It's Been a Pleasure, Cornwall

Hello,

And here comes the end of my summer adventure. I don't even know from where to start really. It's been wonderful, it's been more than I expected (and my expectations are normally quite high).
I lived just 4-5 months in this beautiful England's region and it's been enough for me to see why so many people go here. It's Cornwall. The land of pasties, amazing beaches and the sea that sometimes can fool you to feel like you are out of Europe.

I can see now why local people are so proud of it. I don't blame them, I would be too. The miners land turned into this last bit of UK where sunshine comes more than once a year.
I must say I did not believe it in the beginning. It's still UK, right? What sunshine? But hey, I think I discovered the sunny corner of England.

May was great. Full of new smells, new places, new discoveries. I love that feeling of being a foreigner. Everybody stops you to ask where you're from, what you do and how come you've heard about Cornwall. Everything seems new and different. Everybody seems so happy and friendly. Like being a child again where mind gets fascinated about everything. Routine doesn't exist yet. You start creating your space in this new world. You start making friends. You learn shortcuts. You observe like never before.

June was my favourite. 10 days heat wave. I know, I am animals lover and I did feel quite sad to see sheep in their big coats hiding in the shades, I felt sad to see so many dead bees on the road (sunstroke, hey :)) but being a selfish human being I just loved the heat. We are not talking spanish heat here, let's make it clear. Nice heat, probably no more than 30 degrees in the shade. The days long and warm. I have never seen so many happy people everywhere around me. The sun just never stopped warming us. I think I spent more time in the sea than on the land. For sure. It was beautiful, it was perfect. If I would have died on one of those days, I would have died as a happy girl. Ok, no jokes about dying.

July was wonderful too. Sunny. No heat waves but pleasant and warm. I still could not believe that I was in England. July was full of running days. My love for running came back to me and it seemed my legs just couldn't stop moving. It was my holidays time too. Holidays while, really, my work was already like holidays. Double win. Norway trip, seeing my special guy.

August went quickly. The weather changed. Look at me all I do is talk about weather, ha. Brittish trained me well, I'm blending in with locals. Another holiday. Can life even get better? Sark was magical. Dom, friends and dolphins. How lucky I am! And on top of that we got beautiful weather in the end of August so everybody were happy bunnies once again. Beaches, sunshine, swimming.

September took a while to accept. Because the autumn came very quickly. The smell in the air changed, the wind breeze was different and we lost long bright evenings. Like a child returning to school I was quite sad. Took me a week or two to accept it. And then it came joy. Of falling leaves, the change of colours, and my favourite-harvest. Free food everywhere. Making blackberry jam, sloe gin, picking apples, trying some hazelnuts. Oh, what a joy to live in the countryside. The rhythm of life changed too. Energy became different and there was this little breeze in the air of new adventures. That feeling of excitement mixed with sadness of leaving this beautiful place.

And here I am now. Nearly ready to leave. Physically and psychologically.

I must say I could have not picked better place to be. I know, it's not the surfers side of Cornwall and it's not the sunset beaches too but hey, it's stunning here. And remote. Beaches in the middle of the summer with heat waves nearly all for yourself. Just few screaming kids and definitely no stag dos (sorry guys!). Off beaten Cornwall. The walkers paradise.

It's been a pleasure, Cornwall. I shall be back one day.

Ligita

Reminds me of Sark!

Took this photo without realizing the message on the rock, ha! Penzance

too curious...

traffic

beautiful Mevagissey, never got bored at staring  at the fishing boats

beautiful yurts at Cotna Retreat. Check them out, beautiful accommodation to stay in the summer!

Cotna Fest and their cute pond stage

gathering flowers for mandala card

exploring windy Boscastle with Vanessa, what a day!

admiring Boscastle

my little jungle garden <3

Birthday cake for Rachel

Charlestown

in love with Polruan, I think it's my favourite cornish village

between Fowey and Polruan

Falmouth

love it!. little cafe in Falmouth!

after so much talking I finally had my kimchi sushi...

Constantine Bay

Treyarnon Bay

in love with Treayrnon

beautiful autumn day at Porthluney Cove

my favourite- Vault Beach

St Ives

look at the sand colour, what a place- St Ives

St Ives again, ha

Nice to meet you, Norway

Hello,

For the past 10 days I've been away. This time I explored new country- famous for it's fjords,fish and prices so high that scares every traveller. Yes, Norway. What a country, what a nature.

Starting with flight to Amsterdam, I happily joined boys crew (and the best dog in the world Alfie) driving from Channel Islands all the way to Norway. There is something romantic about road trips. Maybe it's books I read or movies I watched but the road trip is always an adventure.
Like a princess in my cart I've been driven through flat dutch lands, organised Germany, rainy Denmark and Sweden, country so similar with it's landscape to Lithuania.

Oslo was the first stop. Pretty neat and spacious capital was a good start of introducing Norway's international atmosphere. And we even ate at the restaurant. Yes, only tap water and 2 pizzas but even in Norway you can find something affordable. Well, maybe we were lucky actually.

The trip continued and after driving all the way through mountainous landscape and snowy hills we reached our campsite and got re-united with Channel Islands crew.

And then time flew by. 10 hours hike to Troltunga was definitely a highlight of this trip. Scenery was stunning and together with so many other hikers we admired the beauty of mountains, the feeling of being just a small dot in the world, the beautiful world that is still so precious.

The other days we took it easy. Staying by the fjord in beautiful wooden cabin we managed to threw a party that finished with people spitting sausages and trying to catch them (don't ask me, I wasn't involved in that, ha!), Amie's funky salmon dance, happy people and good music.

Our fishing trip ended with one small mackerel but great times on this tiny boat. Not very great fishermen :) Tons of bilberries, some alpine strawberries, mosquitoes and pine trees really reminded me of Lithuania. The only difference were the mountains, everywhere I looked I could see the silhouettes of those beauties surrounded by fjords and lakes.

Visiting Bergen was a good idea. And we were lucky with weather. City where it rains 308 days a year spoiled us with some decent weather. Beautiful buildings and what a view from the hill.

Norway always seemed a place to go. I'm not a cold weather person but I can sacrifice it for such a stunning nature. The evenings were long and confused with light we always ended up eating dinners spanish time and going to bed while it's still light. It seemed like darkness was never there.

Country proud of it's cheeseslicer is so much more than that and you could feel that. When you have all this space around you, government that cares, life is easy. It's a country to visit, not sure though about living. I've always been a sun follower (apart from times when UK calls me from time to time, ha!).

Happy summer,

Ligita

my favourite !

love those clouds

Oslo

funny sauna on Oslo fjord

somewhere in Norway

following the snow

our 10 hours hike begins. Where are the smiles guys?

what a view!

Troltunga, where people queue for photos, ha!

I think John had too much fun the night before

picnic time

Amie contemplating..

Ready for fishing?

try harder

Bergen

beautiful Bergen

ha!