UK adventures


Sunset from the ne garage at home

I'm finally back in a slightly cooler Stockholm after a jam packed month travelling about in the UK (hence the long gap in blog posts). My British trip included a visit to Grandma up in Lancashire, a kayaking expedition from Libby's new house in Birmingham, Jennie and Ben's wedding back in Buckinghamshire, a moraine training school in Inchnadamph (North Scotland), a quick catch up with friends in Edinburgh and a week holidaying with Mum's side of the family near Helensborough (an hour north of Glasgow), squeezing in some meet ups with home friends in between. 

Rica and I in Vaxholm
Prior to my month in the UK, I had a visitor from Germany, Ricarda. Rica is a friend from New Zealand who I have kept in touch with over the past 5 years. Over the long weekend we took a trip to Vaxholm, the closest destination in the archipelago, here we walked to a beach for a swim then walked along the water front into the town for fika. On a friends recommendation we tried out a garden café (Hembygdsgårds) where there was the most incredible array of cakes, tarts and buns to choose from and a lovely area on the waterfront to sit out and soak up the sun. From here we took the ferry back to Stockholm (turned out to be an old steam boat) and made our way back to mine for dinner. 

Fika with Rica at Mellqvist
Spent Saturday walking all over Stockholm, taking in many views, winding through the old town and making fika stops so Rica could sample the cinnamon and cardamom buns (particularly good ones at Mellqvist Kaffebar). Rica's flight home was at lunch time on Sunday but we managed to squeeze in brunch at Café Pascal, where we each had the most ginormous pile of prawns with avocado and egg, before she had to head off. As always, it was great to have another visitor to explore more of Stockholm with. 

Had a final week at work before heading home; this ended up fairly unproductive as the hot hot weather called for extended lunch breaks to include swims in the lake or sea and trips to Stikkinikki for much needed ice cream.





Brasserie Blanc for Grandma's birthday


I ended up travelling home a week earlier than planned so that Mum and I could surprise Grandma for her birthday, I could join the Watts kayaking trip from Libby's and to give me a chance to catch up with a few more friends. Grandma's face was a picture when we turned up on her doorstep in Lancashire, ready to spend a few days celebrating her birthday. When asked what she would like to do her first thought was a trip to M&S (we should have known!), we deemed this not quite suitable for a birthday treat so fit that in before the big day, along with lunch at Sizergh barn. For Grandma's birthday we started the day with a Swedish inspired breakfast (including caviar topped eggs) then took a trip to some old haunts in Knutsford with lunch at Brasserie Blanc. Returned to Grandma's for supper and cake before the Aubrey's (Auntie Jane, Uncle Chris, Josh, Sam and Toffee) returned from their holiday in Devon.




Lunch stop for the kayaking crew

Mum and I set off early the next morning, after a great few days with Grandma, to meet Simon, Lisa, Lewis and Dad at Libby's new house in Birmingham. After a guided tour of the house (very impressed) we took the kayaks down to the nearby canal for a paddle through Birmingham. Stopped for lunch at a canal side restaurant then continued out towards Bournville; didn't quite make it that far as the heavens opened a couple of hours in and we got drenched! Decided that was a good spot to turn around and head back for tea, cake and dry clothes.



Challoner's friends at Jennie's wedding

A few days later was the wedding of Jennie and Ben, this was the second of my Challoner's friends to get married, again at St Mary's church in Chesham but this time with the reception at Chartridge golf club. Such a fantastic day, Jennie's impeccable planning certainly came into its own, and a great
chance to properly catch up with high school friends.




EGU moraine training school
The next couple of weeks were spent up in bonnie Scotland. The first was a 4 day moraine training school, learning how to interpret palaeoglacial features from Inchnadamph in north west Scotland. About 20 glacial PhD students attended the course from all over Europe, the States and even India; it was a great opportunity to meet others in my field while exploring the beautiful (and rather wet) highlands, being exceptionally well fed at Inchnadamph lodge and finding new directions for my PhD.



A few of us walked up to a cave behind Inchnadamph lodge.


On finishing the course I travelled down to North Berwick, where Mum and Dad were spending the week. From here it was a short train into Edinburgh to meet up with Corrie (the other intern from my time at Apache) and then Katrina (my housemate and fellow geophysicist from Leeds). That evening
was joined by Tom for a Cambridge Footlights performance and then a family dinner in Edinburgh.




Lunch stop on Loch Lomond

Jane, Chris and Toffee

The four of us spent the final night in North Berwick then drove across to Strone House, near Helensburgh, where we would be spending the week with the Aubrey clan and Grandma. The house was an Aladdin's cave filled with all sorts of ornaments and antiques, complete with hot tub, sauna, games room and abundant poultry. Mum and Auntie Jane were assigned the role of poultry care, herding the ducks and chickens into their correct houses each night, a role which became particularly exciting when two little chicks hatched one morning.
Was a very chilled yet active week with a couple of kayaking trips on Loch Lomond (one including a chilly dip), a hike up Conic Hill, a viewing of Mamma Mia 2, BBQs and games.
With Grandma in the BBQ house                                                                                                     Josh and Sam





Spent a final few days back home meeting up with Grocer, school and uni friends and even manging a catch up with Becky as she returned from Canada. Now back in Sweden and finally actually getting on with my PhD, trying to organise the next years worth of field trips and conferences, including another quick trip to Midtdalsbreen in a couple of weeks time. I'll try not to leave it so long until the next post so it doesn't end up being quite so long and rambling!

Family hike up Conic hill, overlooking Loch Lomond


Strone House Ducks

Garage under construction, wishing they didn't have to put the roof on!

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