I'm so excited!

As you'll know if you follow my social media posts, I travel around the UK a LOT and it's easy to get jaded with travel but something happened when I was in Cheltenham a few weeks ago which really
made me smile and has stuck in my mind.  We were walking through the town centre and a man just in front of us had a small child with him.  There were a number of roadworks in the area and the pavements had clearly been marked up prior to digging resulting a mish mash of confusing graffiti and a large number of white crosses. Each time the small child saw a white cross he excitedly shook his dad's arm, pointed at the cross and shouted "Look daddy, treasure!" - after the forth of fifth time I was still behind them chuckling away but daddy was becoming less enthusiastic.

How cool would life be if every time we saw a white cross on a pavement we thought there might be treasure there?  How easy is it to lose excitement at the things we see every day?  I know I'm somewhat over excitable (my husband may step in here and edit that to "very over excitable"!) but even if I don't jump up and down over white crosses on the pavement I still think the world is a pretty amazing place.

Take yesterday for example, we tackled a long low level hike to the east of the Lake District and I got excited over the following things.

• Lambs - because, well, just look!

• My first cuckoo of the year - no photo of the bird but it was in these beautiful woods.

• My first swifty swallowy thing of the year - no I don't have a photo of it and no I haven't yet figured out the differences between them all, but it was still lovely to see. 
• My first ever ash flowers.  Clearly I've not been paying close enough attention, but I've honestly never seen these before and had to ask someone what they were.  Fascinating!

• An old milestone buried in grass with barely any markings on which we only knew was an old milestone because the guidebook we were using told us so.
• Blue skies and a good breeze - my favourite weather combo (probably makes me weird as well as over-excitable!) 

• Finding a lovely stream to sit next to in the sunshine and enjoy our afternoon tea and cake

I have a friend who is fortunate enough to have travelled the globe and seen many spectacular sights - but I feel really sorry for her because she once told me that because she's seen so many amazing things the typical sights in the UK don't really move her any more.  She doesn't dislike them, she just doesn't get a buzz from seeing them and I think that is so sad.  Are amazing sights like some sort of drug where your tolerance increases the more you have meaning you have to have bigger and bigger hits?  To be honest, I'd rather be like the little boy getting excited over all the white crosses on the pavement - life is way more fun that way.

Another thing I still get excited over is when folks ask if they can send me something to review - I don't always say yes, but this time it was a rucksack and, as I needed a new one and as I seem to be perennially potless (seriously, all writers and NOT JK Rowling! 😀), I agreed.  It was a gorgeous bright orange rucksack from Thule and I was very excited and loved almost every single thing about it!

First up I love the colour - it goes with my coat, hat, sunglasses, scarf and flask - plus it clashes nicely with the purple in my hair.

Secondly I love the two handles on the top - SO easy for lugging it on and off luggage racks on trains and moving it around the house.

Thirdly I love the fastening on the top - it rolls over and clips at the back so it's a) a little more shower proof and b) a little more thief proof when I'm using it in big cities.

Fourthly it's a bit like a TARDIS - when there's not a lot in it, the side straps can pull it in nice and tight so it's small and sleek, or you can expand them and cram a couple of days worth of stuff in there.  

It's also narrow enough that I can put a flask in the deep side pockets and walk along the aisle of a Virgin train without conking people on the head as I pass, and it tucks nicely onto my lap when the train is busy.

Oh - and it has a very handy little pocket where I can store my phone cable and spork - both items essential for both hotels and hills. (The waterproof cover is also in that pocket)

The only thing I wasn't excited about was the interior pocket arrangement - they're undeniably handy but one gets in the way of the other a little - but it's a minor niggle in an otherwise great rucksack.

And if all of that has got YOU excited about my new rucksack, you can find more about them on the Thule website here.  

PS Don't forget that I am ALWAYS excited about our books - they are full of fab photos and fun facts and we are happy to ship directly and cut out the Amazon middle man.  Click the pic to find out more & order yours.  😀

Click here to find out more

It's all about me...

I don’t often do this but today I’d like to tackle the mildly contentious topic of selfies.  I’ve had many long and interesting conversations with folks about selifes, especially when it comes to travel writing, blogging and social media.  Personally I really don’t enjoy taking them and only include them very rarely because, whatever my opinion, photos with people in regularly perform better (attract more likes and shares) than photos without people in them.  I generally only include them if we’re doing something particularly interesting and even then it’s usually just the one of me/us in amongst a pile of blissfully “me free” photos.

My reasons for not liking them are various – first up, who can honestly say they like looking at photos of themselves (apart from the Kardashians and anyone on TOWIE)?  Secondly I hate the fact that someone, somewhere, might recognise me – it actually happened once, ages ago on top of a fell, and it completely freaked me out.  Thirdly, and for me most importantly, the stories I’m aiming to tell via the blogs and the photos are rarely about me, they’re about the scenery, the history and/ or the wildlife.  I get really frustrated when my friends travel the world and their FB feed is full of photos of exotic locations, except that I can’t see the exotic locations because there are an assortment of grinning faces in the way.  I love my friends, but I already know what they look like and just keep mentally screaming at them to get out of the darned way so I can see the view behind them!

"Get out of the way - I can't see the sea!" 😁

It’s particularly noticeable on Instagram where I’ve had people follow me and, when I’ve gone to view their profile to see if I want to follow them back, I’m greeted with several thousand images of themselves grinning in front of mountains, landmarks or meals.  To me it comes across as narcissistic in the extreme, but these people often have tens of thousands of followers.  Let’s be blunt here, much as I love writing I also need to earn a living so attracting followers is important for potential exposure and (hopefully but not as often as I’d like), selling books.

I tried putting a Twitter poll out a while ago to ask people what their views on selfies were and the overwhelming response was that they didn’t like them.  Now either different people are responding to my polls or else someone is telling porky pies because photos with my ugly mug in them will pretty much always get more likes and re-tweets than those without.  I also asked a similar question about super saturated photos versus “as nature intended” photos and Twitter told me that folks preferred “as nature intended” and yet it’s the super colour soaked photos that often attract more attention.  I’m beginning to think that Twitter is not to be trusted!

The "Shiny Shoes of Awesomeness"
Are photos of feet "selfies"?

I’ve spent time looking at travel bloggers – those with masses of followers and those with only a few to see if I can spot a difference.  I’m telling you now that if there was one, simple, straightforward answer that I could give you this blog post would break all known records and I’d become rich overnight. 

Photo credit: Phil Rigby

I’m not about to name the folks who don’t appeal to me because that feels rude and they are lovely people, I just personally wouldn’t feel comfortable doing what they’re doing.  I’ve wrestled with the “do I have to include more selfies when I really don’t want to just to improve my engagement figures” question for a while and eventually was inspired by one feed in particular: Mallory on Travel He’s got tens of thousands of followers and yet if you scroll through his Instagram feed you’ll find hundreds of gorgeous photos from around the world and he’s not in any of them.  He’s proved to me that selfies aren’t essential so I’ve decided to follow his example.  “People like people” so I know I need to appear somewhere and if you really want to know what I look like take a peek at my profile photos, other than that I’ll mostly be keeping my face well away from the camera.  

Having said all that, I’d be really interested to hear what your views are – and this isn’t one of those “post a question at the end of a blog to improve engagement stats” moments, I really am genuinely interested in understanding other viewpoints on this one.

Weather is a state of mind

View from Porthmadog Harbour

Maybe it's because I don't have kids that I find some of the things kids do so funny.  I recently read a post on Facebook about the things kids have tantrums over and one parent described an occasion when his young son had a meltdown because he didn't want his gloves to be blue.  He'd apparently worn them many times before, without incident, but on this particular day he wanted his green gloves to be blue.  And they weren't.  So he threw a world class tantrum.  Judging by the comments, even those people with kids thought this was amusing, so I wasn't alone in my sniggering.

The thing is I can see the exact same logic, or lack of it, when it comes to ranting, railing and moaning about the weather.  The weather on a given day is not going to change just because we hate it anymore than that kids gloves are going to miraculously change from green to blue.  The weather is what it is so we may as well just get on with it.  Yes, it's been miserable this year but so what?  Stick on your thermals and your waterproof and get out there anyway.

We're just back from a week in Wales and for the five full days we were there the weather was rain, sun, rain, sun, rain - in that order.  No messing around with a bit of grey skies and drizzle - nope, we either had full on sun or full on rain.  I kid you not, these are 5 photos, one from each day:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 (Steve was pulling that face on purpose!)  😁

Plus, is it just me, or are the folks that moan most about the weather the ones that are least likely to venture outdoors anyway?  So, basically, the problem with the weather for them is that it's a bit wet when they're getting from their car to whichever building they're visiting.

In an effort to buck the "whinging about the weather" trend, here are my five fab reasons to be happy when it's cold and wet.

1.  It's a perfect excuse to visit museums, art galleries and interesting old homes.  Yes, I know they're open when it's sunny too but they're perfect for soggy wet days.  They usually have great cakes too.  Porth y Swnt at Aberdaron on the end of the Llyn Peninsula is utterly fascinating and a brilliant combination of art gallery and museum.  It tells of the history of the region as well as celebrating its wildlife and there is plenty there for kids to do too.

Porth y Swnt at Aberdaron

2.  Because the sound of the rain, either on trees or drumming on the roof of the campervan is so relaxing.  You can buy relaxation albums which contain the sound of rainfall - but why spend your money on that when you can hear it for free?  Plus it makes great patterns on the windows.

3.  Because the beaches, and any other outdoors attractions, are way quieter - in fact you can usually have them all to yourself while everyone else hides away indoors.

Lloyd George's Grave - not a soul around

Miles of empty beach - perfect solitude

4.  Because when it's stormy the sea looks AMAZING!  I couldn't do it justice with my camera phone but the waves crashing onto the rocks were spectacular.  You don't get that in the middle of a heatwave!

Aberdaron

5.  Because when you've been out and about getting soggy, cold and wet, there's nothing nice than a hot drink and a slice of well earned cake - or curling up under the duvet with your favourite people.

FAVE cake of the week from The Withes Brew in Pwllheli

You could even use the time to teach yourself some new and highly valuable skills. 

Of course we made the most of the sunshine too - the only thing I wasn't impressed with during the entire week was the £12 per person entry fee for Portmeirion.  We checked their website but couldn't see mention of much other than hotels, accommodation, shops and cafe's so we gave it a miss and had a fabulous adventure on Black Rock Sands instead.

Here's the rest of our trip in a nutshell:

Beach walk near Llanystumdwy

Criccieth Castle

Pwllheli Beach

Quick paddle!

Morfa Nefyn

Morfa Nefyn

Morfa Nefyn - excellent beach walk!

Criccieth

Porthmadog

Borth-y-Gest

Black Rock Sands

Black Rock Sands

A dirty bike is a happy bike!

Aberdaron

Abersoch

For those who are interested we stayed at the Camping and Caravanning Club Site at Llanystumdwy - it's small but perfectly placed for exploring the region.  The bus will pick up and drop off at the campsite gates.  

Show me the way to glow home...

Lighting the way...

Those fabulous fellows at Fix the Fells have come up with an innovative way to fix the fells AND help keep walkers safer after dark - glow in the dark gravel.  From Sunday April 1st all the paths fixed by their amazing team of volunteers will contain this futuristic new product, and it's hoped that other National Parks will follow suit.

The inspiration behind the idea

They've taken their inspiration from computer games such as Fable where the player's route ahead is illuminated so they never get lost.  Inexperienced hikers getting lost on the fells after dark is a serious issue so it is hoped that this revolutionary approach will help to keep people safer.

The gravel is environmentally friendly and is made by rolling the gravel in a large drum, coating it with iridescent plankton from the seas around the Maldives.  In preliminary tests it was found that the rainfall in Cumbria was sufficient to keep the plankton alive and glowing.  Co-incidentally it is also hoped that the farming of this plankton will provide a much needed boost to the Maldivian economy.

In the future, as night falls across the fells, the paths leading the way to the various summits will glow gently, aiding any walkers still trying to find their way home and also creating a beautiful artwork of interconnecting routes, best viewed from a local pub garden with a pie and pint of local ale.

Happy (and safe!) hiking!

(P.S. Yes, of course this is an April Fool's wind up - but Fix the Fells really do need our money to keep the fells in tip top condition - to learn more about their fantastic work and make a donation PLEASE CLICK HERE.  Thank you 😀)