Cornwall.. It sure ain't England..

Totnes - The Lizard - Cirencester

It was Tuesday morning, the sun was shining, our bags were packed. We were ready to head off. Leaving Manuel, our crazy beloved adopted Spanish brother was quite sad, but as travelling goes, we needed to move on.

It was sad to leave the lovely wise Olivia and Chris who's such a sweetheart too. Chris dropped us off at the train station to start our journey heading to Cornwall where apparently things are different there and the streets are much narrower. I was amazed when Chris said that, the streets in England are narrow already, how else narrow can it get???

After travelling for 4 hours, we finally got to Cornwall, sure enough the roads were a lot more narrower than other parts of England. As we hopped off the bus, a lady spoke to the bus driver asking for a schedule and the bus driver said "we don't have a schedule, it's Cornwall!" Hahaha.. That's funny!

We walked around the supermarket and spoke to the guy at the store and in the middle of the conversation, he said "well, it's Cornwall!" I love that! Secoond time in a day hearing that, just confirms how Cornish are relaxed people.

From left to right: The night before we left Totnes, celebrating Manuel's birthday with Rowan, Rafi, Manuel, Mats and me; Mats walking through the forest heading towards Porthallow Beach; A nice little garden at Porthallow Beach (random, just found it interesting really, with the colour coordination and stuff); Auuuuw, how cute, found a carved out heart shape on a pipe; The rest of the photos are Porthallow beach

We finally got picked up by our host Jonathan. His place is located in St Keverne, where he builit a BnB consisting of a few interesting buildings, such as the tree house and gypsy caravan. Beside his place is a massive Cattle farm. A nice place to stay but after been working there for a while and hearing from his own lips saying "I'm a control freak, I like things my way", Mats and I immediately felt uncomfortable helping out there. Jonathan is definitely not Cornish.

So, after staying there for a week, we headed off to Cirencester where Sue, our new host was expecting us to help out with her garden.  It was nice to experience a bit of Cornwall though, they are different to England, they speak differently and have a rather strong Celtic culture. Since we arrived at Sue's place, we've been working throughout Easter and it has been really fun and nice hanging out with her. Two days off tomorrow!! Yes!! Sleep in!!

From left to right: The tree house; The garden; The pond; The Hobit Hole; The Gypsy Caravban; Helston; Narrow road in Helston; Cheltenham Spa, waiting for our bus to Cirencester

My new home in Totnes, England

Totnes, South Devon, England

The last two weeks, Mats and I have made ourselves comfortable in our new home in Totnes. Our stay here is a very short yet most comforting with our hosts, lovely wise Olivia and remarkably witty and cool Chris as well as their children, Sole, Rafi and Rowan.

We had our own little summer house to live in which we share with our awesome and hillarious Spanish mate who is our brother now, Manuel. The summer house faces an incredible view of south Devon.

From left to right: On our day off, Mats and I went for a walk along the river and steam train track where we went for our cold little dip. We found a couple of beautiful ducks; Dew on the plants in front of our room; Me, posing on a log; Our cute little summer house with a huge rose plants that is ready to bloom in May, shame we won't be here to see it; Our view from our room, the typical Brittish weather with mist all day long; The walk along the river; Me, climbing up a tree on our walk; The beautiful river

On the weekend, Olivia and Chris took us to town to check out the markets where we had really good curry and where we discovered the uniqueness of Totnes. I love Totnes, it's a very cute alternative little town.

It was a nice sunny day on Sunday, so Chris took us and Sole to the beaches in South of Devon. It was a really nice day where we managed to get a bit of tan after all the rain we've been getting lately.

From left to right: One of the beaches Chris took us to in South Devon; Same beach; This is one of the rural beaches close to Dartmouth with incredible views; Mats, posing on the beach; Me, after dipping in the water preparing to sun bathe; Manuel found a hammock where he had his little siesta after lunch, not too bad at all; Sole, Chris, Manuel, Mats and me having a picnic on the top of the hill facing the beach; Our view while munching our delicious soup and sandwiches; Mats and Chris chatting away; The boys walking along the beach.

It's our last day of stay in Totnes and it was Manuel's birthday today where I cooked him a mix of my recipe and Olivia's recipe. I also baked him a nice big guiness cake. It was really touching how much he appreciated my gift to him. It was a very emotional birthday. I'm sad that we will have to depart tomorrow, but that's travelling for ya. I'm definitely coming back one day.

St Paddy's to the fullest in Ireland

(Ireland) Kilkenny - Bray, Dublin - Cork - (England) Birmingham - Bristol - Torquay - Totnes

After 10 days of house cleaning and baby sitting, I went off to Bray, Dublin and visited my lovely Lithuanian mate Ed who was living with Dan, who's local and amazing and Kumiko, who's from Japan and such a sweetheart. We spent the whole night watching Mighty Boosh and talking, then decided to get up really early the next day to go to Ireland's tallest waterfall which is located in Powerscourt.

We were running late to catch our bus to Powerscourt, so we had to run all the way to the bus station. I was running behind the boys with a peanut butter toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. The girl's gotta have her breakfast!

We got to the bus a bit early and met some interesting characters on the bus, including a drunk man (this is 9am in the morning by the way) and Bray's Elvis who was singing all the way.

We got to Powerscourt and had to walk 6 kms to the waterfall. So as we walked, we stuck our thumbs out and got a ride. Yes! My first hitch hike in Ireland. We got to the waterfall, and it's a beautiful place. We also took the time to be children again and played on the playground until a bus of school kids came and took over the place. 

That night, we went to Harbour Bar where I met local Bray people who are awesomely fantastic people. The band was amazing, they were songs they were singing were humorous Christian songs. They were hillarious and I love how the main vocalist was wearing a night gown and a lamp on his head with a bushy red beard. Really felt the St Paddy's vibe.

The next day, we went to Dublin and cruised around the city where we met beautiful Tayo, Dan's friend. We all then went back to Bray and went to Harbour Bar again that night. Different people came and it was a different band, but still singing hillarious Christian songs. I absolutely love Bray.

After another late night, the next day the 3 of us went to the beach and jumped in to the ocean. Ireland's the coldest place I've been to so far, but I had to jump in to the sea in Bray because I felt like it was my home. After being all fresh, Ed and I hitch hiked down to Cork. We had 3 rides altogether and waited beside the road no longer than 1 hour. 

From left to right: Foggy day in Kilkenny; The band playing at Harbour Bar, Bray; Foggy Bray; Bray pebbly beach; Dan and Ed being little boys playing in the playground; Me beside the river of the waterfall; The three of us walking to the waterfall before hitching a ride; Ed, me and Dan posing away; Me and Ed in front of the waterfall; Ed and Dan; Dan in his cubby hole; Dublin with its green buildings

When we got to Cork, met up with super lovely Simona and her housemates, Fladdy who's such a sweetheart and the charming, extremely intellegent and hillarious Daryn. Ed and I stayed at Simona's place. The three of them were such great hosts. We were extremely spoilt with food and drinks.

The first night in Cork, we went out to a pub. The live music that was happening there was a jam session, so it was nice a spontaneous. Then we ended up dancing our heads off at another pub with DJ playing some tunes. When we got back to Simona's place, Daryn and I jammed all night long, which was really nice.

The next day, St Paddy's day!! The day that I was suppose to get absolutely pissed since the afternoon. So I planned to start early. To complete the maximum St Paddy's experience, lovely Daryn cooked us an Irish breakfast in the morning. Then after that it was just liquid diet. I dressed up in a very non St Paddy's costume, which is a Japanese Manga style dominated by the colour pink but needed a little token of green, or something to do with St Patrick's day, but didn't have much luck when going in to shops on the way to the pub. But as I walked out of the first pub, a girl who was fixing her bike on to a pole, saw me and gave me a tiara that says 'Irish Princess'. Perfect! It completed my St Paddy's costume.

It was 15 of us that  night and we were pub crawling. I had my guiness, beamish and murphys. I must say that Irish guiness does taste different from you have it somewhere else and it's so much better. I actually really like it. 

Having drunk so much, I managed to get myself sick all over the city of Cork. I was feeling really terrible for doing that at that time, but it was really comforting when as I was feeling sick, people around me were talking about their st paddy's and throwing up all over the city experiences. 

The next day, it was another day for everyone. People went back to their day to day activities. Accompanied by Daryn, I walked to the bus station to go to the airport. 

Goodbye for now Ireland. I definitely shall return one day.

From left to right: Simona with her Beamish and Fladdy; The beautiful church in Cork (something about this church); Me in my St Paddy's outfit; Having Irish breakfast with Simona, Ed and Daryn; My Irish Princess tiara; Me and Ed hitching down to Cork; Me and Daryn on the way to the bus stop; Birmingham; Another picture of the church in Cork; One of Banksy's graffitti in Cork; Birmingham.

After not meeting for 2 weeks, I finally met Mats in Birmingham where we spent a couple of nights there. Then we head to Bristol and spent the night with Heather and Libby.

The next day, spontaneously, we decided to head to Torquay before starting to help out at a place in Totnes. We spent a couple of nights in Torquay and saw amazing things such as Sandy Man's art work on the beach, a couple of swans on the beach who came really close to us and of course the amazing views of Torquay, the English Riviera.

On Sunday, we headed to Totnes and met Richard and Sandra to have a nice picnic with them. We had our picnic in Dartington estate, where the trees were starting to flower. It was a beautiful place.

From left to right; Beautiful beach of Torquay; The magnificent swans; Torquay beach; Sandy Man's art work on the beach; Geoff, the Sandy Man; Mats blessing the water in Torquay for the World's Water day; Torquay; St Matthias Church in Torquay; View on the way to Totnes; The flowering trees in Dartington; Richard, Sandra, me and Mats; Richard and Sandra

After an amazing week of catching up with friends, we finally got to our home for the next 2.5 weeks in Totnes. 

Farewell Ilfracombe, England. Lookout Ireland, here I come!

Lee Bay (England) - Ilfracombe (England) - Totnes (England) - Bristol (England) - Dublin (Ireland) - Gowran (Ireland) - Kilkenny (Ireland)

Leaving the Grampus Inn at Lee Bay was one of the sadest thing I've done so far in my trip, especially separating from Lucy the dog. But life goes on and it's a risk I have to take as a nomad.

The last week I spent at the Grampus had been a spectacular week. While working for the day or night shift, I have managed to fit in some time to say goodbye to the coast, Ilfracombe and some of the locals I have grown to love.

The walk along the coast was amazing. The weather varied from a nice warm sunny day, grey cloud, windy, rain then rainbow, and not just a normal rainbow, but a double rainbow. To top that off, Lucy managed to roll around on fox shit that she successfully able to cover her whole body with.

The next day, I had another surprise visit from Phil Prophet aka Papa Bear. Phil was the member of the big family from Shangrilagos, Lagos Portugal. It was a really nice surprise, unfortunately it turned out to be a very short one. Phil only hung out with us in the afternoon til night, but it was really good to see him.

The following day, accompanied by Mats, I walked along the coast to Ilfracombe. It was a really nice walk where we passed some friendly sheep who were very keen on our snacks. In Ilfracombe, we visited Sara, as well as Mat and Arthur to say hello and goodbye in case I don't see them at the Grampus Inn on Friday night.

From left to right: The first 5 pictures are the view of the coastal walk from Lee Bay to Ilfracombe; Sara's awesome retro record player, absolutely love it!; Sara and adorable Dudley; Mats making friends with one of the sheep; Lucy in front of the double rainbow, a bit hard to see the second one; The next 3 photos are the coastal view from our walk along the coast from Lee Bay to Mortepoint; Me and Lucy at the edge of the cliff posing away; Mats gets daring with the waves.

The last Friday night at the Grampus was not too busy but it was nice. I was really happy to see the lovely, beautiful and bubbly Sara, the naturally funny Danny, gorgeous Holy (Sara's daughter) and the lovable Arthur, with the most beautiful eyes anyone can have, come in to Grampus. It was a sad night saying goodbye to them, as well as wonderful lovely Sandy, and Neil, the hillarious and cheeky chef who loves to pull your leg constantly.

For the first time at Grampus, I managed to get Sara, who is an amazing pianist to play the piano. It was the best farewell gift I could ever ask for. Thank you Sara, you really touched my heart deeply.

From left to right: Danny and Sara chatting away with Phil aka Papa Bear; Last Friday night at the Grampus with the highly talented boys jamming away together, Cristobal on his sax, Danny on his Base and Arthur on his guitar (you guys are amazing!); Me between Holy and Sara; Sara dressed up playing on the piano (such modesty of a great talent which I really admire Sara for, you're truly amazing, Sara, love you heaps); Me and Bill, the man who made it all happen; Me and Mats on our last shift working in the kitchen with Neil (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of Neil); Beautiful Sandy and her masterpiece coffee; Me and Ronan, who's an awesome chef and such a sweetheart; The unforgettable Lucy who will always be my soulmate; Me and fantasticly highly talented musician Cristobal; Me and Laurin who instantly became my bestfriend from day 1, love ya girl!

Saturday morning, I had my bag all packed and ready. I woke up with Lucy snuggling on my feet and cuddled her for as long as I can before leaving her. I went downstairs and joined the others for our last morning porridge. It was 10am and time to go. I said my farewell to Cristobal, Ronan and Laurin. Walked to Bill's car with Lucy following me whereever I went. I finally got her to catch a ball so that I can close the gate behind her, I hopped on the car and there she was, behind the gate wondering where I was going. I couldn't help the tears running on my cheek seeing her as the car drove away from the Grampus. Goodbye Grampus, my England home. I will be back one day.

Totnes was the next destination where Richard and Sandra is house sitting at the moment. When I got to Totnes, we met infront of the Seven Star pub. It was really good to see them after our meeting in Edinburgh. We then headed to their place which had an amazing view and luxurious rooms. It was a B&B and I was absolutely spoilt with the room I was staying in for a couple of nights. Their friends, Chris and Lisa were staying there as well for the night. It was really nice to spend time with them as well. Richard and Sandra made sure that we were well fed and comfortable. Thanks so much guys, you are the best. I'm so happy we keep meeting on our travels. I love you guys so much! You're truly amazing.

From left to right: Crossing the river on the way from Totnes to the house; View from the house; Another view from the house; Richard chillaxing on the balcony; Vending machine for umbrellas, only in England!; Harry the dog Richard and Sandra are taking care of with his funny sleeping position; Our last day together, At the pub; Our first night together

After spending two nights in Totnes, the journey continues on to Bristol where I spent the night at Heather and Libby's place before flying off to Dublin the next day. Thanks for always letting me stop over, Heather. You're the best!

The next day I flew to Dublin and caught the next bus to Gowran where my host that I will be staying for a couple of weeks is. So far, Ireland has been the coldest I've been with very moist air. The landscape around me reminds me alot like England.

The second day, I went to Kilkenny where most of the buildings are grey because of the local material in the area which is lime stone. As my main purpose of visiting Ireland besides experience the local culture is for St Patrick's, I was walking down the road of Patrick Street and met a man who then walked with me around town passing Patrick's Graveyard and introduced himself as Patrick. How bizzarre!

From left to right: A river I took a photo of on my walk in the area; The barn of my host's farm; View from the house; The house I'm staying at; Along side the river in Kilkenny; Church in Kilkenny; Patrick's Graveyard where I met Patrick; Hmm.. Something's not right with the map; Church on top of the hill in Kilkenny; Me around the castle; The entrance of the castle; The castle in Kilkenny; Kilkenny; Kilkenny.

My next blog will be about St Patrick's Day. Yaaaaaaaaay!

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