Before we get tired: September 2013

And then lastly in my summer adventures I got to go to Cornwall for a month!!!! I was so excited to see Cornwall for a number of reasons, and it sure delivered! What a beautiful place it was indeed! I spent a month getting to know Dave's lovely family, and seeing all the things I had heard about for over a half a year - like the gnome reserve (this was number one on my priority list!). I had a really wonderful time, and it was such a great feeling to be made to feel a part of Dave's really amazing family. I can't wait to go back, well tomorrow actually! Yay! :)

These few photos are from Clovelley, where Dave's dad does his gig (rowing) club. It was a really pretty place, where you can only get down to by foot.

Clovelley

Looking at the sea from Clovelley

And good grief, were the sunsets that I witnessed while in Cornwall just gorgeous! This is why the left coast is always the best coast!

My first Cornish sunset.

And growing up right on the coast provides for really beautiful walks along the Southwest Coast path just out the backdoor, essentially. Katie (Dave's sister) Olive (Dave's niece) and myself went on a really lovely walk one day along the path, and finished the walk with my first Cornish cream tea; they're as good as I had imagined! I also got to go to Duck Pool a handful of times, the closest drivable beach to Woolley, and it's yet another great spot!

Holy Atlantic Ocean!

Olive was a pro!

Cream tea - tea, with a scone, clotted cream, and jam!

The Santa bumblebee and me, enjoying Duck Pool! Thanks for letting me snag this photo, Mary! :)

One day I decided to take a solo adventure in the woods, and wow! This walk is literally leaving straight from Dave's parent's door. If you manage to not get lost (unlike myself) you wind up at Marsland Beach, it's only an hour walk away. First the walk wanders through some really beautiful old growth forest, and then makes its way down to the beach. Not too shabby of a place to have grown up.

Green grass fields for days.

Lush green forest!

Then I got to go to a wedding; Dave's cousin got married. Weddings are so much fun in my book! Lots of dancing, lots of adult beverages, and that feel good feeling you get being in the presence of people who are so in love. This wedding was no exception! And it was in the middle of a really beautiful forest/field where everyone was able to camp afterwards! It was a really beautiful wedding.

The happy couple.

Barry, Mary, Connor, Olive, me and Katie waiting for the festivities to start.

Mary, Katie, me, Ben, Tom, and Ned all getting down on the dance floor!

There were a handful of pubs that I had been told were must sees on my trip, and the Old Smithy was one of them. Dave's parent's neighbor plays in this really awesome folkish type of band once a month at this pub, so it made perfect sense to go that night.

I should have never dropped those fiddle lessons I was taking there for a minute, either that or I should really learn how to play this harmonica that I have!

Oh good lawd, here comes the part where I geek out over the Gnome Reserve, and tell you all about the most bizarre/magical place I have ever been, ever. So the Gnome Reserve was something I had psyched up in my head for months prior, after coincidentally spotting it on a map Dave had hanging in his room in Kuru, and you know how when you get yourself all hyped up about something there is a rather large risk that it won't deliver because you've made it so big in your head? Well, rest assured, the Gnome Reserve was just as epic as I had built it up to be in my head. First of all, do yourself a favor, and go check out the website of the place http://www.gnomereserve.co.uk/. Okay, so now that you've done that, let me just say that I could envision getting lost here for forever with Lauren, and probably never coming out again because we could live amongst the gnomes and fairies forever more. Either that, or we would leave really scarred from all the secrets we'd been told by the gnomes and fairies. But essentially, to enter you have to put on a gnome hat, so that you don't scare the gnomes, but rather become one of them, and then you wander amongst this lady's land where she has strategically placed her oddly huge gnome collection in the landscape. It.was.awesome.

The lady is super psyched about how much air time she has gotten.

Gone fishin'..

Just a couple of gnomes, chillin, nbd.

I don't know if I stopped laughing the entire time.

And these are some of the older gnomes, the wise ones if you will.

After our day at the Gnome Reserve, Dave's sister and brother-in-law treated us to a really amazing dinner at their restaurant. We had fancy espresso martinis at the end!

Dave and I took off for 3 nights to go explore other parts of Cornwall. It was a really great couple of days, and we got perfect weather! We managed to go all over the place in a few days. We first went down to Penzance, and sadly didn't run into Suzy or Sam, but nevermind! Then we went over to the Lizard, where Dave and I managed to do a really nice coast path run! And then over to Falmouth, which was a really cool artsy city. And lastly to Mevagissey, a really beautiful fishing village.

Breakfast somewhere near Treen.

Really beautiful runs along the Southwest Coast Path somewhere near the Lizard.

Ran right up next to these guys.

Camping on the beach, somewhere near Pentreath, and check out the moon!

Gooood morning!

Second beach spot!

Yet another good morning!

Looking back at our camping spot!

I take lots of sneaky pictures of him when he's not looking.

Most houses in England have names, rather than numbers, and this one cracked me up!

Mevagissey

Other happenings.. well we went to Bude a few times, the closest big town to Dave's parents. This is also where Dave went to high school. But I found a couple of random/hilarious things in Bude. I also found Cornish pasties, gluten free ones at that! So good!

Found this in the local bookshop, crazy!

Gingerbread person.. what is the world coming to that we have to be so damn pc??!!

Late night walks home from the pub in Bradworthy - Rae and Connor, with Dave and Barry.

And then one day I tried my hand at mountain biking! Katie took Dave and I out to Cardinham Woods to go on the mountain bike trail out there, and it was good fun. Admittedly, I was a bit timid at first, and really had to let go and trust myself (and the bike) a bit more. But, once I did that it was super fun! I would love to get into mountain biking some day in the future when I can afford a nice mountain bike! Thanks Katie for this! :)

Me being scared, but acting like I'm not!

I'm pretty hard core.

And this guy killed it, because he's just good at everything, ugh!

And on the way home from Cardinham Woods, we stopped at Bodmin Moor for a little jog up to the highest point in Cornwall! It was a really spectacular view from the top, you could see the ocean and just green fields for miles. The visit was short lived though, because then the rain came.

These two running back to the car together :)

And then on one of my last days in Cornwall, Dave and I went on another coast path adventure. His parents dropped us off in Hartland Quay, a really lovely little village, and then we walked back to their house. This was a really lovely afternoon, filled with sunshine, ocean breeze, and a pizza picnic for lunch!

He walks.

Marsland.

Pizza picnic on the cliffs!!!

And then the remainder of my time before heading out was filled with a nice lunch out at the Castle, more sunsets at the beach, and a really fun night out in London before my flight.

Dave and Olive doing their best impression of grandpa.

Sunsets at the beach are the best.

Couples that wear plaid together, stay together.

Creepy US satellite dishes along the coast, how lovely.

Brick Lane electric mosque in London.

Preach Mickey.

So while I never managed to bump into Thom Yorke during my stay in Cornwall, that's fine, because I'm guessing I'll manage to just run into him this time. But gosh what a lovely trip, and I am so excited to already be going back! <3

After the amazingness that was Iceland, it's hard to act like anything could get much better, but then I got to go to Spain! When Dave and I landed in Barcelona it was in the 80s, and I could have kissed the ground I was so excited to have the sun warming my bones. Iceland was admittedly pretty chilly/windy/rainy at times, so the warmth was welcomed on my part at least.

After Dave and I got to Barcelona we headed straight to his house, which is in Asturias. It was pretty surreal for me to be in the Barcelona airport again though, and I can't wait to be back in that city come February. But anyways, we made it to Asturias, and if you want to creep on where Dave's house is, you can google Infiesto, Spain; and it's very close by there. I was really excited to go to Asturias because I'd never been to this province before, and Dave had obviously talked it up, so I was really looking forward to it. Dave's house is in a really remote area (from my little urban dweller perspective), and it was so peaceful and beautiful.

Essentially it was a really lovely two and a half weeks of leisure for me :) Dave, and his friend Bart (who was visiting the whole time we were there) worked on the house a lot, but I played rather incompetent in household matters, and mostly read a lot and went running some, and then ate a lot of good food. Dave's uncle has an amazingly impressive vegetable garden that we ate out of for nearly every meal. Their land is really just great in general, and it's so cool that they have put in a massive vegetable garden in one corner of the space.

Dave and I also took a couple of days to go explore other parts of Asturias, and went camping on the beach one night (nearish Lastres), it was really beautiful. His house is about an hour bicycle ride from the coast, and only a handful of minutes by car, pretty cool. We also managed to stumble upon a village festival the night we were camping, so we partook in that as well, it was fun mostly for me because there were fireworks involved! But I also learned how to drink a proper coulín of cider and got to sleep under the stars, without a tent, on the beach for the first time in my life. The next day Dave and I also checked out the Picos de Europa, which are also very close by, and naturally they're really beautiful.

Other time was just spent going on many walks, watching the sunset from different nearby spots (you can usually get a view of the sea and the mountains at the same time if you go to certain spots), and having the occasional bonfire. It was a really relaxing and lovely time, and I can't wait to go back soooooon!