Travel Junkie Girl’s Summer 2018 Travels in Review

Autumn is definitely here to stay – the fleeces, scarves and boots are out and the heating is set to come on for when we wake up (yes, I’ve finally done that for the first time since April!) But while I’m planning autumnal walks amongst crisp fallen leaves while collecting conkers, I’m taking a look back at my summer spent exploring lots of nooks and crannies of the UK.

I’ve been to some exciting new cities, discovered some fabulous historic properties, experienced some excellent walks in stunning countryside with my pooch Roger and indulged my passion for sculpture trails with a plethora of Wild in Art trails around the UK.

So without further ado, here’s what I got up to…

St David’s: Pembrokeshire

I began my summer travels by visiting a new city to me and the smallest in the UK: St David’s in Wales is situated right out to the far west of Pembrokeshire and my visit has been a long time coming! With family situated not a million miles away I can’t believe I’ve not made it there before. As it is such a small city, it’s easy to see in a day without feeling like you’ve missed out on something and it really has a quaint seaside town feel to it, despite its imposing cathedral and neighbouring Bishop’s Palace.

I think the cathedral has the best setting of any UK cathedral I’ve seen, nestled amongst hills and beautiful countryside. It’s proximity to some of the most beautiful beaches in Wales, the glorious Pembrokeshire coastal path and the access out to Ramsey Island are a huge draw too, so if you were ever in 2 minds about visiting St David’s, be assured you won’t be disappointed!

Porthgain: Pembrokeshire

While visiting St David’s, I also stopped off in Porthgain, a cute little fishing village on the Pembrokeshire coast. I discovered this little gem while researching online for a dog friendly beach in summer to take my dog Roger to. With a perfectly formed harbour overlooked by dramatic remains of the brick-making industry, an excellent restaurant serving the best fish ‘n’ chips I’d had in a long time, the typical gift shop with necessary ice-cream and postcards on hand and a superb stretch of Pembrokeshire coastline in each direction – Porthgain is a worthy stop if you’re in the area!

London

June also saw me return to London for the first of 2 summer trips. It was a highly cultural trip with visits to Tate Modern to see the ‘Picasso 1932’ exhibition, Tate Britain to see ‘Aftermath: Art in the wake of WWI’ and the National Academy to see the ‘Monet and Architecture’ exhibition.

I also finally visited Southwark Cathedral after about 20 previous occasions of walking past it and spent a delightful few hours roaming around Regent’s Park. I must have spent a full hour just photographing the roses in Queen Mary’s Garden which were out in all their glory and I think this is probably the best array of roses I’ve ever seen.

My second foray to London in August was a theatre and retail therapy trip. 42nd Street at Theatre Royal Drury Lane was fantastic and I’m so glad I travelled down to see it.

Following what was becoming a London parks theme (as on another previous trip I explored St James’s Park) this time Hyde Park was my focus as I wanted to see the London Mastaba – a giant sculpture of barrels floating on the Serpentine Lake by land artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Wow: it was quite a sight and although public opinion was definitely divided between love and hate, no one can deny it made an impression! What do you think?

The Peak District

I made a couple of day trips to the wonderful Peak District, the UK’s oldest National Park. I spent a day walking in Monsal Dale and finally saw one of the most well-known views in the Peak District from Monsal Head. There’s something so majestic about the old railway viaduct spanning the bend in the valley that just makes you gasp. It is such a beautiful dale to walk through with an attractive waterfall on the route as well.

I then spent a day visiting Bakewell and Haddon Hall, one of the best fortified medieval manor houses in the UK, with Elizabethan gardens situated on the River Wye. Dating back to the 12^th century, it’s a real delight to walk around and has been on my list of places to visit for so long.

Bakewell proved to be a rather charming town to explore, with its many food and artisan shops and an attractive riverside setting. I particularly liked the Austrian restaurant we found called ‘Tiroler Stüberl’ where we consumed plenty of sausage and apple strudel. This place alone would make me return to Bakewell.

Dundee

July saw me head to Dundee in Scotland to follow the first of my summer sculpture trails: Maggie’s Penguins. 80 penguins took up roost around the city with some placed further afield as far as St Andrews and Perth. It was a trail that certainly needed a car to complete and I found 68 of the 80 penguins in total.

The trail took me to places I probably wouldn’t have visited in Dundee in the time I was there and I found some lovely little gems, such as the botanical gardens, Broughty Ferry, Newport-on-Tay and the Dundee Law with its epic 360° views over the city, river and the Sidlaw Hills.

While on the trail I took in the McManus Museum and Art Gallery, St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral and Discovery Point where the newly opened V&A museum is; as well as spotting a whole host of other places I’d love to visit when I return to Dundee. The V&A tops that list closely followed by the Jute Museum which looked fascinating.

Falkirk

En route up to Dundee I stopped at Falkirk to visit the Kelpies, the largest equine sculpture in the world. Constructed in 2013, the Kelpies are the work of Scottish sculptor Andy Scott and are a monument to the role horse power played in the area’s industry and agriculture. Called Duke and Baron, the Kelpies are modelled on real life horses of the same name.

Dunblane

En route home again, I called at Dunblane to visit its impressive cathedral. Although no longer the seat of a bishop, churches that were once cathedrals still retain the title and Dunblane sits up there with one of the most beautiful cathedral interiors I’ve seen.

Eden Valley: Cumbria

My next July trip was to the Eden Valley in Cumbria where I spent time visiting the market towns of Appleby, Penrith and Kirkby Stephen and a number of castles including Brough, Brougham and Pendragon.

I scouted out Andy Goldsworthy’s Pinfold sculptures of which there are 6 dotted around various villages in the Upper Eden Valley. He is one of my favourite artists so when I realised some of his work was still visible in the area, I knew I had to find them.

Penshaw Monument: Tyne & Wear

While on one of my regular trips to the north east of England to see family, I finally visited Penshaw Monument near Sunderland. You can see this Greek temple from miles around but up close it’s something else entirely and its elevated position provides epic 360° views. You can even climb up to the top of the monument via spiral steps hidden in one of the columns though this is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Nottingham

My second summer sculpture trail was in Nottingham for the “Hoodwinked” trail of 33 oversized robins. In contrast to Maggie’s Penguins, this trail was fully walkable and easily doable in a day. You can read all about the trail here, as well as all the things I saw in Nottingham on the route. St Mary’s Church: Nottingham’s ‘would be cathedral’ was a highlight which I recommend visiting.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle

On my way home from Nottingham, I called in to Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire to visit its impressive castle ruins (managed by English Heritage.) Amazingly, you can get still climb to the top of the ruined tower and the views from the top are superb.

Bee in the City: Manchester

If Dundee had penguins and Nottingham had robins, there is only one creature that Manchester could consider for a sculpture trail: the bee! The worker bee is synonymous with Manchester so the ‘Bee in the City’ trail saw 100 large bees and even more small bees take flight through the city. They were fabulous, but unfortunately despite my proximity to Manchester, I only managed to spend one day bee-spotting (capturing 36 bees), so I have tickets to go see them all at the farewell event (12-14^th October) Exciting!

Worcester

My last sculpture trail of the summer took me on a short break to Worcester, where 30 8ft tall giraffes and 27 calves hoofed on in to raise money for St Richard’s Hospice. Like the Nottingham ‘Hoodwinked’ trail, this trail was walkable and an ideal route provided. Why the giraffe though? Well you’ll have to have a read of my blog to find out…

I loved Worcester’s stunning cathedral and discovered a number of fascinating museums including the Royal Worcester Museum, the city’s art gallery, the Tudor House Museum, Greyfriars’ House and the Commandery. I can’t wait to explore them all more on a future trip and visit Elgar’s Birthplace: “The Firs.”

St George’s Hall: Liverpool

This August I managed to tick a huge item off my UK bucket list. While I have visited St George’s Hall in Liverpool on numerous occasions, the original Minton mosaic floor in the Great Hall remains covered for most of the year for preservation. However, for about 10 days every August, the 30,000+ tiles are revealed to show off the hall in all its glory. This year I made it… and it is epic!

Lancashire Walks

One of my goals for 2018 was to discover more of my neighbouring county of Lancashire, so I decided to start doing some walks in the area with my dog Roger.

One of my favourites was along the Heysham heritage coast from Half Moon Bay to Morecambe. There is a beautiful section of this coastline that is maintained by the National Trust and commands excellent views across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District Hills. It was a lovely surprise to stumble across the ruins of the eight century St Patrick’s Chapel and rock-hewn graves.

Morecambe’s seafront was a surprise as it is littered with bird themed sculptures which I love and of course the Eric Morecambe statue. Then to top off a great walk I popped in to the dog-friendly Midland Hotel for refreshments. This art deco hotel certainly appealed to me and is easily the best positioned hotel in Morecambe.

The Lake District

I ended my summer back in my favourite place…in…the…world: the English Lake District! Based in Windermere, I racked up some lovely walks with my Dad and Roger, with the best day spent walking Lingmoor Fell and the Langdale Valley. The weather was superb the day we chose to head up what was to become my 19^th Wainwright. For those that aren’t familiar: ‘Wainwright bagging’ is a popular activity up in the Lakes – it relates to the 214 Lakeland mountain summits detailed by famous walking guide Alfred Wainwright and one day I’d love to bag all 214 of them… Just a few to go then!

I spent a good deal of time shopping for new much needed walking gear and equipment. Ambleside, Bowness and Grasmere are excellent for this activity and I am now the proud owner of a super new Osprey rucksack. It’s so light and comfy that you’re not even aware you’re wearing one.

Lastly, I discovered the ‘Time Mirror’ installation by Di Mainstone on a visit to Blackwell Arts and Crafts House near Bowness. Part of the Lakes Ignite festival 2018 which saw 6 new artworks placed around the Lake District in response to its new UNESCO World Heritage status, this interactive sculpture which overlooked Windermere (lake) reminded me of a kaleidoscope. When you looked through it the reflective surfaces showed distorted and abstracted images of the landscape in front of you. I had great fun trying to get photos with me in them too!

So, what’s in store for autumn then?

I haven’t got too much planned as yet, but I did start my autumnal journeys in style with a trip to the South coast of England to follow the Snailspace sculpture trail in Brighton and Hove. I also explored Chichester, Arundel and Petworth while I was there too.

I’ll be checking out Hamburg for a few days in October and then heading to Lanzarote in November for a week – my first trip to the Canary Islands. If you have any suggestions of things to do in either of those places please get in touch and let me know.

After checking out Preston earlier this year, I’m also keen to explore Lancashire’s other city: Lancaster, as well as a few other Northern cities in England. Let’s see how many I manage to get to….

What did you get up to this summer? Let me know if you discovered some lovely hidden UK gems in the comments below.

PIN IT!

If you’ve enjoyed reading this, please subscribe to my blog via email over on my profile page or through Bloglovin’. Then head on over to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to keep up with all my travel related news. Hope to see you there.

Please leave this field empty

WANT MORE?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE MY MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FULL OF TRAVEL TIPS & MY LATEST BLOG NEWS, PLUS LOTS OF U.K. TRAVEL INSPIRATION!

First name *

Last name *

Email Address *

By subscribing, you agree to receive our marketing materials by email. I promise we don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more information.

Please check your inbox or spam folder and click the link in the email to confirm your subscription.

Please leave this field empty

WANT MORE?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE MY MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FULL OF TRAVEL TIPS & MY LATEST BLOG NEWS, PLUS LOTS OF U.K. TRAVEL INSPIRATION!

First name *

Last name *

Email Address *

By subscribing, you agree to receive our marketing materials by email. I promise we don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more information.

Please check your inbox or spam folder and click the link in the email to confirm your subscription.