travel – Page 2 – Tyler's Travel Tales

New Mills | The UK is awesome mini-series 🌉

A wonderful day trip & a biblical storm!

Setting the scene

Living in Manchester UK, I am blessed with the opportunity to visit the Peak District regularly as it is right on the door step. This mini series will be covering the best places in the Peaks to visit that are easily accessible by train & gentle on the purse strings (One day I will learn to drive 😂). It is one the most verdant & ineffable places in the UK, with some truly incredible day trips!

This post covers New Mills, one of my favourite towns! It has all of the useful information you need to know to make the most of your trip alongside a customary tale or two.

About New Mills…

Whilst New Mills is in the Peak district, it is a more lively town & much less rural than some places I have written about. New Mills was a powerhouse during the industrial revolution & also had the longest continuous running textile mill in the UK, in operation for over 200 years. Whilst no longer an active mill, the building is beautiful & is perched on a glorious gorge, with a stunning waterfall.

The mill used to be powered by the water & then later moved to steam & finally electricity.

Within New Mills there is a plethora of cute little independent shops, several scenic walking trails, countryside pubs, rock climbing walls, unique towering architecture & there are even alpacas you can see! For the science nerds, be sure to check out the man made hydro energy generator type of thing, that provides free electricity which is community owned & funded, providing power to lots of houses by the force of the water 🤓

Story time ⛈️

Whilst I hesitate to cast aspersions on the weather forecasting people, on this trip I definitely called into question the validity of their analytical proficiency. New Mills was supposed to be glorious sunshine with a gentle breeze (which was certainly the case when I left Manchester). However, it ended up being a storm of biblical proportions! Although, you can’t let the weather determine your fun, so I powered on through. It was too wet to take any photos on this visit, but I am a regular attendee of New Mills, so have used older photos from Winter time. Soaked to the bone, I set out on my wanders!

The Torr Vale Mill & Millennium walkway are really resplendent, once you get over the fear of how high up the bridge is, it’s very scenic & peaceful. The Mill building now has a bar/restaurant in it & some smaller things. I had been a couple of times, but never realised it doubled up as an incredible wedding reception venue on occasion (if you happen to know anyone single, I am taking applications, hit me up, we might as well get this booked in advance 😂). I was attempting to go into the bar to escape the rain, but I was covered in mud & all sorts, the bridal party was hitting me with a barrage of vociferous verbal abuse to get out. There was not any signs up or anything, completely honest mistake!

Given that the Gorge is so peaceful, whenever I visit I love to just stand on the bridge watching the waterfall go by. However, I must have looked really lost & broken, as someone asked me if I was okay & planning to jump in. The thing is, I love open water swimming & jump into water often, so before I could really process what the lady had said, I replied with “no the water isn’t deep enough” (In my head thinking of open water swimming, the water being shallow would cause me an injury & not what she meant). Once I had understood her concerns, it was a deeply profound moment. I’m very, fortunate, humble & grateful for the opportunities I have had in life, taking nothing for granted. I’m just a happy go lucky guy, wandering through life enjoying myself. In that moment though, it may have been a person who was struggling with mental health issues or just having a really bad day & that random lady checking in with them would have made all of the difference to someone. There are awesome people out there who really care for others, sometimes the internet would make you think otherwise, but they are out there! If you know of someone having a tough time or you haven’t heard from that friend in a while, check in on them from time to time ❤️

Some photos of the trip… 🤳🏼

Artificially created waterfall for the Hydro
Alpacas
Torr Vale Mill
Torr Vale Mill Gorge
Upstream from waterfalls
Hydro electricity generator
Railway Viaduct
Streams in every direction
Information board
Rock climbing wall
Torr Vale Mill

Where to eat & drink? 🍻🍽️

So long as there isn’t a mental bridal party trying to dice you up, I would highly recommend the bar/restaurant in the Torr Vale Mill, the food is lovely! If the weather is respectable there is also a massive beer garden to catch some sun. There are also plenty of little cafes, bars & delis on the main street in New Mills so you have plenty of options to choose from. It may have just been an anomaly because there was a football match on but the Royal Oak New Mills Pub had free pizza going when I was there, so definitely recommend stopping by for a beer!

Useful information 🧑🏼‍🎓

There are lots of different walking/running trails around New Mills but it’s also got a hustle & bustle small town vibe to it, therefor it’s busier than a usual countryside retreat. You can use all trails or hiking apps to map out routes & there are plenty of websites with routes. New Mills isn’t huge, so I wing it whenever I go but I believe there are a range of circulars for every ability & fitness level.

Given that I don’t drive, I am at the mercy of the train companies to get around. It’s generally the case that you have no issues, but the last thing you want is to get stuck in New Mills! A useful tip is that there are actually 2 train lines that run through it, the Buxton line & the Sheffield line. The stops in New Mills are a 15 minute walk apart. Therefor if something causes a delay or cancellation to New Mills Central, you can walk to New Mills Newton & vice versa. If you visit on a Friday or Saturday, they have a mini market with all fresh food etc that is worth checking out, it’s positioned opposite the Sainsburys. If you are going to try the rock climbing wall, make sure & strap in & use an instructor, don’t try to climb it bare like I did 😂

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be posting travel guides for some more domestic places during Summer! The UK is awesome when the sun comes out, for that whole week once a year. There will be more spots in the Peak District, then more historical places like Chester, Edinburgh & York. I would love to take any recommendations in the comments, if I can get there by bus, train or plane, I will go 🤠

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Hope & Castleton | The UK is awesome mini-series 🏰

The perfect day trip combining history & countryside 🕺🏼

Setting the scene

This post will cover two beautiful quaint towns in one article, given their close geographical proximity, Hope & Castleton. It has all of the useful information you need to know to make the most of your trip alongside a customary tale or two. Thankfully I wasn’t subjected to a savage assault on this trip!

About the towns…

Hope is a cute little village in Derbyshire. It is very scenic & is situated where the Peakshole water & the River Noe meet. It is easily accessible by train & has rolling hills as far as the eye can see as well as ancient caves home to limestone, fossils & stalagmites.

Castleton is a short walk from Hope or you can drive / take the bus. This place is very special, it is like transporting back 40/50 years into the most beautiful quintessentially English villages. (Even as a Scottish person, I can still appreciate this 🤭)

The primary reason for my visit was to see Peveril Castle, which was one of William the Conqueror’s first stone built castles in England. However, I fell in love with the village, all of the old authentic locally run stores, the friendly people & the views of the Peak district are so picturesque, it’s difficult to articulate succinctly! From Castleton you can go into ancient caverns/caves, travel through Winnats Pass (I have videos on my Instagram post here!), do all manner of hiking, paragliding & see lots of cool wildlife.

Story time 🏔️

Generally speaking, I am fairly decent at walking, after all I have been doing it for 20 odd years (+/-50% on the years), however the climb to Peveril Castle almost killed me off, without any exaggeration. When I arrived at the base of Castle grounds, I set off with a febrile mindset, excited to get to the top, full of energy! However, it’s incredibly steep & the path up to the castle is a zig zag rather than straight line. There are benches to take a rest halfway, but I couldn’t even make it to the first bench. I had to take a lie down on the grass, after a couple of minutes I realised I was being eaten alive by ants & all sorts of other creepy crawlies. Not a fantastic start to the trip 😂

Winnats Pass was one of the most awesome places I have ever been in the UK. My photos below don’t do it any justice, but it’s clear to see why it is such a popular place to visit. You can walk or drive through the hill pass & limestone gorge, but dotted around the place there are signs for falling rocks. I was thinking to myself this nanny state stuff is getting out of hand, rocks don’t just fall from the sky. If any do, it is probably some yob throwing them (or ‘flinging bricks’ as we say in Scotland), it turns out I was wrong. Some small rocks do roll down the sides of the hills, one just about took me out of the game, so when passing through be careful & keep an eye out for falling rocks.

There is a cool independent craft alcohol shop in Peveril that I went into. I wanted to get some Blue John Gin for my mates birthday, it isn’t mass produced & you can only get it in a few places. This was at the end of my walk, I had racked up around 35k steps, so was a sweaty mess. This is the type of store where they really value customer service & want to talk to you about what you’re looking for etc. However, given that I was rather aesthetically unpleasing (well more so than usual), I just wanted to grab the gin & go, no chat, no thrills, bag up the gin, thank you good sir & I will be on my way. Regrettably, as I went to leave I then noticed the counter was full of all types of alcohol that had ‘Taster’ written on it. If I hadn’t been so anti social & set in my way, I could have treated myself to a few samples, which if you have read my blog before, you will know I am a sucker for! Moral of the story is, even if you are feeling antisocial, free booze might be on hand, so keep an open mind!

Some photos of the trip… 🤳🏼

Cool welcome sign
Winnats Pass approach
Inside Peveril Castle
Peveril Castle
View from Peveril Castle
Castleton High Street
Inside Winnats Pass
Jolly amusing sign
View of the walk from Hope to Castleton
Inside Winnats Pass
Cute sheep, because, well they’re cute!

Where to eat & drink? 🍻🍽️

At the risk of sounding unnecessarily melodramatic, you really cannot visit Castleton & not stop by Peveril stores & bakery. It is a winsome family run, long established place. Everything they sell is made in house with local ingredients, made by local people in the village. The food is to die for! They have everything from unique pies to pastries to succulent bread 😍. I wanted to get some photos inside or even try to do a video, but it was pretty busy & lots of children running around etc so I didn’t take any. When I was eating my pie outside on a ledge, a big seagull was eyeing me up, so I had to get it down the hatchet & not mess around with taking photos. There are also lots of countryside bars dotted around & small tap houses if you want to stop by for a beer!

Useful information 🧑🏼‍🎓

There are plenty of public toilets dotted around Hope & Castleton, however as you get further afield into Winnats pass & more into the scenery I didn’t see any, so best plan ahead 😊

Some of the small shops I went into only took cash, but even the ones who take card definitely prefer you to pay cash, it helps them reduce bank fees & keeps cash circulating in the local economy, fight the good fight & bring cash 🤠

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be posting travel guides for some more domestic places ahead of Summer! The UK is awesome when the sun comes out, for that whole week once a year. There will be more spots in the Peak District, then more historical places like Chester, Edinburgh & York. I would love to take any recommendations in the comments, if I can get there by bus, train or plane, I will go 🤠

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Grindleford | The UK is awesome mini-series 🌳

A stunning day trip, perfect for a tight budget!

Setting the scene

This post will cover a beautiful circular route beginning & ending in Grindleford. It has all of the useful information you need to know to make the most of your trip alongside a customary tale or two.

About the route…

This journey kicks off in the Grindleford train station, where you take a short walk into the Padley Gorge waterfalls & ancient woodland forest. The words elude me to accurately describe the beauty of this place! Take your most insane fantasy novel setting, the shire for example & you aren’t even close.

From here you move through into the Longshaw Estate which is awesome & has a variety of walking / running trails. You can also see plenty of wildlife here, so great for the kids!

Then it is onto Higger Tor via Toads Mouth, between Higger Tor & Millstone edge you get the most stunning views of the Peak district, then moving on to Lawrencefield, which is by far my favourite part of the trip! From here you begin the steep descent back down to the train station.

Story time 🏰

I had found myself a little spot by a river, way off the usual tracks & hadn’t seen another person for around an hour. What a beautiful day it was, the sun was shining, a light breeze bristling through the unblemished bushes & the gentle sound of the water trickling down the multitude of little waterfalls that make up the river. There were Butterflies of all colours & even a Dragonfly zoomed past. A place of truly profound serenity, in those moments it’s easy to forget where you are & feel like you’re the only person in the world. Alas, the peaceful retreat was short lived.

Usually, I am very child friendly, however this little spawn of the Devil was an absolute hooligan. A child (around 10 or 11 years old I would say), appeared out of nowhere, I could hear footsteps off in the distance so was looking around. As he approached he said “Excuse me Mr”, I am thinking what a polite young chap, but I was also worried as there was no sight of his parents or any other people, maybe he was lost. I asked him “Are you okay where are your parents?”, by this point I had stood up properly to look around. The little hooligan (hooligan is not the word I wanted to use, but for the purposes of keeping the blog PG, it’s hooligan), punches me full force in my baby making facilities. The hooligan starts giggling & runs off, although he was small it really hurt. It took me a few seconds to catch my breath & by the time I looked up, he was gone, completely vanished.

So at the very least I was the victim of assault, but given the proximity of the attack it probably should be upgraded to a sexual assault. After this I got back to the path & continued my journey, but the strange thing is I still didn’t see another person for around 30 minutes, but there are all sorts of woodlands etc so plenty of places I couldn’t see 🤔. If you are ever on this walking route, be careful if you get accosted by a young hooligan child! Even as I write this, I am still a little dumbfounded, but it can’t have all been in my head, I was still sore by the time I got back to Manchester 😂

Not all sheep are afraid of people, I found this out the hard way. When I go on these trips, I bring some bird feeder (you get a massive bag in Home Bargains for a few £’s). I was feeding some kind of bluebird or magpie type thing & a big ass sheep (I am not even sure the correct noun/plural for a singular sheep) started chasing after me, maybe it was bluffing but it had handy looking horns, so I wasn’t taking any risks!

When walking through Padley Gorge there are some really steep descents & lots of places to fall & do yourself a mischief. Being the big lazy toad that I am, I always try to invent shortcuts & take the quick route up or down hills etc even when there is no route. I couldn’t work out how to upload videos here, but I am starting a YouTube channel soon so will post there. I ended up falling down the side of a hill, it wasn’t high enough to kill me, but would have done quite a bit of damage. Thankfully I managed to roll onto my back & just slide down the side, so only a few cuts & bruises. The real issue was I couldn’t climb back up so had to cross the river, there was not many rocks & it was quite treacherous, albeit the river wasn’t deep, so I would have got soaked but not drowned. I had to go proper Lord of the flies & break a big branch off a tree to use as a walking stick to cross the river. All in all, a rather eventful day!

Some photos of the trip…

Padley Gorge woods
Cool cows
Padley Gorge woods
Lovely view
Padley Gorge woods
Padley Gorge woods
My newly created walking stick
Scene of the assault
Not the best shirt colour, evidently!
Cool statue
Lovely quiet spot
Pond on route to Longshaw Estate
Terminator sheep

Where to eat & drink? 🍻🍽️

There is a cafe at Grindleford train station where you can get food, it is pretty basic but not too expensive & gets the job done. Further along at Longshaw estate there is a nice cafe, but it is quite expensive. It is run by the National Trust so I think the money goes into conservation etc (well that is what I convince myself of when I get hit for £7 for a bagel). The Fox house is a big country pub that looks awesome, although I have not been in yet.

Useful information 🧑🏼‍🎓

It sounds very cliché but you really do need to take care when walking through Padley Gorge. Make sure you have decent footwear & even on a dry day the ground can be moist, so watch where you are going. If you aren’t a fan of falling over & getting hurt, stick to the main paths! There are not any public toilets that I have seen, so would suggest using Longshaw cafe halfway. Not that I would ever advocate for such behaviour, but if you don’t want to buy anything, the toilets here are round the back of the building, you can just wander round 😂.

Final bonus tip, don’t wear a white T-shirt, it will get ruined!

Poll Results 🐷

Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll from last week. The winner was Lola with over 30% of the vote, Bonnie came second & Bob came third. I will contact the farm about doing the sponsorship etc 😊.

What is coming next? 🤔

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Knutsford | The UK is awesome mini-series! 🦌

Thrown out of a wine shop, chased by a scary dog & a really important poll at the end! All in a days work, not to be missed 🤠

Setting the scene

In spite of its problems (brutal weather & expensive chip shops), the UK is an awesome place to live with so much to do & see. Given that we have to hibernate for most of the year, I wanted to do a mini series on some wonderful trips you should consider for this Summer that won’t break the bank. From beautiful scenic sprawling countryside to incredible historic towns & cities, the UK has something for everyone! Plus I am more likely to make a nuisance of myself on a domestic trip, which should make for a more interesting blog post. Todays post is about Knutsford & Tatton Country Park, with a very important poll at the bottom, please do vote, even if only anonymously 😊

A bit about Knutsford

Knutsford is a cute little town in Cheshire, England. The name actually goes all the way back to King Canute, if you’re a Viking history nerd, the name will be familiar to you. The town has an interesting history & was very important during the second world war. Unfortunately, it is one of the most expensive places to buy a house in the UK!

There is a famous TV show about bored rich housewives based in the Cheshire region, I haven’t see it but I am always on the lookout for a rich sugar mumma! Alas, I haven’t managed to find one whilst visiting Knutsford 🤭

Story time 📔

Whilst I was sauntering around the town on route to Tatton Park, fortunately by sheer dumb luck I stumbled upon a wine store offering free tastings. Given that it was around 25 degrees & I was melting, a lovely refreshing glass of wine was just what the Doctor ordered. However, I outed myself as a chancer almost instantaneously, it transpires that I in fact have a rather miniscule bank of knowledge pertaining to wine. Some free advice, if you are ever in Majestic wines for a free tasting, you have to at least pretend to be interested in making a purchase. When the worker asks what type of wine you usually like, you don’t have to be a seasoned connoisseur, but at least attempt something more believable than ‘that Red badboy out of Lidl, the £6.99 one’ (I panicked & couldn’t think of anything more realistic!). I was unceremoniously turfed out.

Tatton Park was the real reason for my Knutsford trip, it is the most stunning picturesque country park. All sorts of animals roam freely, there is a cool mansion you can visit & a great little farm with funky animals! Dogs are supposed to be kept on leads, so as not to scare the animals but a dog had escaped it’s constraints. A whole herd of deer came running towards me, which was mildly terrifying & I could hear the dog before I saw it. Suddenly, I was looking for a tree to climb thinking it was an XXXXL Bully coming to eat me for supper, turned out it was the tiniest poodle type dog just trying to play with the deer. Maybe it was a sheep dog in a previous life. Eventually the dog started getting too big for its paws & the deer decided to chase it off, it was a rather amusing sight to behold!

Whilst watching the baby pigs roaming around, I managed to land myself in a live episode of Jeremy Kyle Family Feuds. A pig was snoring loudly, the guy said “Oh it sounds like Grandma”, all hell broke loose. The Grandma was annoyed with the Dad, the Mum was annoyed at Dad for laughing, the toddler was in hysterics at the whole episode!

You should stop by The White Bear, it is the Oldest pub in Knutsford, really cool & authentic, feels a little like a time warp. The building has a lot of the original features, however that means there are a lot of low ceilings & no matter how many signs there are you still club your head on something. So either be really small or make sure & crouch down when entering. I managed to bang my head 3 times, I think that has reduced me to a single digit IQ now. Sometimes it is okay to drink sewer water lager, you don’t always have to go for something new. I decided to be exotic & pick something random, ended up with a Theakston bitter, which was more shambolic than exotic. If that is for you, each to their own, but you won’t catch me on the bitter again! Lesson learned the hard way!

Some cheeky snaps 📸

A big day ahead…
Lovely Lake in Tatton Park
Very expensive photo
Where are the T&C’s?
The absolute guvnor
Beautiful scenery
Very expensive photo
Very expensive photo
Beautiful scenery
Nap time!
Beautiful scenery
Just goating around
Old houses you can go inside
Blurb on White Bear
Inside the White Bear

Useful information 🧑🏼‍🎓

If you walk or cycle to Tatton, entry is free but you have to pay if in car (Around £10 I think per car). Thousands of animals all roam freely in the park, but if you want to go in to see the pigs, lambs, goats, horses & chickens you have to pay extra. This is a little expensive (£10 for an adult), but is well worth it as there is a little play park (although you look weird if you go on it alone & don’t have kids with you). You also get a chance to hold lambs & chicklets, but the events are all on at different times & dates so check ahead.

If you are susceptible to midge bites, I would highly recommend bringing some insect repellent. There are plenty of places to eat & drink, or you can bring a picnic, however if you share your lunch with the sheep you will get a shake down from the park ranger (I did this once & the ranger appeared out of nowhere, like some mad apparition). Tatton park has a variety of events on, ranging from flower shows, to concerts to classic car shows, even if you don’t go for the animals, I highly recommend looking at upcoming events, there is plenty of fun to be had.

The most important poll of all time… 🐷

There are a few different Pigs at Tatton & some of them are rare breeds. All of them are super cute, but each with their own funky personality, one thing they all have in common is they are fat & smell 😂. I am going to make a donation / sponsorship of one of the Pigs on behalf of this blog. Please let me know in the comments or poll which one sounds most like you or that you want me to sponsor. I want to say I am like Lola, although being realistic I am probably closer to Bonnie, slow & lazy!

What is coming next? 🤔

I am going to be posting much more regularly. Next up I will be posting travel guides for some domestic places ahead of Summer! The UK is awesome when the sun comes out, for that whole week once a year. There will be a mini series on spots in the Peak District, then more historical places like Chester, North Wales, Edinburgh & York. Would love to take any recommendations, if I can get there by bus, train or plane, I will go 🤠

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

In Bruges | Quaint, Charming & Ethereal 😍

Wonderful day trip, but a serious over indulgence of… 🧇🍫🍻

Setting the scene

Another ‘Anywhere trip’ on Skyscanner brought me to Brussels for a few nights, so I decided to take a trip out to Bruges for the day. My perception of Bruges was always that it was a cute place you would visit with your spouse or partner. However, since those are thin on the ground these days, I went solo & loaded up on all of the good stuff, Belgian Beers, Fries, Waffles & Chocolates! Needless to say my Samsung Health Tracker calorie counter was surplus to requirements. I got the steps in though, so surely it all balances out?

About Bruges…

Bruges is the capital of West Flanders in Belgium & is a World heritage site with UNESCO. It’s origins stretch all the way back to a Julius Caesar conquest & was a really important coastal settlement for trade etc!

Between the 12th & 15th centuries Bruges went through a significant period of growth & innovation, attracting all sorts of wealth & traders. Onwards from here Bruges fell behind Antwerp as an economic power (I would love to visit Antwerp, any recommendations welcome 😊).

During both World Wars Bruges was occupied by Germany, although it wasn’t destroyed like a lot of other cities. Today it is an absolutely stunning place, with bendy narrow streets, beautiful canals, historic monuments & awesome architecture. I promised honesty in this blog, so want to call out that the city is very popular & subsequently extremely busy. I went in October, so it may be more quiet if you want to brave the cold in Winter. It was still an incredible experience, however if you aren’t comfortable with really busy crowds etc Bruges may be a little overwhelming.

Story time 🏰

An absolute must visit is the Bruges Beer Experience, there are a lot of rip off places, so I am sharing the link to the actual one here . Usual caveats apply, I am not on commission for this recommendation, but if the boss sees it & wants to send me some free beers, sign me up 😂. They have 16 different beers in the bar & you get 4 for 10 euros, which in Bruges is exceptional value.

They are not full pints, but you get a little paddle of 4 & the % of them is really high. I decided I was going to complete all 16, as they say, when in Bruges! This was not one of my brighter ideas, by the time I stumbled out, I almost missed the tour bus back to Brussels. If you are going to do this, do it at the end of your day so it doesn’t ruin your sightseeing etc.

I could ramble on for pages & pages about the chocolate! As I went to go into a little chocolate shop a friendly local started talking to me & advised that shop had counterfeit chocolate, not to waste my money. “No good, I show you good place”. Now I may look like a dimwit, but I am usually good at spotting scams. To me, chocolate is chocolate, so I went in anyway, turns out the gent was right, it was pretty grim! He explained that there are authentic stores as part of a collection of chocolatiers, that have a little sign outside the window. I will share the sign in the photos. The chocolate in there is next level 😍

Some photos of the trip…

Rozenhoedkaai canal panorama view
Beer Museum
Beer Museum
The beginning of the end
Street Performer
Random canal
Random canal
Beautiful Holy building
Random canal
Some famous building according to the tour guide
Some famous bridge according to the tour guide
Sign of chocolate authenticity (Image from Google)

Where to eat & drink? 🍻🍽️

The food in this place was nothing to write home about, however it’s a set menu, at a decent price, with quick service & the best pint of Leffe I found in Belgium. It was called Brasserie Rozenhoedkaai & It also has the most stunning view of the famous Quai du Rosaire / Rozenhoedkaai upstairs on the first floor. If you don’t fancy the food, just pretend you are going to the loo upstairs to get a photo of the view!

Getting around 🚕

I only stayed in the city centre & everything is within walking distance. They do have horse & carriage, which I wouldn’t take, however I must say the horses seemed a lot better looked after than other places I have been. If you wanted to travel out to the Pier/ waterfront , I would recommend taking an Uber.

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be posting travel guides for some domestic places ahead of Summer! The UK is awesome when the sun comes out, for that whole week once a year. Next weeks post is on Knutsford & Tatton Country Park, which has been my favourite post to write & I will have a very important poll for you, you won’t want to miss it! Then there will be a mini series on spots in the Peak District & more historical places like Chester, Edinburgh & York. I would love to take any recommendations in the comments, if I can get there by bus, train or plane, I will go 🤠

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Buying bread from a man in Brussels, He was six-foot-four and full of muscle 🍞

A couple of days in Brussels with under 24 hours notice, what could possibly go wrong?

Setting the scene

Belgium wasn’t somewhere that was on my radar, but Skyscanner popped it up as a suggestion & it turned out to be a fantastic adventure! An incredibly fortuitous set of circumstances led me to having the opportunity to see the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on one of the evenings (more on that later in the post!) 🎹🎻

Modern Day Brussels

Brussels is the Capital of Belgium & plays host to elements of the European Parliament, the NATO headquarters, awesome Museums, Cathedrals, Art galleries & cool tourist sites. There is a real mixture of cultural influences within Brussels. There are all sorts of amazing foods & beers to try. I made a solid attempt at completing the culinary scene, however my waistline will never forgive me!

Story time 📔

When I was doing my obligatory Google search for things to get up to in Brussels, I spotted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra were playing 2 pieces, Dvorak9 & Elgar Violin Concerto. I really wanted to go, but it wasn’t exactly on Ticketmaster & the venue site wouldn’t translate into English. I managed to scrape by but ended up paying hundreds of euros & it turned out I had bought a premium champagne reception ticket. A humble guy from the hood, did what any guy from the hood should do, try to make the money back in complimentary booze! I must admit I felt a little out of my depth pre-show mixing with people who were most certainly not from the hood. However, the arts are for everyone & if anyone tells you differently, tell them to sling their hook. The concert was worth every penny 😊

The Brussels bar crawl was great fun, I am pretty confident when speaking to new people, but normally on holiday I just wander around with my head in the clouds, this is the first time I have went to a bar crawl type event. Everything was going so well until a French lad sank 20 Jagarbombs in one go, I often wonder how he is or even if he is still alive, he wasn’t looking too clever about 25 minutes later & that was the end of the bar crawl, photo below of the aftermath! 😂

In Brussels they have these mental trains that are double deckers, they are really cool & an ingenious solution. We need them in the UK, as I type this, sat cramped on a Cross Country train boiling alive 😂. Prime minister, get it sorted, we want double decker trains!

Photos from the trip 📸

Grand-Place Square
Random Cathedral
BOZAR Centre of fine arts
French lad post 20 Jagarbombs
Grand-Place Square
Leffe is a game changer
Random Cathedral
European Parliament
Brussels most famous photo bomber
European Parliament

Useful information 🧑🏼‍🎓

Public transport in Brussels was really great, although I walked most places, the buses, trams & trains were very regular! Some of the bars etc were expensive, but if you read the boards outside you can usually find cheaper local beers etc. If you go to an ‘Irish bar’ & buy a Heineken, you’ll get hit for a pretty penny, try the local stuff! Depending on the length of your stay, if you need to stock up on supplies, the Aldi’s there are banging! Much better than the UK 😂

Leffe is bloody strong, don’t drink it at the same pace you would drink a normal beer. You will end up being an absolute nuisance!

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be posting about Bruges & then onto travel guides for some domestic places ahead of Summer! The UK is awesome when the sun comes out, for that whole week once a year. There will be a mini series on spots in the Peak District, then more historical places like Chester, Edinburgh & York. Would love to take any recommendations, if I can get there by bus, train or plane, I will go 🤠

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Elche | A must visit when in Alicante! 🦕

Amazing tapas & a near disaster catching flight home!

Setting the scene

The conclusion of my Alicante region tour brought me to Elche for a day trip. I wanted to find somewhere awesome to spend my last day & Elche definitely delivered the goods! The town has a cool history, there are ruins of an ancient Synagogue & over the centuries it has had Roman, Greek, Byzantine & Goth (Germanic people) rulers.

Modern Day Elche

Elche is the third most populated city within the region & quite big compared to some of the other towns I visited.

You can visit the world heritage site – Palm Grove, the stunning Basilica de Santa Maria, Museo Paleontológico (cool dinosaur museum), Palau dels Altamira, Elche museum, beautiful parks & Huerto del Cura (one of the most impressive botanical gardens I have ever seen).

Story time 📔

Never trust Google when it comes to small local bus routes! I had planned the day trip meticulously, if you have read previous posts from me you will know I haven’t done this well in the past. For this trip, I knew where I was going, how long I was spending there & my travel plans between sites.

My whole day was going exactly to plan, I found all of the sites without issue & even found an amazing little spot for tapas. With a full belly & slightly merry from the lunch time beers, I made my way to the bus stop to head back to the airport, which according to Google was a 30/40 minute journey.

A few buses had passed but none of them were the airport bus, I started to worry ever so slightly. So I jumped onto the next couple of buses that came & tried to ask the driver where the ‘aeropuerto autobus’ was. I can speak basic Duolingo Spanish, I cannot speak rapido Elche Bus Driver Catalan language, but I quickly came to realise there was no airport bus coming to save me. I still had a couple of hours until wheels up, no need to panic.

I looked to get an Uber, turns out there were no Ubers or street taxis, the heart rate starts to increase apace! I had however remembered that on the way to Elche I passed the airport on the train, I could just get the train back & get off at the stop closest to the airport. I had to run my fat ass back to the train station to catch a train to Torrellano (which was the closest to the airport).

Once I got to Torrellano, thinking surely I could find a taxi to the train station, alas I was wrong. I also couldn’t pin point myself on Google maps, or see any airport or planes in air, so I had to make a best guess judgement & decided on a road. My thinking was it looked like the sort of road that would take me to the airport. After around 40 minutes walking (with my luggage I might add), I saw a sign on the roadside saying aeropuerto & I have never wanted to kiss a road sign so much in my life! I made the flight home, all is well that ends well.

Photos from the trip 📸

Basilica De Santa Maria
Huerto del Cura
Palau dels Altamira
Parc Municipal
I am saved!!!
Basilica De Santa Maria
Street Art
Huerto del Cura
Basilica De Santa Maria
Basilica De Santa Maria
Beside Palau dels Altamira
Parc Municipal
Random Holy Building
Random Street
Dinosaur Museum

Where to eat?

Jam on toast & fish 😂
Calamari
Patatas Bravas

I highly recommend “Restaurante + Que Tapas”. They haven’t paid me for this post, but if the manager sees this & wants to offer me some free tapas, sign me up 😍

They do great Tapas, beers & the place has a chilled out vibe! Be careful what you order if your Spanish isn’t great, I ended up with Jam on toast with cold fish 😂. Either it’s a delicacy or I made a tit of the order (more than likely the latter!)

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be posting about my trip out to Bruges & Brussels. From there I will be posting travel guides for some domestic places ahead of Summer! The UK is awesome when the sun comes out, for that whole week once a year. There will be a mini series on spots in the Peak District, then more historical places like Chester, Edinburgh & York. Would love to take any recommendations, if I can get there by train or flight, I will go 🤠

Hit subscribe to get notified when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Elda-Petrer | 2 cities combined into one conurbation 👠

Besides almost getting eaten by a massive dog, an awesome day trip!

Setting the scene

As part of my Alicante region tour, I decided to venture further out for a day trip in Elda-Petrer & was not disappointed. I was fumbling around on Google maps looking for unique places off the beaten track. Generally speaking I am very amenable to visiting anywhere boasting historic Castles, with both Elda & Petrer having one each, I was instantly sold.

Modern Day Elda-Petrer

Elda & Petrer are 2 distinct individual cities speaking their own languages, one Spanish & one Valencian. There has historically been difficulties between the neighbours & various disputes throughout the years. Lordships granting more land to one than the other etc, sounds remarkably similar to Scottish history 😂.

The whole conurbation has lovely architecture, beautiful narrow winding streets, colourful houses, holy buildings & awesome street art.

Something rather unique about this area is the shoes. I like shoes, they stop my feet from getting cut & bruised when outside walking however, I wouldn’t say I was a massive fan. Although, within Elda, shoes used to be a major industry & all over the town you can see shoe statues & equipment that was used to make shoes, they even have a shoe Museum! I really need to start taking my own advice & planning ahead, the Museum was closed when I went unfortunately 🤭

Story time 📔

Elda Castle, whilst beautiful looking from a distance & on Google Maps, is near on impossible to find the entrance! Wandering around trying to get in, I felt like I was trying to get the Gold on Fort Boyard & the Tigers were coming to eat me. The outer perimeter of it is quite big & as usual with any half decent Castle, it is perched up high on a hill. After going in circles, I eventually just gave up on finding the entrance, having also consulted Google to find out the Castle was closed anyway 😂, I should just re-name this blog to “Plan ahead people!”

There is lovely park that you should definitely stop by called “Parc El Campet”. It has a lovely walking route, a cool stage for performances, plenty of shade to hide from the sun & an awesome little waterfall etc. However, stay alert! One of the locals has what can only be described as a terminator dog. I love animals, especially dogs & I am not afraid of them in general, but this dog looked like it was bred in the pits of Isengard.

The dog was just trying to be playful by jumping up on me, but I don’t know enough Spanish to talk to a dog 😂, I just let out a tumultuous squeak & mumbled something about the ‘mascota’ being ‘bonito’. It’s amazing how quickly you forget words when a big ass dog is trying to have you for supper. At the time, I was sat on the ledge of a pond under a waterfall trying to do one of those really cheesy waterfall selfie videos. In the melee I fell back a little into the waterfall & also dropped my phone in the pond. I got it back out very quickly, thankfully it still works. I would have been devastated as I only just bought the phone after breaking my old one in Morocco less than a month before!

Photos from the trip 📸

View from Petrer Castle
Petrer Castle
Parc El Campet
Waterfall where Terminator dog tried to eat me
Elda Castle
Elda Castle
Elda-Petrer Train Station
Random Shoes dotted around
Random Shoes dotted around
Random Shoes dotted around

Where to eat?

Some sort of Calzone
A free Croquette
Those Olives have big ass rocks in them, be careful!

Usually I wouldn’t suggest going to Spain & eating Italian food, however I was very hungry & this was the only spot I could find.

The family that ran this place were really lovely & the food was awesome. They don’t speak much English though so either learn Spanish or have Google translate ready to go.

Pizzeria PAPILLON was the name of the place, definitely stop by if in town!

Bonus tip; Look up! ✅

For a variety of reasons we often have our heads down, trying not to make eye contact with street Electricity sales reps, avoiding nutters, looking at Social Media or following Google maps to find our way around. However, everything about this town is beautiful, there was something in particular that really stood out & that was the street art.

Ranging from portraits of the city to some of the awesome animals, it is definitely advisable to look up 🤠

Street Art
Street Art
Street Art
Street Art
Street Art
Street Art

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be writing about my trip out to Elche where Google had me waiting on a bus that didn’t exist & there were no Ubers, causing me to almost miss my flight, I had to go full survival mode! So definitely hit subscribe to find out what happened when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Villena | A quaint Spanish town 🏰

Cheeky whistlestop tour!

Setting the scene

Whilst I was soaking up some winter sun in Alicante I decided to venture further out into the wider region. That way I wouldn’t spend the whole morning in bed dying from the 2 euro beers the night before. This brought me on a day trip to Villena, whereby I originally only wanted to see the Atalaya Castle, but fell in love with the whole city. Other than making a complete calamity of the planning & organising it was well worth the journey.

Modern Day Villena

Villena sits to the NorthWest corner of Alicante near the borders between Murcia & Castilla – La Mancha. It is the Capital of Alto Vinalopo.

Although the Atalaya castle is the centrepiece of the city, there has been some important archaeological finds of treasure & jewellery etc. There are a couple of small museums, awe- inspiring holy buildings, scenic landscapes, a cool theatre & beautiful skyline views.

Story time 📔

Google is a liar sometimes! According to Google maps in Villena there is a Castle – Castillo de Salvatierra, I am now fairly confident that this is a lie. If you go on maps you can see there are no streets around it, when I got there it was the side of a mountain with quite a rugged terrain & insane precipitous drops all over the area. Let me know in the comments if you have ever actually found this Castle! After around 90 minutes of going in circles & not finding the Castle (which may or may not exist) I was fully ready to send up an emergency flare in the hope that Bear Grylls would come save me.

Plan your trip! As this place isn’t a major tourist hotspot a lot of things weren’t open when I went & it was quiet as it was a Monday in February. This meant I didn’t get to go into any of the Museums or the Atalaya Castle 🫣. However, I still loved walking around looking at the buildings etc.

A few cheeky snaps! 📸

Villena auditorio
Santa Maria
Atalaya Castle
Atalaya Castle
Villena skyline
Entrance to the phantom Castle
Atalaya Castle
Atalaya Castle
Santa Maria
Arch of Santa Maria
Santa Maria

Money 💰

I did not see many cash machines around & a lot of places looked very local & cash only.

So I would suggest bringing some paper with you! As I didn’t get into any of the tourist sites I am not sure which accept card & which don’t.

Getting around 🚕

I didn’t see many taxi’s floating (pun intended!) about but the city isn’t massive. I would say your best bet is to walk if you don’t have a car.

Getting into Villena was easy enough, the train goes directly from Alicante & only costs a couple of euros.

Bonus tip ✅

There are a variety of places called “Mirador de *Name*” on Google maps. These don’t look like anything you would stop by. However, I highly recommend that you do. They are basically platforms whereby you get stunning views of the city & sites.

The 2 that you should definitely visit are Mirador Alt Vinalopó & Mirador del Castillo de Villena. They are close to each other so you can get between them easily enough.

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be writing about my trip out to Elda-Petrer where I had a meltdown trying to get into a Castle, got chased down by a terminator dog & fell into a water fountain! So definitely hit subscribe to find out what happened when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always, if you have any questions drop me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as possible ❤️

Alicante | Cathedrals, Castles & Cervezas🍻

Awesome trip, but Spain definitely needs to outlaw 2 Euro beers & 6 Euro bottles of Gin 😂

Setting the scene

My yearning for Winter sun brought me to the effervescent Alicante. Usually I try not to visit the same city twice, however it was such a wonderful experience that I am strongly considering making Alicante a yearly pilgrimage. That is assuming I am not banned after my overtly jovial antics on this trip. I have made an executive decision that anything occurring after 10pm does not make it onto the blog as a travel tale 😂

Modern Day Alicante ⛱️

Alicante is a lovely city within the Valencia area. It has pristine beaches, beautiful architecture, cheap beers, amazing food & plenty of tourist sites to see.

The weather there is decent all year round but I was really lucky to have had 20+ degree weather in February, meaning I just wandered around in my kilt most of the time 😂

Story time 📔

If I ever write a book about my life, the flight out to Alicante would require an entire chapter. The plane was full of rather unique characters & stag parties headed out to Benidorm. The lovely young chap beside me was having a meltdown because he wasn’t allowed to smoke. When I say lovely young chap, what I mean is he actually looked hard as nails. I did my best to avoid eye contact & pretend I was sleeping when he kept trying to speak to me 😂

On the first evening, there was a big football match on, the Madrid derby. I was walking down a street that had lots of seats outside bars/cafes with people watching. I decided to stop by for a beer & see if I got talking to anyone. I thought everyone was supporting Athletico, so when they scored I started cheering. Obviously I was wrong & they were all Real fans, leading to boos all round & I think someone called me fat ass. My attempts at diffusing the situation failed, “lo siento, estoy amigo” didn’t get me out of the pickle, so I had to relocate to another bar, I just kept quiet the next time someone scored!

I found a little bar that can only be described as a pathway to Narnia. It didn’t have a sign or name, it isn’t on Google maps & has a little board outside advertising 2 Euro pints of Guinness (which turned out to be lager in a Guinness glass 😂). This bar is the most wild place I have ever been in! The DJ (a barman with an AUX cord on his phone) was only taking requests for Spanish songs. I spent 15 minutes trying to convince him Take That were Spanish, so he would play relight my fire. He eventually gave in & played it, just to shut me up!

Within this bar there was a female birthday party, I think must have been between 50-60 age range & they were a very very rowdy gaggle! In hindsight, before going to the discos it may have been wise to ditch the kilt! As the only male customer in there, I was getting a lot of attention, which I was loving, I have to admit. It is hard to pin point at what stage in the evening the line between flattering attention became full on assault by these rowdy women 😂. There was only one toilet with no lock, which had a urinal & toilet seat in same room, which incidentally was where they stored the empty kegs (photo below). As there wasn’t many people in the bar, I thought if I was quick I could get a number 1 done without any interruptions. WRONG! In bursts one of the revellers & plops themselves down on the toilet (which is mere inches from the urinal) & proceeded to slap me on the backside. Having no idea what to say, I just spluttered “Feliz Cumpleanos” (Happy birthday), I don’t even think she was the birthday lady. This was around 10pm & nothing after 10pm makes the blog, so you will have to use your imagination as to how the evening ended!

Places worth stopping by! 🏰

There are so many amazing places that you really need to visit! Some of my key highlights were Santa Barbara Castle, the Basilica Santa Maria, Alicante Market, Castell de Sant Ferran, La casita de las macetas azules, Playa Postiguet, Paseo de la Explanada de España & El Carrer dels Bolets (the mushroom street!)

View from Santa Barbara
View of Santa Barbara Castle from Castell de Sant Ferran
View from Santa Barbara
View from Santa Barbara
View from Santa Barbara
View from Santa Barbara
View from Santa Barbara
View from Castell de Sant Ferran
The counterfiet 2 Euro Guinness
Narnia bar where I got abused
Random Street
Random Street
Basilica Santa Maria
Basilica Santa Maria
Avenue General Marva
Mushroom street
Spain trying to murder me with 6 euro bottles of gin!
Elite level candy

Where to eat & drink? 🍻🍽️

Restaurante CASABLANCA

Lovely little tapas spot in the shadow of the Santa Barbara Castle. Relative to the price it’s a nice spot & the staff are cool too. They have a decent courtyard you can sit in outside.

Would highly recommend the Albondigas, I didn’t get many dishes there but everything coming out of the kitchen looked awesome! They do cold beers etc too.

100 Montaditos

There are a few of these as it is a chain. It isn’t 5 star standard, but really cheap & they do 100 flavours of mini baguettes. It’s the ideal place if you want to try different small plates without breaking the bank!

The beers here are 2 euros & it was the best pint I had in Alicante, there is one beside the beach that is worth a visit!

Red Corner Sports Bar

This is a cool Sports bar & has everything on you could imagine, with plenty of seats outside. It isn’t the cheapest place in Alicante but really good beer!

There are 2 of the same bar on opposite corners, the TV’s in the bigger one are a couple of minutes behind, so if watching sport, go to the smaller one!

Murphy’s Celtic Bar

This is a decent little pub if you want to watch rugby, football or anything in between. The staff here are really sound & the owner is a good guy. He has about 4 laptops going with all sorts of streams & will get whatever sport you want to watch on one of the TVs.

Please note; It is a decent pub, but it isn’t somewhere you would go for a nice date night for example.

Money 💰

Everywhere I went took card, but for food etc it’s best to have some cash to tip.

There are cash machines all over, I spent around 200 euros over 3 days & that was with eating well & drinking a lot of beers.

Getting around 🚕

Alicante does have Uber but everything you need is within walking distance so I never got one. There is a tramline & trains are decent to get between cities. I took a bus from airport, it was under 5 euros & only took about 20 minutes to city centre, saved a fortune on a taxi!

Bonus tip ✅

The centre piece of the entire city is the Santa Barbara castle, but it is perched up on top of a seriously high ass mountain! You can spend the whole day climbing up the side of it & give yourself a heart attack.

Or you can do a little research ahead of time (I didn’t!) or read my blog, there is actually a lift you can take from the bottom of the mountain to the top, but it wasn’t all that obvious to me that it was an option 😂. To get to the lift the entrance is just off the Postiguet beach.

What is coming next? 🤔

Next up I will be writing about my trip out to Villena, which is an hour away from Alicante. Unfortunately it was not as eventful as the Alicante trip but managed to get some awesome photos & did make a complete mess of the organisation. So definitely hit subscribe to find out what happened when the post goes live, thanks for reading through as always ❤️