wait for the ferry.

So who are the Knights of St John who based themselves in the three cities and established Malta and later built Valletta? They were a Catholic military order formed in 1070, made up of noble men. They were founded in Jerusalem to care for sick and poor pilgrims. They were gradually pushed out from Jerusalem and made their way to Greece, Rhodes to be precise, where they were eventually pushed out of there and had no base.

However, by now they were a strong military power and Malta was seen as a stepping stone to Europe for the Turkish Ottoman and Muslim empires. Charles V, who at the time was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily realised the need to stop the Ottoman Empire in its tracks so granted the island of Malta to the Knights of St John for the fee of one Maltese Falcon a year, a nominal rent knowing that they could still pay this if they lost everything else in battle. Their task was to defend Europe from their base in Malta.

Charles V’s premonition materialised and in 1565 the Great Siege of Malta took place when over 40,000 Turkish troops from the Ottoman Empire tried to invade Malta. They outnumbered the Knights with a ratio of 10 soldiers to 1 and the siege lasted from May to September. Eventually, with support from Spain, Italy and other European countries who realised the threat to Europe, the Ottoman troops were defeated. The Knights of St John stayed on in Malta and immediately after this siege decided to build a new capital city, Valletta, which remains the capital to this day. They ruled Malta until 1798 when Napoleon invaded Malta and it came under French rule for 2 years.

The Maltese people rebelled and looked to the British to help expel the French, which they did so in 1800, and it became a British Crown colony in 1813, confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. It remained under British rule until gaining independence from Britain in 1964 and becoming a republic in 1974. The last of the British Navy fleet left in 1979. So that’s a very quick history of Malta!

Although, like in any handover, there can be tensions, the British exit from Malta was peaceful. Maltese people generally have very positive relationships and feelings towards the British and there is a lot of shared history and cultural values. I was certainly made to feel very welcome……………….and most of them knew exactly where ‘Yorkshire’ was and uttered “oh what a beautiful place” when I told them where I was from (so they got top marks from me!) 😂

The shared culture is very evident, it’s a really unusual mix and it’s difficult to put into words. Does, it feel British? Absolutely not. I would say it ‘feels’ very Italian. It looks and feels very similar to Sicily. It’s only 60 miles from Sicily, there is a huge Italian influence in the gastronomy, there are very many Italian speakers and it has a huge amount of Baroque architecture. Its Grand Harbour very much has the appearance of the Grand Harbour in Venice. It looks nothing like Britain.

However, in terms of culture it feels quite British in that it feels safe, people are overly polite and courteous, football is the main sport, they drink as much ‘English’ tea with milk as they do coffee, they have a traditional family ‘Sunday Roast’ dinner, they drive on the left, English is their official language in addition to Maltese and their political and educational structures are modelled on the British system.

As you walk around you’ll spot the odd British legacy!

Anyway, onto the ‘Three Cities’. If you like military museums you’ll be there days. You can look around the war rooms, forts and a whole host of other museums. I don’t like military museums, I’m more art museums and buildings. So my afternoon was just spent wandering through each city. They are all small and interlinked.

You will get lost, and that’s the joy of it, but worry not you will eventually find your way out of the narrow streets and there are the occasional signs pointing the way.

The Parish Church of St Lawrence is worth a look for its ceiling frescos and dome.

There is a beautiful harbour full of super yachts……………….

Lots of military monuments…………………………..

And I found a Camino marker……………………..only 3,493km to Santiago! 🥵

But my top discovery was a little cafe hidden down a street which sold Sicilian Cannoli……………………not the rubbish you sometimes get at home filled with that horrible sickly, oversweet buttercream stuff………………………………..no this was the real deal with ricotta based filling………………and it was huge! And it was delicious. Come over for the Cannoli if nothing else!

I caught the ferry back across to Valletta and just had time to look around the twinkly Christmas lights, which are gorgeous, before making my way back to the B&B.

I was so tired after my first day as my flight out of the UK was at 5:30am so I had left home at shortly after 2am. So it was no surprise that I was tucked up in my extremely large bed at 7:30pm reading my book, for all of 2 pages, after which I fell to sleep. I slept like a log for a full 13 hours, not waking until 8:30am for my breakfast. But that’s ok, as I was on holiday, and part of the objective of the break was to catch up on some long overdue quality sleep!

Breakfast is served in the very lovely courtyard all year around unless it is raining. It’s a lovely little space. Very green, tinkling fountains, and citrus fruit trees which were bursting with fruit at this time of year.

This is where you can meet the Marquis’ pets. He has two turtles in his fountain (both girls, one of which is an amazing escape artist apparently)………………………

and also Kiku who I absolutely fell in love with! Kiku is a blue and gold Macaw. He sleeps inside the Marquis and Marchoiness’ quarter in his gilded cage at night, but he is carried out into the courtyard every the morning by the Marquis where he likes to meet and chat to all the guests and museum visitors. He’s very well taken care of, is free to roam and even leave if he wants to, but of course he does not want to because he likes it there on his perch meeting everyone. He will wave at you when you walk into the courtyard, always says hello and is quite happy to chatter to you from a distance while you have your breakfast.

Breakfast is lovely, continental in style with meats, cheeses, eggs, cereals, granolas, fresh fruit, dried fruit, yoghurts, fresh orange juice from the garden oranges and the most delicious home baked cakes (an orange and almond cake was particularly nice). Then there is as much fresh coffee or tea as you would like. And of course, very pleasing to me, was that it was served in a lovely English china teacup and saucer……………….but then it should be, I’m a pretend Princess in a palace for 3 nights!

My plan for that day had been to go to the walled ‘Silent City’ of Mdina and neighbouring Rabat but my plans had to change because with it being the Sunday before Christmas, the lady serving breakfast in the B&B had advised me that the cathedral in Mdina, which was the main reason for my visit, was closed to visitors for various masses which went on throughout the day. So I switched my itinerary and decided to visit the colourful fishing village of Marsaxlokk where the Sunday morning fish market takes place.

Marsaxlokk is ‘traditional’ Malta. It’s in the South of the island, 30 minutes from Valletta on the bus and is probably its most iconic and picturesque fishing village. The majority of the inhabitants are fishermen by trade.

The harbour is very pretty, having both traces of Arab and Roman rule. It is here in Malta where you can see the extremely colourful Luzzu. These are the traditional Maltese fishing boats which bob about in the harbour.

They are painted in bright colours and often have a pair of eyes (The Eyes of Horus) painted on the bow to protect the fishermen while at sea, which is an ancient Phoenician custom. The majority of Marsaxlokk fishermen still favour the Luzzu as their boat of choice, and there are hundreds of them in this harbour, which really does make it look so photogenic.

The harbour bustles on a Sunday morning with it being the market. Boats come and go, and fishermen sit on the quayside mending their equally colourful nets.

There’s plenty of fresh fish on sale too if that is what you are after.

Octopus, razor clams, fresh fish, squid………………………………………………………………

And fresh fruit and vegetables too, as it doubles up as a farmers market.

Set back from the harbour it’s also worth wandering around the streets. There are lots of pretty, old doorways, over which are rusting, ornate, iron balconies.

Eventually you will come to the Church of Our Lady of Pompei. This is also worth a quick look. It does not look much from the outside but inside it’s quite a nice little church with a dome and some very pretty ceiling frescos.

Just time for a quick coffee in a café full of fishermen where I felt and looked a bit out of place 😆, before I hopped back on the bus to Valletta.

It was only just after lunch so I decided to hop straight on another bus to take a 20 minute ride in the opposite direction to the town of Mosta. Mosta is a vibrant town and I’d come here for one reason only……………………to see the Mosta Dome, often referred to as the Mosta Rotunda. This is a Roman Catholic church and basilica dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It’s quite imposing from the outside, but it’s the inside that I’d come to see.

Its design is based on the Pantheon in Rome and it has the third largest unsupported dome in the world. It is Malta’s largest Church.

The entry fee is not excessive and it is worth it because you gain admission to climb the spiral staircase up to the roof to access the dome at balcony level. It was just about doable for the likes of me who does not like heights or confined spaces. It’s seventy steps up one tower and the same down the other tower to get out. There is a window half way up to let light in and the stairs aren’t too narrow with one way traffic.

But from up here you get a really good look at the dome.

You can then go into the museum part of the church to learn about the ‘Miracle of Mosta’. Now I’m not really into tales of divine intervention and put it down to pure good luck, but on 9th April 1942, during the siege of Malta in World War II, a German bomb pierced the dome and landed in the middle of the packed basilica during Mass. It failed to explode and everyone escaped! Divine intervention or not, you can view a casing of an exact replica bomb and learn a little more of the story in the museum.

Tired from another day of exploring I bused back to Valletta where I found a lovely little trattoria where I had some chicken parmesan and a glass of wine before wandering the streets with an ice cream for my dessert. Back in bed for 8:30pm again to get some book reading done and a good nights sleep as I had a another full day planned for the day after!

I’m not always quite so boring. 😂 I do like a good party and late night. But when I travel on my own to cities I’m not that familiar with I’m always cautious about being out and about wandering the streets on my own late at night. But that’s the world we live in these days and I’d rather be safe than sorry! Plus the fact a day exploring with me, and I challenge anyone to not need their bed by 8:30pm, I like to pack a lot in and leave no stone unturned!

The following day was going to be a full one. I had booked a food and history walking tour of Valletta as I’d not really explored it yet. Food and history, two of my favourite things, so I thought it would be perfect.

It was three hours long, around 3 miles walked, with various food stops along the way. We met our lovely Maltese guide Marissa outside the Parliament House, just inside the new city walls. This is the new meeting place of Malta’s Parliament and was opened in 2015. It’s quite an impressive building designed by famous architect Renzo Piano, architect behind London’s ‘The Shard’ and ‘Centre Georges Pompidou’ in Paris. It’s an impressive building with carved limestone blocks on the exterior which resemble a cheese grater. The effect is to filter the sunlight and reduce the heat inside the building…………………..very clever. It’s a zero emission building using photovoltaic panels on the roof for energy. However, whilst the design is impressive, I’m led to believe the build and construction quality is not that great and they’ve had numerous issues with water ingress. The building overlooks the square and sits alongside more traditional Maltese buildings with their pretty green balconies.

We set off and passed the Auberge de Castille, which houses the current office of the Prime Minister of Malta. This was formally the residence of the Knights of St John from Castille (Spain)…………………………the Knights from each separate country had their own Auberge where they resided together.

At the side of the building is a statue of St John de Valette, after whom Valletta was named. He was the Grand Master of the Knights, and of Malta, at the time of the Great Siege, after which they decided to build the new city which they consequently named after him.

Our first food stop was at a street food vendor known to sell the best ‘Pastizzi’ in Malta. Pastizzi are flaky, buttery layers of pastry, folded into a sort of pocket shape, and filled with either creamy ricotta cheese or curried peas. I chose ricotta……………………it was delicious. Really light and flaky. These are sold everywhere in Malta and are traditionally eaten for breakfast or in a café as a quick snack with a tea or coffee.

We walked some more while Marissa pointed out various historical buildings and points of interest. Some of them you might almost miss, like this World War II era ‘Victory Kitchen’ sign. During the war the island was heavily besieged, and getting supplies in an out were difficult. ‘Victory Kitchen’s’ were opened up in various places across the island to feed the starving population. By 1943, up to 175,000 Maltese and troops were being fed by the Victory Kitchens, but all that is left of them today is this sign, tucked high up on one of the back streets of Valletta.

Next stop was a really quirky eatery called Grano. He we sampled two staples of the Maltese diet. One is the Ftira. This is a sourdough flatbread. It has a thick crust and is very crunchy. It has been recognised by UNESCO as part of the cultural heritage of Malta. They use it mainly to make sandwiches and pizzas and it is here at Grano where you will see it used perfectly. On the visit we had a piece of Ftira filled with a tuna, olive and tomato filling. It was superb, so much so that I went back the following day before going to the airport and had a full sandwich. I chose the ‘Spilinga’ which is basically a Ftira bread filled with salsiccia, nduja sausage, mozarella flor de latte, black truffle paste and rocket leaves. It was AMAZING!

They also do lots of nice wines, beers and soft drinks. I had a lovely bottle of Mandarin and Prickly Pear soda which was good, but the purpose of our visit was to try ‘Kinnie’. This has graced most bars in Malta since 1954 and it is their national soft drink. It is made with bittersweet oranges and aromatic herbs. It has a really distinct taste, a bit love it or hate it, and I would say at least half the tour really did not like it. I however, thought it was great, because it tastes just like Campari……..except it’s non-alcoholic! And I love a Campari, or a Campari based drink like a Negroni. You can either drink Kinnie on its own or you could equally use it as a mixer with something like gin, which it would go really well with.

Next stop was the Museum Cafe……………………..an iconic old café on the streets of Valletta. Here they are well known for the Imqaret. This is a thin crisp pastry, filled with dates, citrus and aniseed paste. They can be baked or deep fried. I tried both and definitely preferred the baked version, you could taste the filling better, whereas with the deep fried version the taste was lost a little in the taste of the oil it was fried in. I can recommend the Imqaret, perfect with a cup of coffee.

We wandered around a little more, learning lots of detail about the history of Malta before making our way to our final stop of the day…………..Cafe Jubilee. Here they serve traditional Maltese food, old family recipes prepared in traditional ways. You can’t come to Malta without having ‘Fenek Imtektek’, unless of course you are vegetarian or could not eat a pet animal. You see in England the rabbit is a pet these days. It is still in eaten in rural areas where they hunt, like at home in Yorkshire, so as a result I don’t have much of an issue with it and wanted to try it. I haven’t had a rabbit since I was a little girl and I used to visit my Grandad who often had a rabbit or pheasant hung up that he’d procured from somewhere! Fenek Imtektek is a traditional dish in Malta and is a slow cooked Maltese rabbit stew, cooked with orange rind, spices and red wine. It was delicious……………..very tasty! The only downside with rabbit is the meat to bone ratio is low and you seem to spend ages scratting about looking for the meat amongst the bones.

So after 3 hours wandering around Malta eating I was ready to pop like a balloon. I needed to gradually walk it off so took a bus to visit the silent city of Mdina and neighbouring Rabat for the afternoon. They are around half an hour from Valletta on the bus and can be visited together as they are adjacent, a road being all that separates them.

Mdina was Malta’s former capital, prior to Valletta. It is a walled, fortified, medieval, car free city, full of palaces and Baroque architecture. It is really lovely to wander around. What did I like about Mdina? Firstly it has a really lovely entrance gate called the Mdina Gate, built in 1724 it is very grand and fitting for the entrance to somewhere quite special.

Inside the walled city it is just nice to wander around. There are lots of lovely tightly packed streets built in golden stone. For that reason alone it it nice to visit later in the afternoon because when the sun starts to set it casts a really lovely orange gold glow on the stone.

The main point of interest in Mdina is St Paul’s Cathedral.

It does not really look much from the outside, it’s a little plain. However, inside it is beautiful.

There is lots of gold gilding, painted frescos, domes, and some gorgeous Persian rugs which would look lovely back at mine 😆……………

……and it’s just generally a nice cathedral to have a wander around.

You can also walk around the city wall for some really long distance views over the island to the sea.

Once I’d exhausted Mdina I wandered over to Rabat. I loved it here.

Rabat is a more lived in, modern town just outside the walls of Mdina. It’s really vibrant but still has its fair share of churches. St Paul’s Catacombs are the main sight to see in Rabat, but being underground in a Catacomb isn’t really my thing so I gave them a miss and went to a café instead. There are so many nice cafes and restaurants in Rabat but I was still quite full from my food tour in the morning so I just needed a coffee and a little something sweet. I couldn’t decide which something sweet I wanted out of a choice of two, so I had both! 😆 They were both traditional Maltese cakes. One was a traditional honey biscuit filled with a mixture of molasses, honey, spices and semolina. The second was like a coconut and almond type ball.

Just what I needed to finish off my wanderings around the streets of Rabat while the sun set and cast its golden rays on the yellow stone.

One thing I did notice about Rabat, more than anywhere else, were door knockers and colourful doors. Everyone seemed the have a different coloured brightly painted door and a shiny door knocker, and they were all of varying designs. Just take a look at some of them, they were so pretty.

It was getting late so I caught the bus back to Valletta and just had time to call in another well known place in Valletta for a little nightcap before I went to bed. That place is Caffe Cordina. It started as a humble tea shop in 1837 over in the Three Cities but today is one of the most well know cafes in Valletta, very fancy with chandeliers, barrel vaulted frescoed ceilings and gold detailing. It is always heaving with people and is open all day serving everything from breakfast, lunch, dinner, cakes, and in the evening…cocktails! I can’t go on my jolly holidays and not have at least one cocktail……………………..and it was half way between the bus station and my accommodation so there was no reason to not call in to try the Maltese take on a cocktail.

So this is the ‘The Pink One’. It’s the traditional Maltese Bajtra, which is a Prickly Pear Liquor, mixed with Mezcal Tequila, lime and soda. Served of course with a little bit of salt around the rim of the glass. It was really nice. The only disadvantage of travelling alone is I can’t take advantage of the two for one cocktails in happy hour as there is no-one to help me navigate my way back to the accommodation so I politely declined my free one and just stuck with the one.

The next morning was my final day in Malta, but I did get almost a full day as I did not need to leave for the airport until 5pm. And it started very excitingly! When I had checked in three days before the lady checking me in said the Marquis had asked if I would like a private tour of the house at 9am on the day of my departure before it opened to visitors. Well of course I did because I’m nosey and interested in anything like that! So I had my breakfast early and waited where I’d been told to wait at the side of the dresser in the corridor. What I did not realise was that it was the Marquis himself who was going to show me around. I think he likes to show all his guests around at some point during their stay but I was the only one checking out that day.

He’s a couple of years younger than my own father, in his early eighties, and he was so interesting. It was lovely to hear him talk so lovingly about his house and show me all his marvellous collections………………….he’s a great collector of many things. He had everything from a stool that his mother sat on at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in Westminster Abbey, a 16th Century Maltese lace petticoat, a 15th century glass breast pump for expressing milk, a silver button collection and an old Bentley car!

There was lots to explore……………………..he’s even got his own evacuation bunker underneath the courtyard from the World War. He was such a lovely man. It’s definitely worth taking up his offer of a look around as you will get so much more information that you would if you looked around on your own, as all the items are personal to him and have their own story which he will gladly share with you. He kept stressing all the way around that it was a house and not a museum, and it does feel very loved and lived in. So much so that I didn’t take many photos as I thought it would seem a bit rude. However, when I saw his dining room table all dressed for Christmas dinner I did ask permission to take a photograph for my Mum, and he was only to happy to oblige. Now there are no ’emergency chairs’ here. You know the one’s I mean, where your dining table only really seats four but you’ve invited eight for Christmas dinner so are frantically scouring round for anything capable of being sat on! No, they are matched perfectly, I really must up my game on the ’emergency chair’ front!

I bid him farewell and thanked him for letting me stay, put my luggage into storage in the basement, and went off on my last day of adventures. First of all I went a walk around the inside of the city walls to reach the Siege Bell War Memorial. This memorial commemorates all those who died in World War II in Malta between 1940 and 1942 and was unveiled by Queen Elixabeth II in 1992…………………50 years after the siege which took place in the war. It’s a nice monument but unfortunately I could not get too close up to it to have a really detailed look as it is closed for restoration, so a photograph from behind the railing had to suffice.

Following this I walked to St Pauls Co Cathedral in Valletta. This is an Anglican Cathedral and is a Co Cathedral because it shares the official seat of the Diocese of Malta with St Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, which I had visited the day before. This one, whilst also looking pretty unremarkable from the outside, is absolutely amazing on the inside, far grander and more opulent that Mdina’s cathedral, by quite a long way.

The vaulted ceiling is just astounding. Arches of ornately carved gold stone, with beautifully painted ceiling frescoes between each arch.

All around the cathedral walls are panels of intricately carved stone covered in gold leaf. The carving is so fine that at first glance it appears to be wood, but it isn’t, it is stone, which makes it all the more remarkable.

Elsewhere on the ceiling of the side chapels there are intricately painted domes and arches…………………

And with it being Christmas the steps leading to the alter were covered in the hugest red Poinsettia plants.

For anyone into art the Cathedral is a must visit as it contains two original Caravaggio’s……………………’The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ and ‘St Jerome Writing’.

Whilst they are both beautiful paintings ‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ is the one that most people linger over. Often cited as being one of the greatest works of art of all time it is quite special and is a perfect example of how Caravaggio used the technique of chiaroscuro with the contrast of the deep red of the fabric and the yellows of the flesh with an otherwise dark contrasting colour palette to give the artwork depth. It is nice to be able to get a really close look at a piece like this to look at the detail.

I made a quick dash after the Cathedral to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. I like a nice garden and this one is no exception. It has some lovely plants and trees to shade you from the sun, and a lovely fountain in the middle which looks onto the Stock Exchange Building of Malta.

You can also get some lovely views over the Grand Harbour and the outskirts of the city from the perimeter wall as you are at the high part of Valletta here.

It would be a really peaceful place to sit…………………….that is, unless you come at 12 noon or 4pm. Because the gardens overlook the Saluting Battery, where at these two times a cannon is fired to honour maritime events and mark the historical time of the opening and closing of the city gates. I had come to watch the 12 noon firing. You can pay to stand on the battery itself, but I would say that the view is better from the gardens, a level higher up, which is free, but then you can make a donation on exit to one of the soldiers wielding a bucket. The view over the Grand Harbour is also excellent from up here. But oh my goodness it was loud! And even though you know that the cannon is going to be fired at noon, and you are poised for it, I still jumped out of my skin, it was deafening! Definitely worth a look though.

I just had one more place I wanted to visit in Valletta before my departure…………….The Grand Masters Palace. This was built in the 16th Century and housed the Grand Master of the Knights of St John. It was the British Governors Palace until 1964 and the seat of the Parliament until 2015. It is now where the offices of the President of Malta are situated. On the way there, outside the library, you will spot a statue of Queen Victoria, whom the Maltese look upon very dearly as representing a period of stability and growth.

The Grand Masters Palace itself is a huge imposing building overlooking one of the main squares. On the exterior walls their are some interesting plaques, one of which honours the George Cross awarded to the people of Malta as a thank you for their heroism, acts of bravery and devotion in World War II, awarded to the island in 1942 by King George VI.

They are so proud of their George Cross that they display it on their national flag to this day.

The inside of the building is nice and you can visit the state rooms, the armouries, and see all the portraits of the Presidents of Malta.

Sadly, my visit to Malta had come to an end. I retrieved my suitcase and made my way to the airport using the public transport bus, which was really easy and cost the grand fee of 2 Euros. I’d had an amazing 4 days but was ready to see my boys on my return. Even though I’d seen so much, and fitted so much in, I’d had some lovely food, lots and lots of quality sleep and plenty of time to be alone with my own thoughts and relax. As a result I came home really looking forward to Christmas and completely unstressed by it all.

And guess what, the table got set (complete with emergency chairs😆), and a wonderful dinner was served! We might not be Casa Rocca Piccola but we had a lovely set table, bone china Royal Doulton dinner service, a lovely prawn and avocado starter, two grey chairs, two foldable chairs and four wooden chairs and the best looking wine waiters in Yorkshire! 😂😍

So the message to myself this year is ……………………… don’t succumb to the hype and stress about Christmas. Go away just before, come back refreshed and relaxed, prioritise a bit of self care, don’t over commit, and Christmas will just happen as it’s meant to . Because at the end of the day it’s not about the dinner, the presents and creating overwhelming stress for yourself…………….it’s about love, peace, and connecting with friends and family, be they near or far.

We are almost there!

Last day at work today and I am so ready for this break………………………it’s been the busiest pre-Christmas period ever. Working with small children, Christmas is off the scale exciting!! We’ve had a visit from the big man himself, the Christmas jumper day, the elf run, the nativity, the carol concert, the Christmas dinner, the Christmas parties, there’s glitter everywhere………………………………..and I’m now ready for a lie down in a darkened room!

But I love Christmas! Because it’s when I can don my fancy dress outfit, trim up at home, buy and give gifts (I love giving gifts) and get all creative…………………..and this year has been no exception on the creative front.

I had a lovely day in Leeds doing my Christmas shopping…………………………………….I love the arcades in Leeds city centre as they are from the Victorian era with fancy glass roofs and twinkly lights. I feel like I’m in a Charles Dickens novel wandering around.

So what creative things have I been up to? A bit of all sorts really…………….painting, crafting, making, baking and singing with my choir mainly. I tend to be more creative in Autumn and Winter when the nights are dark and cold, or the weather is bad on a weekend. When it’s nice and bright, in the other seasons, I like to be outside.

First of all I went on Part 2 of my linocut course a month ago……………this time to make a 2 colour jigsaw linocut. A jigsaw linocut is where you can create a multicolour print by carving your picture onto one single piece of lino, in one layer. You then cut the lino up into more than one piece, but the lino pieces need to slot together easily, like a jigsaw. But you ink up each piece separately in a different colour.

Once you’ve inked the block up, you then slide the pieces back together, and press the print onto the paper using either a special press or by simply burnishing it with the back of a wooden spoon. As it was the group’s first attempt at jigsaw, we had to think of quite a simple two colour idea that would slot together easily. I decided to do a Lapwing because they remind me of country walks on the moors of Yorkshire. We have so many of these at home, and Curlews. They are two of my favourite birds.

It turned out quite well and I was pleased with my effort.

It was a lovely morning with a great group of ladies………………………and I just love coming to Michelle’s gorgeous studio which looks out over her garden. It is so light and airy and she is so lucky to have a space like this to create in. Maybe it can be one of my retirement projects, to create myself my own little creative space.

I’ve also been to Harewood House in Leeds to weave a reindeer from French willow. This was instead of making a wreath this year. I really enjoyed the day with Laiyla from Dragon Willow, but goodness, it was quite difficult, and my hands hurt so much after 6 hours of weaving willow. I’d definitely do it again though, a very satisfying and lovely way to get all festive.

The mince pies are made! In fact they have been made and eaten a few times over!😆

The cake is decorated……………….this year’s design is entitled ‘Five Robins on a Log’. It is a household bake off challenge I set every year ……………………..but seeing as I was, yet again, the only one to enter…………..I won! 😂 “You’ve got to be in it to win it!”, I announced as I revealed the prize was a spa session for one! 🤭 It was an afternoon well spent as I love fiddling and crafting, making my little Robins………………..it was so relaxing.

The annual ladies treat day and Christmas lunch for Mum has been held. I took her to Norman’s Neighbourhood Kitchen in Kirkburton near where I live. Now this was a brave choice by me! Mum likes good simple Yorkshire food and is not too adventurous……………….I am adventurous and love to try things I’ve not eaten before. Norman’s is a relatively new restaurant, named after the owner’s dog. They’ve already found their way into the Michelin guide, recently been visited by Bruce Springsteen and are making waves on the local restaurant scene. So I thought I’d take Mum along for a treat because she’s just amazing and I love her to pieces!

They serve small plates for sharing but the combinations and flavours are really different like: Venison Ossobuco with Massaman sauce; Lamb rump served with salsa macha, smoked yoghurt, and lovage oil; and desserts like Brownie topped with a light mouse, dark chocolate glaze, caramel cremeaux, blackcurrant sauce, pretzel icecream and butter roasted pretzel crumb. It really is a foodie paradise. It’s quite expensive, and personally, I do like a good value pie and a pint at the local pub, but for a special occasion or treat I would definitely recommend it as it is pretty outstanding.

We had some lovely olives to nibble on while our food came.

Then we had Scallop crudo, nduja ponzo, avocado, Italian furikake and pine nuts……………….

I didn’t tell her where we were going beforehand and I didn’t let her see the menu as that would have just stressed her out as she wouldn’t know what to choose as she’d probably not have heard of half the things on the menu. I told her I’d order a few things I knew we’d both like and we’d share them. Well………………she loved it! I had to explain each dish to her and what was in it but she really enjoyed trying everything………………and so did I. I just randomly selected a few dishes that went well together, without over thinking it, as I like most things.

Making sure we got some of our five a day we had roasted Jerusalem artichokes, caramelised apple, sherry Bovril and hogweed seed. This was particularly nice.

And to go alongside the artichokes some lamb rump, salsa macha, lovage and smoked yoghurt! Wow! 😍

And of course, let’s not forget dessert!

I’m ready for a really big relax now though, because it’s all been a bit hectic. So this is a very short post just to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I’m looking forward to cooking Christmas lunch, which I love doing as I like to feed people, and then I have 11 whole days off work after Christmas with nothing in my diary. The boys and everyone else are working straight after Christmas so it’s going to be a really nice relaxing period going with the flow and entertaining myself, I might even go away on a little trip to Europe, we’ll see………………it will be nice to just do something last minute and jet off with a little spontaneity.

I’ll be back in 2026 at some point. There will be no vague, over ambitious New Year resolutions……………………I’m more of a realistic, continuous self-improvement sort of girl. I like to have a focus and a purpose so I’m already working towards some pretty exciting academic linguistic goals for the first half of 2026 and one very exciting physical challenge. I will share the latter at some point but in the meantime I’m working very hard, but still finding plenty of time to relax.

There have been some lovely long early Sunday morning runs where I get up before everyone else, tie my hair back, no make up, no hair brush and set off from home……………it’s my weekly ‘steady ten run’ I call it. Ten miles, really steady, and back before breakfast…………….in fact everyone is normally still in bed when I get back!

I have no route plan, I just set off from home, across the fells or down to the reservoir. There’s something quite liberating about running with no destination. I run for 5 miles in one direction and then turn around and make my way back via a different route. It might be psychological but I don’t like coming back the same way! 😆 Odd, aren’t I!

Up with the sun and out of the house, just like I like it. I usually head down to the reservoir with its sculptures when running from home, because it’s so peaceful down there.

I always feel a bit bad about disturbing these birds as I bound along the wooden walkways.

I’ve now got a lovely new PT who has been drafted in short term to help focus my strength, conditioning and core work as running, running and just more running is not going to suffice for my little challenge………………I’ll be 55 when I do it and I’m going to have to be in tip top condition to pull it off, so there are a lot of weights, squats and lunges going on to give me the best chance possible, but it’s still a bit of a long shot! I’ve never had a PT before, the idea of paying someone to shout at me has never really appealed. 😆 And I’ve always thought it a little extravagant, I prefer to spend my monthly allowance I give myself, after I’ve paid my bills, and made my charitable donations, on experiences, travel and learning rather than material or cosmetic things and a PT would fall into the latter for me. Neither do I like gyms, I find them boring, I think it’s the repetition and being indoors that I don’t like. But it’s all good. For a short period of a few months I will persevere as there’s a noticeable improvement already in my strength and my running, I’ve got glutes like I never dreamt I’d have, I’ve grown two of my six pack (not sure where the other four are hiding, I’m still trying to unearth them 😂) and I’m feeling really fit and motivated!

So bring on 2026, I’m ready for you! Hope it’s a good one for anyone reading this, with lots of love, laughter and adventures. Live; love; laugh; be kind; embrace nature, people and the world around you; stay true to yourself; and the rest will just unfold as it’s meant to. See you on the other side in 2026!

This was an adventure! In fact I loved, loved, loved it, even with a little bit of rain and cold. 😍

You see, the thing is, I’m making plans, and I like to get on with things. My retirement will be here before I know it and it’s time to put some things in place. One of those plans was to buy a little place abroad and disappear into the sunset. However, there is a slight problem in that, for various reasons, I can’t decide where I want to be just yet. There are lots of places I could live but I’m not sure I can make my mind up right now.

I still have this long list of places in my head that I want to visit. There is a little bit of me that knows that the itch to travel will not go away, because I’m too inquisitive and have such a thirst for knowledge and discovery of different cultures and countries…………….they fascinate me. I still want to be able to go to all those places.

My Plan B was to have a campervan until I’m ready to hang my hat in one place…………………………… so that’s the route I’ve decided to go down for now. That brings its own dilemmas like what make of van, what size of van, what do I want the inside like, do I want a full bathroom, what seating layout, what kind of bed, how much storage, what fuel, what gearbox…………………the list is endless.

Now this is where Margot comes in! “Who is Margot?” I hear you say. Well……………………….Margot is a 4 year old Citroen Relay converted panel van I hired from a lovely couple in Manchester who were brave enough to allow myself (aka Dora the Explorer) to go on a road trip in their van. And oh boy…………………what fun I had. And I’m going to tell you all about it……………….where I went in Margot, what she was like and what I did and didn’t like about her.

You see, these things cost quite a bit of money…………………..and I don’t want to make a huge costly mistake. So I thought “Hire a van and see if you like it!”. I wasn’t even sure I could sleep in the middle of nowhere in a van and feel safe. When the boys were little I took them on many camping adventures, but with two adventurous boys, just two years between them in age, by the time it got to the end of the day I could have dropped to sleep stood up. But at 54, sleep does not come as easy as it did then.

I thought that if I hired Margot, as well as seeing if I liked van life, it would also give me an idea as to the right size of van for me and what I wanted it to have in it, because I’m only doing this once, so I want it to be just right.

So where did I go in her…………………………………..I went to Yorkshire of course! It’s a bit like when you are little and you and your mates want to try camping in a tent for the first time so you camp in the back of someone’s garden or the field next door to home! 😆 I thought, “I’ll just go to Yorkshire, and then if I really don’t like it I can pull up on the driveway and get in my own bed at home.” 🤣

But it did not come to that………………….I loved it.

So what was she like? She was like a cosy little cottage on wheels. The thing is, I don’t want anything fancy, I’m not that materialistic ……… and I am trying to simplify my life and declutter, but I want everything that I need. When I go off I want to go off for quite a while…………….sometimes weeks, maybe a month or two. Sometimes in the UK, sometimes further afield in Europe. So I soon realised that my original plan of having a VW Campervan was not going to work. As much as I love them it would be too small for long term off-grid adventures.

For a start, I want to be able to stand up and walk around in it without having to pop a roof up. I also don’t want to have to assemble my bed every night for weeks on end, or have to fold my bed away when I want to get to the kitchenette. I’d like a fixed bed with a proper sprung mattress that I can just collapse into at the end of the day’s adventures…………………….one that stays in place all the time. I’d also like a full kitchen with a hob, oven and fridge/freezer because I like to cook and experiment with local food from markets etc.

However I don’t want a really expensive motorhome with a sterile interior like the inside of a caravan and loads of gadgets I’m not going to use. That wouldn’t be homely enough, and it would be far too big. I want something small enough to not restrict where I go, that I can park in a city and drive around in as if it were a normal vehicle. I don’t want something the size of a lorry, I would not have the confidence to drive it and it would not be cosy enough.

I picked Margot up quite late in the day so I headed straight over to the city of York where I had an art course the following day. I used the ‘Park4Night’ app to find a village on the outskirts of the city, out in the countryside, with a pub within walking distance. I can recommend this app, it was really good and I used it on all 3 nights. People with campers highlight on a map, and rate places they have found to park their vans, and this is all displayed in the app. There are proper campsites, places in the middle of nowhere, places with views, and everything inbetween……………..no matter what sort of place you want it will be on there. I didn’t want a busy campsite, it’s not my thing. I wanted a park up in the countryside, with a nice view, but ideally within walking distance of a pub with a roaring log fire! I don’t want much do I! 🤣

So, to cut a long story short, I found a patch of land just outside the lovely little village of Nether Poppleton and pulled the van up. It said on the app that there was room for 3 vans, but there was only Margot there! There was a tinkling stream nearby, a lovely little view out of the van, and the Lord Nelson pub with a very welcoming set of locals, a good hand pulled beer selection, roaring log fire and a delicious tapas menu. That was me sorted for the night. I had a lovely dinner, half a Black Sheep beer, got all warm and toasty in front of the pub fire , wandered back to the van, made myself a cuppa (Yorkshire tea of course) and read my book for a while.

Let me give you a little look at the sleeping arrangements. Margot has a full sized fixed double bed at the back with a proper sprung mattress ………………….. perfect………………………..I slept like a log and did not wake up once in the night.

I wasn’t too cold either. Now don’t get me wrong there was no silk and lace negligee ………………. I had a full pair of satin PJ’s on, my fluffy socks and my sheepskin slippers! There’s nothing passionate about camping in a van, in Yorkshire, in October! 😆 The priority is to keep warm. However, Margot does have a 12V heater on board which works really well and keeps the van very warm as she is all wood clad and insulated.

I woke to a cold and wet morning the next morning but the sun was at least shining. Breakfast was served………………..bran flakes, a chopped banana and a cup of tea, as I was pushed for time, as I needed to be at my art course early (which I’ll tell you about another time).

This is when I discovered my first possible improvement to Margot. Toilet and shower facilities. First of all, toilet……………………….she only has a porta potty. It’s like a little commode that you pull out of a drawer, lift up, and sit on in the middle of the van………………….so you have to like an audience and be pretty familiar with who you are travelling with. It’s a little bit like going to the toilet outside. Whilst I had no issues having a wee I just would not be able to bring myself to do anything else on a porta potty even though it had a chemical cassette, it must be the Princess in me. 🤭 However, McDonalds to the rescue. You are never too far from a 24 hour McDonalds these days and they do have their uses occasionally ……………………………I pulled up, bought a coffee and used their freshly cleaned toilet facilities.

Fast forward to later that day. Art course completed and I decided to be brave and go to North Yorkshire, a little more remote, and have a couple of nights in beautiful Wharfedale and Wensleydale in two of my favourite Yorkshire villages. I’d spotted on the app a lovely parking lot in the beautiful village of Kettlewell. It was an area of land at the side of the River Wharfe behind a farm. They had a little honesty box – £2 per night per van – a bargain, plus £3 to leave it there all the next day which I wanted to, because I wanted to go off exploring on foot. There was room for around 10 vans and there were around 5 already there when I got there.

Now you’ll soon realise that this is quickly turning into a gastronomic tour of Yorkshire. Although Margot does have a cooker, and I plan to use the cooker in my van, I only used the kettle in Margot. There is such fine food in Yorkshire that it’s a shame not to try it…………….. and there is nothing I like more than a cosy Yorkshire pub on a damp dark evening.

I got out of the van and was quite glad I had neighbours. It was Halloween night and I emerged to an eerie moon shining through the trees and two lit pumpkins staring at me. The couple in the van opposite were in their van and watching TV and gave me a wave so I felt a little reassured. I have to be honest, I’ve always been a little bit scared of the dark.

I wandered into the pretty village and found both the Blue Bell Inn and and the Racehorses Hotel open. I opted for the Blue Bell as it looked a little more lively, had a roaring log fire, extensive menu and a lovely Wharfedale Brewery dark ale on tap.

What did I opt for. Whitby Scampi, side salad, fries and home made tartare sauce. It was delicious. I left with a rosy glow after half a beer, a plate full of Scampi and an hour in front of the fire.

Another thing to bear in mind though is that life in a campervan may not be for you if you like to have your fancy clothes on and makeup all of the time. You will notice on all of the photos I look a little au naturel. Life in a van is about going back to basics and enjoying the simple things in life. I went for four whole days without a shower, hair wash or my make up……………………..I look gradually more unkempt as the trip progresses. 😂 I can testify though that thanks to a pack of Pampers baby wipes I did smell quite good throughout the trip as there are alternative ways of freshening up without a shower and I don’t do dirty. However, this lifestyle can be a little bit of a problem for me as I am 50% Princess…………….I like my dresses and makeup……………………….although I’m equally happy without.

My van will have to have a shower and a proper toilet in it because I run, hike and get dirty. I cannot go on the road for weeks without these, and I realised that after just 4 days and 3 nights in Margot. But that was the whole point of the hire………….to see what I liked and what I didn’t. I will also take a little bit of makeup and some nice clothes when I go off in my van because whilst I love the spontaneity and freedom of being in the van and going to places that you can’t go and stay in without a van, I do know that every so often the Princess in me will need a treat night or two. I don’t think I’d spend more than a couple of weeks in it before I parked it up and spent a night or two in a hotel or bed and breakfast…………………..but that’s the beauty of it………………….you can do what you want, when you want. This confirmed for me that Margot was about the right size, as from the outside she’s just like a normal panel van. I would not be comfortable parking up and leaving a luxurious huge motorhome. I’m wanting something a little smaller and more rustic and homely.

I’ve just realised I’ve not shown you what she’s like on the inside other than the bed. She’s basically like a little house, very rustic and Scandinavian in style, all wooden cladded and insulated. At the opposite side from the bed is the living area and kitchen. There are two comfy padded seats each side of a pull out table and a fully tiled kitchen complete with gas hob, sink, lighting, lots of cupboards and storage, and cosy curtains to keep it all private at night. There’s plenty of room to stand up and walk around and go about your normal business. She also has a big, pull out awning on the side in case you are somewhere hot and sunny……………………no need for that on a Yorkshire October day though! 😆

There’s also lots of storage under the bed at the back for camping stuff, suitcases, walking gear and it goes back a long way so you could even get bikes under there too.

I had another lovely night’s sleep next to the river and woke up to another damp day. However, the forecast was good so I decided to go with my original plan to leave the van and go exploring one of my favourite Yorkshire Dales, Wharfedale, on foot. I had planned a circular walk from Kettlewell, where the van was parked, over the fields alongside the river to the small village of Starbotton, and then back along the top of the valley to Kettlewell. So time to share some photos now and you’ll see why it’s one of my favourite places, even on a rather dull day.

The path meanders alongside the river.

It goes along little farm tracks and between buildings.

I love walking in Yorkshire on days like this, because the skies are fantastic. It can’t decide whether to be sunny or rainy so you get fast moving clouds floating across the sky.

And every now and then the sunshine pokes its way through.

In this part of Yorkshire there are endless rolling green hills, livestock, miles and miles of dry stone walls and huge skies.

I love being out here whatever the weather.

I particularly like Autumn as there are so many colours. The green of the grass, blue of the sky, and the multitude of different shades of brown, gold and orange of the turning leaves. The sun shining through the clouds projects movement onto the fields as they float by, and the skeletons of the bare trees stand stark still in the fields waiting for the warmer weather.

By the time I got to the Fox and Hounds pub in Starbotton I was quite cold. As if by magic I got there 5 minutes after it had opened and the fire was already ablaze. I got myself settled in front of it to peruse the lunch menu…………..I was a little hungry. The menu is extensive. You can have a full dinner or a sandwich. But guess what I saw on the menu…………………. Fish and Chip Sandwich! Now you can’t get much more Yorkshire than that! It was amazing. It was a piece of lovely battered North Sea Cod, served in a brioche bun with a side of home made chunky chips. It did have a little side salad if anyone is worried about my 5 a day. 😆 With a pot of Yorkshire Tea, some salt and vinegar for my chips and a dollop of tartare sauce for my fish it was a sandwich to die for! Ten out of ten for the Fox and Hounds, Fish and Chip sandwich.

I then proceeded to wander back across to the other side of the river and the big climb up to the top of the valley side. I’d decided to take the high path back to Kettlewell, to take advantage of the sweeping views down into Wharfedale.

The views were lovely, all the way along the valley to Kettlewell.

When I returned I found the ‘&then Tasting Deli and Cafe’ open. I popped in for one of their delicious ‘Fat Rascals’ and a coffee, which prompted me to dig my recipe out and make some once I got home, which I did and shared with you in my last post.

Then I discovered something quite amazing which solved my dilemma as to what to do for dinner, as I only needed a snack after my huge Fish & Chip sandwich. Parked in the entrance to the parking lot behind the farm was this………………….

Yes, ‘The Heritage Meat Hut’. Basically they are a family run farm specialising in native British breeds of cow, sheep and pig and their aim is to produce the highest quality meat products. As an offshoot they have the ‘Heritage Meat Hut’ which is pulled all around North Yorkshire by a cute, vintage, yellow Massey Ferguson tractor. So there is was………………a truck full of meats, pies, sausage rolls and joints of meat.

So what did I choose…………………………………well it had to be a Pork Pie didn’t it! Another British staple. You can get Pork Pies all over the UK and I know I’m biased but the Yorkshire Pork Pies are the best. 😆 A pork pie is a British pie. It is chopped pork and pork fat, this is then surrounded by jellied pork stock and is then encased in hot water crust pastry. They are usually served cold at room temperature. In Yorkshire we also like to eat them hot with mushy peas and gravy. I was just having mine at room temperature with a cup of tea. But this wasn’t any old Pork Pie………………..this was a special one…………………..it was topped with caramelised red onion chutney and wensleydale cheese. 😍

Oh wow it was good. But I wasn’t too greedy. I only had half………………..saving the other half for the day after……………….and having an apple for dessert just to balance things out.

It was time to move on for my final night in Margot. I decided to go to my other favourite Yorkshire Dale, Wensleydale. I found a spot on the app which it said was really quiet. I drove off and parked her up in a layby next to a nature reserve just as the sun started to set. However, I was miles from the nearest village, it had got dark really quickly, there was no-one around and it was only 5pm. I started to get a little bit scared! I don’t know why, but it just didn’t feel right………………. I felt vulnerable……………………..but that’s the beauty of having a home on wheels…………………………I just put the keys in the ignition and moved on. I needed the outskirts of a village where I was on my own, but not, if you know what I mean.

So I pulled up in a layby just outside the beautiful little village of Hawdraw. It was dark and quiet but at least I was in sight of the village and a short walk from a warm pub……………….this time the Green Dragon Inn……………………another pub with a roaring log fire, good selection of beer and extensive menu. I didn’t eat there, but the food did look really good. If you like waterfalls, one of the most famous waterfalls in Yorkshire, Hawdraw Force, is at the back of the pub. It is England’s largest single drop waterfall.

I had another lovely sleep in the van and woke to such a nice surprise. It was dark when I’d parked up so I hadn’t really seen the views. I woke to a sunny morning, blue sky and a lovely view down the road from the back of the van.

Through the side door of the van were rolling hills and the farmer was herding and feeding his sheep. He gave me a big wave as I opened up the van to let in the morning sunlight. In the other direction was the village.

My little adventure in Margot was coming to an end as I had to take her back later that day. I had become quite attached to her. I just had time to call in the pretty market towns of Hawes and Aysgarth on the way to drop her back off in Manchester.

Hawes is a lovely village. It is famous for being the home of Wensleydale cheese, a white crumbly cheese from Yorkshire, which in my opinion is the only cheese to serve with Christmas or fruit cake. You can actually visit the dairy and learn all about its production and see it in action. The village is a mecca for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. It has the river Ure flowing through it ……………. and I mean literally through it, in waterfalls, right next to the houses! Following a night of heavy rain it is quite spectacular to see the river crashing through the village.

We get lots of rain in Yorkshire so it’s no surprise that we have lots of amazing waterfalls. Some of the most amazing are in the nearby village of Aysgarth. Aysgarth Falls are quite spectacular after heavy rain and today was no exception. They are three, stepped waterfalls, one after the other, on the River Ure. The photos really don’t do it justice because for me, half the beauty of a waterfall is in the sound which I can’t encapsulate here.

It was time to head back to take Margot home after what was a thoroughly enjoyable adventure. I returned her via Ribblehead viaduct, another little Yorkshire wonder with it’s 24 arches spanning 400 meters.

Just one final surprise in store to round off the weekend…………………………………..a double rainbow!

So did I like van life? A resounding “Yes!” It’s definitely for me. Not full time because I like my little treats from time to time, and I also like to relax at home in the cosy spaces I’ve created in my house. But there is something special about being able to go where you want, when you want and having that freedom and flexibility. You can travel at exactly your pace, moving on when you’ve had enough of somewhere and staying longer when you find a special place. There is something special too about simplified living……………………you have everything you need, and nothing you don’t, which just leads to a calmer less cluttered space and mind, a slower pace of life and lots of time for reflection. There’s also the option to go off-grid and find that solitude and really get away from the chaotic world we live in.

I can see from spending time in Margot though how important it is to get your van just right for you. There are things that Margot had that I can do without, but there are also things that Margot didn’t have which I definitely can’t do without, so my advice to anyone thinking of going down this road is hire first! It’s an excellent way to come up with your ideal van design.

So my planning has been keeping me busy. I’ve wheedled 15 van convertors down to a shortlist of around 5 who I am in regular contact with as I try and cut the list down to the final 2 to take it through to the design stage and start talking detail. It’s going to be a panel van conversion in a very rustic and simple Scandinavian style, featuring lots of oak or ash, natural materials and some lovely textiles and fabrics. The only downside is that the best convertors obviously book quite a way ahead. But I’m in no desperate rush. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I’d rather wait for the right outcome than rush and not end up with what I want. So realistically I’m thinking that I might not have a van until 2027…………………………………..plenty of time for me to think of a name for it, choose my fabrics and plan some routes! So watch this space…………………….I’ll give you some updates on the process in due course……………………………….I’m quite looking forward to going ‘On Tour’! 😆

I’m back! I’ve had a fun filled, chilled but busy few weeks so not had much time to blog. But here goes, I’ll try to do better!

I eventually got to see my big boy for his birthday (almost 2 weeks after the event!)……………………….we did try to get a photo together without him pulling a face but as per usual we did not quite manage it, so I’ll have to keep my very old one on my desk at work from when he used to smile for me on demand!

There have been trips to the theatre, wine drinking on a school night with colleague friends and weekend brunches with my best friends from school.

I’ve been on an amazing short adventure in the UK in a Campervan……………….more on that to follow as it was very fun filled and deserves its own post!😆 I’ve been on Part 2 of my linocut printmaking course learning how to do a two colour jigsaw linocut which I had huge amounts of fun on. And have been on a short half term trip to Andalucía.

This last weekend has involved a nice lazy Sunday making ‘Fat Yorkshire Rascals’ ………………..this is not a term of self reference, although whilst not fat, I am from Yorkshire and some may say a bit of a rascal.😆 A ‘Fat Yorkshire Rascal’ is a cake. They are a cake served by Betty’s tea shop in York, but I have a recipe. They are plump fruity scones with cherry eyes and almond teeth. They are perfect with a cup of Yorkshire tea.

It was an early start on Sunday because being back ‘on it’, training for an event next May, the plan said it was a ‘time on feet’ 10 mile steady run. So I was up with the larks and ran from home, all the way to the reservoir and nature reserve, all the way back………………. and that equates to just over 10 miles from my doorstep. But afterwards I was very hungry and needed a treat, so I thought, “I know what I’ll do……………………I’ll bake ‘Yorkshire Rascals’, have a lazy afternoon with a rascal, a cuppa, a book and write a bit of blog.” So here they are…………………’Yorkshire Rascals’ and a blog post……………….and the recipe in this link in case you want to make any at home.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fat-rascals

I’m going to share the trip to Anadalucia with you today because it was lovely! I did say that I might not survive the half term without booking a flight, because you only live once and I needed a rest………………….so it should come as no surprise to anyone that the minute school closed for half term I was off on a little mini break. I wanted to practice my Spanish and wanted a little bit of warm so I headed off back to South West Spain……………Andalucia………….to see if I could find a tiny bit of sunshine!

I’d been to Ronda last Christmas and really enjoyed it in the winter so I thought I’d make a return visit to the area. I like to explore new places though, so having already been to the large cities of Granada, Seville and Cordoba I thought I’d head right into the western most corner to Cadiz and the Costa de la Luz.

I wanted to visit Cadiz but wanted a little bit of peace and quiet as I needed to chill out and relax so I stayed in the Pueblo Blanco (white village) of Vejer de la Frontera, perched on top of a hill in Cadiz province. It is a small town whose income depends on tourism, agriculture (particularly fruit and citrus farming) and is also the place where a large number of the fighting bulls are bred.

I stayed in the lovely Casa Shelly in the old town of Vejer de la Frontera, situated on Calle Eduardo Shelly. Apparently Eduardo was a very wealthy man, a liberal politician who had a reputation as a ‘friend to the poor’ because he was a very generous man to the people of Vejer. He was so well liked that they named a street after him and the guesthouse name is a nod to him too.

The guest house is an old, traditional, whitewashed Andalucian house tucked away on a quiet cobbled street. It offers board on a room only basis and has just 7 rooms. Although it does not offer meals, it has a fully functioning kitchen to use, in addition to complementary coffee, tea, cookies and cakes available 24 hours a day. The house is in traditional style with the rooms being located on two floors, around a plant filled central courtyard, which now has a glass roof on it to protect you from the elements. The comfy sofa’s and reading areas can be utilised at all times.

There is also another sitting room and an outside communal courtyard which you are free to use. The guesthouse is run by the lovely Chris and his partner Javier who take great care of you and are available with excellent recommendations.

The decor is beautiful……………..all traditional muted colours with pops of brighter colour in the soft furnishings and artworks. There are plants in beautiful pots scattered around the property………………..and I love a plant.

I fell in love with my room as soon as I walked in it. 😍😍

Of the seven rooms they have two on the upper floor which have private outside sitting areas which overlook the rooftops of Vejer. I’d chosen the smallest of these two rooms as my plan was to relax and read a lot so I thought it would be nice to have my own small sitting out area in case the sun came out. It was lovely! A sheltered little haven, full of plants, which caught the sun all day. There were comfy chairs, shade if you wanted it, and it was positioned looking out towards the church whose bells chimed all day, another sound I love! However, worry not, they don’t chime between 12 midnight and 8am. Between these hours the place is absolutely silent and the beds so comfy. I had the most amazing nights sleep, catching up on my lack of sleep, with a good 10 hours each night.

Vejer de la Frontera itself is a gorgeous little town, voted as one of Spain’s most beautiful villages numerous times. It is a walled town, one of the best preserved in Andalucía with a large part of the wall, four gates, and the castle, still intact. It has both an old town, where I was situated, and a new town which is also quite pretty. Both the old town and the new town are white towns and are low rise. Both are situated at the top of the same hill, with one just merging into the other at the perimeter of the old town wall.

The streets in the old town are cobbled and are all quite steep, it is a very hilly place and would not be ideal for the less mobile. There is colour absolutely everywhere……………from the bright pink bougainvillea, to the art and craft shop displays, the lovely boutiques and clothes stores…….all spilling out onto the streets.

In the morning and evening it buzzes with activity as it has become quite well known on the gastronomic map and it has some excellent eateries and cafes of all food types and price ranges.

I arrived quite late so after settling into my room I just needed to eat and then rest my weary legs. I ate at a restaurant called ‘4 Estaciones’ in the old town. It is considered one of the best restaurants in Vejer but it is very unpretentious and the prices are very reasonable. It is decorated like the front room of an Andalucian house, it’s very relaxed. Its menu, whilst adventurous and including worldwide dishes, focusses on using local ingredients such as Almadraba tuna, Retinta beef and fish from the nearby salt marshes. I had a Pad Thai noodle dish with local vegetables and Almadraba tuna tataki. Almadraba tuna is local to the area. Almadraba is an elaborate and ancient technique used off the Straights of Gibraltar in Andalucía for trapping and catching Atlantic bluefin tuna. They are caught using a complex maze of nets. This bluefin tuna is highly prized and and it is a multi million pound business in the area. It was served lightly seared on the outside and raw in the middle, sliced into bite sized red squares of the most tasty tuna. It was delicious. I had it with a nice glass of white wine. I just had room for a little dessert of baked apple on a butter biscuit base, topped with salted caramel ice cream! YUUUMMMM………….it was good!

My first full day was spent wandering and getting lost in the maze of winding streets in the old town. Chris had recommended a small café called Caminito for breakfast. I would recommend it too. Fresh orange juice, delicious coffee and a bowl of yoghurt, fruit and granola (just to prove that I can do healthy breakfast! 😆).

Until 1248 Vejer was under Moorish rule, the period when the Muslim North Africans and Arabs ruled parts of the Iberian peninsula. This is apparent in it’s architecture, particularly in the shape of the archways around town, in the walls, and around the Castle area. Vejer was on the frontier of this battle between the Moors and Christians, hence it’s name ending in ‘de la Frontera’, like a number of other towns in this area. Being on the frontier it has a mighty fine castle built to defend the town.

I was lucky as the castle is not often open, but on this particular day the local Scout Group were offering tours on a donativo basis to raise funds for their group and to practice their English. I was only too happy to have a tour which was really interesting and well delivered………………and I made a point of telling our particular Scout how much I had enjoyed it, as it must be quite nerve wrecking at 15 years of age delivering a tour to a group of strangers in your non native language. It’s definitely worth a visit if it’s open, especially for the views over the rooftops.

Wandering around you will eventually come to the main square, the Plaza de España. It is so colourful and shiny! The highly polished stone gleams in the sunshine and the square is surrounded by tall palm trees. There is stone seating all around the square and in the middle is the most elaborate and colourful fountain complete with frogs, lanterns, and Andalusian tiles of every colour. It is so pretty.

The square is surrounded by cafes and retaurants and is the central hub of town. It’s a good place to just sit and people watch.

There are other smaller squares too, one in front of the church on top of the hill. As is usual in Spain, there was a festival that weekend and Jesus was being paraded around the church square accompanied by lots of fanfare and celebration.

There are lots of lovely view points around town too. The views across to the new town from walls of the the Jewish Quarter are lovely.

It’s the sort of place where surprise views keep appearing through the archways of the small alleyways so you need to have a really good explore.

I was getting a little hungry so I paid a visit to ‘Singular Coffee’, another one of Chris’s recommendations for another lovely coffee and avocado on toast ……………. see, I’ve been healthy twice in one day! 😂

Time now to wander through the bougainvillea lined streets and visit some statues. The first one, just below the castle is an homage to the women of Vejer and is entitled ‘La Cobijada’. The ‘Cobijada’ is actually the name for the traditional black robe worn by the ladies of the town, and other towns in the Cadiz province, many years ago. The cloak was black with only one eye showing. It looks very similar to the Muslim burqa but is actually Castilian in origin. Either way I bet it was stifling hot under there in the heat of summer.

On the same side of town under the city walls you will find the statue of Juan Relinque who is a bit of a local hero. He was a local farmer who campaigned against the Duke of Medina Sidonia who started to tax the local farmers. Juan was locked up and died in jail but eventually the court in Granada ruled in favour of the people of Vejer and Juan Relinque became an overnight hero.

The other notable statue in town is on the roundabout into the old town and is a celebration of the town’s agricultural heritage.

Then it was back to the guest house for an hour of reading on my little patio before my little appointment I had made. The reading did not go awfully well. I forgot to mention I had had a little Aperol Spritz too. I sat down, opened my book, listened to the birds tweeting, the water feature tinkling and just thought I’d shut my eyes for a second, and that was that, until I woke one hour later with my phone alarm buzzing on the table to tell me it was time to go for my appointment. I had set my alarm half suspecting that might happen. This however, does bring me onto the subject of books………………………I have an amazing book recommendation.

‘When the Cranes Fly South’ by Lisa Ridzen was my book of the holiday and it is without a doubt the most moving book I have read in a long time. It has won many awards and has won this year’s Swedish book of the year. I would encourage everyone of midlife crisis age, or with elderly parents, to read it. It is a beautiful book, wonderfully written, but I challenge anyone to read it without crying! I don’t want to put anyone off reading it by telling you it addresses dementia, aging and coming to the end of one’s life. But it’s not sad! It’s a beautiful read, quite uplifting, even funny in places. The story is written through the eye’s of Bo, an old man, living alone at the end of his life. It looks at his memories of his life, love, relationships with family and addresses his desire to maintain his independence right to the very end. It was so very very moving and I can see elements of Bo in my own parents and I would even go as far as saying it has altered how I may respond to them in certain instances. I can get quite exasperated when Dad pulls out his computer or his mobile phone and I have to sort out another technical minefield that he’s got himself into after pressing the button that, “I never touched a thing, it’s done it all by itself 😂”. Yesterday I did not lose my patience, I thought of Bo and realised that this is my parents trying to keep their independence, to move with the times, to make their own online doctors appointment, book their own online holiday……………………..they are not ready to give in, let go and have me sort it for them. So rather than get exasperated, we went through the instructions AGAIN (😆), sorted out the little mess he’d got into and he’s all happy now!

Anyway, back to the holiday and my appointment. Remember…………….. this is a rest and chill holiday and next to Casa Shelly is the Hammam de Vejer. I had booked an hour in the thermal pools and spa, and a 45 minute full body destress massage focussing on my back, neck and shoulders. It was gorgeous! It’s only a small place, there were only six of us in the spa. It has a tepid pool, very warm pool, freezing cold plunge pool, salt bath, sauna, and a lovely relaxation area with complementary herbal and Moroccan tea. The massage was really good too and I felt like a was floating when I re-emerged two hours later.

Another little snooze and then out for dinner, this time to ‘El Jardin del Califa’. This is a Moroccan restaurant right in the centre of Vejer on the Plaza de Espana. It is part of the Califa Group. The Califa group own a number of hotels in Vejer, along with this restaurant, a cocktail bar and the hammam. The gentleman at the head of this group is a Scottish man who came to Vejer a number of years ago and never left. He’s built up a pretty impressive portfolio which has at its heart its people, and a big focus on the environment and sustainability. The hotels look beautiful and even though I only sampled the restaurant, hammam and cocktail bar, the focus on quality, sustainability and people were evident………………..they were all lovely spaces, with happy people, to which I would return.

The food was delicious, some stuffed vine leaves followed by a Morocan lamb tagine.

Rather than dessert I was in the mood for star gazing and a little nightcap so I wandered through the lit streets to the Califa owned cocktail bar next door. They have a rooftop terrace which looks over the rooftops of Vejer.

A lovely place to sit on a warm evening and they serve a very nice Negroni!

This was followed by a walk up what seemed like endless sets of white steps (well it is a hill top town), with a small rest half way as I’d eaten and drunk too much to do it without a stop. Back to my comfy bed for the next day’s adventure………………………a day trip to Cadiz!

Oh Cadiz………………………..I liked it here lots! 🥰 It was only a 45 minute drive from Vejer and oh what a beautiful city.

Cadiz is a big port city. A lot of cruise ships stop here. It’s joined onto the mainland but sits on sort of a peninsular joined onto the mainland by a narrow strip of land. I parked right on the far end of the peninsular next to La Caleta beach, as I knew that’s where I wanted to be at the end of the day.

The first thing I noticed on the beach was the ‘Balneario de nostra Signora de la Palma y del Real’. This is an Art Deco style bathing house sat on the beach, opened in 1926. It now houses the Centre for Underwater Archaeology, but it’s a really interesting building architecturally.

First things first………………………breakfast! A pastry while I devise my plan of attack for the day!

I started with a walk along the lovely Puente Hierro bridge to the Castillo de San Sebastian.

This is a must do. It’s a lovely walk on what was a blustery but sunny day. It offers great views back to the city and La Caleta beach and is just really nice. Even better is the fact that it is completely free of charge. It’s an old defence fortress and although the castle is closed, as it is structurally unsafe and has been for a number of years with no plans to reopen, it’s a lovely walk.

Then it was a wander through the beautiful streets of Cadiz to find the Torre Tavira.

I did get distracted part way there by by ‘Los Huesos de Santo’ shop. These are little marzipan sweets, traditional to Cadiz, eaten on Saints days and coming in various flavours. Given that it seems to me that in Spain there is a Saints day nearly every week it’s fair to say these are available all year round.

I thought it would be rude not to try one of each flavour!😆 After all I had to fuel my steps up the tower. They are a little too sweet for me but managed to eat them!

I arrived at the tower, which in the 18th century was the official watchtower of the Port of Cadiz. It is on the highest point in the old town and contains a very impressive Camera Obscura allowing a 360 degree, live, look at the city of Cadiz.

It’s definitely worth having the guided tour of the Camera Obscura………….it was really informative.

The tower is named after the fist watchman, Lieutenant Mr. Antonio Tavira who warned of the maritime movements through a system of signs with flags.

You can then wander around without your guide onto the roof where you can overcome any fear of heights and get some amazing views over the city!

Next stop…………………lunch. I wanted a quick lunch as I only had a day to see what I wanted to see and I needed to be done for sunset, which is quite early in October. Cadiz has a lovely market, like a lot of Spanish towns and cities, where you can buy food, drink and sit, eat and socialise.

I wandered around the colourful food stores and settled on some Retinta beef tacos and a beer.

Next stop was the Cathedral, via the port and the main square, where there is a pretty impressive statue to remind you you have arrived in Cadiz.

There are also lots of pretty parakeets flying around the trees here in Cadiz.

The cathedral is nice but I felt it looked better from the outside than the inside. If you have visited other Cathedrals in Spain like Burgos, Segovia, Leon, Santiago, to name but a few, you might be left feeling a little disappointed. It has some nice pieces but it’s a bit short on the gold bling.

It’s quite plain, white and austere inside compared to those I’ve mentioned above. The ticket does include an entrance to climb up the tower but you won’t get as good a view as from the top of the Torre Tavira. But the bells are pretty impressive if they ding when you are up there!

My day was coming to an end when I suddenly realised I’d been in Spain for three days and not had an ice-cream. “Time to put that right”, I thought, with a visit to Narigoni, who I can confirm make the most delicious gelato. Note that I say gelato. When I say ice-cream I always mean gelato. However they are officially not the same and I will confess I am an ice cream snob…………..I prefer to eat only gelato! How can you tell the difference you say? It’s easy. If it is piled high in mounds and swirled around it’s ice cream. Ice cream has a much higher fat content and more air and is kept really cold, hence it will stand in a pile above the rim of the container. Gelato has a much lower fat content as it is made with more milk and just a little cream. It is denser and contains less air and is not stored as cold. For these reasons it will not stand in a pile. So I spend my time peering in ice-cream shops looking for naturally coloured and flavoured gelato that does not rise above the level of the tray it is stored in. If the pistachio ice-cream is bright green it’s a “no” from me, it should be a beige colour with a very slight green tinge.

I can confirm that Narigoni serve the finest gelato in some lovely flavours. This is pistacchio (one of my favourites) with a scoop of cheese (a local Anadalisian cheese), fig, honey and walnut gelato. The latter may not sound that great but I’m a bit adventurous when it come to food and believe me when I say cheese,fig, honey and walnut gelato is the way to go!

And where should you sit and eat your gelato? Why, watching the sun set of course! And you’ll not get a better autumnal sunset than that facing west from Cadiz, across the boats of La Caleta beach with the castle in the background. It was quite spectacular. This is a ‘do not miss’ activity and must be accompanied by either gelato or a beer.

The following day was my fourth and final full day in Vejer de la Frontera. I wanted to visit the local beach, the tuna fishing town of Barbate and fit a little run in around the local salt marshes and bird reserve if at all possible. I start to get a little agitated after a few days without focused excercise, I have energy which I need to expend. Exercise is like my drug so I’m quite thankful, as there are far worse things to be addicted to!

So, onto the subject of beaches………………………..oh WOW! For some reason I wasn’t expecting much, I don’t know why.

Vejer’s beach is 10km away from the town and is called El Palmar de Vejer and if you like long stretches of fine golden sand, completely unspoilt by urbanisation then you’ll love it. It is beautiful, and stretches for miles and miles. It was quiet in October and lovely for a walk, but in summer it will get a lot busier, because on the road set back from the beach there are lots of surf schools as it is an Atlantic beach, and is well known for its wave quality.

There were lots of surfers on this day but the beach is so huge I can’t imagine it ever feels too busy.

There are little fortresses and towers along the beach, some lovely boardwalk walks, and lots of places to choose from to have a coffee and watch the huge skies and fluffy clouds floating past.

A short journey down the coast brings you to Barbate. There’s not much here other than a port where they land the tuna but it’s nice to have a little look around the port and learn a little bit about tuna fishing.

Barbate is around 8 miles from Vejer and is separated by the ‘Parc Natural La Brena y Marismas del Barbate’. This is a natural park of salt marshes and a bird haven and it stetches for miles, all the way from Barbate to Vejer. I’d taken my running things so I decided I was going to run back to Vejer. It was lovely trotting through the marshes on my own, on the well maintained paths, spotting the wildlife, the wind blowing through my hair and was generally a really lovely run until the last mile and a half.

Yes! I’d seemingly overlooked the fact that Vejer is a hilltop town. I’d also underestimated how steep that hill was. It’s all in the elevation profile in the stats! Seeing a lone woman attempt to run up it in the late afternoon must be something of a novelty and rare phenomenon in these parts. I would like to thank every local that drove past me and wound down their window to shout either “Vamos!” or “Fuerza!” – there were many of them.😆 It helped enormously and I did eventually get to the top. I was very red in the face and needed a full bottle of water, a lie down on the cool marble of a bench in the square and a Vermut, in that order!

So my lovely little break had come to an end. Just time for one last meal at ‘4 Estaciones’ for some wok seared local Retinta beef sirloin strips in sesame oil with noodles and vegetables. This was delicious.

Would I recommend this little corner of Andalucia and Cadiz……………………………………..a resounding YES! I liked it lots. The food, the culture, the people, the climate, the history. There was nothing not to like……………………….except perhaps the run up the hill!

I have some little words of wisdom for you as always . Today’s words of wisdom are often wrongly attributed to Virginia Woolf. They are not hers and I’ve no idea whose they are but they are one of my little mantras (I have many as you can probably imagine):

“Whatever happens, stay alive. Don’t die before you are dead. Don’t lose yourself, don’t lose hope, don’t lose direction. Stay alive, with yourself, with every cell of your body, with every fibre of your skin.
Stay alive, learn, study, think, read, build, invent, create, speak, write, dream, design.
Stay alive, stay alive inside of you, stay alive also outside, fill yourself with colours of the world, fill yourself with peace, fill yourself with hope. Stay alive with joy.
There is only one thing you should not waste in life, and that’s life itself.”

This says it all to me! I’m always doing something……………of course I do find time to relax, I relax a lot…………..but the above is the reason I’m always learning, studying, reading, thinking (too much😆), creating, writing, planning, dreaming (always 😂) and loving. I’m just trying to make sense of my life and making sure I make the most of every single second because all of these things are what makes the world go round. Be brave, explore every path, because one of them will lead to where you are meant to be.

So here they are…………………………two places I’ve discovered in my very own Yorkshire which until three weeks ago I never knew existed. And they are lovely little places. If you are ever in Yorkshire do visit them……………………and I’ve got a recipe for you. Then I’m planning on a quiet October so I’ll be light on the updates for a while because I’m going into hibernation for a good few weeks to just do my thing!

I hope Monday has been a good day……………….but not all days are good days and if it’s been a bumpy day I hope you have a Piglet in your life. Today has been a bit of an average day for me. There have been highs (my big boy’s birthday) and lows (a toilet incident). I know we are a ‘team’ at work……………..but with no caretaker or cleaner on site until 4pm today I think I’ve taken one for the team. I have deftly used my Business and Finance Degree to assist in the extraction of a solid object (toy no doubt) from a nursery toilet and mop the flooded floor clean from the contents of the overflowed toilet! I don’t recall that being in my job description. 😆Why do small children feel the need to push things into holes that they clearly aren’t intended for?

I’m quite happy being Piglet………………..to my children, my family, my work colleagues and any of my friends………………..I’ll always be Piglet if needed. If you can choose to be anything, chose to be kind and be more Piglet!

The UK’s not a great place to be at the moment. But don’t let it get you down…………….happiness is a mindset and it’s important to be grateful for the small things and have gratitude and stay positive and true to your beliefs. Try not to focus on the hatred, the antisemitic shootings close to home at the weekend, the St George flags popping up everywhere to provoke and intimidate immigrants, refugees and anyone not born white and British. If the boot were on the other foot it’d be called radicalisation!

Instead choose to be happy, go to nice, calm, peaceful places, spend time with your sort of people, hug, be kind, stay positive and try to shut out all the ‘noise’.

Everything has changed so quickly too, or it might be because I was away for so long over summer, but I came back to quite a different country. I have a week off in less than three weeks and my finger is hovering over the escape button on the Easyjet and Ryanair websites! 🤣 Shall I press it?! We’ll see!

So here you go……………………. feel good place number one………………………….Helmsley Walled Garden and Helmsley Castle. Beautiful!😍

As the name suggests, they are both in Helmsley in North Yorkshire……………..a lovely little market town where even the shop fronts and the delicatessen are pretty.

They are two separate entities but the garden sits next to the castle. The garden was built in 1759 and is a Royal Horticultural Society partner garden………………….and I never knew about it! Their aim is for everyone to feel the therapeutic benefit, not only of gardening, but also of the beautiful environment created by their volunteers.

In their leaflet it says, “The garden is run entirely by volunteers with the aim of the garden being for people to improve their mental and physical health through gardening, and spending time in a garden. The volunteers are guided by trained horticulturalists. Each volunteer’s contribution, regardless of their background or abilities, plays a vital role in enhancing the garden’s beauty, and allows them to work towards a collective achievement.” It really is a magical place and important resource and outlet for so many people.

It’s a small fee to get in but it is so worth it. The planting is spectacular. And there is a pretty amazing cafe too called the Vine Tree.

I challenge you to come here and not be happy when you leave. So what did I like about it?

Flowers, flowers and more flowers………………….

They have a walled orchard bursting with apples and pears and other fruits…………

If you look closely there are the little visitors to the garden……………………the bees. The garden has been planted to attract bees and pollinators……………

There are lots of lovely paths to wander around and admire the most lovely planting, while smelling the scent of the flowers…….

There are lots of nice scuptures and places to sit too and have a quiet moment of reflection……………

And there is a Labyrinth……………………………….

I never knew that Labyrinth walking was an ancient practice to quieten the mind and keep you in the present and best done barefoot.

I can’t say it worked……………………………I’m ticklish, particularly on my feet and it just made me giggle as the grass was very prickly tickly.

Final stop was the pumpkins and squash house…………………………so many sizes colours and shapes.

And have you ever seen any of these…………………how cool. It can’t decide what it is so it’s decided to be half of each…………………………….

When you’ve finished in the walled garden you can go and have a look at the castle.

Personally, I prefer the garden to the castle. Castles can be a little wasted on me and I find them a little gloomy. However, it’s worth a quick look as it is the ruin of a very important castle which featured heavily in the Civil War. It was besieged by Sir Thomas Fairfax and its destruction was ordered by Parliament to quell the uprising of us strong headed Yorkshire folk who refused to tow the Government line (who would have thought 😆).

There are some lovely views over the Yorkshire countryside from the ruined windows.

I challenge you to come to Helmsley and not leave happy!

The second place, which I visited this weekend was The Yorkshire Arboretum……………………..which is home to a very special tree collection.

It would be spectacular at any time of year but at the moment with Autumn being upon us it’s amazing.

Autumn also means I can get my bobble hats out…………..which is something else to be happy about!

There are over 120 acres with over 2,500 varieties of trees from all over the world.

There are wildflower meadows, lakes, ponds and a very special conservation area which I’ll tell you about in a second.

So what is there to see at the moment? Well………………..it’s Autumn………………my favourite time of year and these were the highlights for me.

Funghi!!!! Lots of them. There were some very beautiful red and white funghi………………..like those in fairytales that have a little door on the side that the fairies and elves live in! Don’t tell me you’ve never read the ‘Magic Faraway Tree’ when you were small.

Then there are the huge toadstools…………………………….

And I just love how pretty the underside of a toadstool looks.

There are all the nuts and seeds and berries that are in abundance at the moment. Chestnuts bursting out of their shells…………………

Acorns for the squirrels.

There are also some lovely lakes there with swans and coots floating on the top, big bullrushes at the side and dragon flies flitting around just above the water.

And if you stay still enough and search hard enough you will see some pretty amazing wildlife.

This little guy was in his winter bed between two leaves of a spikey plant. You could quite easily have missed him (or it could be a she…….who knows!) But it was happy enough to pose for me. Sometimes you just have to slow down, be still and pay attention to what’s around you in the moment and you can find some amazing things.

The highlight of the day for me though was my Red Squirrel sighting. These are native to the UK but are struggling and in decline due to the introduction of the grey squirrel from North America between 1876 to 1929. It’s been illegal to release grey squirrels into the wild in the UK since 1930 and conservation efforts are in place to cull the grey squirrel and re-introduce the native red squirrel in a number of places, including here. The grey squirrel is a lot larger and completes for the same food and habitat and is a spreader of disease, so they are not good news for the red squirrel.

They have a very active conservation project here, and breed them to release in other areas of the country. They are very timid though so you will be lucky to spot one but it was my lucky day!!!! Well………………..part luck part patience. A gentleman told me he had seen one go into a squirrel box a couple of minutes before so I thought if I stand still and pretend I’m a tree it might just come out. So I held my camera up and focused on the hole and stood statue still. After 10 minutes my arm had gone dead, my nose was itching and I was freezing cold. My patience had almost run out when out he popped…………………….all fluffy, tufted ears and cheeky face……………………….a little furry ball of gorgeousness!🥰 And he has a name apparently………………..Rusty! How cute is that. For a small fee towards his upkeep you can adopt him and I’m seriously thinking of adopting a squirrel. I’ve decided he’d be far less trouble than a child, less costly and far cuter.

So if you be still and quiet long enough to look, have patience and gratitude, then you will realise that the world really is an amazing place and there are lots of things to be happy about so don’t let all the noise bring you down……………………you do you and reach out to your Piglet if you need to.

And if all else fails bake Parkin………………………………sure to make you happy.

I can’t believe I’ve told you so much about Yorkshire for all this time and never shared ‘Parkin’ with you! I think I assumed that everyone knew about Parkin. It was only when I was talking to someone from a neighbouring county and they had never heard of it that I googled it and realised it was a Yorkshire thing. Your life cannot be complete until you have had Parkin ……………………………… and it’s so easy to make.

It’s a sort of ginger cake made with black treacle (sometimes called molasses depending where you are from). It also contains pinhead oatmeal…………..it’s not the same with porridge oats. Pinhead oatmeal comes in a tin and it looks like this…………………

You bake Parkin until it forms a sort of crust on top. When it’s cool you wrap it in greaseproof paper and keep it in an airtight tin for up to two weeks. And that is the secret…………..it gets stickier and more chewy the longer you leave it…………………….but I get that that’s the challenge………………..trying not to eat it all before it’s reached its height of stickiness. We eat it in Yorkshire at the end of October and beginning of November to coincide with Halloween and Bonfire Night. I just like to start eating it early so I’ve made some now! 😁 September would be too early……..like eating Christmas cake in September…….. but once we’ve reached October and the leaves start turning you are good to go on the Parkin front in my opinion. It’s best consumed reading a book, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of Yorkshire tea.

So here is a link to the best (in my opinion) Parkin recipe …………………… courtesy of BBC Good Food:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/parkin

So there you go, visit these places if you are near…………….immerse yourself in beautiful things, slow down, breathe, appreciate the good things and choose happy………………..and if all else fails reach out to your Piglet and eat Parkin.

Time to share another lovely little part of England with you! One I don’t visit too often.

First of all apologies…………………..there has been no update of Spanish towns of summer, no rundown of my Primitivo walk with my mini-me and no blog post of the secret little happy place I found the other week in Yorkshire. They will come in due course………………..I have absolutely no idea when………………….but they will come when I get chance to sort all my photographs out!

The thing is I’ve lost my wingman at work, my lovely assistant. I’ve mentored her and coached her and in the future she will be more than capable of doing my role. So with my full encouragement and support she’s gone onto bigger things and I’m so happy for her. I’ve been without her for four weeks and the lovely card she sent me with a lovely private message inside, which made us both cry, although very lovely, does not alter the fact that I’m missing her like crazy. Not least because I’m trying (and failing) to do the job of two people temporarily. Anyway, my new wingman starts next week and hopefully I should return to getting a bit of my life back and be able to share a few more things.

I’ve also started my Spanish course and I am really, really enjoying it. I might just be top of the class! 😆 But I am glad I’ve started at the level I have, even though I have found the first two weeks quite easy. Get the foundations right first and then I’ll be whizzing along!

I’ve still been making sure I take time to rest and explore at the weekend though. I’ve been to the theatre in Manchester to see Peter Kay with a friend. If you don’t know him, he’s a British comedian but I do think you have to be from Northern England, not easily offended, and a certain age to get the humour. That was a really great night……………with a guest appearance from another Northern lad…………………… Noel Gallagher of Oasis!

I’ve done a couple of lovely runs but not taken it too seriously as I’m a bit off form because I’m tired. I think I’ve enjoyed them more by not setting my expectations too high. I’m done with beating myself up about positions, I just feel incredibly lucky that I can still do what I do and enjoy it…………………and of course there is the cake at the end.

But this weekend has been beautiful so I thought I’d share with you where I’ve been, more with pictures than words, because it’s too nice a place not to share but it’s 18:30 as I type this sentence and I’ve already got my PJs on and my hot chocolate on the go so it will be a short one because I’m so very tired as it was a long journey for just a 48 hour visit!

I’ve been to Suffolk! If you don’t know Suffolk it is in the very South East of the country, a good four hour drive from my home. Skirt around London and just keep heading East to the coast. I’ve been to the very pretty little coastal village of Orford.

This little village has so much to offer in such a tiny place and it is picture perfect…………………just gorgeous.

It also happens to be the place to which my Yorkshire born cousin has retired to. When we were small we were inseparable, despite the fact that he is almost 6 years older than me. His Mum and my Mum are sisters, and Nigel and I are both only children, so I guess you could say he was more like my brother, and I his sister, rather than cousins. We even lived next door to each other on the same street, and he’s always been very protective of me.

When he lived near me, right up until 3 years ago we used to run Park Run together and I really do miss not having him just down the road. The last time I visited him in Suffolk was 3 years ago, just after he moved down there, for his daughter’s wedding.

He’s been to see me a few times but I was a little disappointed when we missed each other in the Summer because I was away when he was back in Yorkshire. I promised I’d make a trip down to Suffolk as soon as possible on my return. So this weekend I upheld my promise, and once I’d got the drive out of the way it was also a good opportunity to have a 2 day relax, doing not very much, in the most beautiful setting.

So what can I tell you about Orford. It is on the coast and is a village full of little old cottages, thatched roofs and English country gardens.

It has a Castle, built by Henry II in the 12th century with a polygonal keep. The castle is preserved by English Heritage and you can have a good look around it if you are interested in medieval history as the village has lots of history corresponding with that era, as it was an important port and fishing village.

It is very famous for it’s seafood……………..particularly oysters………………but also other fish and shellfish too. It has it’s own shop and restaurant in the village square specialising in oysters………………but am I the only one that’s really not that bothered about oysters?

So what did I get up to. Well not much on Saturday afternoon. After a long drive down it was just an opportunity to catch up, have a wander around the village, past the pretty church, and then out to a lovely seafood and fish restaurant in nearby Aldeburgh.

The restaurant, which I can recommend, was called ‘Aldeburgh Market’…………..it’s basically the restaurant that cooks the fresh fish from the nearby fish market. I have to apologise as we were that busy chatting that I did not take any food photographs but it was amazing. Lovely fresh focaccia with rosemary, olive oil and seasalt…………….followed by scallop and king prawn yakisoba……………….followed by salted caramel and bourbon ice cream (with optional shot of bourbon)……………..all helped down with a bottle of Albarino. We had a lovely night.

I was so tired I decided not to set my alarm clock and I slept like a baby.

All was quiet when I woke the following morning and we all know how I like to go on a little explore on a Sunday morning for my little bit of solitude. I pulled on my comfy running clothes, my jacket to ward of the sea breeze and decided to take myself off to Orford Ness for a couple of hours to blow away the cobwebs and breathe in the salty sea air.

This was the highlight of my trip and the bit that I want to share with you and share the photographs because it is just beautiful. And there is something about the early morning light over the water when there is no-one else about that is just magical.

I look a little bit like the ‘wild woman of Orford Ness’ because on Sunday mornings I don’t do make-up, I don’t do hairstyling (quite obviously from the picture), I just pull my clothes on and set off before breakfast, to be in my own headspace for a little bit and just to breathe.

I set off across the golden fields and before long the village and the castle were just a dot in the distance. The sun was rising behind some beautiful cloud formations and it was promising to be a lovely morning.

I managed to avoid being shot by going the right way and keeping a close eye on my Ordinance Survey map whilst plotting my way through the forest.

Past the pig farm and trying to course a straight line in the direction of the sea. I smelt the sea before I reached it as Orford Ness is hidden behind a large embankment which protects the flat land from a rising sea. That smell of salt, fishing, marshes, mudflats……………….it’s really a distinct smell.

I crested the embankment and the view that opened up before me was just stunning. Miles and miles of marsh, oyster reefs, mud flats and creeks winding one way and another to the sea…………………and masses of fluffy clouds.

Orford Ness can be seen across the creek. Is is Europe’s largest vegetated shingle split separated from the mainland by a saltwater river where the rivers meet the sea. It is a tidal creek and the tide was out so whilst there were a few boats moored on the water, they were going nowhere until later in the day.

Despite its gorgeousness…………….the shingle spit at Orford Ness does have a bit of an haunting past. From 1918 to the 1980’s it was owned by the military and was a nuclear testing site, including for atomic bombs. That is well in its past. The skeletons of the buildings are still there, large looming black structures but they do not detract from the landscape as a whole.

The spit of shingle land is now owned by the National Trust and ferries run regularly across to it and are usually filled with eager bird watchers clutching their binoculars. Its fragile habitat is now home to many rare species of bird and animal which can be viewed by taking the boat across. The demand for tickets is high and the numbers limited by the National Trust to ensure this very special habitat is protected, viewed in a controlled way, and remains that way for generations to come.

There was not a soul in sight when I reached the embankment and the light and the sky were just spectacular. It’s amazing what nature can do for the weary soul. I just feel free of any troubles and worries and sort of turn into Forest Gump……………………I just kept trotting along the top of the embankment for miles…………….

………………………stopping frequently to take yet more photographs. Evantually after around an hour or so I checked the map and thought I’d better retrace my steps and try and find the quay. It was equally as beautiful running back the other way and as every minute passed, the light and the reflection on the water changed. It was magical.

I eventually reached the quay and a few early sailors had arrived to untether their sailing boats to make the best of what was promising to be a lovely day with a gentle breeze.

I returned to base, had a quick shower and made my way to the village square to hunt for breakfast. This is when I made the most amazing discovery! Yes you’ve guessed it…………………………a bakery!😂

Huddled in the corner of the square, in a little pretty pink painted cottage I found the Pump Street Bakery. What made it better was that it opens on Sunday, has tables inside, and serves the most amazing coffee.

I didn’t need a loaf of bread………………..but what can a girl do when faced with a selection like this!?

And don’t get me started on the pastries…………………just look at them.

I waited patiently in the queue trying to decide if my ‘trot’ warranted the consumption of a ‘Bear Claw’ all to myself. I told myself that was just being greedy and I finally settled on the almond croissant.

This was quite possibly the best almond croissant I have ever had. It had an almond frangipan filling, laced with a little bit of brandy to give it a lovely flavour. The top was covered with an almond crème and flaked almonds………….and dusted with icing sugar to perfect the look. Oh my………………..I would seriously drive back next weekend just to try something else.

On further discovery and on chatting to my cousin I then discovered that not only did the owner run the bakery………………..he also owned a chocolate shop in the square. Could this possibly get any better I thought! 😆 So off I went to seek out the chocolate shop and learn a little more about it. Basically they are an ethical producer of the highest quality of bean to bar chocolate. What does that mean? It means they buy single origin beans direct from the farm in South America. There is no middle man involved so not only do you get a single origin chocolate from a really high quality bean, the farmer gets a fair price for their bean. The beans are then shipped to Orford where they are then made into chocolate in a small industrial unit just outside the village.

It will probably be the most expensive chocolate bar you buy at £7.95 for a 100g bar. But as a one off treat, if you are passing………….just do it. Someone in South America is making a living at a fair price and I promise you it will be the best piece of chocolate you have ever tasted. Of course I could not resist could I. I like quite a dark chocolate and would normally get something above 70% cacao but I went for a 60% made with beans from the Hacienda Victoria farm in Ecuador. I was sold on the flavour………….’Cookie Chip’ with “notes of crumbly buttery biscuit and rounded cocoa”. I’m trying to limit myself to one square a day which is proving quite difficult.

It transpires that Orford is a hidden little gastronomic gem beacuse then, back at the quay, I stumbled across ‘Pinney’s’. Apparently they own the oyster restaurant in the village. They are a third generation family business who have two fishing boats the ‘Jolene’ and the ‘Southern Cross’. In addition to having their own oyster bed which they have farmed for over 70 years, they also land bass, skate, lobster, crabs and other fish and seafood from their two boats. On the quay they also have their own ‘smokehouse’, where they smoke their own catch in addition to a range of local farmed meats and cheese that they buy in.

So after a good look around I emerged with a smoked ham joint and a tub of smoked salmon pate. 😂

So with my tummy full of croissant and a bag full of lovely foodie items for the days ahead I marched back to the house to say goodbye. “You like reading don’t you?” Nigel said, and then continued to tell me all about the book club he’s joined in the village. “In fact, those books on the side are going to the charity shop as I’ve read them and we’ve discussed them………………………….are there any you want?”

Now I have to be careful………………….as collecting books and reading books seem to be two entirely different hobbies for me. I have so many books to read on my pile. I read lots……………….but I collect them quicker than I read them. I’m almost at the end of my latest Ernest Hemingway so I restrained myself to two…………………..Ian McEwan’s novel ‘Lessons’ which AI says “Follows a boy called Roland and examines how individual choices and global occurrences intertwine and asks whether people can control their lives without harming others and what can be learned from past traumas. ” I’ll report back when I’ve read it as to whether I liked it. The second book is ‘The Place of Tides’ by James Rebanks. The message behind this one is “a call to value nature, embrace quiet patience, and recognize how small, dedicated acts of care for the environment can lead to significant positive outcomes.” But what drew me the this one was an extract in the front cover from Christianne Ritter’s book ‘A Woman in the Polar Night’ written in 1938. I suppose the message hit home a little.

I realised that from Monday to Friday that week I had been the one with my head bent over, running around in circles, circles of my anxieties and troubles. So my little word of wisdom for today is to consciously think about what you are doing and make sure that you too do what I did this weekend and make sure that you make a little bit of time every day, or at least every weekend to see the glory of the sun. I certainly saw it this weekend and it’s so uplifting.

After bundling my new books together it was time to bid a fond farewell. “Promise not to leave it so long until next time” we both agreed! Little does he know that now I’ve discovered the bakery, the chocolate makers and the smoked food shop he may never get rid of me……………………….I might become a regular weekend fixture!😂

I’m back. And when I’ve had chance to sort all my photographs from a lovely summer I will share some of my favourite places.

I also have a new happy place in Yorkshire which I discovered last weekend while having a lovely day of calm and relaxation. I’ll tell you about it soon because it really is special.

But today just a quick update …………………………… something I’ve been meaning to do for a while to keep me out of mischief…………so I’ve done it and I’m excited and determined!

I’ve had a lovely day trip to the vibrant city of Manchester to sit a level test at Instituto Cervantes and enrol on my Spanish course. It’s about time I did this properly and became a whizz!

I sat an online test last week but knew the outcome was incorrect. It graded me higher than I know I actually am and there is nothing worse than being in a class which is too hard for you. It was an online multiple choice test and being fluent in another latin based language I was able to deduce the answers without being that great at Spanish so I was reluctant to enrol at the level it gave me.

I contacted Instituto Cervantes in Manchester who said they were having an open day today with free level tests so I decided to go along as this was a written and spoken level test, not reading and multiple choice. It also gave me the opportunity to have a day in Manchester which is such a lovely city where old meets new and everything is so colorful.

The building itself is lovely, an old Victorian conversion and it has a lovely Spanish library and all sorts of resources so I can see me visiting often. They not only offer language classes but dance, film clubs, reading clubs, special event evenings on food and culture etc.

Surprisingly I am not in A1.1 but in A1.2 ……………. which means I am very much a beginner but not 100% useless when it come to Spanish……………..just 99% useless……………………..which I already knew! 😆

This is more where I thought I was and I’m happy to start there as I’d rather solidify what I know already before moving onto A2.

So an early get up and I arrived at Instituto Cervantes. Everyone was so lovely and I sat my test. It was quite hard for me but I was able to write a full side of A4, all in present tense admittedly, but most of it correctly, respond to the questions I was asked about my job, my family, my town, where I had visited and then ask the examiner a number of questions about themselves.

So I have my text book and I’m excited to start and be a really good student! I’m looking forward to putting it into practice on my visits and am going to celebrate when my Spanish is so good I get answered back in Spanish instead of English! 😂

Manchester was its usual colourful self even though it was pouring with rain later in the day.

I got to visit Duke Street Coffee which has the most gorgeous coffee……….I recommend it if ever in Manchester. I always pay it a visit, and I needed it after my Spanish test. It’s tucked away in the Castlefield area and roasts its own coffee which is superb tasting.

And being such a rainy day followed by sunshine I was treated the the most gorgeous double rainbow on my arrival back home into the village.

So all in all a productive little day for Instituto Cervantes’ newest recruit!