A few weeks ago I went to the Lake District, my first solo trip there and being a non-driver I'm reliant on public transport.  To be honest, I'd always thought you had to have a car to get around the lake district but no, it's totally possible to holiday in the Lake District using public transport and I'm going to tell you how.

Now I must add that when I was there, even though it was July, the buses were still using the winter timetables due to the COVID pandemic so had I have gone a week later I would have had even better options and routes and on a much more regular basis than once an hour.

I started my week away by travelling from Newcastle to Penrith by train on the Northern Rail line, it costs just over £30 for a ticket, takes around 3 hours allowing for connections as you have to change at trains at Carlisle and then Penrith is just one stop.

I feel I must point out that I arrived in Penrith early on a Sunday and the town was shut, there was literally nowhere open and even when we're not mid-pandemic it seems like the Cumbrian town of Penrith really doesn't have a lot going on, especially on a Sunday but in saying that it's a great place to locate yourself if you're looking to explore the northern part of the Lake District.

The number 508 bus goes from the Penrith bus station if you want to visit Ullswater, the northernmost lake in the Lake District, I'd chosen to walk to Aira Force, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the UK, owned and managed by the National Trust, the 508 bus stop is just at the entrance and passes by at least once an hour depending on the time of year.  The waterfall is very popular and can get busy but there is a one-way system in place to help with social distancing.  I'm not going to pretend it's an easy walk up if you, like me, are chunkier than a KitKat Chunky but it's well worth the time to climb right to the top and you'll feel like an elite athlete all day afterwards, you'll even be able to have cake guilt-free!

After I'd climbed Aira Force I was going to get the bus to Glenridding but instead, I decided to walk the 2.5km along the beautiful Ullswater Way, walking along an official walk makes you feel like you've gone semi-professional and it's an easy, well-signposted route you cannot get lost on so perfect if you're just starting out as a hiking enthusiast.  Glenridding is a beautiful little village which looks like a ski-resort and it's from here you can get the Ullswater Steamers to the other edge of the lake where the village of Pooley Bridge lies.  Currently, due to the pandemic, you have to book the day before online and, quite interestingly even if you're a single person you have to pay for 2 adults because of the seating restrictions.  This was a no-brainer to give it a miss this time, I'd already done the same journey in the past with Holly Bobbins and Harriet so it was no loss to give it a miss on this occasion.  If however you're in a couple or a family and you've not done it before then go for it, I really recommend it, it's a beautiful boat ride.

One of my top money-saving tips is that you download the Stagecoach app before you go to the lakes and then look for the Northwest Explorer ticket, a 7-day ticket is going to cost you £30 and it means you have unlimited travel for 7 days all over the northwest and beyond, it even extends down to buses to Chester and up on buses to Newcastle, it's a massive money saver and it's the only ticket you'll need to get around.

Later in the week on my travels, I relocated to a B&B down in Keswick, I got the X5 which takes around 44 minutes and it's a lovely scenic route as most bus routes are in the lakes, it certainly makes a difference to travelling around the city at home, the bus runs once an hour during winter and every half hour during the summer.

Despite Keswick not having its own train station it's one of the best places you can locate yourself when holidaying in the lake district using public transport.  Everywhere is just so convenient whether you're walking, getting the bus or even taking the boat from one side of Derwentwater to the other, I love Keswick, its a town full of dogs, it's got the prettiest gift boutiques (perfect research for Philomena's Boutique) and it's one of the friendliest towns you could ever hope to visit with so many places to eat and drink. 

The best bus route I found was the 555 bus which runs from Keswick to Lancaster stopping at some of the most scenic places in the whole of the Lake District, often the stops might look like deserted places in the middle of nowhere but that's because they're usually on popular walking routes.  There was a day when I got off the bus at Grasmere and decided to just walk to the next place, I felt safe because I knew there was always a bus which could get me back again and on that day I ended up walking to White Moss where I then connected with a walking route around Grasmere Lake back to Grasmere Village which is, of course, famous for Grasmere Gingerbread made to Sarah Nelson's famous recipe and the only place in the world where it's made and sold although if you can't get there right now, you'll be delighted to know that they do have an online shop (you can send me some to thank me).

One of the loveliest places in the lake district for me has to be the scenic town of Ambleside, home to Stock Ghyll Force, another waterfall I accidentally climbed when I got off the bus and just happened to see a sign saying "Waterfalls, this way" I famously accidentally walk up big hills all the time, I hate it too but whenever I reach the top, it's always worth it, even with lashing winds and rains are in my face!

if you get off the bus at Grasmere you can swap to the open-topped 599 bus which takes you all the way down to Bowness on Windermere. If you go there, beware, it gets incredibly busy but do check out the Christmas in Lakes shop, well only if you love Christmas because it's Christmas there all year round, on the day I was there,  the sun was blazing, it was a heatwave and it felt like an out of body experience or like watching a Californian Christmas movie, I'd go there again tomorrow though!! 

In my week on my solo trip to Penrith and Keswick I never once ran out of things to do, there were buses I couldn't get because of the pandemic affecting the timetables and though I didn't have Holly Bobbins with me, if I went back I would love to take her because it's just so dog friendly.  The lakes are so good for clearing your mind, I walked so many miles and I forgave myself for my mistakes as well as eventually coming to terms with the fact that the pandemic and lockdown changed my life, we all know now however that what happened to me, actually, it was for the best because I love running an e-commerce gift boutique with all of my heart, it's diverse, sustainable and totally lush!

if you're feeling bunged up or life is getting you down but you've always thought you could never visit the lakes because you didn't drive, I hope I've proven that not only is it possible but it's also an amazing solo adventure to have for your mind and your body, just don't eat all of the gingerbread!

Barcelona, City of Many Faces

Barcelona is a city which changes with every path that you tread, it's beautiful architecture combined with it's brash bustling walkways creates a city which contradicts itself at every turn, I want to share with you my Spanish adventure to the biggest city I've ever visited.

Our journey started in the Aspire Plus lounge at Newcastle Airport, for £37.49 you can relax in the adults only swish exclusive lounge which offers complimentary food as well as many famous spirits and 3 types of sparkling wine, I'm only ever interested in the Prosecco and knowing how much we would have payed for one single glass out in the departure lounge £37.49 didn't seem too much to pay to get the trip off to the most relaxed start.  The platters of cheese and olives and breads mean you step onto the plane having spent nothing extra on food and it means you don't have to worry about a plane sandwich, some of which are not for the feint of heart.  Harriet and I both agreed we would be quite happy to pay to start our holidays and long haul business trips off in such relaxing surroundings, airports can be such busy places, overwhelming at times and that's the beauty of Aspire Lounges, of course if you have a family then you can access the Aspire Lounge for just £22.99 with kids being catered for at £16.99 but the Aspire Plus lounge is a luxury for only adults and as a mum of teenagers, I can't even begin to tell you how lovely it is to get away to a cacophony free environment just for a while, no shouting or slamming doors, just bliss and sometimes the sound of silence.

After a journey of around 2.5 hours and a comedy transfer which took forever and could only be described as Faulty Towers does Spanish transfers we finally checked into the 4 star Derby hotel in the business district not far from the Avenue Diagonal which gets it's name from being the only diagonal route and one which runs through the entire length of the city of Barcelona cutting from east to west and at 11k in length it's one of the most important avenues in Barcelona.

The thing about arriving at your destination when it's dark is you can't really get a good feel of your surroundings so after a quick (cheap) dinner at a local Swiss (yes, Swiss!!) restaurant we collapsed into our beds.

We awoke to beautiful, glorious sunshine and stepping out of from the air conditioned hotel was like walking into a wall of heat, not to mention humidity, Barcelona weather hates my hair, remember Monica in Friends when she goes to the Bahamas?  Yep, that's me, old frizzy head, no amount of hair straightening made the slightest bit of difference, I'd go out swooshy and come back looking like one of Sister Sledge. I'd also like to mention that all of the images from my trip to Barcelona were shot with the Fuji X70, a staggeringly good compact camera, I first fell in love with the creamy, dreamy image quality of the X-Pro1 and to just take a compact which is at it's heart capable of producing professional quality images even my New York agency are happy with is beyond brilliant.  It is of course a compact, it's not a DSLR and that was noticeable to me in some conditions but honestly if you are wondering about which camera you should purchase for travel, the Fuji X70 is definitely my recommendation.

Our first stop on our journey of adventure was picking up a 2 day ticket for the bus turistic (around €40 but if you book online you can get 10% off), I always get the tourist buses in any cities I've not visited because it gives you a great overview of the place you're travelling to and I love that you can get on and off, beware though, tourist buses take time, there are faster routes available!  

We got off at Monjuic one of the two mountains Barcelona is nestled amongst, the other being Tibidabo, and we took a ride on the Telerific de Monjuic which takes you right up to the top of the mountain affording you glorious views of the whole of Barcelona, and even from that great height you can still spot the Sagrada de Familia.  Climbing back upon board after a wander around the castle we made our way to the famous Ramblas, I have to say that to me Ramblas felt unsafe, maybe because of all of the stories you hear but I found it to be too crowded, tacky and full of tourists, most sites advise that you go once in the day and once in the evening but honestly, of all of the things we did in Barcelona, Ramblas was the place I was least enamoured with.  It is what it is though and we made our way up the crowded street popping into the market for just a few moments, again we didn't stay too long as it was overcrowded, perhaps choosing to go out of season would provide time and space to amble throughout the alleys of the Mercat de la Boqueria, a market which is at it's heart a food market for the locals and tourists alike, the wealth of fresh fruits and sweets and spices create a heady aroma which is at times overpowering, like a lot of Barcelona, it's gaudy, it's in your face but if you don't like it, it makes no apologies.

At the bottom of La Ramblas is the Columbus monument, take a trip to the top in a lift (why haven't we thought of this in England I said, I have walked up far too many monuments, wanting to collapse after 300 step ascents, usually much to the amusement of my children) but again you should be aware that if you are not the biggest fan of enclosed spaces then the Columbus monument is not for you.  I however love the views from above, I always have, as I've mentioned before, cities are at their most magical when you look at them from above, as the bustling city becomes a colourful landscape of patchwork buildings and tiny trees it's great to take a moment away to just be, to stand at the highest points in cities is to truly live and breathe them.

I feel I could go on, I've so much to tell you, so many wonderful experiences from sunset at Mount Tibidabo to lunch at Pacha on the beach and to the absurdity of the Jamon museum and my new found wonder for the most tasty cones of Iberico Jamon but I'll leave this blog for now and you'll just have to join me on my continuing adventures through a city which at times is it's own antithesis, an oxymoron, a contradiction,  for there is nowhere else in the world that's quite like Barcelona.

The View From Sutton Bank, North York Moors

This week has been long and damp and to be honest I'm looking forward to the return to work next week, Looby and I have managed some days out and it's been lovely with her being officially well again, 6 weeks of our lives we'll never get back, worse for her than me of course but we will certainly always remember this time in our shared history.

On Wednesday a trip to Yorkshire was just what the doctor ordered for me, I long to walk over hills and vales, as a travel writer who hasn't been anywhere for over 6 weeks I'm starting to feel a little stir crazy, you see I long for travel, my feet are perpetually itchy, I spend hours looking at destinations and trying to plan trips as well as pitching for assignments to companies and editors for travel writing/photography. But with 6 weeks behind us it's been difficult to do anything other than live in the moment from day to day never knowing what's around the corner and not daring to even think of a trip in case Looby got ill again.

Being at the top of Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire is like being at the top of the world, rolling hills and verdant sweeping countryside down below, the whole of North Yokshire lying at your feet, open to the elements it can be sunny down below and still it's windy and fresh so high up.  This bank of myth and legend where cars would get stuck driving up it during the 70's and 80's on day trips to Flamingo Land, I'd driven up it many times over the years but never had I actually taken a breath and stopped at the top to admire the beautiful views.  

I'm delighted to say that it did not disappoint, the day was stormy and the skies were threatening, petulantly stomping their feet wanting to release their contents over the valleys below.  I'm still not sure how we escaped a soaking but as I watched the clouds emptying as I stood on the highest point I felt at one with the heavens above, shafts of light cutting through the dark turbulence of the skies around me.

To take a moment in time just for me is a rare thing indeed but just for a while, I broke with the constraints of the day and simply enjoyed all that surrounded me and it left me re-engaged with nature, with the elements, it left me craving even more for travel and adventures new, near and far, we live in such a beautiful country that I'm always happy to write about British travel but at the moment my soul is craving for sunshine and new overseas horizons.  I had planned to take a break when Looby goes on her school trip to Wales but it's pretty much financially dependent, I have a couple of weeks to get business, life, schedules and finances back on track before my girl goes off to deepest darkest Wales for her farming experience week at Treginnis Farm, she's going to love every minute, she craves for animals and experiences of farming as much as I crave to travel.  We both are outdoor adventurers deep down I think.

I'm not a landscape photographer, I'm a travel photographer, there's a huge difference so if my landscape photographer friends are looking in then I apologise, I should have been there at dusk or dawn instead of two in the afternoon but just like the things I do differently when I am shooting portrait photography in Newcastle I think I bring the same to travel and landscapes, I simply shoot the way I see and, I always see in photographs.

10 reasons to love January...

January, first month of the year and for me it's a month which I'll be honest, isn't my favourite month of the year. I don't mind if it snows, in fact I quite enjoy a snowy ramble with Holly Bobbins but you can keep your dark, wet, dank and damp and give me some sunshine in return.

Now there are reasons you might love January so I've compiled you a little list - 

1. You got engaged and you're planning your wedding, believe me I would love January too, well if you've happened upon my blog because you're looking for quirky places to get married in the North East of England or you're just looking for a wedding photographer in Newcastle you should probably read my post about my favourite Doctor Who themed wedding I shot last year and you should also contact me especially if you are just planning a smaller wedding.  I don't shoot a lot of weddings now but I'm looking to take on about 4 more this year so get in touch before everyone else does.
2. A lot of what I do now entails being commissioned to write about and photograph holidays, travel destinations and dog friendly places to stay so January is always a good month to start planning adventures even if it's a little while before you can actually escape, I'm always looking for new commissions so if you have a particular hotel, guest house or interesting holiday you would like me to review, photograph and write about do get in touch, I take on commissions from publications as well as the actual holiday providers themselves.
3. January is the best month of the year to have friends around for dinner and I've just heard today that if you (like me) have seasonally affective disorder then you'll find that hugs are a great help and can even work better than a SAD Lamp, although I'll be honest I've just got one of those too, I am determined to defeat it this year even though I don't think it's ever got light this week, even Holly Bobbins seems to think it's perpetually nap time (I know how she feels, I might just hibernate).
4. Speaking of hibernation, really if you are going to do that then doesn't January just have to be the best month of the year for duvet days? I'm thinking cosy bed socks, duvet or knitted blankets on the sofa and a pile of your favourite heartwarming movies.
5. January has to be the best time of year to visit a cosy coffee shop, particularly if it's dog friendly, then you can say you've taken your pet for a walk and warm up with hot chocolate and a slice of your favourite cake, I'm quite spoiled living in Heaton as we have Teasy Does It, Heaton Perk, BLK Coffee and Heaton Ingredient which are all dog friendly, Holly Bobbins is a big fan of them all.
6. Find your word for the year, every year I have a theme for the year and this year it's Adventure, it's been a long time coming and I plan to have as many as possible, I'm not entirely sure where they'll all take me or what they'll involve but for me 2016 is most definitely the year of adventure.
7. I've been thinking for a while that I really have a lot of things I want to do in my home, a grand decoration plan that might just happen, especially because I have lovely helpful friends, I'm planning total redecoration although it'll be on a budget but I really want to have a home I can entertain in as well as just feel excited to be in, after all it's nice to have somewhere amazing to come home to in between my travels and adventures, I think I need to start getting to grips with Pinterest!
8. If ever there was a month for getting the photos of your computers and cameras and printing them and putting them on your walls it has to be January.  I have a ton of photos I haven't printed yet and I'd love to get as many as I can into photo books and frames and onto canvases, it's a quick and easy way to brighten up any room and my own picture wall is ready for a makeover.
9. They say that January is the best month of the year for starting diets and exercise plans, well I'm not a fan of dieting but I do try to live by the Slimming World plan, it's been a Godsend to me and I've lost over 3 stones in weight, I also try to get out most days and do 10K steps, if you can do this in January you'll find you can do 15K easily by April.  I'm happy to say that I've been at my target weight now for over 6 months.
10. Box sets, box sets, box sets, if ever there were a time to catch up on all of the amazing TV you've missed whilst you were out being social in autumn it's got to be January, I can recommend Jessica Jones on Netflix if you need a suggestion.

Whatever you do this January, don't be beaten by the grumps, lets all just plan to make 2016 the best most fun filled year ever!

London from above, part 2, as viewed from The Shard.

Ever since I first saw images from The Shard in London I've wanted to visit, I mean I've really wanted to visit, a bit like an expectant child on Christmas Eve, it's something of a photographers dream being so high above the city and although the entry fee is high (£30.95 for just me) I would have to say that it is worth every penny.

 Now I should add to that statement, I think if you're a family with little ones then maybe they're not going to get the most out of the experience but if you are at all interested in cities, London, viewing great landscapes, taking great photographs well then this might just be the experience you've been waiting for.

 I chose to go at sunset because for me that's when the magic happens, the fading natural light of the day adds to the quiet beauty of the city down below.  You stand watching amazed as the city starts to light up artificially with something akin to the biggest set of illuminations you've ever seen, this is something so incredible that you can't possibly imagine it until you see it, I've viewed a lot of cities from above both during daylight but this one was the first I'd managed to view at night, mostly because London is just open later for business, especially during the months of chaotic tourism in summer.

 I'm so glad I went in late though as it wasn't busy or crowded and there was an easy pace of gentle calm as the remaining guests, lets call them guests because that's what you feel like, you feel like London itself has invited you to view it's iconic structures, it's crowded urban landscapes from such a height that the whole city looks like an enormous ever changing piece of art.

There are two heights on which to view these epic landscapes from, the 68th and the 72nd floor both offer amazing vantage points, I wandered around for just over an hour collecting more and more images that I can keep, to enjoy forever.  

On the 72nd floor you can grab a deckchair, you can buy a cup of tea from a little Fortnum and Mason cart or a glass of champagne to sit enjoying the views with that special person, for me though, a champagne glass would have inhibited my ability to hold the camera so I was happy just to wander around the 360 degree panoramic windows drinking in the sights whilst all around felt eerily calm, I don't think there are many places in London where you get such contrasts of calm and quiet whilst knowing that down below the hustle, bustle and chaos of the city continue long into the night.

When I return to London again in the autumn I will return to The View From The Shard again, there's no question that the seasons change the light just as the hours of the passing day does and I'm fairly sure I could never get bored of towering above the beauty of the urban landscape and photographing it slowly and carefully with love.  For me, this is what travel and photography are all about, whilst you can press record in your mind and whilst you can accurately describe a place or view to take people to the same places in their mind if you can put together those images with gloriously worded descriptions then you can truly take people on a journey with you time and time again.