Albufeira,Portugal: Part 1

I visited here in the second week of November 2022. It had been quite a strange lead up to this short getaway, as just two weeks earlier I caught COVID and I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to postpone it. I knew for sure just five days before the trip, and with only five days to prepare for the trip, I had little time to plan an itinerary. However, I didn’t even bother because, to be honest, I was so worn out from COVID and had so much else to do.

My hotel

I arrived at my hotel at around 9.30 p.m. I was staying at the Ourabay Apartments hotel, which was quite a luxury to me as I usually only stay in 2 or 3-star hotels. I’m not the fussy type when it comes to hotels; as long as it’s a safe, clean place that suits me just fine, I’m rarely ever in them anyway.

I arrived and was welcomed and greeted by a very friendly lady at reception, and I must mention here that every member of staff I came into contact with here was so friendly and accommodating. It was an absolute pleasure to have stayed here.

I did nothing for the first part of my trip

As I arrived so late, I didn’t do anything on the first night; however, surprisingly even to myself, I didn’t do anything the next day either, apart from walk down to a nearby cafe to grab breakfast and find a supermarket to get some supplies.

While I was out shopping, I found myself daydreaming about returning to the apartment and doing nothing but nap, binge-watch Netflix, sip wine, and drink herbal tea. This was quite out of character for me because I’m usually itching to get out and explore. I can only assume it was a result of the fact that I was still a little exhausted from being ill and travelling. Exploring didn’t at all feel appealing; in fact, it felt quite the opposite. But the idea of remaining in a tranquil location felt pleasant, so that’s exactly what I did.

Despite the fact that the vacation was just four nights long, I didn’t feel at all as though this day was wasted but rather an opportunity for relaxation, a chance to recharge, and a chance to feel better. I really enjoyed it.

You might be thinking I couldn’t have done much in my last two days; you couldn’t be more wrong. Stay tuned for my next blog, where I will share what I managed to do.

Thanks for visiting

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤️

Jul 06

Spain solo trip: Day 2 Lloret De Mar

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Lloret De Mar is a former fishing town on the Costa Brava in Spain’s Catalonia region. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Costa Brava. I could clearly see why as I walked around and discovered the area myself.

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It boasts a stunning, lively stretch of beach lined with bars along its promenade, along with hidden beach spots and rocky coves.

As I wandered around the colourful streets in the early morning, I got the feeling this place could become pretty lively. In fact, I had read this was a place of a vibrant nightlife where places to drink are open 24/7 between the months of May and September.

I’m not really one for going out when I travel, (nor at home tbh) so I can’t tell you about all about the bars and clubs, but I can tell you I did see several pretty cool looking ones, from the outside, of course 😉. As well as this, there are plenty of restaurants, coffee shops , supermarkets and shops to wander around in.

Although I was staying in Lloret De Mar, I only got to explore here for one day because I had plans to travel to other places. Therefore, I didn’t really get to explore as much as I had initially hoped.

After wandering around the shops, I began to look for The Parish Church Of Sant Romà, which conveniently for me, was around a 5 minute walk from where I was in the centre.

The Parish Church Of Sant Romà (Iglesia de San Román de Lloret)

After a few missed turns I eventually come to the Church Of Sant Romà, the patron Saint of Lloret De Mar.

The church has two very different types of architecture. The forefront part is in the Gothic style and was built around the years of 1509 and 1522. While the other part is strikingly colourful and influenced by the Catalan modernisation movement which started in development at the end of the 19th century.

How beautiful is the architecture? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to visit inside because I arrived just as it was closing.

If you would like to know more about this place, visit it here.

D’en Plaja Castle

After a visit to the church, I took a stroll along the beach and went to D’en Plaja Castle.

The hilltop Castle is located at the end of Sa Caleta beach and is one of Loret De Mar’s best features.

It’s not a castle!

I never knew this at the time, but since returning home and researching a little more about the castle, I learnt that it wasn’t a castle at all, but a summer home. The home was constructed in 1935 by Girona industrial magnate Narcís Plaja, and an architect named Isidor Bosch.

It apparently caused a fair bit of controversy amongst the locals at first, but has since become one of Lloret De Mar’s favourite features.

The most beautiful coastal views

Once past the Castle, there is a foot path I walked along that took me to the most scenic coastal line views!

The further I walked along the path, the fewer people I came across until I came to a perfect beauty spot to just sit in the stillness and enjoy all the surrounding areas. It was just pure bliss!

The best part about it was it was completely unexpected. I only found it through curiosity, as I wondered what was beyond.

The trail goes all the way to a beautiful town called Tossa De Mar, though it is a 12-km walk, so it would take a few hours. It is said to be an incredibly magical walk that I would have loved to have done had I known. I did, however, visit Tossa De Mar by bus, which I will share with you in a later post.

Thank you for visiting my blog today, its much appreciated.

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Apr 08

Hilbre Islands Part1: A beautiful Uninhabited Island near Liverpool

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Travelling to Liverpool? You may want to take an adventure over to these cool islands located between England and Wales.

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The Hilbre Islands are an archipelago made up of three Islands: Little Eye, Middle Eye and the largest of the three, Hilbre. They are located at the edge of the estuary of the River Dee, at the border of England and Wales. The Islands can be reached by foot during low tide from West Kirby on the Wirral peninsula, Merseyside and can take anywhere between around 50 – mins to an hour and a half to get to all three, depending on your own pace.

Once you arrive, it offers amazing photo opportunities of beautiful beach houses, panoramic sea views, and wildlife. If your lucky you may even spot some grey Seals!

Most Challenging trip of my year so far

This adventure has been my favourite adventure so far this year, but it has been my most challenging of the year so far.

I first made the discovery of the Islands back in February. I was super excited so couldn’t wait to do the adventure. Although, I hesitated for around two weeks before booking the trip.

The thought of crossing over was causing me to feel a little nervous. I kept reading about how the tide comes in so quickly and about people who had to be rescued after getting caught in the tide. Also, I was a little confused about the safest times to cross over. I understood it to have a safe journey. You must cross 3 hours after high tide and be back on the mainland at least 3 hours before the tide comes in. The times of low and high tide are stated clearly on the few websites I visited, but the times stated for low and high tide were always six hours apart, which didn’t make sense. Therefore, I wasn’t sure if these were the times I should head out and come back, or wait three hours after the times shown 🤔. I eventually found some really helpful websites that put my mind at ease ,which I’m so grateful I did as the ones shown on the beach were confusing. ( I will share these websites along with other advice and information in a later blog)

It was a little frightening

I eventually booked the trip in the first week of March. I arrived at the beach around 8.45am and started to walk out, but got cold feet when realising no one else was walking out to sea. I headed back and asked a kind man with a dog if I was heading in the right direction. Looking quite worried about my wellbeing, he said “Yes, but have you checked the tide times? Be careful the tide comes in quickly”. His reaction made me want to check to see if a coastal guard was around, but there didn’t seem to be any around. I spotted a lady working near by the lake, so asked her if it was a good time to walk out. She, like the man earlier, had the same reaction. She explained to go immediately, but to not hang around for too long once there. She also told me the safest way to reach all the islands. Well, I am definitely a lot more nervous now. Regardless, I started to head out there.

The further out I got, the more my fears grew to the point of wanting to turn back. It was an incredibly frightening experience for someone who can not swim. 🤣 Nonetheless, I would not allow myself to turn back with the promise to myself of being allowed to turn back after reaching the first tiny little island.

I had tortured myself enough, Therefore, I didn’t want to force myself to reach the other two. Well, not this day anyway, but definitely next time.

Once there, I felt better, but still didn’t feel brave enough to attempt the other two Islands. However, was really proud of myself for facing this challenge.

On Little Eye are the remains of a brick and concrete moorings a long with a substantial iron bolt remaining in place. The island is mostly made up of red bunter sandstone and grass.

I must admit it felt great heading back to the mainland having not been swept out to sea 🤣.

My return journey was much more successful. I will share that in the next blog.

Thanks for reading

Stay blessed 🙏🏾❤

Apr 03

Manchester: A new love for an old place

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Nowdays I often think of how incredibly fortunate I am to be from one of the best cities here in the UK. But, I must admit I have not always felt this way. Instead, its been a kind of love hate relationship thing. Loving the place for all my connections such as family and friends, but hating how incredibly tired and bored I had become of it, truly believing the next cities were much better.

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It wasn’t until Covid came along that I found this new revitalised love for my city.

As challenging as covid has been it has left many of us with silver linings such as teaching us to love harder, to be kind, to appreciate and have gratitude for all we have been taking for granted. Reconnecting with my city has been one of my many silver linings.

Coming up on Nattytravels…

As part of my new reconnected love and appreciation for Manchester, it will now have a well deserved spot on my blog. The blogs will consist of places I have been to revist and new discoveries in the city.

Also in the next up and coming months I’m excited to announce I will be starting to travel abroad again after three very long years 🙌🏾. So you’ll be seeing more blogs on places abroad.

For all those who have been enjoying the UK blogs, I will still be continuing to travel the UK, therefore there will be plenty more👍🏾.

Thank you for all your support

And on this note I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your continued support here at Nattytravels, regardless of all the incorrect typo’s 🤣.

I really do appreciate it.

Thank you ❤🙏🏾

Mar 20

Manchester,England: The world’s first industrial city, and more interesting facts

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Hi all! Welcome back to my blog. I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning, I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my Disclosure page for more info

In this blog, I would like to introduce Manchester, my home city. Have any of you ever visited? If so, what did you think? Be sure to leave your comments.

Location

Manchester is one of UK’s most popular cities. It is located in the north West of England and is the fifth largest city in the UK.

Here are a few of my favourite facts about Manchester

The World’s First Industrial City

It was the world’s first industrial city which led the way to transforming people’s lives in the area and across the world.

You can still see several of the old warehouses, mills and signs in and around the city

Due to it’s astounding growth of the cotton industry in the early 19th century it became a major global centre for trading and manufacturing. Textiles was the driving force, but it soon emerged to producing all kinds of products.

Manchester’s Symbol ‘The Worker Bee’

The Bee was adopted from the period when the city first became the global centre and leader in the Industrial Revolution. At the time it had been described as being like a hive for activity due to it’s hard working population, this was the motif behind it. Since this time, the Bee symbol has been the feature of the city and you’ll be sure to spot several symbols in and around the city .

Britain’s first ever black professor worked at Manchester University

Sir W. Arthur Lewis became Britain’s first ever black professor at aged 33, he was a Saint Lucian economist who come to work at Manchester University in 1948. Not only was he a professor, but a Noble prizewinner who was able to persuade and negotiate with world leaders.

He helped post- war Afro-Caribbean people arriving and settling in the areas of Hulme and Moss Side by creating centres of support for them. These centres supported people for socialising and learning at the height of racism and prejudice views. One of the centres still exists today in the moss side area. Sir Arthur wasn’t a Mancunian born, but he will be forever in the heart of manchester for his work and courage, and is commemorated at Manchester University with a building named after him.

The Suffragette Movement was founded here

Emmeline Prankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union, known as the Suffragettes Movement in 1903. Emmeline a local Women from Manchester and her members fought to enfranchise women here in the UK, using militant strategies. In 1918 women were given limited rights to vote, and full voting rights in 1928 just before the passing of Emmeline Pankhurst.

One of the first cities in the world to celebrate and commemorate LGBT

Manchester was one of the first cities in the world to commemorate LGBT people by commissioning a local artist to paint the city with rainbow tiles in to flagstones across the city. Manchester Pride is one of the UK’ s leading charities celebrating LGBT and helping individuals to thrive as well as fighting for equality. It has held one of the worlds leading pride festivals since 1985 every year which is centred around the vibrant gay village.

The place where Charles Rolls and Henry Royce first ever met

It was at Manchester’s Midland Hotel where Rolls and Royce first met, and just two years later the pair formed the Rolls Royce company. There is a statue at the hotel dedicated to this meeting.

Hope you enjoyed my blog today. Which was your favourite fact? Do you have a favourite you know of that is not listed here?

I appreciate your visit today

Have a fantastic week

Stay blessed 🙏🏾❤

Mar 09

The lake district: Pleasant moments with some not so pleasant moments

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One thing I absolutely loved about my trip to The lake district was getting lost. Well, I wasn’t exactly lost, It just felt like it at the time.

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On my way to Hawkshead the bus journey took me around some of the most stunning lake views which inspired me to jump off the bus to visit on the way back. Although, I didn’t quite get off where I had originally intended.

I got of the bus just outside Ambleside centre and walked along what I now know to be Ambleside road.

The road curves right around this huge beautiful lake and these breathtaking views.

I did not expect it

As I’m walking around what feels like heaven, I unexpectedly hear the loudest aircraft noise I have ever heard, then two aircrafts (like the one pictured above) zoom over my head. They were extremely fast, low, twisting, and doing all different types of mamanoeuvres. All whilst staying very closely together. I completely froze! It certainly wasn’t something I was expecting to see. I come to the conclusion of how it most definitely must be a military training session. Though, this thought didn’t seem to have much of an effect. I still found the whole experience unpleasant and they really made me a little nervous for some reason. I think it was the incredibly loud sound of them and how low and fast they were flying. Nonetheless, I just wanted to catch a bus and get a way from them 🤣. The only thing was, I couldn’t actually find a bus stop.

I walked and walked whilst these planes kept coming. There was not a bus stop anywhere, nor a single soul in sight apart from the odd car that went by. This only intensified my nervousness, as I felt more and more isolated with each step I took. But, I come to a hotel and hope I will find someone to ask where the nearest bus stop was. Well, that was my intention, until I was distracted by most beautiful views I had seen from the bus earlier.

As I walk through the hotel gardens and admiring the lake views, wondering if its a private part of the lake for guests and I’m not supposed to be here. Regardless, I continue in the hopes I won’t be asked to leave.

It was so blissful with not a single person around and finally the planes had stopped flying.

For those interested the hotel was named Langdale Chase Hotel, a beautiful country house hotel.

Oh! And I did eventually find a bus stop 🤣

Thanks for stopping by

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Feb 12

The lake district: Hawkshead Village/Cumbria

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Hi all! Welcome back to my blog. It’s been a while since I posted about my failed trip to the Lake district, but I’m back today with a post of the more successful visit.

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Unlike the organised trip last time, this trip was carefully planned out. Well, I say carefully planned out, but due to my train being two- minutes late on arrival, I missed the bus to Hawkshead, then had to wait an hour for the next one🤦🏽‍♀️. Nonetheless, it turned out to be one of my favourite trips of 2021.

Location

Hawkshead is a beautiful market village made up of white stone houses, arches and cute tearooms. It is located in Cumbria, England in the South Lakeland area.

Some fun facts about Hawkshead

It was established by the monks of Furness Abbey (The wealthiest and largest monastery in North England) as the main centre for the wool trade.

Beatrix Potter lived only two miles away from here in her Hill top house in a village called Near Sawrey. Her husband William Heelis, a solicitor from Hawkshead worked in the building which is now the Beatrix Potter Museum in Hawkshead. Beatrix also spent many family holidays here in Hawkshead.

Most of the buildings here were built in and between the 17th and 18th centuries.

William Wordsworth schooled here at the Hawkshead Grammer School, he came here in 1779 after his mother passed away. He and his brother Richard stayed here and lived with a local widow named Ann Tyson. His experience of the nature here during his adolescent years inspired his poetry writing.

How I spent my time here

In all honesty, I didn’t spent a great deal of time here, due to me missing the bus. I only spent around 50mims here as I had to take the very next bus back to Windermere. Although, to be fair I think this was sufficient time since there wasn’t many places open due to Covid.

I Strolled around the streets, alleyways and residential areas admiring the beautiful stoned white buildings and houses.

I visited St Michael and All Angels Church

I had the place to myself, it was so peaceful up here

This church and church yard sits on a hill looking over the village, with views of Esthwaite Water, Helvellyn and the Langsdales, aswell as Claife Heights.

It was also the place where William Wordsworth liked to sit and I could see why.

As I mentioned earlier most of the places were closed, but if your thinking of putting this place on your bucket list I have listed a few suggestions of places to visit here.

Places to visit here in Hawkshead

Beatrix Potter Museum

Minstrels Gallery

St Michael and All Angels Church

The Little Ice Cream Shop

The Old Grammar School

Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top House

Hawkshead Courthouse

The Chocolate factory

Tips and Advice for travelling to Hawkshead

Car

Travelling by car – Please be aware the centre of Hawkshead is closed to cars as it is a car free zone. There is a car park just on the outskirts, see here for more information and price details.

Public Transport

Travelling by bus or train – Take the train to Windermere train station, get on the 505 at the bus stop directly outside the train station.

Purchase a Hop on and off day ticket for £8.50, this can take you all around the lake district. Check here for more ticket options including tickets for children, families and groups.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog today, please feel free to share with anyone you feel it may benefit.

Many thanks for reading

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jan 24

Lake District: Epic fail

Comments 13

I finally made the trip to the Lake District in December, something I had been getting round to for pretty much the whole of 2021.

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I had woken up a little later than usual this morning so spent the morning catching up with my online work, taking a shower and getting ready before booking my train tickets. The earliest train I could make at this point was the 11.01am and the return ticket I chose was 17.08pm, which all seemed quite reasonable at the time of booking. That was until I got to the train station and realized I had to make two changes and not one as I initially thought. This meant I wasn’t going to arrive until 1pm. Still, I felt optimistic that 4 hours in the lake district was a reasonable amount of time.

A cruise to see nothing and the most expensive pee’s ever!

On arrival I discovered I had just missed a bus and had to wait 20-minutes for the next one. Anyway, I was still feeling optimistic as I had a few hours remaining.

I had no real plans so when the bus turned up I just purchased a £8.50 day rider with the idea of jumping off whenever I see anything of interest. We arrived at Bowness Pier it looked beautiful, so this was where I jumped off and at this point I really needed to use the ladies. Luckily enough there where some public toilets to use, but not without charge. £1.50 to have a pee! And the cheeky buggers take card payments too!🤣 This was the most expensive pee ever!

Anyway, Bowness lake was beautiful (shown in above picture), I should have stayed here and explored, but my irrational thinking this day lead to me going on a 45- minute return boat cruise to lakeside.

Trying to kid myself I wasn’t cold on the top deck. Then the unthinkable happened…….My eyelashes flew off 🤣

It was a nice cruise but really didn’t see anything on the cruise apart from a few houses of interest and trees.

When I arrived at Lakeside I asked one of the crew members what time the last boat back was. He explained, that this was the last boat back and it was boarding in 10-minutes. So, basically I paid £14.50 to see nothing! It was my own fault for not checking before hand🤷🏿‍♀️.

I managed to take this shot down a little village lane before having to head back on board for the 45 minute journey back.

You can see by the look on my face I’m still happy and making the most of it

By the time I got back to Bowness It was pretty much time to head back to the train station, but not without having another £1.50 pee. I honestly can’t believe the cost to take a pee here! Can you imagine the cost for a family of four! It would cost £6 😮.

Anyway, enough about pee’s. I think it’s fair to say, this trip was a little bit of a failed trip, but it taught me to be more prepared for next time. I did return to the lake district better prepared and had a more successful trip, which I will share with you in my next blog.

Thanks for visiting today

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jan 16

Stoke-On-trent: Trentham Estate

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Stoke-on-Trent is another one of our cities, it is situated in the centre of England, Staffordshire. It is often referred to as simply ‘Stoke’ and is the biggest settlement in Staffordshire. It is known for it’s pottery industry and has a number of art galleries and museums dedicated to this.

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It was just after another lockdown when I visited here. Needless to say, there were many places still closed and the city was incredibly quiet. I knew this would be the case before I arrived, but I had just found a fantastic £2 return train ticket deal with Northern. It was an offer I couldn’t resist.

After researching and discovering many places were still closed, I discovered Trentham Estate.

Trentham Estate

The Trentham Estate is in the village of Trentham on the edge of Stoke city. It occupies 725 acres of nature and one of its main attractions is the award-winning gardens.

Trentham Gardens

This historic garden is one of the best in the UK. It offers a vast contemporary perennial of plantings and is absoulety stunning to walk around.

The garden has been designed in an Italian style garden, in the framework of Sir Barry’s 19th century Italianate garden.

At the back of the gardens stands the remains of Trentham hall. The parts of the remains date back to 1833-42.

It was a bit eerie

It was a little eerie here, I’m not really sure how to describe the feeling. Nothing really happened, but I had the strangest feeling I was being watched and suddenly felt a bit spooked out. I mean, I feel like I should make a disclaimer here, so please consider this as a disclaimer. It was a rainy day and I suddenly found that everyone had disappeared, therefore I was here alone for a short while. I was enjoying my time and everything was fine until I stood at the hall taking my pictures, this was when I got the strange eerie feeling. But who knows maybe a just got spooked out because I was alone in such a huge unfamiliar space🤷🏿‍♀️.

Nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. Its such a beautiful tranquil place.

The Lake

The lake here is at the centre of the gardens, it is actually the first place you arrive at as you go through the entrance, so immediately your surrounded by the natural beauty. The walk around the lake gives views of the River Trent and leads to the woodlands and the wildflower meadows.

Other things to do here

There are lots more things to do here at Trentham gardens such as the fairy trail, the children’s playground, boat trips, the tree top adventures, the monkey forest and trentham shopping village. See here to discover more about The Trentham Estate.

Thank you for visiting my blog today

Stay blessed 🙏🏾

Natalie ❤

Jan 06

Yorkshire Dales National Park: Malham Cove

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Yorkshire Dales National Park is an area that covers most of the Yorkshire dales, England.

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It is filled with hay valleys, waterfalls, beautiful woodlands and greenery, dry stone walls, scattered remains of the past industries and is home to over 1,000 farms. It is by far one of the most beautiful landmarks of the country, so its hardly surprising it was named ‘The best National Park in Europe on the TripAdvisor website.

There are so many places to visit here such as Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, Hardraw Force Waterfall, Whernside Moutains and the white Scar Cave but one of its most popular sites is Malham Cove.

Malham Cove

Malham Cove is a huge cliff formation of limescale rock that stands around 80 meters high and 300 meters wide.

The top of it is of deep groved eroded limescale slabs of pavement, that I must add is incredibly slippy on a rainy day if your wearing the wrong footwear like I did 🙄.

I’d say it was definitely worth risking breaking my neck. Look at those Views! I think I was concentrating on my footing here 🤔

Harry Potter

The top of Malham Cove (pictured above) is also featured in the movie Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. So if you’re a Harry Potter fan, this would be an more fantastic experience.

The surrounding area is so serene with the beautiful sounds of water running through the streams.

Thanks for stopping by today

I hope you enjoyed my short blog on Malham Cove. I didn’t get to visit any of the other attractions, but hopefully I will revisit soon and share with .

Stay blessed

Natalie ❤