Algarve: Portugal, December 2014

This was an impromptu ‘holiday’. My Grandma had recently got very ill, leaving her unable to read and drive so she constantly needed someone with her. Originally my father was going to Portugal where she lives, along with my brother and sister for some mountain biking practise. But somehow all four of us elder children ended up going.

I really didn’t want to go, but after lots of pressure from my family I thought maybe I should go after all, spend some time with my Grandmother and get a little break from the house (although I was still doing housey stuff while I was in Portugal). Primarily consisting of helping my Grandma while everyone else was out, walking her dogs, cooking dinner etc.

I’ve been to Portugal many times, so I spent a lot of my time

Scotland: Fort William, Ben Nevis & Stirling

Scotland:

I went to Scotland few months back, specifically to Fort William which is where Ben Nevis, the UK’s tallest mountain is situated. Unfortunately I never finished the post for this trip, so here is condensed version of what I wanted to write.

My brother had a bike race deep in the Scottish highlands near Fort William, which is a settlement on the shores of Loch Linnhe. Basically next to huge lake.

The journey was about 8 hours by car, needless to say I slept through some it, and I tell you it wasn’t a pleasant sleep. I slept more out of necessity ( I wouldn’t be able to see anything in the dark anyway) because I wanted to feel awake when we arrived to our campsite. I hate to sleep on long car journeys, the idea of missing out on epic scenery is just too sad.

Scotland did not disappoint, I had never been to Scotland before, and honestly I didn’t know what to expect, except of course dramatic landscapes.

I still can’t decide which was more breathtaking: the huge open spaces with river and lakes, surrounded by mountains- or the sheer isolation and barrenness of the beautiful land formation.

When we arrived our accommodation of choice was a static caravan, it really felt like home after a week there. It wasn’t luxury, but we were out most of the day so it didn’t matter. Who needs luxury to have a good time?

Here are some photos from our trip, driving to and from Fort William.

Wales: Bala-A Race Weekend

On the 3rd and 4th of May I went to Bala in Wales for the Pearce Downhill Series, for my readers who don’t know what it is -The Pearce Downhill series is a series of events for Downhill Racing. A substantial hill is chosen, the race track marked out by yellow tape and poles, then dudes and ladies on downhill bikes ride down aiming to get the lowest time possible. Yes, they are fast, yes there are jumps, and yes there are crashes.

My brother and sister happen to partake in this sport and they were racing that weekend. I went to support them and enjoy the change of scenery (although it pretty much looks like where I live, it was a bit more epic). The hill that the riders would be racing racing down is situated on the beginning of a closed valley with only a scattering of houses and a waterfall at the end.

 

Some of the campers, nope, that isn’t the race hill.

Saturday is a practice day where the riders analyse the race track and race down it in preparation for the actual Race on Sunday. The weather was as expected, no rain on Saturday but it was cloudy and there was some humidity to the atmosphere. We set up a Gazebo tent where we could chill and sleep since we got up quite early to leave the house.

Doha, Qatar

Greetings dear  readers,

Right now I am on holiday in Doha, Qatar and this is actually my second trip here!

I most probably won’t be able to post anything on my blog unfortunately, however I will try my best to try and post something for you all, a quote or some photos. I do really want to do a post on my entire holiday here, maybe in two parts since 10 days is quite a log time to do a post about. Thankfully the flight here was wonderful, I had an exit seat and no one sitting next to me so it was just as good as business class (which my sister and father were in) my ticket was booked last minute, but I still got a good seat.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the flight, since I’m not one to document those kind of things. Wish I had a photo of the view as we were landing though.I will be attending lectures and try and get up to some interesting things while I’m here. And try not to eat too much.

Please like my Facebook page here, I will be uploading some photos on there. Follow me on Twitter here.

Aaliyah

 

 

Acton Burnell Castle

Yesterday afternoon my little brother requested that we all go for a walk. So my father said ‘Where do you want to go?’….and Little Brother said ‘To a castle.’

So most unexpectedly while I was happily finishing a drawing (which I used in this post here) all of a sudden there was a rush of coats and wellies and I had to get my siblings ready to go.

Then with a flurry of a headscarf and pulling on my abaya, while chucking things in my rucksack, closing ink bottles and disposing of dirty water I finally  grabbed my coat and plonked myself in the car. Ready to go. Deep breath.

I didn’t take my customary raincoat, but instead brought my knee length down coat. It proved useful since there was some light rain and it was chilly considering we would be standing around instead of brisk walking. I assumed this castle was built on a hill (to spy approaching enemies) and so it would be windy, but it wasn’t.

I thought we were going to visit Hopton Castle (which my father and sister were going on about) but we actually went to Acton Burnell Castle. This castle was built in the 13th century by Robert Burnell who was the Bishop of Bath and confidant of King Edward I. This castle is is pretty much a ruin, but not like the other stumps of stone around England.

I have some photos which I shot while I was there:

There was a huge cedar tree that actually dwarfed the castle.