Have you ever noticed, all hairdressers ask you if you are going on holiday this year? I think this tradition is almost as British as talking about the weather. So on that note, I’m going to talk about holidays as its coming up to the time of year where we need to start considering where to go and what to do.
I’m writing this post in collaboration with Holiday Gems – Cheap Holidays to talk about some of my best holiday moments whilst holidaying in the UK and beyond. Last year Graeme and I kept our holiday’s low key and based in the UK, after transforming our kitchen, my slight career change and our pending Wedding, it felt like the best idea.
That’s not to say that we’ve not had our fair share of adventures over the years, one of the things we agree on is our love of active travel. As you might know, I’ve already visited the stunning city of Bath so far this year and we’ve planned an adventure in the form of The 3 Peaks Challenge, I’m not sure that’s much of a holiday though.
After dating for 3 months, I made the bold choice to invite Graeme on a ski trip, he couldn’t ski but decided he’d take on the challenge, he booked some lessons and before I knew it we were on our way to Chamonix. I guess some folks have romantic idea’s about ski trips, wooshing down the slopes together and sipping hot chocolate in the sun, whilst gazing at the mountainous surroundings. Our reality is more along the lines of the cold makes me want to pee every 5 minutes, I’m always falling over and I take double the time to ski the same route. But, over Fondue and Chocolat Chaud, we made the decision to return to the mountains again.
For our next holiday, I suggested that walking/climbing The Snowdon Horseshoe would be the most excellent idea, and we packed our bags and headed off to Snowdonia. A quick weather update en route confirmed that there could be seriously wet weather ahead, we stopped and grabbed the following attire: waterproof bag covers, waterproof trousers and waterproof jackets. This turned into one of our better holiday decisions, as there was pouring rain on an off during the day we chose to climb.
For some folk, it’s hard to imagine that we found joy in a holiday that involved walking for 7 hours with pouring rain, and bouts of silence as we were both miserable but too stubborn to give up. I remember during a dry spot we were trying to eat our sandwiches under the watchful eye of some local sheep, suddenly, it was hard not to laugh at the situation. On the other hand, it’s intriguing to see them in the mountains, they’re definitely more confident on the terrain than I am. On reflection, we look back, laugh and smile when thinking of that holiday, it doesn’t always have to be picture perfect to have a positive impact.
There is, however, a lot to do in Snowdonia, for example, you can simply just walk up Snowdon and avoid the whole ‘Horseshoe‘ or head to Tryfan, go rock climbing or scrambling, make time to stop in the picture-perfect towns for coffee, cake and a gentle stroll. There’s also the underground trampoline park or the UK’s longest zip line (Graeme went on this and raved around it, I was too much of a wimp) alternatively you could visit the castle or allow time for a scenic train ride.
One thing you must do is visit ‘The Ugly House‘ for some welsh cakes and tea, Graeme snapped a cracker of a mug shot of me whilst we were waiting for our food. Unfortunately for me, that ended up on a canvas – The less said about that, the better…
In 2019 we’ll be heading off on our biggest adventure, our objective is to head to Canada and cover as many of the sights as we can within 3 weeks. But for now, my feet are placed firmly on the ground.
Are you planning holidays? Do you prefer sandy beaches or active travel?
Katie
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