Vestnes

Last week I was back in Norway for a few days. It was really nice to see some of my family and friends again, and there was even a little bit of snow!

Asterix

One of my friends who lives in Trondheim had travelled down to Molde for a few days so I was very happy to see her for a few hours on Tuesday before she had to head back north. 

Before I left the UK I had already decided that I wanted to walk up one of the small mountains and watch the sun rise over the mountains, weather permitting. As my mum was off work I managed to convince her to come with me. I'll admit, when I woke up Wednesday morning I was kind of hoping for an overcast sky so I could go back to sleep but as soon as I saw the stars when looking through the blinds I was happy to get out of bed.

When we parked at the parking lot for the mountain we were nervous we were going to miss the sunrise as the sky was already pink above the mountaintops, so we walked fairly quickly to the top… Which isn't really that quick when there is snow on the ground and you're very unfit.

When we got to the top the sun luckily hadn't come up over the mountains yet so we found a nice place with a view to sit down and have some tea and "tjukklefse" (a local snack). 

How we didn't loose our fingers to frostbite I don't know! The sun took its sweet time getting all the way over the mountains. In the paper it had said sunrise would be at 9.45, but as we came to realise that means the sea-level sunrise, not the mountaintop sunrise. 

It was still completely worth it though and we both got some very nice pictures, I only had my phone camera to take pictures with as I didn't pack my DSLR for this trip to Norway.

Although I had things planned for every day I was in Vestnes I din't feel like I was rushing about at all, it still felt like a relaxing vacation, but then again it's more like going home than anything else, and I don't have to go to work!

The best game in the world!

Whirly Wednesday

Suck it, Nerds!

Been a while since I've done a meme now, but the title of this was just so funny; how could I not do it? As usual I got it from Sunday Stealing. Feel free to join in!

What would you totally eat right now? Chocolate!

Do you always wear a certain piece of jewellery? Although I'm not Catholic I always wear the St Christopher necklace a friend gave me while I was in Australia.

What kind of jeans do you like? I'm extremely picky when it comes to buying a new pair of jeans, but I tend to go for bootcut.

What's something on your want list? A holiday

Is animal print tacky? Depends on how much you're wearing and how.

Give me a good quote that you like? I'm not great at remembering quotes but I do like Tesco's "Every little helps", because it's true.

Do you bite your nails? No.

What kind of smells do you like? Clean clothes that have been hanging outside to dry in the summer.

Do you wear perfume or cologne? Perfume but if I'm not working I don't put perfume on if I washed my hair that morning.

What do you think is overrated? 50 Shades of Grey.

Next movie you want to see? The next hobbit movie.

Would you change your eye colour if you could? Depends if I could change it back again if I didn't like it or if I could change it whenever I would, that could be cool; change your eye colour depending on your makeup and what clothes you're wearing, without spending money on coloured lenses.

What are your goals for the remainder of this year? Try not to kill the customers at work.

When is the last time you were at the hospital? About 5-6 months ago for a scan.

Who introduced you to your current significant other? If you're single, who introduced you to your last ex? Met my last ex at a party, neither of us knew the host but had been brought to the party by friends, who also didn't know each other. 

10 Lake Spectacular Winter Tour

On Friday I had booked the 10 Lake Spectacular Winter tour with Mountain Goat through GetYourGuide. I had actually booked it for Thursday but right after I booked  it they told me that one was full, luckily, since I was still planning to be in Windermere on Friday, they offered to move me onto that tour instead. 

The minibus picked me up from my B&B and once everyone was picked up we were 6 passengers on the minibus. Our guide for the day was Tony, who I have to say have a perfect voice for being a guide, he spoke clearly and not too fast, he also seemed very knowledgeable as well as interested in what he was telling us about, as all good guides should be.

I'm not going to tell you about every step of the tour as I think you should go and experience it for yourselves if you can. I also don't have pictures of every single lake anyway as sometimes the minibus stopped in places where we couldn't get out to take pictures. It might be just as well though as I think sometimes I get too focused on looking through the camera lens and I don't actually see what's around me.

The first place we stopped was Kirkstone pass, with its 500meters it's the highest pass in the Lake District, going up it was kind of like going up a steep mountain road in Norway. The view was amazing and I bet it's even more so when the sky is clear, but at least it was dry on Friday, and seeing the top of the fells hiding in the clouds is pretty cool as well.

With the high fells and big lakes driving through the Lake District was a lot like driving through Norway, until we came to the very typical small british villages; some of them very small but packed with character! Some places along the road there were flood markers, apparently the water sometimes get as high as 3 feet!

One of the best views on the tour was from the lookout named Surprise View, where we could see Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake in the distance. Apparently even prettier in summer but I really liked it with all the pretty autumn colours. A little bit down the road from Surprise view is Ashness Bridge, built in the 1600's and apparently the most photographed bridge in England.

We stopped for lunch in Keswick, I have been there before, in 2009 but couldn't really remember much other than Moot Hall. It's a nice village to wander around in, we had just over an hour for lunch and since I just grabbed a sandwich from an independent sandwich shop I had plenty of time to do just that. There are a lot of shops selling hiking equipment (not surprising when you consider where you are) and also a lot of sweet, chocolate and fudge shops. There was even a Norwegian store.

After lunch we stopped at Castlerigg stone circle which is about 4000-5000 years old, the stones are smaller than the ones at Stonehenge but like Stonehenge they don't really know what it was used for. Part of it is called the Sanctuary, and I kind of wonder if that's a name they have come up with in later times, as I find it strange if they know what part of it was called but not what it was used for… Why would only the name of part of it be preserved through history but nothing else?

The reservoir that provides Manchester with water, Thirlmere, is also in the Lake District, a long way to go just to get some water. Two villages were lost when they created the reservoir, but at least it looks pretty.

We also stopped in Grasmere for half an hour, this is where the Wordsworth graves are. The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is of course there, it is over 100 years old, stepping inside it is a bit like stepping back in time, definitely worth a visit for more than the special gingerbread, which tastes a lot more of actual ginger than the usual gingerbread you get at Christmas.

In all the 10 Lake Spectacular Winter Tour was good, I learned a lot and saw lots of beautiful places. 

Windermere and Bowness

When you arrive at Windermere train station; take a left to go into the village: It might sound like a silly  thing to say, but when I arrived in the dark and pouring rain on Wednesday night, and found there was no signs pointing to the village, but a road leading both ways and a shopping centre to the right, I must say I was a little confused.

Luckily the weather was better on Thursday with just a bit of occasional drizzle so I could explore Windermere and Bowness (or Bowness-on-Windermere if you prefer). It only takes a few minutes to walk from one village to the next so no need to pay for a bus ticket if you're able to walk.

Both Windermere and Bowness are really lovely villages with old buildings and plenty of character, like most small British villages. There were lots of independent stores as well as touristy stores selling ice cream, cards, and souvenirs. I bet it's really busy in summer. There are also a lot of places to eat, from pub food to Indian and Chinese, I kind of wish I'd gone with someone as I don't like going out to eat on my own.

Both in Windermere and Bowness there are a few lookouts overlooking the lake, My personal favourite was Orrest Head lookout, which had the best uninterrupted view. I did have some trouble finding the path up to Orrest head though, which I think in part was due to all the leaves on the ground covering the trail. Maybe the National Trust should put up some more signs for people going up in autumn and winter? Or just create a better map than the one they currently have at the bottom of the path.

View from Orrest Head

Windermere and Bowness are both lovely places to just wander around, and I can completely understand why they are such tourist attractions. If you ever go to the Lake District I do suggest spending a day or at least a couple of hours there. The World of Beatrix Potter is also in Bowness for those that are interested in that. I do like Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit but I didn't go into World of Beatrix Potter so I can't tell you what it's like.

It shouldn't be this difficult...

I though I had finally found something I wanted to study. It was an online study with the Open University, which isn't really what I wanted, but I figured that even if I went to a "proper" university I would have to do a lot of work on my own, so I have to to just make myself focus and study.

Then it came to the payment options… Let me tell you, studying in the UK is NOT cheap!! The full cost of what I was thinking about studying would come to over £15000 for the whole degree.

First I tried applying for a tuition fee loan from Student Finance England. They would not approve my application as I have not lived in the UK continuously the last 3 years and I am not from an EU country (the EEA countries were not included in the countries eligible for a loan).

Then I tried Open University Student Budget Accounts, they would also not approve my application, there was no explanation but I'm guessing it's because I don't make enough money so that maybe I wouldn't be able to pay the monthly instalments.

The last thing I looked at was support from Norway. I have to be in full time education to be eligible for that…

I guess people just moving to the UK just can't get a part-time education unless they have heaps of money to spare.

It is tempting to go into full-time education just so that I can get financial support from Norway, but I'm just worried they won't approve me either for some reason or other. Moreover, just the idea of studying instead of working when I have been working for so long is terrifying!! 

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I feel like getting a good education should't be so expensive that people struggle to get one!

Baslow Circular via Froggatt Edge

Usually when I go for a walk in the peaks I walk from Baslow to Bakewell via Chatsworth but yesterday I decided to do a new walk. I found this walk on the visit Chesterfield website as well, it's walk number 6.

The walk was really nice, it starts with a long uphill walk, steep at times but I walked to the top without having to stop for a breather so not too steep. Then there is a long walk along Curbar and Froggatt Edges with beautiful views. You can choose if you want to walk close to the edge or further in, the view from the edge is definitely the best and, as long as you have half a brain and watch where you're going, there is no danger of falling off the edge.

On top of the edges were definitely the busiest part of the walk, there were heaps of people there taking advantage of the lovely weather and lovely view. Because of the direction I was coming from Chatsworth could be seen in the distance behind me.

I'm kind of glad someone was walking in front of me when I was looking for the way down from the edge as it wasn't marked, although I'm sure I would have found it anyway since I was keeping an eye out for the tiny path. The first 50 meters of that path was quite steep and rocky so it's important to watch where you put your feet.

After going down from the edge the walk is fairly flat and goes along the River Derwent a lot of the time. 

In all it was a really nice walk, but I think if I walk again I will walk the other direction so as to get the lovely view of Chatsworth in front of me instead of behind me. I can totally understand why a lot of people were only walking on the edge. 

Part of this walk (right before you start walking on the edge) overlapped with the Robin Hood Inn Circular walk so the two walks could easily be tied together depending on what you wanted to see.