I love the sunny, calm Autumn days that we can get. The crisp air and the blue sky really awaken the senses and make a walk in the park quite wonderful.
Perfect Autumn day
Reply
Tag Archives: sky
Best of 2024
We’ve come to the end of 2024. It has been an eventful year for me personally and on the world stage. I was lucky enough to travel to lots of different countries as well as spend time with family and friends and doing my part in calling for peace and justice in the world.
Wars also still continue, in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other parts of the world. They have taken a toll on me and many others and I pray that an end to these come swiftly and permanently.
Here are some of my best and favourite photos of this year, as I prepare for the next. Happy New Year to everyone and may it be one that is calmer, more peaceful and positive one for us all, with plenty of adventure.
Algarve, Portugal
I had the opportunity to go to the south of Portugal recently. We went to the Albufeira area of Algarve for a few days. While the Algarve is known for it’s sandy beaches there is also an Islamic heritage, with the names of places beginning with ‘al’ once being Arab. Albufiera in Arabic means ‘castle on the sea’.
We did a jeep tour, visiting a farm and and small villages. It was great to see how homes had been created in the slopes of the hills and I loved seeing all the creative artistic touches that were dotted about everywhere. We stopped in a cafe to enjoy Portugal’s signature dessert pastel de nata which was sweet and quite delicious.
The tour guide also pointed out the famous piri piri chillis that was fun to see. At the top of one hill was a swing to take in the rural landscape which was great. We also passed many orchards of oranges but also saw lots of pomegranate, olive and cork trees which I was delighted to see.
On another day we went on a boat ride to look for dolphins but sadly they didn’t appear. We did move on to look at the Benagil caves though which were quite beautiful.
I enjoyed my trip to Albufeira, learning about it’s history and seeing what delights it held. It’s a scenic rural and beachy area and a great place to unwind and experience something new.
Northern Lights
Like many I’ve always hoped to see the auroras boreales or Northern Lights as they are known. People usually have to travel north to countries like Norway or Greenland, but this year there’s been a lot of solar activity and the Lights have been visible all the way down to London. They were visible earlier this year but personally found them hard to make out. Back again in Autumn, they were much more visible, to the naked eye and through a lens. I found it such a magical phenomenon and feel lucky to have experienced it.
Trip to Europe part 5: Homebound
On our last day in Europe we got up, packed and loaded the car. Then we spent the morning in Brussels city centre. We looked around some more shops, picked up a few last souvenirs, had lunch and then headed towards Calais to catch the ferry.
It was dusk as we headed across the English Channel and home bound. The sunset from the viewpoint on the ferry was beautiful and the water crashed again the sides creating artistic foamy waves. The great White Cliffs of Dover were a welcome sight. I really enjoyed my trip to the various countries in Europe, saw and experienced lots, but there’s nothing quite like home is there.
Winter skies
It’s bitterly cold here at the moment in London but these beautiful sunsets in the clear skies make up for it
Goodbye 2022
Today is the last day of 2022. Reflecting back across the year, I didn’t have any grand plans at the start but it feels like it’s been an eventful one. I was finally able to travel abroad after a very long time and I managed to gain some new qualifications after a lot of hard work. There was also an addition to the family in my new little nephew. I hope the year was a fulfilling one for all of you, whatever you did.
Here are some of my favourite photos from the year gone by and as we move into 2023, I hope it’s a year full of good health and happiness, and everything we all want it to be. Happy New Year.
Above the clouds
I went for a short break away, I’ll post about it soon but for now here’s a couple of photos of the beautiful sunrise I saw from the plane.
Trekking across London
The weather has been really sunny and mild recently so I decided to make a trip to Central London.
I headed towards Regents Park where there were plenty of blossoms that looked lovely and Spring-like
I then decided to walk to the other end of Regents park, up to Primrose Hill to look at the London skyline. It looked great on this sunny and clear day
I then walked back to the other end (via the London Zoo entrance where I spotted some zebras) and walked through the well kept pretty gardens and near the lake where I saw a statue like Herring.
I left the park and made my way to Trafalgar Square and then Covent Garden. There was huge rainbow made of cans to encourage recycling which I though was a cool idea.
At this point, having walked almost 27k steps I was exhausted and made my way home to put my feet up. It’s always a joy to visit London, even more as things are starting to get back to normal after a couple of difficult years.
Willen park
I went to visit my sister and her family in Luton recently. We went to Willen park and in between the storms that been and were expected it was very windy but quite refreshing. I didn’t take many pictures but here a few that I liked on a blustery but sunny day.
everyphototunity 