December Month!

December has been a mixed month, with lots of deadlines but lots of fun at the same time. The main theme throughout this month is Christmas. My housemates and I have our own Christmas Eve and Christmas Day earlier in the month before we go home. We have a house party on Christmas Eve, this years involved Articulate and a Harry Potter Drinking game, which was a lot of fun! On Christmas day we have secret Santa and we cook a Christmas dinner, we cooked for 8 people and there was plenty of food for everyone. I was very lucky and I got a small box which had a photo frame in and had been decopauged with animals on it, a large cross stitch of African savannah and a book on how knit zoo animals, I am going to need to get a lot better at knitting before attempting any of those! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of them as they are still in Bangor.

After deadlines, it was time to go home and get ready for the real Christmas, I was also very lucky and got lots of craft things and other objects to keep to occupied! I helped with Christmas dinner and made the roast potatoes and helped prep the veg and serve up. On Boxing day we went over to my Grandmas, to have my third and final Christmas dinner!! It was lovely to see them all and we had several hours of fun playing cards after exchanging presents.

The day after arriving I joined my dad and his partner on a walk through an area near Oldham, the details of which are on the previous post.

My next adventure after this, was heading over to Birmingham on the 29th to see friends. I stayed over in a hotel by myself for the first time and it was quite weird, I have to admit. I didn't feel comfortable to head to into the big city for tea so I had my left over sandwich from lunch! But I am sure I will be better for next time. I went around the bullring and was treated to a visit to the SeaLife centre there, it was very good. On the second day, me and some other friends went to the art museum, in which I saw a beautiful quote.

This hath no end,
My sweetest friend,
Our loves be so,
No ending know.
-English Posy 17th Century

Later we went around the bullring again, this time I did treat myself to a book journal and a address book. Who wouldn't?

On New Years Eve, I went back to my dads in Liverpool, we didn't really do a lot but stare at the TV but it was nice to be there. Plus his partner has two cats, which are lovely and I got lots of cuddles off one in particular, which makes a change.

Well as you can see not a very interesting month but it is the busiest I am going to be for a while. The only thing I have to look forward to in this month is exams and deadlines!! Hope you all had a wonderful December and that your January isn't as dull as mine!

Delph, Castleshaw & Harrop Edge Walk

This walk takes place in the South Pennines, near Manchester.

This walk goes through the town of Delph, which contains a lot of mills, I didn't think a town could hold that many mills! But it was nice to see them, despite them being run down and abandoned. Some may think that they should be knocked down, I think that they add character to the town. It would be nice to see something happen to them, maybe one should be turned into a museum about the history of mills in Delph and through the North West and maybe the effect of them throughout not just the UK but if they had a wider impact throughout the world, considering that we used to have a large trading empire.

A part of the walk went along the Dobcross Malt which was an old track along which donkeys would drag carts along to some of the mills. It was a nice flat walk. Through some of the walk there was a nice river, which at one point we saw a group of ducks standing at the top of a small artificial waterfall. I was able to get some good photos of a Mallard grooming.

The next part of the walk led us into the hills, we walked past Georgian churches and refurbished farm houses. On the way back down we walked over a reservoir which had beautiful surroundings.

We set of relatively late for this 7 mile walk so when we reached the reservoir the sun was starting to set, the light of which lit up the hills. Another thing that was nice to see was geese grazing on the grass by the water.

Overall this was a nice walk that wasn't challenging, I found myself not taking that many photos as I just took in the scenery. Remember, when on walks, out in the country or generally through life, to look up from you feet and take in what is around you. Yes, you will make trips and slips but you will always find your feet and move on.

Hope you all have had a good holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you have all stuffed your faces with good food, lifted your soul with many laugh and filled up your heart with love from family and friends.

I have been very lucky this year and got some sentimental presents that mean a lot to me (I will be doing a blog on some of them at some point). What did you all get?

Hope you have a great New Year!!