Peak District

Last weekend we ventured out to the Peak district with my university hiking club. What was supposed to be a weekend trip became a day trip, but didn't lose its charm in the process. Despite the cloudy weather we had a blast walking down a river, up to some caves, through farmland and down a path that used to be an old train track. 

The first segment of the walk was significantly prolonged by the multitude of photos taken by everyone (me included) and lead to most of us munching on our lunch bit by bit not being able to wait until our lunch stop. We detoured a bit to climb up to some pretty cool caves, which I had not expected at all on this trip, but there you go England does have some surprises up its sleeve.

Lion head rock. Can you see it? :)

We stopped for lunch among these lovely houses, which I just loved (so tiny!). Soon after our break we walked up some hills wondering through past some curious cows which started following us thus acquiring new friends. As the sun was setting, the sky was painted in beautiful pastel colours that thankfully showed up in the pictures I took (woot!) with the added bonus of some wind turbines in the background (to inspire me for my wind power forecasting presentation next Monday!).

A wonderful walk in a gorgeous place was the perfect end to the week. Looking forward to more trips soon!

Song of the...

Day, week, month... Not sure. Very few days have passed during which I haven't listened to this song since I found it. Recently been finding music by listening to playlists of tv-shows I watch. When I hear a song I like, I look up the artist and listen through their other songs, found quite a few that made it to my main playlist. This is one of them: Wild Love, by Gossling.

Autumn in Birmingham

It's that time of year again, feels all too soon after having my last fall just 6 months ago in New Zealand, but there you go. However, unlike last year I will actually see it transition to winter, hopefully, this will put my season confusion to rest.

Waking up to this view I should have known
 how my day would be spent...

Time for cosy sweaters, pumpkin food, tea (as if there aren't enough reasons for tea, but I'll take them all), crafty evenings at home and staying in university purely for a warmer environment than our chilly student houses...

Took the time to enjoy the beauty of nature during this transition period walking around campus, parks and went hiking on a day trip with the hiking club (yes, I joined the one at my uni!).

Started on those crafts again, expanding my collection of DIY canvas-bag pillows. Also, brought back a pile of leaves for crafting, hopefully I will come up with something to use them for...

Oslo and Liverpool

On our way back to Birmingham for our final year at university, we made a couple of stops (naturally) to Oslo and Liverpool to visit friends and see the sites making full use of our last week of summer holidays.

We got off to a great start in Oslo by accidentally getting a free train ride into the city. As we didn't have any local currency and they didn't accept any of the 5 debit cards we had between us and the train was running late ruling out the option of getting off and getting cash out at any of the stops, they let us off from paying for our tickets. So that's one way to survive in one of the most expensive cities in Europe- just don't pay for stuff.

After that little experience, we spent the day walking around the city, taking in the sites and noticing the little things like how everyone looked amazing and how tidy and well planned out the whole place was in general. Also, how much Norwegians love their sculptures with one every 20 metres and that for an unknown reason pedestrians have two red traffic lights  at their crossings (guess they just really want you to stop)... 

We managed somehow to get in touch with our friend by stealing wifi from a cafe (seeing a pattern here...) Why we didn't set up a meeting point in advance is beyond me, but there you go, sometimes it's more fun not having everything planned out ahead of time ;)

Met up with our friend in a lively square filled with musicians, people blowing soap bubbles and others who had just left their offices and went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Our day continued with more lovely places, even ended up passing our beloved cafe :P

'Perfect bridge'

The second day was spent visiting the small islands of Oslo which we got to by ferry escaping the craziness caused by the Danske bank marathon. It was a nice contrast to the mainland, tiny summer houses, rocky shorelines and historical ruins painted the city in entirely new colours. We finished off the evening with a salmon dinner, a must while in Norway.

Sneaky sock stealing seagull 

We spent the final day walking around the castle and because I couldn't miss the peoples climate march, I just had to join Oslo's one. Only joined in the last few minutes of the walk and really tried to stay for the speeches, but there's only a certain amount of trying to pick up what they were saying in Norwegian before I headed back to the flat. Despite not being to understand most of what was said I was still glad to be part of the huge global event. 

Back at the flat we decided to stay in and have a girly night in with movies, popcorn and talking, which was nice after an active couple of days of travelling. We regained our strength and got ready to continue to our journey to destination number two- Liverpool.

Liverpool was great, we received a warm welcome and were shown around by some wonderful friends. Hit all the scenic places and got to see the city from an architectural perspective since both of our 'tour guides' happen to study just that.

Superlambanana :D

One of the reasons for visiting Liverpool now was due to Wicked- one of my favourite musicals was on tour there for which we had bought tickets months before. I was so happy to share the experience with my friends as they saw it for the first time (unlike musical obsessed me, who has now seen  Wicked 3 times...)

Defy gravity