Last month in Lee, Ilfracombe, England

Lee, Ilfracombe, England

The first week of my last 3 weeks staying in the Grampus was highlighted by new volunteers from Spain and the US. Meeting Laurin from the US felt like I have known her forever. Immediately when I met her, she reminded me of one of my bestfriend, Nuni. Having Laurin around has been a big tease with the fact that she's a really good baker and have been volunteering to make the most delicious devilish carrot cakes that are hard to resist.

As for Cristobal, who is an absolute sweetheart from Spain. Friday accoustic night opened up his tremendous skills on playing the saxophone, spanish guitar, flute and singing, not to mention his cooking skills in making Spanish food.

As for Mats, from Sweden, who has been volunteering here for almost 3 weeks now. Our conversations about life and the universe increasingly becomes more and more interesting each day as he is a great and deep thinker.

My time spent in the Grampus has been occupied by the company of these extraordinary travellers, not to mention Bill and of course Lucy, who has been my loyal companion as far as I have been living here.

From left to right: Daily morning porridge with Bill, Mats and Laurin; A muddy and adventurous walk to Ilfracombe with Laurin where she walked in to deep mud; Our beautiful view of the coast walk to Ilfracombe where we were chased by instant weather change of gail and hail storm; Beautiful view of our Ilfracombe walk; Another beautiful view of the coast walk; Laurin; Farm we passed by on our Ilfracombe walk; Laurin again admiring the view; Another beautiful view of the coast walk; Ilfracombe; Stopping by at Mark's place, who is one of the local musicians in Ilfracombe where Laurin was trying out his didgeridoo; Cute little Lucy during my daily walk with her; Cristobal and his Tortillas de patatas; Me, Mats and Cristobal at the dinner table dining on Cristobal's delicious spanish food; Bill and Laurin munching up Cristobal's cooking.

The second week of my last 3 weeks in Lee was highlighted with another dance that I performed on Friday night (sorry, the video was too heavy so I can't upload it in the internet). The next day, Heather and Azure came to visit me at the Grampus. We went for a coast walk with Lucy, continuing with delicious dinner at the Grampus, spiritual talk with Mats and ending with a nice jam that I did with Danny. It was a nice day.

From left to right: Had a day visit to Ilfracombe with Mats and Cristobal, this is Mats with the beautiful landscape of Ilfracombe; Beautiful Ilfracombe coast; Me and Mats on the harbour; View from the church on top of the hill; Cristobal below the church on top of the hill; Beach in Ilfracombe; Power plant in Ilfracombe that's been converted in to a theatre; Ilfracombe coast view; Mats posing infront of the church on top of the hill; Me, posing on the harbour; Rock wall in Ilfracombe that has been destroyed by the recent storm; Lovely Heather taking a picture on our coastal walk; Heather and Azure on the beach in Lee.

Lovin livin in Lee & Brendo surprise visit

Lee, Ilfracombe and Lynton

As I was having a ciggarette with one of my workmate, Mats outside the kitchen just behind the pub entrance in my mouse onesie, a bloke walked towards us. I thought he was lost and confused where the bar entrance was, so I pointed out to him where the bar entrance is "The bar entrance is just there" I said. He didn't stop to turn around though, instead he called out my name "NIA!". I thought it was one of the locals from Ilfracombe that I've met, so I tried to look closer to figure out who it was. 

It looked like Brendo, but I tried to look again because I thought there's no way it's Brendo. He came closer and it was Brendo!! I shouted "NO WAY!!!!!" and without thinking twice, I ran and jumped on him and basically latched on him like a leech. I was in tears and couldn't believe that he was there!!!

It was one of the best surprise I've had in my life. Brendo, you are a bloody legend!!! Brendo discovered where I was from my blog and drove from Cardiff to spend the night in Lee. The next day we had a walk up the coast and he had to leave to catch a plane back to home down under. 

Thanks Brendo, that was an awesome surprise!!

From left to right : Been having crazy weather lately in England, this photo was taken when the tide was going up to 10 metres high; More photos of the high tide; Walking through the forest with Mats and Lucy; Me in my husky hat hiding behind a tree; Lucy posing under a fallen tree; BRENDO!! Bloody legend!; Me and Brendo infront of a Vanilla Ice cloud that I couldn't manage to catch with my selfy; There it is, the vanilla ice cloud; Me and Brendo on our coast walk in the morning; Brendo with Lee background; Me and Brendo in Lee village

The excitement of the week was followed by another crazily fun Friday night at the Grampus where the accoustic open mic night happens. The night continued on at Danny and Sara's place, one of the awesome locals from Ilfracombe. It got a bit messy, but everyone survived.

The next day Danny and Sara took me to Lynton for a nice walk with Dudley, their cute dog in their super awesome gypsie van. 

From left to right: My crazy mates who comes regularly to Grampus on Friday nights, Lou, Max, Arthur, Danny and Sara; Friday night at Grampus; Bill in his joker hat; Open mic; Night continues on at Danny and Sara's place where neightbours are starting to complain about then noise.. Oops..; Me, dressed up and jingling away; As the night ends, Danny and Arthur passes out; Also as the night ends; Getting a lift with Sara back to the Grampus with her awesome 1965 Morris, absolutely love this car; Our walk at Lynton; Sara in her Morris; Sara and Danny in their van; Danny and Dudley in the van, poor Dudley, he gets scared in cars; Our walk along the coast; Sara posing on thhe bridge; The famous vertical railway track powered by water; Random photo of Ilfracombe; Danny having a sip of his pint of Guiness after saying that he won't drink anymore..haha

Another 3 weeks of stay in Lee. I hope more amazing things will happen here. :)

Livin the life in Lee, Ilfracombe

Lee, Ilfracombe

As you might have noticed from the map that I have not been travelling much lately. It appeared that I have glued myself to this place I currently call home. Grampus Inn, a pub located in Lee, Ilfracombe on the north coast of Devon is another place that I am volunteering at until end of February. 

Bill, the owner, who is also an incredibly talented fiddler has made me feel comfortable to live in the pub for 2 months. Other guys who are part of the Grampus Inn 'gang' are Alice from Australia, Owen from New Zealand, Kara and Jacob from Canada, Giulia from Italy, Mishale from Germany, Phil and Sandy who are locals. 

Most thing I love about this place is the music culture and the musicians I meet here. Bill provides musical instruments scattered at the corner of the bar for people to play freely. Every Friday the pub hosts an accoustic open mic, it also hosts jam sessions every third Sunday of each month and hosts other occasions such as Burns night that we had last Saturday night.

This is a dance I did during the acoustic open Mic night
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hrat2dkq53zsyfm/VID-20140124-00033.3GP

O dear, I forgot to mention Lucy, the three legged dog, who loves to think she's vicious when the first few people walk in to the bar. She's best at hipnotising people to either give her a tummy rub, food or jump on your bed. It definitely worked on me (shamefully to say)..

From left to right: Burns night (Scottish tradition where they comemerate the birth of Burns, the famous Scottish poet; Me in a kilt; Giulia and Lucy enjoying the fire; Me and Sandy at the bar; Mishale and Phil; Owen and Alice; Me and Lucy; Me and the awesomely hillarious Mat; M'Larkey playing at the pub (Bill's playing on his fiddle); Jacob and Kara; Lucy keeping me company on my bed.

One blue sky day (which happens so rarely in Lee), I took the chance to have a walk along the north coast from Lee to Ballpoint. Along the way, I passed people and most of them were wearing rain coats. I was wondering to myself, it's such a clear day, why do you need your rain coat? As it turns out, just after passing Ball point and walking up the hill towards Morthoe, a dramatic thick grey cloud was rushing towards Lee. There you go, one lesson I learnt living in England, Don't trust what you see!

My walk along the coast 

Loony Mouse Hogmanaying Scotland

Edinburgh - Aberdeen - Glasgow - Highlands - Bristol - Ilfracombe

When the plane landed in Edinburgh, I was welcomed by a cold, windy and wet morning.  I settled in to my hostel and at night met Heather for the Torch Procession. Seven thousand people including us walked through town with our burning torches from the city centre up to Calton Hill where the procession ended with beautiful fireworks.  After the ceremony, we went to the pub to meet the rest of the gang, Vince (my cheeky monkey lovely Parisian mate), Vlasta (my beautiful beloved Czech mate) and Vlasta's friend, Honza.  It was a nice get together after not seeing each other for a while.

On New Years Eve, Heather, Vince and I dressed up in our onesies.  Vince was a monkey (of course, being the cheeky monkey that he is),  Heather was a parrot with a kilt (annoyingly to be occasionally mistaken as a cockatoo) and me as a super Scottish mouse with a kilt and a cape.  We filled our plastic bottles with as much alcohol as possible and went off going nuts and danced around in the city and at the street party.  We managed to get everyone all ages to either start dancing or take pictures of us (felt like celebrities that night).

After going crazy at the street party, we went in to the Ceilidh concert and learnt traditional Scottish dances.  It was so much fun, as well as frisky and full of spinning around.  Luckily none of us felt too sick to throw up, but a couple of hours was definitely enough.  We went back to the street party just before midnight and met up with Vlasta and Honza.  We all celebrated the welcoming of 2014 together.  As 2014 entered, the moment became absolutely magical and unforgettable, especially when the fireworks took off where I was feeling like I was in another world enjoying every second to the great beginning of 2014.  I knew at that time being with the people I really love and having the most magical experience that it will be a grand year.

From left to right:  Me and my sword; Me and Heather getting ready to light up our torches; The opening ceremony of the torch procession; Me and Heather with our lit torches; The nice view of people behind us with their torches; Fireworks at the end of the procession; More fireworks; Beautiful Edinburgh; Vince in his monkey onesie going bananas (Thanks for celebrating new years with me Vince.  You really made it unforgettable); Vince, me, Honza and Vlasta taking pictures of Edinburgh before new years eve; Me and Vlasta having lunch; New Years Eve in Edinburgh; Ceilidh Concert; Church in Edinburgh; Me and Heather in our onesies; Me, Heather and Vince in our onesies rockin the city; Edinburgh on new years eve; Vince, Emilie and me at the Ceilidh concert; Me, Heather and Vince resting on a bench at 7am after partying hard all night. (Most of the photos were taken by Heather.  Thanks lovely!)

We continued partying up through til morning and ended up sleeping for an hour, having to wake up for our (me and Heather) Loony Dook plunge in Queensferry.  I was late and not being very prepared, I wore my bikini, mouse onesie and reef shoes to loony dook and did not take spare clothes nor shoes.  It was a cold morning but Heather and I were so ready to do it!  There were about 1,000 of us.  Everyone was dressed up and we all paraded together towards the water followed by drums to make us dance all the way.  Heather and I then got in our bikinis, prepared my camera, ran to the river then dived in.  It was SUPER BLOODY FRESH!  The video camera only lasted for 10 seconds which was such a bummer.  We then headed back to Edinburgh and being not well prepared for after the event, it was definitely the coldest journey back to the hostel.

We changed to warmer clothes then headed in to town to meet Richard and Sandra (my beloved Aussie mates) who were staying in Glasgow at that time.  We walked around town and caught up for a couple of hours until they had to head back to Glasgow.  Meeting Richard and Sandra made my new years celebration even better, it was perfect!

After spending the last day with Vlasta, Vince, Honza, Aron and Emilie, we said our goodbyes hoping to meet again in the near future.  It was a sad farewell.
Heather and I chose to walk up to Arthur Seat for our last day in Edinburgh.  We chose the worst day to do it but it was crazily fun to walk up  the hill.  The ground was slippery at times, the wind tried to blow us away, and hail aiming to our faces, but it was an adventure and we really experienced the real Scotland walk (well, apparently that's what the locals said).  It was an absolutely wet and cold adventure, as our rain coats were soaked and water got in to our clothes.  We then headed back to the hostel where it was warm, we were given towels to dry up and changed to dry clothes and we were given cakes and tea in front of the heater.  They were really sweet and lovely.

From left to right: Preparing mentally for Loony Dook (worried!!! Do I look worried?); Heather looking worried and cold as well; The nice looking bridge in Queensferry where loony dook takes place; The Loony Dook parade; Time for everyone to dive in!!!!; I did it!!!! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!; We did it!!!; Heather did it!!!; Freezing cold at the bus stop on the way back to Edinburgh; View of Edinburgh from the castle; Live music after new years eve in Edinburgh with Richard, Sandra and Heather; Me and my beautiful Sandra; Me and gorgeous Heather and lovely Richard (thanks for making my new years experience even more magical guys, you're the best!); A cute purply building on our last night in Edinburgh; The Castle; Calton Hill; Me and Heather playing dress ups in the museum; Me and Vlasta on our last day (thanks for being there Vlasta, you really created a magical new years experience for me); Me and Heather fooling around at the museum again; Heather walking towards Arthur's seat; Me and Heather walking towards Arthur's Seat in the windy hail storm (Without you I won't have had a crazy awesome new years celebration Heather). Again, most of the pictures were taken by Heather.

Heather and I then parted. I wanted to experience more of Scotland then spontaneously headed up to Aberdeen hosted by my mate Andrew.  It's a very grey city because most of the buildings were built from granite plus Scotland sky at that time was really grey.  It was nice, but one night was definitely enough there.

The next day, I followed my heart to Glasgow.  It was raining alot and the hostel I was staying in was really quiet.  So I went for a walk in the centre and came across a Scottish band called Clanadonia playing so I stuck around.  At the end of their play, I hung out with the band and chat for a bit.  One of the drummers, Gavin, who I hung out most of the time kindly hosted me in Glasgow.  Maggie and Gavin made me feel so comfortable in their home and treated me like I was part of the family.  Gavin taught me how kilt works, which starts of a 4 metre fabric then folded nice and exact to act as a sleeping mat then becomes a blanket.  It then wraps around to become a kilt also trousers, coat and it works best when it's wet because it makes you warmer.  Wow!  I was impressed!  The Scots sure know what they're doing.

From left to right: The only picture I took in Aberdeen; Glasgow, the city of creativity; Glasgow city centre; George Square in Glasgow; Cathedral in Glasgow; Clanadonia in action; Clanadonia shirt; Me playing the didgeridoo taught by a Glasgowegien, hmmm; My lovely hosts, Gavin, Maggie and Buster; Gavin folding the kilt precisely by couting the squares; Me in the kilt.

Gavin also took me on a road trip to the highlands.  To make it more interesting, I wore my mouse onesie throughout the whole trip.  The landscape  was absolutely mind blowing.  Snow was covering the top of the mountains, Waterfall every where, hee-land coos (highland cows) and I managed to do a take two loony dook video where it was even colder as it is further north than Edinburgh.  It was, again, or more so, SUPER BLOODY FRESH!  I haven't managed to upload the video online, having some technical problem.  But just to give you a bit of a vision, I was screeching like a mouse.  It was soooooo much colder than Edinburgh!!

After a few days in Scotland, I headed back to England heading riding a very comfortable 10 hour night bus to Bristol where the seats were converted to beds, then continuing another bus ride in the afternoon to Ilfracombe.

From left to right: The road trip begins! YEAH!!; Loch Lommond; The highlandsl; Waterfall; On the road through the highlands; The beautiful highlands; Lunch time, peanut butter sandwich without cutleries; Waterfalls again; More of the highlands; On the road again through the highlands; Highland views; More highlands view; Oldest pub in Scotland; Have you ever  seen a mouse attack a bear before? Well, here you go!; More waterfall in the highlands; More highland views; And more views; More breathtaking views; A mouse in the highlands; And towards the end, more highland views.  It's definitely a must go place.  Absolutely breathtaking!

Frosty England Christmas

Devon - Cornwall - Somerset - Bristol

Another week on the farm, from left to right: Herding the horses in to the paddocks with my bestmate, fatboy Moby the fat golden labrador; Kate cleaning the horse stables; Church we went to for the Christmas Carols; Leading the ponies into their paddock for the day; Me and Moby doing selfies; View of the farm; The caravan which is my own little private space; Cat on the right, me and the other helpers Kate from Canada, Valentino from Italy and Kate from Russia; Me, Valentino, Cat's mom Copper and Kate at the Church service.

After 2 weeks of regularly feeding animals, cleaning stables, pig pens, bird pens, plucking turkies, ducks, geese, chickens and dressing them, making sausages and burgers as well as selling them at the markets, I left the farm for the time being and spent christmas with Heather's family, from left to right: Christmas night Heather and Kegs slow dancing with a full stomach; Me in my christmas pressie mouse onesy and Dave, Heather's brother; The onesies!!!; Veriti statue on our north coast trip; Kegs being totally shitfaced!; Frosty morning; North coast beach; Same; Me, Heather and Livvie, Heather's sister being silly onn boxing day in Topsham; More of the north coast; Same; Wild ponies on the road on our way back home; Heather in Porlock posing on a cool shaped rock; North coast town; North coast town at night; Bridge across the river; Typical old phone booth; View of north coast.

After the biggest days of feasting and getting totally wasted, Heather and I drove up to Bristol to leave for Edinburgh and celebrate new years eve.  Coming soon is new years video of us jumping in to the river in Edinburgh. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and UK

Lagos - west coast and inland Portugal - Lagos - Malaga - Amsterdam - UK

The week started with a roadtrip up to the west coast of Portugal for 4 days.  The nights were cold and waking up with frost was becoming a daily routine.  It got cold as we headed further north but still warm enough to sun bath and swim in the ocean.  After 4 days, we finally head back to Lagos where I then spent my last night in Portugal.  I left early in the morning heading to Malaga, Spain where I have booked a flight to head to Amsterdam.  The bus trip took all day and I definitely felt very sad to leave Lagos, my new home, but it was time to go.

In Malaga, I caught up with my good friend Vince who hosted me in Paris and who is now travelling as well.  My flight to Amsterdam was on a Sunday and there was a fiesta then, the roads were closed off and my bus was late and had to go around to finally get to where I needed go.  I got to the airport late and panicked.  Luckily I've checked in online but couldn't check in my backpack, which I was really worried about because I had my swiss army knife, pointy pegs, large sizes of lotion which I was sure I was going to lose going through the security check.  I went through the security scanner feeling so nervous and my backpack passed through the scanner while the ladies in front of the monitor were too busy chatting away, probably whinging about having to work while there is a fiesta happening.  I quickly grabbed my backpack and left towards my gate with a huge smile of relief on my face.

After 3 hours flight, the plane landed in Amsterdam and I met my friend Manuela at the airport who had just landed from Italy.  She invited me to her apartment where I was h hosted generously.  Close to sunset, we went to her band practice and watched them play.  Manuela made my Amsterdam experience really really unforgettable.  At night, I headed to my friend, Lili and Michael's place, welcomed by a big plate of delicious lasagna and spent the night there.

From left to right: Lagos; First night camp inland west coast; west coast cliffs; west coast beaches, same for all 3 photos; our roadtrip car; west coast beach; inland Portugal; inland Portugal; west coast beach; Manuela playing in her band; photo of me beside my wall message in Lagos; Yarran, feeling on top of the world in the mountains of inland Portugal; me and Manuela

I then set off to the airport in the morning to fly to London.  When I got to London, I  immediately took the bus heading to Tiverton, Devon where I was then picked up by my Heather's (my pommy friend who turned out to be living near by)'s mom who took me straight to the farm I am currently volunteering at.

It's been a week on the farm now and it's been hard work but a really new experience and challenge which makes it fun.  It's an animal farm consisting horses, sheep, cows, birds, dogs, cats and ponies.  There were also 3 other helpers beside me from the US, Spain and Australia.

From left to right: me and beautiful Heather; Azure's (Heather's mom) house; same; Farm I'm working at; Beautiful Devon view; The farm

New home Lagos

Spain - Portugal

From left to right: Portimao, Portugal; Camped in National forest, South Portugal; Campsite in Sevilla, Spain; Campsite in Spain on the way to Portugal amongst horses; Portimao; Castle in Portugal; The frost I woke up to hitching in Portimao after waiting for 7 hours then finally got a ride after waiting another 4 hours (we need more hitch hikers in Portugal!!!); Really yummyy and interesting fruit found in the local market; Portimao

Kate, Gabriela, Laura and I rented out a car to go on a roadtrip to Monchique (high moutain seeing north and south portugal view), Sagres (End of the Western world) and beaches along south west.  From left to right: Monchique during sunset; Beach in Sagres; Beach in Sagres; Beach south of Aljezur; On one of the cliffs in Sagres; Same; Beach in Sagres; Same

Spent a week in Lagos making myself at home.  Had a really cute welcome in Lagos, was greeted by a black labrador with a winter scarf around its neck.  From left to right: Cool grafitti in town; Lagos cliffs; View of Lagos from cliff; More cliffs with Yarran; More cliffs; High tide; The rocks are eroting and this is a pedestrian walk and driveway infront of a hotel; More rocks; My gorilla shoes I wore everyday around town that Ben lent me; Flying kite on the beach with Fredrik; More rocks.

After welcomed by the labrador, Ben (one of ShangriLagos hostel owner) greeted me at the door just as I arrive.  Then I immediately felt home and been living in a house with my Lagos family.  From left to right: Cooking and washing dishes together; Snuggled together watching Death Proof; My first night at home; Thanksgiving dinner we did for Kate; Jamming after dinner; Fredrik, Alva and me after walking Phil (papa bear) to the train station; Crazy dress up night where we all then did a piib crawl around town while dancing and singing each way, until everyone was totally drunk of course (luckily most costumes survived the wild night); Cute picture of Gabriela, Kate, me and Laura on a giant chair (like tiny kids sharing a chair); Our beloved rooftop where we love to hangout during the day, sunbathe, yoga, learning the flute, playing the guitar; Fredrik, Maulice and me after walking Jack to the bus station; So, introducing my Lagos family, Maulice; Laura; Jack; Alva; Ryan; Fredrik; Kate; Yarran; Me on top of the world (exactly how I'm feeling); Ben; Alva with Tiago; Paula. Missing out on John's picture.  Sorry John.