The Isle of Mull

May 2017

Mull turned out to be a lovely island, extremely green and lush, and full of walks. We were staying in Tobermory, which was the main town. It was a lovely, brightly colored collection of houses that I unfortunately never got a close-up photo of, but it's well worth looking up. The YHA hostel we stayed in was somewhat less pleasant, but perfectly survivable for two nights (however if given the choice, I would recommend staying elsewhere).
















To celebrate our arrival, and what felt like the true beginning of our trip, we decided to have lunch out in Tobermory. As the weather was rather pleasant, we settled ourselves outside at a pub called 'Macgochan's' by the waterfront, and proceeded to share a pot of mussels - cooked in white wine, they were extremely nice.















Having wandered through the small town in a matter of minutes, we decided to try and find the nearby loch we had heard about, and go exploring. The walk turned out to be very pleasant indeed, and I would definitely recommend walking from Tobermory to Loch a Ghurrabain. It reminded me of something out of of wind and the willows, and it was all so green! I suppose all the rain has to be good for something.















The lake, although artificial, was very pretty, and quiet. We were lapped on our walk by a determined running lady, but aside from that had the area to ourselves.


























 I was hoping to see or hear frogs but no luck, I suppose you'd hear them better at night. We stopped for a chocolate snack about halfway around the lake (a chocolate shop in Tobermory had tempted us)















The area was interesting in that it had some industrial looking ruins littered around. Apparently this building was once a powerhouse that provided electricity to the nearby Aros house, long before the rest of the island was granted such luxuries. The house itself is sadly  long destroyed. Urban decay is always interesting I think, and seeing the slow reclamation of nature is somehow beautiful in its own way.















Upon our return to Tobermory, we sat on the wharf and enjoyed the sunshine and the fishing boats (fishy stench included!) and the sound of the gentle waves, before retiring for the evening.
 It was difficult to base our day on the rising and setting of the sun, as it didn't set until very late!

The next day we attempted to get to Calgery beach, which we had heard was wonderful, but this proved fuitile with buses. We then thought we could visit a nearby castle, but this too proved impossible by local transport. So frustrating! We ended up settling on going for a walk from Tobermory, the opposite direction of the day before, heading for a nearby lighthouse one of the hostel staff had recommended, picnic lunches in our backpacks.

























I became very excited about this thistle flower, having never seen one in real life before.

Of course as soon as we arrived at the lighthouse, it began to rain. We were rather used to it by then however, and simply donned our waterproof gear and munched on our sandwiches in the rain. So far the trip was proving more frustrating than planned (always rent a car in Scotland rather than suffering the limitations of public transport!) but just as beautiful and fun as we had hoped!

Scotland begins!

May 2017

With an awkward gap of about two weeks between house-sits, I had decided to take a trip to Scotland - I wanted to see some lochs!!
Initially I planned to go alone, but after getting in touch with my old school friend Dani, her and I decided to go together for the first week, and then I would continue solo for the second.
Heading up on the train through the Yorkshire dales was a trip well worth it on its own, and to celebrate I bought a beer and some crisps, and felt rather like one of the Famous Five going on an adventure (except with beer instead of lemonade. And no smugglers.)















Seeing Yorkshire by train made me decide I would definitely have to return and explore, as the landscape was some of the prettiest I had seen in all of England so far.















I met with Dani that afternoon in Glasgow, from which we would be taking a train through the countryside to the seaside port of Oban, to catch a ferry the next day to the Isle of Mull. I only spent a few hours in Glasgow, so I suppose it isn't very fair to say I wasn't enamored with it, but I wasn't. It felt like a rather grey city, probably good for shopping and nightlife, but not for sites or history.
 Soon we were on the train to Oban however, and all was well! We spent the long train journey catching up and the views of Scotland had us gaping out the window, it was so gorgeous!
















Arriving in Oban, we were pleasantly surprised by the quite pretty port. We checked into our hostel with no problems, staying a place called 'Backpackers Plus' which I would highly recommend! The kitchen was large and well equipped, tea and coffee were free, and there were tonnes of comfy beanbags and sofas to hang out in! The beds weren't bad either.
Feeling like we should make the most of being by the seaside, we went to get the stereotypical fish and chips, and eat them on the wharf. Not being a fan of fish, I settled for spicy deep-fried prawns, which were surprisingly nice (the Scottish seem to have a special love for deep frying things). Of course being Britain, it began to drizzle as soon as we sat down to eat, but we persevered. 

In the morning we took a brisk walk up the hill to see the views overlooking Oban, and then an even brisker walk back down so we wouldn't miss our ferry to Mull!

Sheffield

May 2017

After my brief respite with friends, I headed to the town of Sheffield for a house-sit, and to search for a flat for September, as to my great excitement I had been accepted in the Masters of Science program in Osteoarchaeology at the University of Sheffield!
I was staying on the outskirts of Sheffield city centre, in a place called Meadowhall, looking after a gorgeous little cat called Poppy, who drooled incessantly and liked to jump up on the sofa back behind you and breathe down your neck. It was charming. She was super affectionate and lovely however, drooling aside.

I didn't spend much of my time actually enjoying the peace and quiet as almost every day I was flat-hunting and viewing prospective places. I did eventually find a flat after just over a week, which was excellent news! The second week of my stay the weather improved, and I spent most of it sunbathing and reading in the garden - there are worse ways to spend your time! The one trip I did take into the surrounding countryside was into the Peak district, the lovely national park surrounding Sheffield. The lady whose house I was looking after had a very kind daughter who took me out for a day trip to a place called Castleton, which was so pretty! It was a lovely, though windy day, and we went for an awesome hike into the hills.

















The landscape was windswept and dramatic, and very reminiscent of the countryside from Pride and Prejudice (little did I know that this was exactly the region in which it was filmed!) Sheffield itself felt like quite a grey city, but having these wonderful hikes on your doorstep sort of made up for it. I told myself I had to spend a good deal of time exploring it once I started university - if I could find the time!

















Looking just slightly puffed, here I am at the top of our hike!

















Rather than walk all the way back the way we had come, we decided to take a 'short cut' through some farmland, which actually worked better than expected and allowed us to bump into these adorably friendly dudes!

















Castleton itself was a gorgeous, quaint and quintessentially English town. It was also rather deserted so we wandered at will, enjoying the little river that ran through the heart of the town. Sadly I didn't see Mr. Darcy, though I was half expecting him to pop out from somewhere!

Our last stop for the day before heading back to Sheffield was to one of the many tunnels that riddle the Peak District, back from the mining days. We took a tour, which involved a long boat ride in narrow, flooded tunnels, while the boat driver mildly horrified us with stories of how quickly the tunnels flood when a storm hits. 

Day trip over, we returned to Sheffield, where I thanked my kind tour-guide of the day and went to feed poor Poppy, who came bounding over before I could even unlock the front door, clearly starved for attention!

Hike to the Roaches

May 2017

Upon getting to good old England, and with it turning somewhat summery (as summery as it can feel after Europe, that is) I stayed with Joy for a week, bathed in the ease of speaking English, and went for a hike. This was the first time I had properly heard of the national park the Peak District - like the lesser known cousin of the Lakes District, expect much cheaper, much quieter and just as gorgeous, I was an instant fan.

Little did I know that in less than a year, I would become far more familiar with the Peak District than I expected, as I would move to live on the edge of the National Park!
My first experience was memorable. Hiking isn't something I was ever a fan of, which seems ridiculous when you consider how lucky I was growing up in NZ, which has more hikes than you could ever complete. I don't know when it changed but somewhere along my travels, I realized I loved hiking - as long as it was at my own pace! There's nothing worse than hiking with people who march along like they're on fire, leaving me huffing behind (I blame my short legs, definitely not my fitness level hah!)
Luckily in my present company I knew there'd be no running off and missing taking in the beautiful scenery around, due to a rather heavy package called Harvey. This was one of the last times - to my knowledge- that Joy used her brilliant Kathmandu backpack that Harvey was carried in, and for good reason - he had become atrociously heavy! 

It was on the cusp of summer, and still overcast and windy but that just meant there were fewer people to interrupt our wanderings. We had picked a walk in the charmingly named Roaches, which was far more beautiful than I expected. 

Our destination was the whimsically known Lud's Church, situated in the Black Forest, by the River Dane (feel like you're in a fantasy story yet?). No wonder Tolkien was able to come up with such wonderful place-names for his novels with this sort of thing to draw on.

It's not surprising then I suppose that this place has an interesting history, steeped in folklore and myth. Descending into the cool depths of the chasm known as Lud's church, it suddenly didn't seem so far-fetched that it was known as such due to it being a secret place of worship by the Lollards in the 15th century; or perhaps it was named after the god Llud, Celtic deity of healing. There are numerous etymologies.

The stories of Robin Hood hiding down here were slightly harder to believe, but I guess Sherwood forest isn't too far away!

None of the myths explained this strange phenomenon though, a soft tree trunk that coins from all ages had been pushed into.

Feeling very windswept, we finally found our way out of the chasm and out onto the top of a hill, from there it was only an amble back to the car, affording lovely views of the lovely English countryside.

















One of my favourite things about this country is their dry stone; sometimes called drystack, this age-old method (no really, it's been going on since the Neolithic times) of making stone walls involves the careful interlocking of stones without any mortar to bind them. It's something of a dying art in many places now, which I find sad as not only are the traditional methods rather brilliant, it also looks lovely. Far better than the wire fences hanging at sad angles from old wooden posts that characterizes New Zealand farmland anyway!

A more stereotypical photo of England I couldn't manage if I tried. It's overcast and windy, and the sun doesn't come out nearly enough, but I'm sort of starting to love England, its charm creeps over you without you noticing.

A week holiday in France: Tours, Amboise, Paris

April 2017

A few days later my workaway was over, and as it had made sense to take my flight back to England from Paris, I had organised to meet up with my good friend Emily who lived in the capital, whom I had met in Annecy. We decided to meet halfway in Tours for a night, then pop by Amboise for another night, and then train back to Paris together for a couple of days before I caught my flight.
I arrived early in Tours and met my airbnb host and got settled in. As Emily had work that day she was training in from Paris late that evening, so, reveling in my freedom from workaway and being in France, I wandered down to the local store for baguette, brie and a bottle of red wine to enjoy my evening.

























As it was late by the time Emily arrived, we headed straight to bed so that we could have a full day of exploring in the morning! Tours was a lovely city and I really enjoyed wandering it, walking down to the river and grabbing a drink in place de Plumereau (or Place de Plum as my airbnb host had called it) especially as we were lucky enough that our little apartment was only a two minute walk from it! The bustling square was an awesome place to grab a drink and watch the nightlife, or recover in the shade from the burning sun.


Aside from a lovely old center and shady river to wander along, the shopping district was fantastic and we ended up doing rather a lot of accidental window shopping! That evening we bought a bottle of bubbly and stayed cosy in our apartment catching up.
The next morning was market day, so we bought some supplies to keep our meals cheap and nice, before heading off by train to Amboise.
I had messaged our airbnb host the time of our train arrival and that we would be checking in about half an hour later as it was a bit of a walk from the station, and to my great surprise our host was there to meet us at the station and drive us back to their house! We had the top floor of their house to ourselves, with a lovely big wooden bedroom with twin beds. They were lovely and welcoming, and I was super happy with our accomodation.
Not wanting to lose the daylight, we headed into town to see the castle from the outside, and check out the popular chocolate shop 'Bigot' which I had heard good things about.
















We of course couldn't leave without sampling a thing or three! We had wanted to check out the Chateau de Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci had died, but unfortunately it was too late in the day and it was closed. We admired it from the outside instead, before sitting by the river and picnicking on our chocolate as the sun set. 

The next afternoon, we took the train back to Paris, where I spent a lazy few days reveling in the fact that I was no longer working ten hour shifts in the kitchen! Emily had to work most days, so I didn't do too much except relax, go for walks, and enjoy Emily's company in the evening. After a few days of this however I knew my time in Paris was running out, and I decided to make the most of it.
Friday was a rainy day, but I had already decided to head to Montmartre, and a little rain wouldn't stop me! Because I wanted to see some things on the way, I decided it was worth the long walk rather than hopping on and off buses or the metro. Emily lives only a ten minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, so I was wonderfully located to wander around and take in all the sites (though rather far from Montmartre!)

I had a wonderful day wandering, passing lovely churches, admiring the view from the Sacre Coeur, walking past the famous Moulin Rouge, and wandering past the enormous and beautiful Montmartre graveyard (I wanted to go in but unfortunately it offered no shelter from the rain). 

The next day (and my last full day in Paris) Emily was off work, so we planned to wander parts of Paris. We had discovered we could get a cheap hop on- hop off ticket for one of the river-boats on the Seine and use it as a scenic ferry, so decided to do just that. I highly recommend it, as it was a relaxing and beautiful way to see Paris, and we could use it as much as we liked! We ended up in the 4th Arrondissement, which turned out to be one of my favorites! The Marais neighbourhood was historic and chic, and super fun to wander around. It also turned out to be home to lots of off-beat vintage and second hand stores - time for some spontaneous shopping! I managed to walk away with only buying one thing (restraint!) a beautiful, slightly too big but very cool leather jacket!

Shopping complete, we were heading home but ended up running into an acquaintance of Emily's who invited us to karoake that they were on their way to. We shrugged and said why not? After an hour or so of great amusment, we headed home.


















I was leaving mid the next afternoon, so we decided to continue with our tradition from my last visit and have a picnic for our last day together. We headed off in the morning to get supplies, baguette from the Boulangerie, cheese from the Fromagerie, desserts from the Patisserie and of course bubbly... oh how I miss France!

The highlight for me were these gorgeous 'Merveilleux' cakes - fluffy and gorgeous meringues coated in whipped cream and delicious white or dark chocolate - they just melt in your mouth! Originally recreated by a certain Fred in Lille (and now extended to Paris) the name of the pastries was inspired by people who after the French Revolution dressed extravagantly and were known as les merveilleux for the gentlemen and les incroyables for the women (now the respective names of the dark chocolate and white chocolate cakes). History and dessert, what could be better!

Unfortunately the Paris weather thwarted us this time, and the rain forced us to have a cosy floor picnic in the apartment, I certainly didn't mind! That afternoon,full of cakes and good food, I headed off to the airport, destination London and then straight on a train to see my good friend Joy.

A Weekend in San Sebastian

April 2017

Towards the end of my time on my Workaway, myself and the new Japanese workaway Nioko asked for a weekend off so we could do some touristing. We had worked out that it would be fairly easy to get to San Sebastian as we were so close to the Spanish border anyway, so we decided to go for it!
I'd heard of the town and knew it was firmly on the tourist map, but aside from this I knew nothing about it.















We arrived in the late afternoon and walked the short ten minutes from the city center where our hostel was meant to be. At first we couldn't find it at all, there were no signs and we were worried we may have been ripped off (having prebooked it online) however we finally saw the hostel name stuck to one of the buzzers on an apartment complex! It was very small with only a couple of rooms (each dorm room fitted eight however) and the owner was very nice, happily giving us a map of the city and recommending his favourite eateries!
Nioko had a beautiful camera perfect for close-up shots and she was kind enough to send me her food photos after our trip - all food shots within this post are therefore her excellent photography!

















Our first stop was to the Pintxo (tapas) bars, where we were eager to try out the food San Sebastian is famous for! The city has so many Michelin starred restaurants it felt a bit ridiculous, however with our budget just slightly below the lofty reaches of Michelin, we headed for the quainter style of eatery.

















We didn't do too much that day beyond wandering and eating (far too much as we were too excited to choose what to eat so tried as many as we could!) We had an early night so as to make the most of the next day, and I was pleasantly surprised that the beds were comfortable and clean, and the lockers all had locks on them so we didn't have to worry about our stuff. The rooms were co-ed and I was soon forced to stuff my earplugs in to block out the snores, but aside from that our roommates were quiet and we were able to sleep well.
We decided to head to the iconic mountain around the bay as we had heard the views from the top were spectacular. We knew there was an old funicular that would take us up the hill, so we decided to walk to the base rather than taking a bus. It was a ridiculously beautiful day and already felt like summer, allowing us to enjoy our beach-side stroll immensely.















The small mountain of  Monte Igueldo dominated the town, and upon reaching it I was rather glad we were taking the funicular up! It was also incredibly sunny and I was starting to wonder if I'd applied enough sunscreen. The funicular had been running since the 1920s, and gave us a lovely old-fashioned and slow paced trip up the hillside.

























I was surprised and somewhat dismayed to find the hilltop had been taken over by children's fun-rides and looked like a mini Disney-land. However if you climbed a little higher, these dropped away and we were left with spectacular views.
















Obligatory photo-of-ourselves-in-front-of-something-cool completed, we admired the views for a little longer before heading back down.

















With perfect timing, we realized it was now lunch time, and the chance to try more food!

















A few hours of slowly picking our way through every Pintxos that appealed, we decided to push our limits further with one of the town's specialties, cheesecake at 'La Vina'.















Feeling completely stuffed, we stumbled to the beach and napped the afternoon away in the sun, watching the surfers jealously (well, maybe that part was just me!)

For our last night in San Sebastian, we decided to head to what we had heard was the best cheap Pintxos bar in town, Borda Berri. This quickly became my favourite restaurant that we tried, as although the bar was so crowded (a problem we found at every place at lunch and dinner-time however) that we were literally squished upright as if we were on the London Underground at 5pm, the food was so damn good it was worth both the wait and the crowds! Drinking cheap beer didn't hurt either.
Unlike the other bars we had been to, there was no food on the counter and instead the Pintxos were made fresh, and although a little more expensive (by which I mean 3.50 per dish rather than 1-2.50) they were also larger (and much, much nicer!) Every single thing we tried was to die for, but the fresh grilled Octopus blew me away, and was easily the best I've ever tried.

















We had befriended a couple of our dorm-mates that morning, and decided to all go out for a drink after dinner together, as it was everyone's last night in town.
Keiko headed off to bed early, so before too long we felt like the start of a bad joke - 'an American, a Kiwi and a Frenchman walk into a bar...' Jokes aside, it was a lovely evening and a wonderful trip overall!