I love going back to cities I’ve been to before. It always gives me a completely different perspective. The first time around I’ll usually tick off a bunch of particularly touristy things, immerse myself in more of the history, go to a particular monument or climb that well known hill. The second time around is usually a bit different. I use it as a chance to actually properly get to know a city; where people go to eat, how they spend their lazy days, which bars or parks are best for relaxing or which markets give you the best stalls. I went to Berlin a couple of years ago and when I decided to head back that was exactly what I did. Last time I went I stayed on my friend’s couch, and while staying with a friend did give me a different view into Berlin, I still ended up doing a lot of the normal tourist things, from walking tours to museums. This trip, well lets just say it involved my body weight in food, hardly any central Berlin, hammocks and quite a lot of wine…
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adventures
Travel Diaries: Skiing Les Arcs January 2017
I hadn’t even put on skis for 11 years, having only been skiing twice in my teens, and half way through the first morning when sat on a ski lift up to one of the highest point in the resort instead of panicking, I found myself relaxing. It turns out that skiing is something that, once learnt, doesn’t really go away. Sure, I was a little rusty in places but after a few hours on the slopes most of that rustiness was shaken off. We’d spent most of the day before traveling; home to Heathrow, Heathrow to Geneva then a 4-5 hour shuttle bus into France, up a mountain in the dark (where we learned about the entire life of the girl sat behind us, who was talking loud enough for the driver to hear) to Les Arcs 1950. The resort itself is one of the smaller of the Les Arcs resorts, with less of a party atmosphere than Les Arcs 1800, which is the main resort on the mountain. Les Arcs 1950 is a small cluster of hotels, restaurants and bars and is designed for a ski in ski out system.
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Travel Diaries: Isle of Mull Christmas 2016
Oh man January started quietly but finished incredibly busy. It meant that a couple of posts I had planned in for the month didn’t happen when they were supposed to, so that means you’re going to hear all about my Christmas in February. To be fair it’s not really about Christmas, and more about the time I spent up on the Isle of Mull, which just happened to be over Christmas. If you’ve read my blog in the past you know that it’s where my parents live, and you’ll also know that over Christmas it has a habit of being pretty dreadful weather. From hurricane force winds through to torrential rain it generally means that I spend more time indoors there than I usually do, with less walks, more cooking and baking and generally hiding away from the elements. On this trip I didn’t even really get outside until Boxing Day, but it ended up being one of the more stunning, if short, walks I’ve done on the island. This was mainly down to the weather actually adding to the scenery. I’m ahead of myself though.
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2016 in Review | Bake, Explore & Eat
2016 has been particularly difficult for a large number of both personal and global reasons, and to keep things slightly light as it’s that weird purgatory between Christmas and New Years I’ve decided I’m not going to talk much about the year itself. I’ve decided, instead, to talk through the things that made this year good, from the best things I baked, through to my favourite trips and places I got to eat. While on the subject however, I will say a couple of things; tell those you care about that you love them, and spend as much time with them as you can. Do as much with the time you have as possible, go see new places, experience different things and eat a hell of a lot of food.
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Travel Diaries: Isle of Mull September 2016
As alluded to in a couple of recipes recently, I went up to the Isle of Mull to see my parents in September. I have been many times, and every time try to do something different. This time included popping to the idyllic island of Iona (twice, due to poor weather stopping ferries the first time) as well as a walk from Loch Buie to Carsaig (which includes a using a rope to climb down some rocks) and a number of other shorter walks. The trip also featured a 3 day period where we had no running water, as my parent’s pump on their private supply broke. This meant we had to carry about 1000 litres of unfiltered water from the stream up to their house, and we could only really use that for flushing toilets and running a dishwasher. Fortunately we managed to get a pump sorted in a few days, but it was a harsh reminder of why living on an island isn’t necessarily for everyone. This was also the first time I got to meet my parent’s new dog; Meg. She will feature heavily here.