Mini Adventure

Yesterday afternoon we went to the beach!

It was much windier than in the city (should have checked the weather before leaving!) and the sea was rough so I only went for a quick paddle. 

Still, managed to grab some scampi and chips before heading home.

Little happy thoughts

I've finally started taking more photos on my phone to blog about. Unfortunately, this hasn't exactly translated in me remembering to write blog posts so I've got all these photos sat doing nothing!

I thought I'd share with you some of the best things that I've done recently...

A cheeky glass of champagne.

A tasty and healthy mid-afternoon snack. Much better than biscuits.

The sea always makes me happier. I didn't even paddle this time.

Dawlish beach, Devon. Beautiful.

Sushi plates arranged into a rainbow. I love sushi and rainbows :)

Another rainbow :)

What's been making you smile recently?

Whistle-stop adventure

(Alternative title: France for 26 hours)

What a weekend! It's been ages since I've had a real adventure (apart from the wedding of course), and this was a good one.

Some friends were getting married in the South of France, very close to the Biarritz/Henday coast which is one of my most favourite places in the world. Our original plan was a slightly more leisurely two night stay, but timings of flights put paid to that. Up at 5:30am on Saturday. Train. Coach. Aeroplane. 

By the way, have I told you about my love of flying? I get so excited when we're waiting at the gate, again when we're taking off and again when we land. I'm like the little kid staring out of the window. There was a very cute little French girl sat in front of me on the flight who did exactly that. When we had landed and everyone was preparing to disembark, she started saying "au revoir avion" which was incredibly cute!

By 11:30am I stepped onto the Tarmac, into lovely sunshine. I was one happy bunny.

We managed a stroll by the beach and a spot of delightfully French lunch before changing into wedding gear and driving up into the hills.

Goats cheese salad and prawns cooked in something amazing - can't remember what it was but it was yummy!

It was a bilingual, bi-denominational ceremony with comedic French minister who went rather off-script - fabulously crazy and totally lovely service.

Champagne, bands, tons of amazing hor d'oeuvres and surrounded by French people (my circulating and new-friend making was rather hampered by my extremely poor French speaking!).

Dinner was multiple courses of beautiful food and we sat with one of the bands which was very entertaining!

Next morning we managed to meet up with our Hendaye-based friends for a breakfast of pastries on the cliff top before jumping back on a plane and making it home in time for dinner. I was thrilled to return to the British wind and rain...   :(

Two sets of friends (including a wedding) - pretty good going I think.

Fireworks on water

Unfortunately, my regular sailing trip clashed with the busiest fireworks weekend of the year so I was unable to meet up with my boating mates (the Pteraductyls). On the bright side, I did end up very close to them and on a boat (well, a barge) in the middle of Portsmouth harbour.

Friday started innocuously enough - I was at the fireworks yard (Rocket Park), ready to start my third day of loading vans, labelling ADR loads (for those vehicles carrying a large amount of explosives), charging radios and other essential prep tasks for the many crews heading out over the weekend.

Then came a change of plan - the team at Portsmouth were down a crew member. Off I trundled with my kit box, PPE (personal protective equipment) and plenty of warm/dry/waterproof layers of clothing.

The rig was very cool - a small show on the pontoon and then two barges full of fireworks. I had to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in, helping to organise the shells - those are the large fireworks that shoot high into the sky and then burst, usually into a sphere of colour. During the rigging, the barges were moored up to the pontoon which made everything much easier. As did the sunny weather!

The cakes (multi-shot fireworks) being laid out, before being secured.

A shot across the barge (including the crane), showing the famous Spinnaker Tower in the background.

These racks of tubes are secured firmly together for the shells, which are placed individually at the bottom of the tubes.

Road Trippin'

As you've probably gathered, I went off exploring for a couple of weeks. It was soooooo much fun and I'm a little disappointed to be home (the holiday blues is normal - right?).

The plans for the trip were pretty sparse: the only things that were booked were the ferry crossings and a hotel in one of the cities we were visiting. Everything else was planned and organised as we went (including a bonus trip to an extra country!).

It looks something like this:

With our major stop points being:
Biarritz/Hendaye (beach, a particular favourite restaurant, surfing and dinner with friends who live in the area)
Madrid (for the pandas at Madrid Zoo, and also the non-camping portion of the holiday)
Barcelona area (city exploration, beach, hopefully meeting with friends - unfortunately we didn't manage this meet-up)

On the way home, we also spent a night in Andorra (why visit two countries when you could visit three?!), met with friends who have recently moved to France (somewhere in the region south east of Bordeaux) and managed an afternoon in Paris.

Beautiful and exhausting :)

PS: I promise some better quality photos to follow - these are mostly quick clicks from my phone!

Summer ambitions

I've read some fantastic Summer Bucket Lists recently, including this amazingly long one from meals and moves. That is going to be one fantastic summer!

My list is somewhat less "wow", but I've tried my best to add in some ambition along the way!

1) To get surfing again. I don't mind if it's in the UK or during my summer holiday, but I've got to get back on the board and work on my skills! On the girlie surfing weekend last year, I just about stood up a couple of times and I desperately need to practise more to master this tricky skill. Note to self: do some upper-body workouts before surfing to limit muscle soreness afterwards!

2) Do 3 ballet classes in one week. I'm all set with a timetable of drop-in classes with teachers that have been recommended to me, so there's no reason not to up my number of lessons :)

3) Spend some quality time working on my Spanish. I'm not great with languages and often freeze up when abroad; hopefully a bit of revision and practise will up my confidence and make sure the words that I do know are close at hand in my brain :) Maybe...

4) See some live music. Erm... This one is totally unplanned so I've no idea how and when it might happen. I'll be in the vicinity of live bands in a few weeks when rigging a firework display, but that's hardly the same as being in the crowd.

Pic from last year's Marvelous Festival, expertly taken on my phone!

 5) Make sushi. I've just been gifted a great iPad video-book-guide-thing and have to try it out!

6) Make more pies. I had a bit of a flurry of pie making after Christmas (after receiving two great pie recipe books) and then haven't touched them again!

What are you going to do this summer?

Dreaming of travelling

In the cold and darkness of this time of year, I feel the urge to make plans for next year - trips and events to look forward to. Some to places I've been before, some to explore new places...

None of these plans are solid, partly because they're so far away and partly because I'm liable to jump in the car/book a flight and disappear off for a couple of days :)

Edinburgh:
I've been to Scotland a few times, but mostly as a child, and never to spend time in a city. And I've heard lots of lovely things about it. With any luck, this trip will combine with a visit to Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK. Despite my rubbish-ness at climbing hills and mountains, I will be getting up this one!
Will need to pack: stylish but warm clothes for exploring Edinburgh (with comfortable shoes) and serious hill climbing gear.

The Norfolk Broads:
As a teenager and young(er) adult, I spent many happy weeks and weekends sailing dinghies up at the Broads. It's one of those places where you slightly step back in time: the pace of life slows and you spend the entire day out in the fresh air. This year I'm hoping to be sailing much bigger boats on the Broads - a real adventure :)

Will need to pack: suncream, hat, buoyancy aid and full waterproofs!

Croyde, West Devon:
After this year's girlie surfing trip, the plan is to head back for more! Maybe even make a slightly longer break of it this time. I am excited already!

Will need to pack: bikini, warm clothes (the weather in the UK is never guaranteed!) and a good book to read on the beach.

Spain:
In an unplanned manner, I've somehow or other made it to Spain for the last four years in a row. Two years were road-trips through France to Spain and back again, full of happy memories of munching on fresh bread and fuet (a Spanish cured meat) and rocking up at campsites late in the evening :) Then there was a work-related trip to Barcelona and this year's brief trips to Tenerife and Alicante. I really like Spain and I think it's likely I'll turn up there again during 2012.

 

Will need to pack: Spanish/English dictionary and phrase book (I speak a bit, but not quite enough!), shorts and summer-y tops, flip-flops and a kindle full of books...

Fabulous - that's enough plans for me to get excited about. For now at least :)

Damp feet and ice cream (otherwise known as "sailing and sore muscles")

Another weekend, another road trip. This time to Chichester (South coast), to a newly refurbished ship at CYE. We arrived at night, so it was a bit of a surprise in the morning to find out it was green!

Our sailing group (known affectionately as Pteraductyls) meets twice a year for a weekend of sailing, relaxing and catching up. Most of the people I have known for more than ten years, so it's a bit like meeting up with family.

So, mostly, we sailed. Please excuse the quality of the pics as I was taking them whilst sailing! And I got the camera wet during a slightly accidental capsize...

A couple of days in paradise

We got away from cold, rainy October in the UK. Granted, it was only for two and a half days, but it was definitely worth it!

And what did we do in Alicante? Well, mostly, we ate...

I love Spanish food!

We also enjoyed the sea and sunshine:

I am officially relaxed! Long may it last...

Surfin' the waves

About 5 months ago, I received an exciting invitation - a girls' surfing weekend in Devon. It was completely unexpected as the invitation came from a new friend (more of a friend-of-a-friend). All I could think of was, "I'm not going to miss this opportunity!"

We travelled to the delightful (if slightly busy with tourists) village of Croyde and stayed in a very cool surf lodge called Baggy Lodge (you can find out about the accomodation here - highly recommended).

photo from the Baggy Lodge website

Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean

Before heading off for Tenerife, we decided it might be fun to try some fishing. I've watched the odd episode of Robson Green's Extreme Fishing and, all in all, it looks like it could be some fun. Plus, I've both been whale watching before and wanted to do something involving the sea - especially with the gorgeous blue waves of the Canary Islands!

Initially, I was pretty worried that there wouldn't be anything fishing-like available. All the leaflets, posters and touts were obsessed with whale watching and parascending. After a bit of hunting around Costa Adeje, I eventually came across a helpful bloke who could organise something appropriate - fishing was a-go. Hurrah!