A Long Weekend in Aberdeenshire, Pt 1

I've spoken before about how you don't have to go very far to see beautiful parts of the world. The stunning fjords of Norway are only a two hour flight away and my road trip around Ireland introduced me to the eye-popping greenery of the Emerald Isle. When it comes to Scotland, I've only ever been to Edinburgh and Glasgow, but never to the more rural areas. We flew into Aberdeen late on a Wednesday night, just as it started snowing and drove 40 minutes to the little village of Fettercairn in near pitch black.

The Realistic Guide to Getting Beach Ready

Preparing for a holiday is the stressful as it is. There's getting your currency, making sure you're not a terror threat with over 100ml of hand cream in your hand luggage, and setting the god damn alarm for 4am to get your Ryanair flight to somewhere with no culture, but lots of sunshine and watered down mojitos. There's been a lot of controversy on being 'beach ready' recently, but it doesn't matter who you are, nobody looks forward to being half naked in front of a bunch of strangers and you may very well take some steps to make yourself feel a little bit more comfortable.

A Day Trip to Morecambe Bay

I had every intention of visiting my little sister in Lancaster and writing a nice post about my trip to the city and taking pictures of quaint buildings and shops, but this didn't work out for two reasons:
1) My sister hasn't lived there long enough to know where all the good stuff is;
2) The city is tiny and needs some expert knowledge to hunt out the gems
The only photos are took were of a fireworks display and a menu in a cafe where a full English breakfast was advertised for only £2.95 (for those of you who don't live in London, this is OBSCENELY cheap). Only 15 minutes drive from Lancaster though is Morecambe, a small seaside town best known for its most famous son, Eric Morecambe (whose stage name gave a salute to his home).

My family and I are no strangers to English seaside resorts, with the majority of my childhood holidays being in a caravan on some coast somewhere. Margate, Bognor, Bournemouth, Bridlington, Poole - we've seen them all, and never struggled to find something to do or felt bored (travel Scrabble always helps with the latter anyway). But Morecambe defeated us. Expecting quaint tea shops, a promenade with fish and chips or at the very least somewhere to sit and look at the sea, we were pretty disappointed. Morecambe is a very strange place with not very much to see, save for a giant tube of Polos that has no explanation to it that I can find online! It lacks the charm of a stereotypical British seaside and instead feels incredibly industrial and bleak. I don't mind being cold at the seaside, but when there's nothing else to do there isn't much to take your mind off of being FREEZING.

The one thing that drew us to Morecambe was the opportunity to see the statue of Eric Morecambe, however when we arrived we found out it had been vandalised and removed for repair. Cue more disappointment. Luckily, the statue (or where it should stand) is surrounded by famous quotes from Morecambe himself, and lists of the famous people that appeared on Morecambe and Wise over the years. We were very excited to find my family's favourite quote; it's from a sketch where Eric looks out of the bedroom window and sees an ambulance drive past. Quick as a flash he says, "He'll never sell any ice creams going at that speed!" As the statue itself was missing, we did our own recreation, and hopefully we'll be able to see it once it is reinstated. The steps up to the statue have the lyrics from 'Bring Me Sunshine' engraved on them too which obviously led to an impromptu singing performance!

The views looking to the Lake District are stunning and the town's comedic history is strong enough to pull me there, but Morecambe really is dull. It might be much more appealing in the sunshine when you can sit on the beach, but I'll be trying to get to know Lancaster better next time I'm in the area instead! For your enjoyment (and education if you've never seen it), here is the quote I mentioned above. I think that even after all these decades, it's still absolutely hilarious!

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Exploring Cornwall

 

It only takes seven hours to fly to Abu Dhabi, a mere 3399 miles away. Thanks to the glory of modern rail, it takes almost the same amount of time to get from London to Cornwall on a train. It's a long slog, but going to Cornwall can be just as good, or better, than going abroad. If the weather is right, you could be mistaken for being in the Mediterranean as Cornwall has beautiful beaches with clear blue seas and the most yellow of sand, it's just that you have to swap out sangria for scones and paella for pasties. But I'm definitely OK with that. We spent most of our week driving from beach to beach, predominantly the surfers' favourite of Sennen Cove and the lesser known and trickier to access Gwthian and Gwenver. We even ventured down to a hidden paradise found in the book 'Secret Beaches'. I kid you not when I say we trekked through thistles, horseflies, stinging nettles, snakes and bogs, all on a very steep decline. I endured bites, stings and cuts to get down to the beach, which was beautiful indeed, but I spent the whole afternoon dreading getting back up the so-called 'path' again!

Cornwall is full of famous tourist attractions, but the county itself is huge. We contemplated the Eden Project until we realised it would take us an hour to get there from where we were staying. Instead, I left my boyfriend behind to attempt some waves and headed to Penzance where I got the bus to the tiny town of Marazion and St Michael's Mount. A beautiful castle perched  on top of a mound seemingly in the middle of the sea. At low tide you can walk across the causeway with no problem, but once the sea starts to come in, you could very well get stuck on a boat back across to the mainland! The house is still lived in by the St Aubyn family and has a rich history shown throughout the ornate rooms, furniture and church (with some creepy religious iconography to boot).

Did you know that Cornwall also has a Tate Gallery? Based in St Ives, it's a sister of the main galleries in London and has its own off-shoot: the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Gallery, showcasing the works of the famous sculptor. If you don't know her, it's likely that you'll recognise her work, or you may have even walked past it on the side of John Lewis on Oxford Street. I'm no art critic, but all I can say is her sculptures are imposing and captivating, I stood staring for ages as I tried to take in all the curves and angles she's added to pieces. I have no idea what means what, or what had more meaning or symbolism, but I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the quaint little garden they all sat in.

By the time we headed back to London after a week, it had felt like longer; the best sign of a good holiday. Now whenever I'm feeling stressed, I'll just pretend I'm on the balcony of our beautiful holiday cottage with a glass of prosecco and a stunning sunset to soothe my woes. Until next year...