Spain? Or Wales?

One of the trips we did while in Wales, was a boat trip to Caldey Island.

Caldey Island is a small island, which is known as one of the holy islands of Britain due to it’s vast and long history. It is a very small island, homing only about 40 residents, not including the Cistercian monks that live in the monastery.

The trip is a gorgeous one – we luckily had a beautiful day, also very very hot! The sea was beautiful, and watching the scenery go by, and then the scenery of Caldey Island was so relaxing and nice. Docking in, the sea is so clear, the sand looks so beautiful along the trees and I honestly just really wished I’d brought my swimsuit so I could get in the water it just looked so inviting. I have to say, there’s also no better feeling, than the cool sea breeze hitting you as you smell the salt air and feel the slight bump as the boat goes over the waves. Something so calming about it.

Coming into the main bit of the island was quite a shock actually. I’d not actually looked at what Caldey Island was, I just wanted to do a boat trip and see an island. It was a good surprise though, as I suddenly felt as though I were in Spain!

A big field was in front of a large monastery where the Cistercian monks live. Trees surrounded the monastery, and the brick (white and red) really made it feel as though we were abroad, I loved it.

Although the island is small, there’s quite a lot to see, and we definitely used pretty much all of the day there. We grabbed a cuppa when we got there, of course, and then started the walk. We walked to see the old church, and then up to the lighthouse where we walked along the clifftop to view the sea. We carried along the cliff edge back towards the middle of the island, where we viewed anther church and part of the monastery that is open to the public – 99% of it is not as the monks still live and work there.
It was interesting learning about the monks – specially since I’d done a middle ages course at university and head previously learnt about the monks and how they live.
There are also some very cute ponies in the fields on the walks which I may have fed some grass from the field they were in, very cute — I did wash my hands straight after.

 

I’d love to go back to the island, there’s something about it that I just loved.

Second Love For Palm Trees.

August 2017, I traveled to Tenby, South Wales with my Nanna, Grandad and sister.

I’d previously holidayed in Devon and discovered that I loved palm trees – I had the pleasant surprise to find Tenby looked more like Greece. Palm trees along the town, a gorgeous beach with beautifully clear sea. An amazingly colourful harbour to walk around. It was amazing.

When we arrived, we decided to go for a walk into the town. It was a beautiful walk. I sent a picture to my boyfriend, who immediately said it looked as though I was abroad.

I loved it, it was a hot day, the trees looked amazing against the blue sky and sea; I really felt as though I was abroad instead of South Wales!! The last time I was in Wales it rained for the entire 3 days, so this was definitely a pleasant change.

 

The town centre is beautiful. There’s so many different colours everywhere, each building different, and it is also very historical.

The harbour fills in, but when it empties people seem to flock down there to get on the sand. But my favourite beach was at the other side of the harour.
There’s a little cave that you can swim through when the tide is in a little – which I did, and the water was certainly much colder in the cave – but still worth it!!

I can’t explain how beautiful the beach is. I’ve always loved Portuairk in Scotland, it’s the

 

place I’ve always holidayed. But I really loved seeing something new in Wales. We had a gorgeous day, the sun was out, the water felt warm with the sun beaming down on it, the sand was nice and water looked so clear.

The rock behind me is actually part of the cave, but the tide is out so swimming through then would be impossible.

 

 

One of the things available to do in Tenby, is visit the Tudor Merchant House. As known if reading enough of this blog, is that I’m a giant history nerd – and a history university student – so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. It is not expensive to get in, and only a certain amount of people are allowed in at a time (although you can take as long as you like to look around) so it is not too busy or dangerous (it is quite a small house).

There’s a couple of floors to view. The bottom floor with the kitchen and huge fire. The second floor, where there’s a table with food, and other tables with Tudor objects on. The staff who worked there knew their history, and explained everything in the room in great detail!

I loved walking around with the slanted floors as it just felt really historical!

 

There’s loads to do in Tenby, too much for one post, so I’ll do more about the other days we had there. But it’s such a beautiful place, with so many friendly locals – all with very nice Welsh accents!

Beautiful place.

Flamborough With Friends

I’ve come to realise, while studying on my history degree at univeristy, what the student experience is about. Yes, it is a lot of stress – a lot – and a lot of hard work. But it’s also about meeting new people. I’ve met some amazing friends here, ones that I hope to stay friends with when I finish univeristy.

To celebrate finishing first year, I met with two of these friends and we had a weekend at the beach.
Me and Millie stayed at Katie’s house, where her parents did us a BBQ, and we spent the days looking around markets, along the seafront and on the beach.

On the Saturday, we had a go on a speedboat – which felt amazing in the sun! I love speedboats and the feeling of the wind blowng through my hair. We then went for ice-cream – I never, ever turn down ice-cream.

 

On the Sunday afternoon, we went down to Flamborough beach. It’s a cove type beach, surrounded by cliffs with lots of little caves to walk around in. The beach is quite small, but I think that makes it nicer, and the sea is quite clear and really nice to swim in – which we said we would definitely do next time we’re all down there.
It was really nice to just roll up our clothes and paddle in the water to cool down, and sit on the sand under the cliffs and just chat and relax and have fun.
The view from the top of the cliffs is so lovely – so is the view from the bottom on the beach looking out towards the sea with the white cliffs surrounding it!
I feel like I haven’t done this with friends in such a long time and it was so nice to spend a day at the beach with friends.

 

 

 

 

Ardnamurchan, Scotland.

Ardnamurchan, Scotland. Aka. My paradise.

 

Ardnamurchan Point is the most westerly point on the British mainlands, right in the Highlands of Scotland. It is beautiful, peaceful, full of wildlife, gorgeous beaches and just serenity.

I have been visiting Ardnamurchan since 2003 with my family and I love it now as much – if not more – than I did since the first day I went. I fell in love with the the scenery, how quiet it was and just how beautiful Scotland is and we’ve gone every year since – This year being the first year in over 10 that we haven’t been.

We stay in Portuairk in a caravan literally 20 seconds away from the beach. It’s so remote there that usually, we had the beach to ourselves; we classed it crowded when two families were on the beach at the same time it is that remote.

Portuairk beach has gorgeous white sand, clear blue sea and lots of rocks around to climb on and go rockpooling. The sealife is great, we snorkled so often with the fish and crabs – and also jellyfish which appeared the last couple of years we were there! When the tide came in, we jumped off the rocks and swam around the rocks looking at all the different fish which sometimes came up to you if you stopped swimming and just stayed still.

I’ll admit, sometimes the weather was shocking, one year we got the back end of a hurricane so it was very wet and very cold! But even then I loved being there. There’s something about Ardnamurchan that just makes me happy. The last couple of years I visited there, I was very stressed with university etc. and other personal issues but while I was there, I had days where I was able to put them to the back of my mind and enjoy myself and it felt so good.

Down at the end of the lane, you can sit on the rocks with your feet dipped in the ocean and it is amazingly peaceful. All you can hear is the waves of the sea, the wind around the trees, the sheep, the birds, and the peace and quiet. No city noise. No people. I remember sitting there one evening watching the sun set across the mountains with a storm rolling in from the islands (Eigg, Rum, Canna & Muck) listening to the waves and watching two little seals play about in the water. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

Ardnamurchan lighthouse is a great place to visit while there. They have a nice little tearoom with local paintings of the surrounding landspace – we actually bought one for above our logburner – and also a little gift shop where I still have some of the little ornaments I bought at 7 years old in my bedroom now. You can go up the lighthouse, over 100 steps, to see the fantastic view – if it isn’t all stormy and cloudy – of the islands while a tour guide is giving a talk about the history of the lighthouse. While up there last year we saw a dolphin and seals swimming about in the water. It’s a fantastic view up at the top when you step outside and on a clear day you can see for miles!

 

Down at the bottom of the lighthouse, theres a little room you can sit in if you don’t want to stay outside on a cold day, or you can walk around outside and look at the view. We have heard of people seeing whales, sharks etc. there but we’ve only ever seen a dolphin until last year when a man pointed out a basking shark to us! So I have now actually seen a shark which was really fascinating (although we really only saw most of the fin but still, a basking shark!). In 2014 when there was a big storm night (hurricane year) we actually drove up to the lighthouse to watch the storm – wrapped up very well in about 10 jackets wellies raincoats scarves etc. in the middle of August – but it was great fun! Watching the huge waves bash over the rocks as the huge black clouds made everything look very ominous; I found it fascinating and cold. I managed to get some good pictures before the rain pelted down on us forcing us back to the warmth of the caravan with heating and blankets.

**This photo was taken by my Grandad at the top of Ardnamurchan lighthouse**

Highland cows are beautiful, they’re so cute and lovely and there are a lot of them around Ardnamurchan. As we were driving back to Portuairk once there were a few walking casually along the road not bothered by us in the car one bit. We managed to get some good photos of them before they finally moved so we could drive on. They’re just too cute.

We also see a lot of deer. We go for evening drives around to Kilmory and Ockle as we know that seems to be the spot to see a herd of deer, and again, they’re so cute. The big stags with their huge antlers standing with the doe and fawn just roaming around the mountains and forests. We did also see a few deer when we were at the lighthouse one evening.

 

I love the Scottish accent, and it is strong up in the Highlands; I love the Scottish culture, I know I’m being very stereotypical here, but I love the bagpipes – when played correctly – and I love tartan and I love highland cows! One morning, we took a drive to Kilchoan to the little local shop (by local I mean a 40 minute drive) and as we rounded the corner I saw a man stood outside by the sea with a kilt on playing the bagpipes. It made me smile so much it was a typical scottish stereotype and I loved it! (I also heard someone say murder in a very scottish accent that day and I was ecstatic).

The Isle Of Mull is somewhere to have a day trip while you’re in Ardnamurchan. You can get the ferry across to Mull and we dock in at Tobermory. Tobermory is where Balamory, the childrens TV show, was filmed. It’s also a beautiful place to look around with some gorgeous views if you walk to the top of the hills (or get the bus!). As a child I loved going there! Me and my sister got photos next to the coloured houses from the TV show, we went in the little shops and bought souvenirs. We went last year too, just for a day out and we decided to also get on a bus and just have a ride across the island – this was great to do as we saw a lot of the island and we got off in a little village there and had a cup of tea and a quick walk around before getting the bus back to Tobermory. We got fish and chips from the Fish & Chips Van on Fishermans Pier (Archie The Inventer sings a song and this pier is featured in that video). The fish and chips were lovely and I remembered watching Balamory and seeing the place where we sat on TV. It’s beautiful with all the coloured houses along the harbour and it’s a great day out!! In 2004, on our way up to Scotland one year we actually met the actor who played PC Plum in Balamory and I’m pretty sure it made mine and my sisters entire holiday!

Oban is a place we visit while we are up in Scotland too, usually to get a bit of shopping and to get out and see something new for the day. It’s a nice harbour town with lots of typical scottish tourist shops – which I love to go shopping in! They sell good shortbread, nice tartan scarves etc. I love it. You can go on boat rides to see seals or whales, we did the seal trip and definitely wasn’t disappointed. Last year we did pick a bad day to go with it thundering and lightening and drowning us with rain, it was the worst rain I’ve seen up there. But all the other times we’ve gone it’s been lovely weather warm enough to wear jeans and a tshirt. We visited McCaig’s Tower which was nice to visit last year and gives a really good view of Oban.

I’ve probably not sold anyone with my talk of the weather there when a lot of people go away for their summer to hot countries, but I love Scotland. I don’t care if we get a few days with rain, I expect rain in Scotland. The rain doesn’t stop me swimming, I’m going to get wet anyway so I may as well get in the water. We have lovely weather there too. Yeah it doesn’t reach 30c, but I don’t want that, I hate really hot weather. But when the sun shines on Portuairk beach, when I can feel the sun on my back as I stand in the water looking out to the islands and all I can hear are the birds and the waves. I know I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I know that I’d take a week with a bit of rain over a cramped beach in Spain where you can’t look at the sand because there are so many people on there. I wouldn’t want to be sat by a hotel pool with 100 other people. I want to be on a gorgeous beach in the middle of the highlands with hardly any people around me at all where I can relax and enjoy myself.

I just think the highlands of Scotland are beautiful. Glen Coe is something you can’t explain well enough, driving through the mountains watching the waterfalls through the hills. Driving through cloud or sunshine, or both in the space of 10 minutes. I love it.