England - long walks and blue skies

We left a sunny, hot Sydney, bound for England - where the forecast was for rain for our whole time there. Grabbing some fresh air before our afternoon flight, we soaked up as much vitamin D as possible, wondering if we could bank it for the following fortnight.

We grabbed a coffee at our regular coffee shop, and seeing us out of our normal attire of gym/walking gear they knew something was happening.  Upon hearing we were going away, they presented us with a bag of their ground coffee, thinking we would probably be needing caffeine to help with the jet lag. 

Mmm...coffee

Arriving at the airport in good time (we always overcompensate for the tame it takes to get to the airport since once getting caught up in traffic and nearly missing the plane), we began our 27 hour journey. An 8 hour flight to Singapore seemed to pass relatively quickly: a couple of movies, something to eat, then a token rest. A two hour stopover in Singapore was then followed by a 12 hour flight to Helsinki - this flight seemed to drag on for a very long time. Food, movie, token sleep (although trying for a more refreshing, sleep-like sleep), look at watch - not even half way. Back to attempting to sleep for a while, snooze, look at watch - not even an hour had passed. Nothing else for it but to do some work. and feeling rather good about the fact I was writing at 5am Sydney time. With a window seat,  I was able to keep looking out of the window as we followed the sun rise.

As we flew over Russia...

...and Finland...

...before arriving in Helsinki. It was a shame we weren't able to explore Finland as we have never been to the country before, but by this stage we just wanted to get to our destination.
​And. Stop. Flying.
Helsinki airport was a pleasure to walk around; new, clean, plenty of shops to look in, and it had...
...lots of Moomins! 
The Moomins was a favourite cartoon of mine when I was growing up, yet I never realized it has its roots in Finland.

Lots of Moomins!

The flight to Manchester seemed to pass very quickly, and we were soon back on English soil for the first time in fourteen months (and it wasn't raining!). 
We picked up a hire car and drove up north to my parents. The sun held out all day, and we were able to grab some much needed fresh air that afternoon, absorbing the picturesque English countryside in the beautiful light.

Aside from seeing family and friends, we intended to walk as much as possible in the countryside, as to us, there is nowhere else in the world quite like it. Each country has had its own beautiful areas, some equally stunning, but in a different way. 
So the next three days were spent taking full advantage of the position of where we were staying.
Firstly, we went for a walk in the Yorkshire Dales:

The stunning Yorkshire Dales

Half way round we stopped at a little cafe for a cup of tea. It turned out to be a very long tea stop, as we were served a very large tea pot full of tea. Each. We attempted - but failed - to finish it, then it was a rush to get home in time for our next set of visitors.

The following day we went for a walk in Lancashire, convinced we were going to get wet, but the ominous clouds passed us by. We didn't meet a soul, but with a great number of pheasants milling about it was far from deserted, 

Lovely Lancashire

And the third day, we went for a hilly walk in Cumbria. The clear weather meant we could see for miles, as well as take in the charm of the Lake District in all its glory. 

Beautiful Cumbria

Seeing people was the order of the next few days, but I still managed to nip out for a few local walks in the fields I grew up walking in. 
The pretty birdsong (as opposed to the screeching and squawking of Australia) ringing in my ears, the bright green grass, and trees just showing the slightest hint of the onset of Autumn with a tinge of brown to the leaves, was made even more special with the warm sun on my back.

There was no sign of rain at all during our first week, England showed us it can do blue skies too: