London 17th - 18th April 2014 

Written by Alice 

Looking sexy in McDonalds

Barely a day after I was back from the Peak District, two of my uni friends were down to visit me. Although I grew up in the suburbs of London and I still go back there in the uni holidays I don’t often to get the chance to act like a complete tourist in my own city, so this was quite nice. Laura could only make it down for one night as she lives in the middle nowhere and transport is an issue, poor girl. Once Laura joined us the full tourist activities could begin. After a quick lunch in McDonalds by kings cross surrounded by lots of shouting French men we headed up to Camden as Laura had never been before. Camden was somewhere I used to go when I was 14 to feel cool, however it was nice to be back now. We wondered around for a while and had our feet eaten by fish which was another thing I haven’t done since I was 16. We eventually went to a pub for coffee after a few hours exploring the markets. Coffee turned into sitting on a rooftop garden drinking cocktails feeling very sophisticated. 

Mmmmm feet

Cocktails :)

Cool lighting shop

  After Camden we headed down to Oxford Street to experience everyone's favourite over crowded shopping street. We went to New Look and after doing some shopping, where I found a dress for our uni end of year ball for £10, we went to the Starbucks which is inside the shop. We must have spent nearly 3 hours in that building, I'm sure that place is some sort of time vacuum. After people watching oxford street from the 3^rd floor of new look for an hour or so we headed down to the newly done-up broadcasting house. We arrived just in time to see the end of the one show being filmed which we got a bit too excited about. When were finished at broadcasting house we headed down to Piccadilly circus, via hamleys of course, to Tesco and then home. The woman who served us in Tesco was the slowest sever in the world. Seriously I could feel my life slipping away. In Tesco we bought Laura a caterpillar cake for her birthday, because what else would you buy for a girl who is nearly 20? We then headed back to mine to eat cake and drink wine.

We so cool

Meeting the Kate and Will

our new best friend in Hamleys

Loving the cake 

 The next day we did one of my favourite walks in London along the south bank before a mad rush up to Kings Cross to get Laura on her train. We also happened to come across 'Jesus live' in Trafalgar square as it was good Friday. Not really my thing to be honest. Over these two days I had a really lovely time exploring my home city through new eyes.

what is up with my face?

downing street selfie :)

Bridlington/Scarborough (By Helen)

I thought I would write this up as a blog, as travelling doesn’t always have to be long trips abroad!

On the 17th April, my parents came to visit me at my university, before taking me home for Easter. We decided to go for a day trip. We started off travelling to Bridlington. We parked the car and went to for a wander down the promenade. The beach was quite empty as it wasn’t a particularly warm day! It was a very nice area, but there wasn’t much to do – that’s a coastal town with a declining population for you!

We then moved onto Scarborough for lunch. I was excited to see Scarbados, as The University of Hull has a campus there and we share library books with them.  We parked the car a while away from anywhere, so we had quite a way to walk. Scarborough seems to be on a massive hill – which is great to walk down, but not so good to walk back up! It did mean however I got a good view of the bay, town and harbor. It was very picturesque, and reminded me that there are beautiful places nearer to home. We had lunch in a local café, and as it was nice to eat somewhere that wasn’t branded. We then wandered down onto the sea front. Scarborough is….different. You could definitely tell it was a Yorkshire town! Many great characters! We stopped off in a sweet shop to buy my sister a souvenir. We then wandered down to the harbor, where all the fishing industries were located. We were admiring the view when we got called to help moor a ship! My dad was very excited! I admired the coastal erosion management structures in the form of a concaved sea wall and rock armor as we continued walking along the sea front. When we got down as far as we dared we ate chocolate fudge before wandering into the town to do some shopping. 

It was a really nice day with the family and it was nice to go to a sea side town. Although the weather wasn’t great, I am definitely excited for Summer trips to the beach now!

Edale 12th  - 15th April 2014

Written By Alice

 Pretty much every year my family goes on a walking holiday to Edale which is a tiny village in the Peak District. This year I decided to go for 3 nights of the week they were there as I don’t really go on family holidays any more. I'm too busy single handily conquering the world for family holidays.  However it was a lovely way to spend a few days away, especially after the madness of Belfast. The village of Edale is completely cut off from the world as there is no phone signal in the valley and the flat had no WiFi. It made a change to not be able to constantly check my phone.

   

During the few days I was there we walked from Edale over Hollins cross. This is an old route which women used to use to get to work in the mill. I struggle to get over it normally so these women must have been a lot stronger than me to do it twice a day. We walked back via the Blue John mines which I used to love going down when I was younger. This wasn't a particularly long walk, only about 6 miles. On the second day we walked over loose hill and into the town of Hope where we went in a café with wifi so I sat there ignoring my family for an hour. We walked back along the valley. It was about 10 miles and a very nice walk. 

In the evenings we would either go the pub or sit in the cottage and watch TV. It was a nice opportunity just to spend some time with my family who I don’t see very often these days and to get away from real life for a bit. But a few days in the country is enough for me before I am desperate to be back surrounded by people. 

I didn't take any photos while I was out there if you want to see what Edale looks like, Google it.