As this weekend arrives with a bout of very much needed rain, I’m sat at home thinking of last weekend. As I’ve done many times before – the last time just back in February – I left work on Friday and headed up to Moncloa to grab a car share which would take me up to Gijón in the north of Spain. I’ve been there many times before, and it’s become somewhat of a second home for me.
This time I wasn’t going to kayak down a river or attend a beautiful wedding, though; this time it was time to spend some quality time with Cami in order to celebrate her birthday. The evening I arrived, we met up with Bogar and Javier, my friends from Madrid who moved up to Asturias just at the end of last year. This was supposed to be a quick drink, but wound up turning into a spontaneous night out!
The next day we had a well deserved lie in, after which Cami’s friend Cris joined us to head to the supermarket in order to grab some stuff for the little party that Cami had planned. With a car full of snacks and drinks (and after a worrying incident with the car keys), the three of us headed off to the top of a hill in a park where we’d arranged to have a birthday picnic with all of Cami’s friends.
We had a great time up at our spot looking over Gijón. There were empanadas (big pastries), crisps, sweets, and a special birthday drink in the form of a calimocho, a questionable combination of red wine and cola. Andrea and Andrei, whose wedding I attended in Oviedo in autumn last year, joined us, and we had an absolute blast of a time recounting stories and catching up.
Here’s the birthday girl and Cris (but a different Cris from the one before).
Once Asturias’ climate began to do its thing and the cold began to blow in from the sea, we packed up shop and headed back to Cami’s place to have a few more drinks, sing some karaoke, and play some jenga into the early hours of the morning. We had thought about heading out to a karaoke bar, but the night was cold and we were all pretty exhausted from a long day up and down the hill!
The next day I had intended to join Cami and her friends for the birthday do of another friend of theirs, but I awoke to discover that there were no cars available to take me down on Monday, the day I had been intending to return. I thus made a last minute reservation, packed up my stuff, and hopped in a car back down to Madrid just a few hours after I woke up.
The journey back was a relaxed one as we headed through the mountains and I played a bit of RollerCoaster Tycoon on my iPad. I would have read, but I’d read the book I’d brought with me from start to finish in a few hours during the journey up. I’m desperately trying to hit my reading goal of 24 books this year!
Some surprisingly (and worryingly) early heat here in Spain allowed me to go for some wanders around the city, which I outlined in my last post. It also meant that it was the perfect time to welcome Amber to the city, who was headed back for the first time since she last visited nearly six years ago! How time flies…
To receive her in style, I hopped on an early train up to the airport and caught her just as she was looking for me in the arrival hall. The two of us then grabbed the train back, installed Amber in my flat, and spent the rest of the day wandering, eating, and relaxing around the city.
In the evening, we headed up into the city centre as I was keen for Amber to catch one of the Easter processions. Easter here is called Samana Santa (literally “Holy Week”) and I had my first experience with it whilst here as an intern back in the day all those years ago. Many streets are closed off for processions to pass through, which involve church members carrying intricately fabricated statues of various catholic figures through the city.
After some drama looking for a bar in which to await the procession’s arrival, we had a coffee and then made our way down to the procession route. There, things were very tense. The procession was late, the sun was beating down, and we saw our fair share of people pass out with the intensity of the whole affair. Quite the introduction for Amber!
The procession finally arrived, with horsemen, the cloaked figures (called nazarenos) seen every Semana Santa, and finally the two images: firstly of Jesus (below), then of Mary. As ever, it was an intense sensorial experience, with the beating drums, the loud brass band, the smell of incense, and the visual spectacle unfolding on the street.
The next day we opted for a much less intense approach, hopping from terrace to terrace to have drinks, eat snacks, and bask in the sun. We stopped by the greenhouse near my flat, watched the sunset from the park that Ellie always loves to go to, and wound up having some delicious food in the city entre before heading back home for an cheeky spa evening at home.
The greenhouse is a spot I always forget to visit until people come to see me.
The day after was suddenly Amber’s last day in Madrid, so she packed her bag in the morning before we hit the streets out for one last outing. Hopping on the bus, we wound up in Retiro, where we had a wander around and had another drink on yet another terrace. I wasn’t complaining, it’s not often I manage to sit still and sunbathe!
After some lunch near home and then a quick drink whilst we waited for the train, I waved Amber off as she headed back to the airport for her flight back home to the UK. It was lovely to have her over and obviously sad to see her go, but before she did so we’d made plans to reunite when I’m back in the UK in the near future.
After some time outside of Madrid, namely in Prague and then my hometown Worsthorne, it was nice to be back in Madrid for a few weeks before the Easter holidays came around. With the temperatures now averaging a decent 20°C during the day, the season is well and truly upon us for making the most of all the city has to offer.
The very day I arrived back from England the weather was absolutely lovely, so I allowed myself to be talked into an evening having a drink on a terrace with Sara and Eric. I headed up to their neighbourhood once I’d finished unpacking and we spent a lovely evening chatting away and watching the sun set over the road that the two of them live on.
The sunset over Atocha was made more dramatic by the huge cloud.
All this moving around and the differing temperatures between places did have its downsides, however. At one point I wound up stuck at home for a week with a stinker of a cold, but I made the most of this down time to install some new colour-changing lights in my flat. Just when I thought I could fit no more in!
By night I feel like I live inside a 1980s video game.
After a few days of solitary confinement in my now much more intricately lit house, I was once again right as rain. Now there was no excuse to avoid walking back home in the sun before the summer really kicks in and things get way too hot to bear. One of these walks took me through the local neighbourhood of Lavapiés, where I was delighted to see the trees in bloom and the colourful bunting out in full force.
These must have been a nightmare to install…
In between all this there was also plenty more stuff going on: Luis’ birthday bash, evenings with Pedro around my neighbourhood, the traditional Spanish Easter processions down my street, and much more. I just didn’t have time to take any photos of it all… I feel like I’ve not had a moment to take stock and realise where I am or just exactly what’s going on recently!
I did get a chance to remedy this, however, with a very special visit just last week. More on that, though, in my next blog post…
After my weekend in Prague a few weeks back, my next trip out of Madrid was to take me back to my parents place in the UK for a few days. This trip back to my home village, Worsthorne, was extended in the end so that I could attend my grandad’s funeral. He died a few weeks ago, so my visit also had a rather somber purpose.
On the bright side, this meant I would have chance to spend some quality time with my family and also catch up with some friends along the way. Before I headed off to the airport, I’d already made some plans for some meals out and a little trip over to Leeds to end my week back in the UK.
My trip began, as they often do, with a train from my neighbourhood up to Madrid Airport, where the setting sun was bathing the lovely Terminal 4 in a warm glow. From there I hopped on the bus to the rather less exciting Terminal 1, where I wound up hauling my backpack to and fro as they kept changing my boarding gate.
They eventually settled on a boarding gate and the ensuing flight was lovely in its quietness and uneventfulness. My dad then whisked me back to Worsthorne, the little village where I grew up and where my parents still live.
As my mum was working the next day, me and my dad headed out to spend some time together. Parking up by the canal, we took a stroll down the bridleway until we diverged off the beaten path and ended up traversing some fields before heading back up to the car. It was a lovely walk and a chance to explore some of the countryside surrounding Burnley that I’d not seen before.
The next day it was my dad’s turn to work and so time for me to spend time with my mum. The two of us spent some time lazying around the house and having some lunch together before heading down to Crowwood, a gym and spa complex. There we spent a good while in the hot tub, I swam a few lengths, and then we’d to head off in order to pick my sister up from the train station.
With my sister now in Worsthorne too, she dragged me out for what was initially going to be a quick wander around the village to make the most of a fleeting moment of sun. Both the sun and Ellie persisted, though, and so our quick walk turned into a couple of hours trailing over the fields and through the forests of my pretty home town.
The sight of the spring lambs in the afternoon sun also helped encourage us along.
I thought our plan was to turn back once we reached the first reservoir, but in the end we headed onwards and upwards to the second before beginning our descent back home. It was a lovely chance to catch up with Ellie amongst some beautiful surroundings though. Sometimes there’s nothing like a trip back to where you grew up!
We then spent an evening in as a family before the funeral the next day. As you can imagine, it was a very somber day full of reflection but also celebration, with lots of my extended family and me exchanging stories and anecdotes at the reception after the ceremony. A highlight for me was being asked to be a pallbearer, a touching moment and one last gesture to say goodbye.
After the funeral, Ellie went back to Leeds as she’d to work for the rest of the week, and so the three of us remaining headed back home to Worsthorne. There I’d to then work for the rest of the week, which I did from the back room with my legs wrapped tightly in a blanket.
On Thursday evening I’d made a plan to see Abi and Danni after I last saw them when I came home over Christmas. We met up at Ellis’, a burger joint in the centre of Burnley, where we had lots of food and lots of laughs. It was great to get a bit of comic relief after some somber days, with the tears this time coming from the three of us wheezing over the stories that were told!
The next day my sister headed back over to Burnley again. She arrived whilst I was napping and awoke me with the news that Jemma was coming to pick us up in ten minutes. I had to jump out of bed, splash my face with cold water, and shove a hat on just in time for our lift up to the pub for the evening meal.
This meal saw me, Ellie, Jemma, and Lucy reunited for the first time for at least a couple of years. Jemma and Lucy were our neighbours when we were younger and so are some of the oldest friends I have. We had a great chat and updated each other on what were were all up to, as well as making some plans for them to visit me in Madrid and a night in at Jemma’s place watching Pippi Longstocking, the film we always loved to watch together when we were kids!
I love this photo of Jemma, Lucy, and me, even if you can tell I’d been rushed out of bed!
Back home the next day, the four of us mooched around all morning before my sister, my dad, and me headed out for some post-lunch coffees at HAPPA, a lovely little horse rescue and café in the countryside near my house. From there, they dropped me off at Hebden Bridge, a lovely train station where I grabbed a train over to Leeds for the last stop on my weeklong trip back to the UK.
I then stayed with Em and Lincoln for a night, which gave us time to have a catch up, head out for some lovely pizza at a local Italian, and then spend a brief moment together in the morning before I had to call in an favour and ask them to drive me to Manchester Airport. There were seemingly no trains running!
So this brings us to the here and now, where I’m sat in Terminal 3 of Manchester Airport as the priority passengers begin to board. With a bit of luck I’ll manage to quickly check this post over and publish it before I go, but if not – see you on the other side!
Last year I spent a month of summer between Canada and the USA, which led to quite the list of blog posts documenting all of the different moments and places I visited along the way. Between all the moving around, however, the place I spent the most time was Vermont.
Vermont is one of the smallest states by size and the second smallest in terms of population, which I think make it a true hidden gem amongst the others that I visited such as New York and Florida. After a tour of the state by both Meganand her mum, Maureen, I knew it will now be a place that I regularly come back to!
Whilst there, I took my trusty old film camera on some of our outings, and I’ve recently had the second of the two rolls of film developed. I can thus finally share the shots of some of these great memories across the beautiful state of Vermont, with the first being from a tour of the islands of Lake Champlain that Maureen took me on.
The next few photos come from a weekend spent camping along the edge of another of the lake’s islands, which I documented in a blog post entitled “Bougie Camping”. This was partly due to the novelty of the new word I’d learned whilst there, and partly because the whole experience was rather bougie!
Despite the fanciness of our little trip, it was still a lovely opportunity to disconnect and chat into the early hours whilst making s’mores around a campfire. I still remember the fabulous pancakes we had the morning after, all of which were generously doused in Vermont maple syrup.
After this, the next lot of photos come from the baseball game I went to see with Megan and a bunch of other friends. This one evening was filled with many iconic moments, including the boxes of six 25¢ hotdogs we all bought, an absolutely insane sunset, and the tipsy antics we got up to in the bleachers (stalls) after a couple of huge cans of local beer!
Then there’s more photos from that same evening, but this time at Al’s Ice Cream. We wound up calling in late at this local institution more than once, but this evening the group of us wound up asking a group of old ladies who were also waiting for some ice cream to take a photo of us all. They didn’t do a great job, but the imperfection is what makes these photos fabulous!
The last set of photos comes from a day spent out in a field under the hot summer sun. This was to catch the annual show by Bread & Puppet, an indie theatre group from New York which put on a rather bizarre performance which became one of the most unique experiences I’ve lived over the last few years!
The very last photo now comes from the drive back to Burlington and a random field we stumbled upon along the way. We were hot, exhausted, and very thirsty after a long day out in the sun, so stopped off to have a quick dip in a shallow lake along the way. This was just before we wound up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, shuffling through the aisles of a dodgy gas station store (excuse the Americanisms) in the search for some drinks and light sustenance…
With these 18 photos I conclude this little look back over my time in Vermont, my favourite of all the states I’ve visited thus far – even if I’ve only been in three just yet. I have many more from the film camera, but I thought this selection summed up the trip well. I can’t wait to head back soon and take in even more of what the green mountain state has to offer!
