Hadrian's Wall Path ( the last 3 days)

Well, it's just as well I keep travel journals as this series of posts has taken way too long. I am sorry. So much has been happening here and it's all been quite stressful and I end up sleeping a lot more than I'd like. So, let's get that journal out and finish this! I walked all those bloomin' miles and I want to share the accomplishment.

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Day 5 was a sight seeing day and after the Hell of the day before it was so much appreciated. We visited Vindolanda and Hexham. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and acted like tourists for a change :)

But then we were back on the Path by Day 6 and what a day it was - Glorious! We hopped on a bus and got back to roughly where we left off on Day 4 - Housesteads. It's a really impressive place and worth a good looking at but we had done that a few years ago so this time the only thing that mattered was the passport stamp. These only start in May and you are meant to have an official path passport but, so what, we had missed lots in the past and this one went on the map and in my journal etc.

From here (chilliest place in England!) the walking is lovely and it's not too hard. We even had a temple to sit in and have our lunch break; the Temple of Mithras (a pretty odd Roam cult) which was unusual. The altars are copies as there is no protection here and the real ones are in a nearby museum. Then came THE BEST BIT of the whole walk  in my opinion - Black Carts to Walwick. The views were great, we got into the best walking stride yet and the sun burst out of the sky.

Another passport stamp at Chester's Fort and then onto a pub! Yay! From here the day was over and we merrily waited for an Eco Cab to take us to our next hotel - there was no way I was walking on those fast country roads without footpaths for a couple of miles, way too dangerous.

Day 7
We were once again at a hotel bang on the line of the trail AND it had it's own passport stamping post. This made the day start with a smile, that was until we saw the marker for a recently deceased walker who had died here; as I said, the roads were busy and without footpaths.

We had many miles to dander in beautiful fields and around farms, saw more Roman stuff (getting boring now, haha) and unusual species of sheep. There was a long section beside a main road on footpaths which was wick but we came to a pub at the end of it and had sandwiches and a wee beer :) In this town was the last of the best wall remains so we detoured and appreciated them then moved on. We ended up in a strange place with loads of security cameras which we later found out was the 'Close House Agricultural Science Field Station' and surrounding land.

After that we ended up on the truly beautiful Wylan Waggon Trail and saw the river Tyne for the first time. As we moved closer to Newcastle it became busier here and the Path changed it's name to the Hadrian's Way and the Tyne Riverside Park with many children playing and people out with their dogs. We bedded down just off this park and all the pain relief was needed to get me through the rest of the evening.

Last Day
Oh my, good golly, crikey and such. This was the day we thought wouldn't come, haha. The sun was strong and not a cloud was to be seen in the blue sky as we walked triumphantly in our trail shoes (instead of boots) into the town of Newcastle along the riverside and all those famous bridges. What a day and what an assault of the senses - it was so noisy and goodness there were so many people.

We cheated and I don't even care, we walked to our Hotel and dumped our backpacks. We couldn't be annoyed with them anymore and there is something about almost reaching your goal that both exhausts you and spurs you on to get it done!

With the bags gone we tackled the Metro system and went out to Segedunum Fort and the end of the trail; the glorious finish line and the conclusion of our adventure. It was done, we got our photos taken, looked at the museum and bought t-shirts. The day was so extremely hot though that we soon tired of the very idea of being hikers anymore and so, back to the Metro, back to the Hotel and to celebrate and to sleep. Ah, sweet air conditioned sleep.

P.S. Newcastle?! You are drunk!

Love and hugs
Carrie x

Hadrian's Wall Path (Part 2)

Day 3 of hiking was lovely; the birds were singing, the temperature was warming up, we saw many a lamb and the blossom on the trees was stunning. It was like a fairy tale, and my love for Cumbria was cemented. I have nothing but good things to say about that day and we treated ourselves to a trip off trail to the Lanercost priory cafe, saw the first real parts of the Wall and even came across a young lad's enterprising snack stop. It all ended in a stay at one my favourite Inns, just over the border, in Northumberland.

Day 4 was different, very different, though not to begin with. We had a hearty breakfast and though very cold (1 degree), the day was bright and good for walking. It wasn't long until we hit Thirwal castle but then it really wasn't long until the first set of 'crags' ever. Crags are evil steep ups and downs and from a distance they look like waves in the landscape with shear drops down the left hand side.

After Walltown came Cawfield crags and a break - boots off, tea and lying down. Then it became majorly poop!! Between here and Windshield Crags I began to lose it; I was hating life, disassociated, unable to speak, to focus my eyes. My bad shoulders and neck were not being helped by all the pain medicines in the world and the tears were gathering.

Who was I trying to impress? I had been pushing myself far too hard over the past days and now it was all catching up and overwhelming me. Goodness sake I spend most of my life in this living room! Well now was the time to gather absolutely everything I had and we walked, up hill, slowly and continued on to the highest part of the whole damn walk. NEVER have I been so glad to see a trig point and in the distance a little hamlet - there be beer!

Oh boy, I shall never understand how we got through that day but I do remember the taste of victory in a local brewery/pub when it was over. Then we caught a bus to our next hotel and I slept, it was like Odin sleep, haha.

Much love
Carrie x

Hadrian's Wall Path (Part 1)

I still can't get my head round it; this time last week Andrew and I were walking into Newcastle upon Tyne in the baking hot sunshine, finishing our epic hike along Hadrian's Wall Path. 

But, slowly going through the multitude of photographs I took each day, it is starting to seem like the evidence is there...we did it! 

We did it our way too...neither of us believing in the idea that you must do every little bit (even when it is on dangerous roads or through swamps) as quickly as possible in order to deserve the accolade of being a real hiker and earning our badge. The glorification of hardship and suffering is just not healthy!

Heck it was hard enough as it was..and one's health problems don't stay at home when on holiday; you can't leave them at security either.

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Here are the first two hiking days via some of my favourite photographs 😊

Day 1  Bowness on Solway > Carlisle

Day 2  Carlisle > Newtown

Hope you like the look of our adventure so far. I'm trying not to overwhelm you with photos or we'd all be here all day, haha. Oh Gosh, I took so many.

Love and hugs, see you soon.
Have a great weekend
C xxx

Tenerife (living dangerously)

In the middle of our trip my body just simply shut down and so I ended up on the very comfy sofa of our wee house for the morning/afternoon. What a disappointment. Andrew however went off and did a hike, a crazy hike that was more like a vertical climb up the steep hillside. When I say it almost broke him you know it was hard - I would most likely have died, right there, a corpse to be rolled down hill and taken home in a box, done, finished, kaput. He has kindly lent me these photos.....

Andrew's crazy hike up above El Palmar

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But then the big day came and I was refreshed and to be honest rather excited and floating about on adrenaline; we were going to Volcano land in the El Tiede National Park. Breakfast was gobbled down and forgive me, but I had to pee a million times due to nerves, but then backpacks ready and off we went!

Chinyero
So my friend, have you ever walked around a Volcano? I hadn't and I really didn't expect what we came across doing the circular trail around Chinyero, over lava flows and ash and through burnt pine tree forests and paths littered with the largest pine cones I've ever seen.

Allow me please to be your guide...

top - the path from the roadside; left - the true path starts; right - massive pine cones!

So this was the official start of our route, as modelled by Andrew, note the white and yellow painted lines on the rock behind him, they denote an 'ok you're going the right way'. I step off the path to hug a pine, it smelt so good! The paths were all winding and beautiful and then they opened right up and lava rock was everywhere.

Then it began to narrow and after a wee climb we ended up on pure lava rock without plant life bar some lichen, for a good time and then saw this massive erratic rock. This section ended abruptly with a move to grey sludge and red grit.

The other side and the lava rocks continue on as a river into the fog, we followed it a little while and then turned back into forest with slightly rougher paths which soon smoothed out. Oregano grows wild by the side of the paths at this point and it is so refreshing to pick some, crunch it and smell it in.

 The landscape is at it's most beautiful (the ground is bouncy with pine needles) when you get your view of the volcano. I took so many photos from all areas but I like this one due to the memory of the smell and cool air just here. The rest of the way back to car was a lovely walk though open pine forest, slowly climbing upwards.

The last eruption here was in 1909 but in 2012 there was also a fire that ripped through the forest so it adds to the drama of the landscape and the other worldly atmosphere of the hike. The smell is beautiful bar that of the lava flows which do still have a peculiar sulphur whiff and a feeling of being on Mars as some of the lava stones are red and so in fact is the hue of the volcano. We met a good few people doing this walk but everyone was going in the opposite direction! It's circular but come on, the guide books say to go our way.

Us and Chinyero

El Tiede
Oh my goodness, this is one of those bucket list adventures that you simply must do, if it's possible. The landscape around El Tiede is mesmerising and the view of the volcano took my breath away, it's the 3rd highest in the world. Even the drive to and from the area is other-wordly, I imagine it will stay in my memory forever. It was hard to capture it in photographs as it changed so much mile after mile, so I'll leave it at one panorama with the Volcano in it.

El Tiede Volcano with many different coloured deposits and the ridge of the caldera.

It's 27 Euros to get the cable car to the top of the volcano but I believe it was totally worth it, the ride up was fun in itself. Neither of us have never before stood so far above the clouds and had such vistas stretch out before us. It was cold and there was snow, it being  -4 and 55km/h when we were there. But you just can't wipe the inane grin off your face and we even got the giggles. The paths were really good but the tiredness had hit me a bit and I think I had mild altitude sickness, so I was wobbly for a tiny bit.

1. The extra bit up to the 'cooking pot' 2. Recycling is important even up here! 3. The view from the cable car (the shadow) and the caldera.

It's odd that this was so awesome but I just can't find the words to talk about at, it was a simply overwhelming sensory experience. I really can't show all my photos from up here as picking which to leave out is too hard.

panorama of the caldera from the viewing point at the cable car station

Only a few people get to right up to see into the volcano and you have to pay extra and have organised a license beforehand. Believe me, I had seen enough to blow my wee mind! We were the cable car last down but one and the only sad thing was the shop was closed - I so needed a souvenir.

To finish the day we had grand driving tour of the national park and north coast back to Garrachico for a late dinner and then home for the last evening, exhausted. The last day was spent driving all the way back to the airport sucking in every sight from the road that we could, sadly it doesn't take long to end up back in resort hell with millions of horrid apartments, water parks and clubs. Give me rural any day...

El Tiede waves goodbye from above the clouds as we fly homeward.

Hugs and love
Carrie

Next - back to the allotment!

Tenerife (the quiet life)

I'm at that point in the year where it feels like I have been doing push ups everyday and now, well my arms are trembling and my knees are weak and each attempt is causing more sweat to drip from my brow and I just can't go on. It's been dark, dreary and cold out there again and my energy levels are at about 2 out of a possible 10. I've been out of action since last Sunday's hike in the freezing cold Mournes, which was not nice at all; it was the last straw and I have been through a delightful breakdown this past week. But let's not get into that, eh?

Goodness me I was falling asleep there, staring at the hypnotic blinking text cursor. I need a good slap about the face with a wet lettuce. [Or....as it turned out, a bloody long nap.]

I know what will cheer us all up...blue skies, picturesque scenes and the wonder of a volcano or two. Yes, I'm talking Tenerife photo time!

1. On our way above a blanket of cloud. 2. A roadside stop to view the rugged landscape and La Gomera in the distance 3. The stunning landscape, crazy road and Masca (a tourist trap!)

It only takes 4 hrs and around 20 mins to escape the weather and drudgery of Northern Ireland and reach the shores of Tenerife, and it is all the more wonderful when you get the window seat, as I always do! Everything was fine and dandy with our flight, our hire car and Andrew's driving from South to North East (Isla Baja); the weather played it's part beautifully and the locals were simply a delight as we stumbled through our Spanish. But the scenery! wow.

El Palmar

1. Sculpture of the Devil who runs through El Palmar during the Harvest, on fire! 2. Just a few of the hiking paths, all fabulously signposted along their length. 3. Andrew at our house with one of the cats :)

It was the first time we used AirBnB and we stayed in the most idyllic little place - here's the link - Esperzana's Place. It was in the little village of El Palmar and sweetly tucked away down a lane you had to go on foot and which was so extremely quiet and dark at night, I've never seen so many stars - Heaven. We were surrounded by vineyards on one side and (after a little walk further) stunning views of small terraced farm plots and banana plantations down to the sea, on the other, but mostly we were nestled deep amongst the locals in an very old small farmhouse, complete with it's own cats.

Inside our beautiful house, the kitchen and the little patio area outside

We were met my the owner Andres and he told us all about the area, the hiking to be considered, the places to visit, the history of the house (well two houses knocked together) and he tipped us off with a great restaurant recommendation. Travel makes us hungry. We did have a beautiful big box of local organic fruit and vegetables and some bottles of banana wine (!?) but who wants to cook on the first night!

Very popular dish of wood fired chicken and chips

We went after a darn good look about to the restaurant and had chicken and chips cooked over pine wood and needles - wow, it was gorgeous. Not terribly fancy but the flavours were so good and the smell! This place was dead when we went though it was filling up as we left but on Sunday - it was bunged all day and night, with people from all over the island. What a little gem.


Garrachico

1. Gift shop and beautiful old buildings and cobbled streets. 2. Always, there are groups of men talking all over one another in every village. 3. Courtyard into someone's home - heavenly. 4. Insane para-gliders can be seen all over, the cliffs are so high!

Behind this beautiful church there is a square which is fabulous for people watching and you can also get a snack and a beer. We sat for a good time and saw all of life pass by from a newborn baby to a large funeral, tourists and locals, friendly policemen and the most beautiful hotel. I'm not a beach person, this is where I love to sit in the sun and see the comings and goings of a place.

1. Iglesia de Santa Ana and my hubby 2. In La Plaza Libertad with his and her's beers

The seafront of Garrachico is pretty special with natural pools and channels formed by the lava flow of a volcano eruption in 1706 which destroyed half the town. In the summer they are swam in but in January - not so much. Beside them stands an old Fort - Castillio de San Miguel, pretty cool to look at but it had just closed when we got there.

1. One of the many pools with steps down into it! Not today thank you. 2. The Castillio de San Miguel

Punta de Teno
At the most westerly point of Tenerife there is a beautiful working lighthouse (only a year older than me) and the steep and dangerous looking Los Gigantes cliffs and gorges. The road collapsed last year out to this point so traffic is restricted at the weekends, luckily however that meant we were there at dusk and the light was beautiful.

1. Los Gigantes from a sweet little harbour. 2 The lava outcrop of La Punta de Teno. 3 The lighthouse (solar powered) 4. Rainbow just before a storm

Hugs
Carrie x

Join me next time for.... VOLCANOES

Coming and Going

It was yesterday I thought of them. I knew where to look of course and under a fine layer of dead bamboo leaves I found them. Sweet, fresh green harbingers of Spring. They have burst forth from the darkness and exude hope, a reminder that warmer days and longer days are coming and we can make it through this cold, dark, dank period. We always do. But for someone like me, whose brain is heavily fogged with depression and confusion and all matter of clutter, the sight of these snowdrops is a powerful annual sign that I too can make it through another winter, another period of suffocating darkness.....

This is only a part of the hidden cluster you must walk around the tea house to get a glimpse off, but the effect is so magical. I look forward to them growing taller and flowering; that almost blinding white is forming inside.

It's a times like this that a William Peter Blatty quote always comes to my mind. In the midst of reading his book - The Exorcist, there are moments of pure reassuring peace amongst the horror and evil. This is one quote that truly lifts my spirits every time I read it and hope it goes down well with you....

It is also times like this that I wonder about the allotment and what jobs might need doing. It's fun to think of all the trees and bushes over there that look so dormant but are really working hard to rise the sap and withstand the cold. Soon there shall be buds on their branches and the joyous cycle begins again.

Not a great photo - sorry.

Already the rhubarb is growing strong and we have one crown under the forcing pot for that special treat of extra sweet branches. The beds are mulched with lovely compost and manure, no seaweed this year as it's just been too blasted cold to collect any. Andrew has already done a lot of pruning. I would like to think the garlic is poking through now too, but the weather is just too poor to go and check.

This month is truly for dreaming and planning; thinking about optimising your space, noting where raised beds need fixing, timbers replacing, looking at seed catalogues and remembering what worked for you last year. Enjoy! In no time the hard work shall begin.

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I'm off on a holiday this week to the sunshine and other-worldly beauty of North Tenerife, time to take a break from the everyday and go climb a volcano or two. I look forward to the many different plants I hope to see, the incredible black sand beaches and the blue sky. We're booked into a small place in the middle of nowhere with hiking trails all around....

Hugs
Carrie

My Beautiful N. Ireland

Well, would you Adam and Eve it? This here post, the one you are reading right now is my 777th! That's a bit of happy trivia for you on this fine day. Wow....I don't know if it makes me feel old or just proud that I'm still ticking along. Haha.

So I was exhausted yesterday (I'd walked over to the fabric shop and back and it was super scary and a really big deal) and took a while just lying with my phone, looking through the photos on it and listening to music. From there decided that I wanted to show you some of my beautiful country; photos taken whilst on our staycation, snapshots from the phone. I really couldn't run and play and chase Maggie whilst carrying my 'big camera' ;)

*** We had a great day 'up the coast', one the world's most beautiful drives through the Glens and Causeway coast. The first stop was Carrick-a-rede rope bridge which Andrew had never been to before! The views from there are amazing - these two photos on the left were taken from the mainland, looking at the wee island only accessible by the rope bridge and in the distance is Rathlin Island.

Next we went to the Giant's Causeway but any child brought up here will have been to this site sooo many times that I literally only took this photo of a tiny thing in the gift shop. I have no idea what purpose it was meant to have, so small and not even heavy enough to act as a paperweight, uummm.

Lastly (after a delicious dinner in the Causeway Hotel) we visited White Rocks beach...Maggie loves a good beach. And this one is as clean as you could ever wish for :)

*** We had an evening in Belfast at some super fabulous bars and beer gardens with a glorious dinner in a fancy new restaurant but it was our 9th Anniversary and some things are sacred; so though I have many photos...they are staying relatively private, though there are a few on Instagram :)

*** Our week long heat wave drove us out into the back garden to do very little other than read, listen to music and for me - sew :) I have re-opened my Etsy shop online and lots of new photographic cards and felt birds have been going up recently, it feels so good to be back in action.

*** This is the height of my allotment adventures.....

.....blasted hayfever! I mean really, look at that weather but only now am I truly medicated to the hilt and able to cope with the weeds and flower pollen. Anywho, Andrew was able to go and some maintenance has been done and our first harvest (other than just rhubarb) came in last week ~ roses, lettuces, broad beans and potatoes. Plus we have been able to give some away to family :) I shall be there again soon and then hurrah! this blog will get back to business.

*** This is the most recent day out to Belfast's Botanic Gardens - we love it there. Right in between Queen's University (where we both studied) and the Ulster Museum...

So I hope you liked this pictorial catch up of sorts, personally I think it's much better than photos from a holiday resort on the Island of Rhodes where we were meant to be going. I love my home country; despite it's political problems, it's one of the most beautiful places I know.

Hugs and happy weekend!
Carrie xxx

Bonny Scotland :)

The weather in Scotland was fabulous last week, we couldn't have been luckier. Andrew got to do some work, looking at castles etc and I got to do a little photography (when I felt up to it). We drank many different whiskies and ate terrible food (I had one good meal, one!) Then we came home exhausted and in need of a proper 'do nothing much and read a book' sort of holiday :)

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Castle Edzell
Their wonderful looking box hedge garden had box blight - bad news :( It has looked much happier in the past. I believe they are going to slowly replace it all with yew hedging. Plus all those holes in the walls will have plants in them come summer. I declare that we all must have a little summer/tea house at the bottom of our own gardens.

Stonehaven

This is what our 1st B&B looked over and I swear, watching the sunrise over this harbour was one of the best sights ever....http://instagram.com/p/mzdIrqK8RN/

 Dunnottar Castle

I have too many photos - here is a good overview, I hope... it's a stunning and huge attraction....

Glenfiddich Distillery

I'm even getting bored with my own photos now, hahaha. I took so many on my phone that it's just about enough to fill a book, if I kept going.

So we also saw the Culloden Museum and Battlefield and Castle Urquhart (on Loch Ness - no bloomin monster!)

Then a glorious drive towards the ferry again ...

You see I have so much gardening to talk about and beauty in the garden and allotment plus a fantastic new book  which I've reviewed (out next month!) I best get writing xx

Hugs and love
Carrie