the hols

Summer has finally arrived in Barcelona, so I feel the need to finish up the England pictures quickly and consign sweaters to the dust-bin of memory. Actually, they've all been sent back to Canada, so it's just as well it decided to get warm here.

Anyway, Whitby and surroundings, home of stunning sea vistas, giant Yorkshire puddings, Goth Weekend, and the peculiarly Yorkshire sense of humour.

It looks like this up close:


And like this from afar:




Giant Yorkshire pudding with gravy:


Enjoying Cornish Pasties with Mo and Sho in York




Goth Weekend! I don't think I'd ever been before. Basically Goths and Steampunks come from all over the country/world to get dressed up and parade through the picturesque streets.


The only people more in evidence than the goths are the photographers and their big lenses.




My dad celebrated his birthday in famous local restaurant The Magpie Café




Where I had the best Halibut of my life.


We went for a walk in the woods and found a ruined castle




And night fell, and then we went to Glasgow for two days but I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy visiting old friends and eating bacon sandwiches and dying my hair red. :P


Outfit post coming, long-suffering fashion readers!

moorland ramblings

Ok, after saying I was back, my computer died (temporarily, it seems to be doing ok at the moment) and now it's getting ridiculous how old and unseasonal some of these pictures are, but I'm going to post them anyway.

These are from walks in Yorkshire with my family. My sister Morna and I were gearing up to do an 8 day chunk of the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain afterwards, so were trying to get our legs used to walking/break in our hiking boots in my case.

Every time I write about my dad's corner of the world I sound like a broken record but, in brief, the scenery is just my favourite ever, and I love rambling through the sparse but complex landscapes. My only complaint is the wind, which really takes a chunk out of you sometimes, but we lucked out weather-wise, not much rain and fairly pleasant temperatures. Actually, the last several times I've been to Yorkshire we've lucked out... I'm beginning to think all this complaining about the English weather is a conspiracy...

canary

These photos, the best of a bad bunch, just barely conceal the multitude of sins of my recent existence. Apart from the fact that I was cold (we've had good weather in the UK, but Yorkshire always does have that icy blast of wind) and tired from being out all day, I've been on a three week long bender with my family. Every time we get together, I eat too much, drink far too much, and don't sleep enough, and I've often noticed that I look about five years older by the end of a family vacation than I did before, with a pinched, dehydrated face. I think it just shows that we actually enjoy each other's company and just want to party all the time... but there is always that scary point when you find yourself seriously thinking that the last vegetable you ate may have been a week ago. If I were really a canary, rather than just canary-legged, I would have long since died down this mineshaft!

yorkshire lass

Hello from northernest North Yorkshire, on the internet connection from hell!
After my Grannie died 3 years ago, I didn't think I'd get to visit Whitby, Yorkshire, much more, but somehow my dad's hometown has remained a family hub of sorts in the UK, and this year all of us (my parents, two sisters and I) headed over for the first proper family vacation in a while.

I got my mom to bring me some summer clothes to tide over the next few months, and promptly had to try them all on again. Wearing this dress brought me lots of comments from my mom about it's summery-ness and supposedly inappropriate length... making me feel like a total teenager again. But really, I just can't wait to ditch the tights!



Photos by Shona

out and about in north yorkshire

I spent a happy week in North Yorkshire with my family, with the usual enormous to-do list: must do this walk, visit that village, and of course, eat a cream tea, have a "99" ice-cream with a Cadbury flake, eat Yorkshire pudding, and so on. The weather was surprisingly good for most of the week so I was able to keep up my itinerary of summer dresses (looking a bit scandalous with my trenchcoat in the last picture) and of course, that shirt I always wear. ;)

Some highlights: early morning walks (at 6:30 or 7 am, due to the excess of summer light) followed by either a fisherman strength cup of tea or, on a particularly decadent morning, freshly-made doughnuts.





Hikes in the countryside: the heather wasn't in bloom yet, but the moors are always desolate, impressive and windily addictive. Since the weather was nice this time the usual icy blast was more of a warm blast... much more pleasant. And as long ambling hikes deserve big lunches, we went to a Sunday carvery and had roast pork, turkey and beef with enormous Yorkshire puddings, potatoes, vegetables, and an "Eton Mess" for dessert, which was smashed up bits of meringue in whipped cream with fresh strawberries. On a slight tangent, I think the UK has a really undeserved bad reputation for food. Well, there is lots of bad food to be had, but there's also succulent fish, fresh meats, mouth-watering farm-made cheeses, authentic cider, mountainous cakes.... I'll stop there.









Picturesque seaside villages: We went one day to Robin Hood's Bay, built on what feels like a near-vertical cliff when you're trying to go up the road at the end. The village has a dramatic past of smuggling and wrecking (luring ships onto the rocks so they would be wrecked and the contents looted). At low-tide the rocks on the beach are algae-coated and treacherous, but also riddled with tide-pools for of crabs, and on fine days, children building castles, eating ice-creams, splashing in the pools, and riding donkeys. And old man perched on nearby rocks with his map and his thermos of tea, planning an afternoon of cliff-side paths.









Cider in the evenings at the pub, overlooking the inlet and Whitby's lights twinkling in the water:



One of my favourite moments came as we were barreling over the moors one last time to take me to my train in York. My mom, in the backseat was reading out information about one of the country fairs happening in August. "There's a best Marigold competition," she said and then snorted with laughter. "First prize is £1.50!" (That's about $2). :D



Sorry for the photobombing!