Thailand - My Most Momentous, Memorable Moments

The whole trip was fabulous - I seriously did not want to leave! But if I could pick a few of the most memorable things, these would be.....


Stepping off the speedboat from Krabi, straight onto Phra-Ae (Long) Beach and being greeted by the lovely staff of the Layana Resort and Spa, Koh Lanta Yai, almost as soon as our feet hit the sand....

Gorgeous, gorgeous sunsets.... and sun-downers!...almost every evening.....

The snake dropping by for a visit... quite literally... falling out of a tree and onto our beach umbrella!

My darling husband surprising me with a romantic, candlelit birthday dinner on the beach on our last night at the resort...

Officially old enough to be a Cougar!

New Year In Thailand

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? Hope you had a fabulous New Year...

I spent mine eating my own body weight in satay chicken and Pad Thai, watching fireworks and Chinese lanterns lighting up the Andaman Sea, and dancing barefoot on the beach... not a bad way to see in 2014!

 Fire dancers

Note to self: this long dress (currently at the dry cleaners) is perhaps not the best attire for dancing barefoot on the beach until the wee hours....

More on my Thailand holiday to follow....

Au Revoir....

Bonjour dear faithful readers!

I'll be checking out of the bloggersphere for a while, and checking in for my flight to Geneva.... then onto the French Alps for a week of gasping desperately for breath on the uphills hiking in the shadow of the Mont Blanc Massif, in the Chamonix Valley.

I was in the region earlier this year for some snowshoeing that you may have read about over here, here, here, here and here.

It will be great to see the region in all its late summer glory....

Photo source

Catch up with you all later....

Nat x

She Finds Sea Shells On The Sea Shore...

I spent hours each day on my recent South African holiday, combing the beaches of Plettenberg Bay for pretty shells and other treasures from the ocean. I picked up loads....

Life's A Beach....

Naturally, as we rented a holiday house by the ocean, quite a lot of our time was spent messing about on the beach! Here's a random selection of the dozens upon dozens of beachy photos that I took....

Things I Learnt On My South African Holiday...

No matter where I travel in the world, and what wondrous sights I behold, there is nothing quite like the first full glimpse of Table Mountain as we get close to Cape Town! It always brings a huge rush of nostalgia, good memories and happy thoughts to me....

Renting a huge holiday house by the ocean and getting your family and friends to join you there is a great way of catching up with everyone without dashing around the country or putting pressure on family to accommodate you.

Feeding 12 people takes more than 5 loaves and 2 fishes, but it's great fun to get everyone involved in the preparation, especially my little nephews!

The beaches of Plettenberg Bay are just perfect for clocking up the miles on my Half Moon Walk Training Plan....

Central Beach

The early beach walker finds the pretty pansy shells....

Pansy shells!

Good friends are those whom you can go for years without seeing, then when you do meet up again, it's as if you've never been away. You pick up the conversation from where you left off....

My brave, dashing husband's spider removal techniques work really well on scorpions too! Not one but two scorpions in as many days decided to join our already quite full holiday house party...

Freezing cold water is not going to stop me from making the most of the chance to go swimming in the pool every day....

Pool with a view

Or the ocean!

Positively Antarctic!

Les Houches

To set the scene, here's where we were based for our recent snowshoeing adventure in Les Houches, close to Chamonix, one of the oldest ski resorts in the French Alps, and host of the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924.

The rustic but very comfy Chalet Savoy

Sauna and hot tub with a spectacular view!

Dylan - the resident fox terrier who came out on all the walks

View from our chalet window

Another view from our chalet window

Sunset on The Fizz, as seen from that lovely hot tub!

Snow shadows

Snowshoe aka Nat's Big Foot

The perils of snowshoeing... huge blisters! Nothing like a bit of duct tape to keep blister pads in place...

More to follow soon!

Thank You For Thanksgiving!



Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers! Hope y'all been having a wonderful day....celebrating the invention of roast turkey and sweet potato 'n pumpkin pie ... What? That's not what Thanksgiving is all about? Well, why is there not a special day marking such culinary delights?

All joking aside, I am still so grateful for Thanksgiving... you see, it's the one and only time of the year when I can guarantee that Annoying Demanding Client across the pond will be too busy running Operation Turkey Dinner Preparation.... and I reckon she has an army of kitchen skivvies scuttling about under her watchful and disapproving eye...to even think about harrassing me for the next couple of days. It is safe to answer my phone and open my email box.

What bliss!

Hope you get to spend time with the people that mean the most to you...

The Jurassic Coast

The Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site is known as The Jurassic Coast. It covers 95 miles of truly stunning coastline from East Devon to Dorset, with rocks recording 185 million years of the Earth's history. World Heritage status was achieved because of the site's unique insight into the Earth Sciences as it clearly depicts a geological ‘walk through time’ spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Some magnificent views… earned after some steep walks! My calf muscles are still recovering…

Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove

Natural arch at Durdle Door

Durdle Door

Chesil beach near Durdle Door

Charmouth Beach

Axmouth harbour

Coastal path, Beer Head

View from Beer Head

View from Beer Head

Near Sidmouth

It's a long way up!