Bonjour Europe!

Hello everyone, and to those fellow bloggers in the UK, happy Bank Holiday weekend - spooky to think that the next Bank Holiday here will be Christmas Day!!

I have been away for a couple of weeks from Blogland as I was lucky enough to have 10 days with my family holidaying in Europe.  We set off in the middle of the night, and drove down to the ferry port in Dover.  After a bit of a wait at the port, we boarded the ferry at 6am and waved goodbye to the UK...

Farewell white cliffs of Dover...

Feeling excited as we cast away from the docks...

 Leaving the harbour...

the grey skies did not dampen our excitement...

Cheeky seagull hitched a ride, perhaps he wanted to swap chips for frites!

Sailing into the harbour at Dunkirk...

Once arriving in France we promptly set the sat nav for Belgium and headed for the village of Vielsalm, deep in the Ardennes.  It rained heavily on and off for the whole journey, but this did not bother us one bit - we were far too excited!

We stayed in a lakeside chalet, lovely views out of the window in the evening...

Next morning we discovered some geese had made their home on the lake, they were quite vocal...

A lot of fun was had feeding these guys, they could be quite intimidating at times though!

On Sunday we set out for a country walk, deep in the forests of the Ardennes...

The landscape is a working area too, with the forest carefully managed for logging purposes...

But it still remains blissfully tranquil...

We covered over 8 miles in total.  But although we were really enjoying these dream-like forest views, we were looking to catch a glimpse of something else...the excitement when we eventually spied, deep in the forest, what we were looking for cannot be described...

What do you think it was?  And why do you think we were in Belgium?

Back soon hopefully to explain!

Helenxx

Local countryside walking

Hello everyone, seems a little while since I was last here - it has been beyond busy at work and at home, but thankfully I now have a whole week off as it is half term - it is often tricky to work out who looks forward to the school holidays the most, the students or the teachers ;)

Last Sunday the weather was glorious, so DH and I laced up our walking boots and set off for a 6 mile walk around our local countryside.  Blue skies, fluffy white clouds, brilliant green scenery...

 The cuckoo was heard calling it's distinctive song from the woodlands...

 Plenty of hilly walking, good for those of use wanting to get a little bit fitter - although this photo doesn't show how hilly this little country lane is, trust me it is pretty steep!

 Pretty plants dotted the hedgerow...

 Charming little wooden gates leading on to secret, magical places...

By the time we got home it was time for tea in the garden.  Later in the evening my daughter took this photo:

It reminds me of an old song we used to sing at the end of every day when I was at Primary School -

"Now the day is over
Night is drawing nigh
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky"

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and that the weather is kind wherever you are.

Helenxx

On a clear day...

...you can see forever...

Last weekend we went out for a walk in our local countryside.  The sky was so blue...

And sometimes you can see reasonably familiar farmyard friends...

But other creatures might hail from somewhere a little more exotic...

They guard the sheep apparently...

Wonder who lives in this wonderful house...

Such a lovely early Spring day, ideal for a walk with DH, who enjoys climbing hills, so our local Beacon Hill was just the thing.  And I always take my camera so that I can stop and have a breather take photos for my blog...and DH even treated me to a coffee half way around our 8 mile route.  No photo of that I'm afraid I drank it rather quickly!

On arrival home another pot of sunny daffodils cheered me on with the washing up...

Hope you are making the most of an early Spring weekend!

Helenxx

Winter Walking

Hello everyone, hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Yesterday DH and I had an early start, dropping eldest son and his friend off at the train station - off on a jolly to see their favourite football team (who drew 1-1!) so we took the opportunity to get the supermarket run finished early so we could head off into the local countryside for a brisk 8 mile walk. 

The weather was suitably chilly and breezy for the time of year, and of course I had my trusty camera with me. So here are a few of the photos I snapped as we walked along:

Local council education centre - oh what we teachers will do to attend a meeting at this place, it is absolutely beautiful, and the lunches are superb!

Church in one of the villages we walked through, made from our local stone and slate.

 They had a little Christmas Tree, but I was taken by the old gravestones - I have to confess to really enjoying walking around old church yards, the memorials tell so much about people from times gone by.

Winter views across the fields, all the crops have been gathered in and now the fields are sleeping in readiness for the spring.

And finally, some seasonal colour!

Well, must away as several seasonal jobs need doing!

Helenxx

Wonderful Winter

Morning everyone - hope you are waking up to sunshine as we are.  Lovely to see blue skies again.

Last weekend was a different matter - we woke up to snow still falling, everything covered in a silent blanket of white.  After lunch, the snow had stopped so DH and DD and I set off for a walk from our home to our local outwoods.  All told a round journey of 8 miles, usually takes 2 hours - but this time it was 4.5 hours - well, it is more challenging walking in deep snow, I was stopping every few minutes to take photos, and then we went for a hot chocolate and a sit by an open fire at the half way point!

I thought I would share a few of my photos with you....

I loved the snowman and his snow dog!  In  my part of the world we often miss the worst of the snow as we are just about as far away from the sea as it is possible to be on this island.  But this time we were in for a treat.

By the time we had warmed up by the open fire and yummy hot drinks, it was getting to be dusk, so these photos were taken as we walked through our local villages on the way back home

Dusk is my favourite part of the day when Im out walking, I love to see the lamps coming on in the houses, makes me feel all cosy and toasty.

Im not sure which set of photos is my favourite....

Hope you are keeping warm, have a lovely weekend.

Helenxx

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Hi everyone, just thought that I would post a few pics of our snowy walk last Sunday - we walked from home to our local outwoods, about 6 miles all told. 

Blue skies to cheer us on our way

All is quiet and still

Welcome to the land of Narnia

And on the way home, as the sun set, this lovely scene was just so peaceful and inspiring.

Hope you all managed to make the most of the weather!

Helenxx