Apologies for the lack of updates over the last month or two - it has been a very busy few months with some ups and downs however I have lots of positive and exciting things planned for the Summer regardless! Also, this post will probably be short, mainly because I've had lots of things to do which aren't photography based and my short term memory is awful to recall what I've done in the last few months!
June and July were the last few months of my university course, and my last couple of months in Wales for the foreseeable future! With that, I made sure to take advantage of the nice weather and continued to explore areas around Pontypridd, and even managed a few day trips out to little towns in the local area to explore the charity shops and also visited Cwmcarn Forest Drive which was a beautiful nature reserve which was lovely to wander around in! I would have liked to have climbed Twmbarlwm or one of the other mountains/hills near by but it was far too hot even amongst the trees that I probably wouldn't have made it to the top!
I also managed to visit another Welsh castle when my mum and I were making our way back up north once my lease had run out! We had a lovely visit to Raglan Castle, despite my mum being severely ill the previous day, and I would definitely recommend people to visit it! We were there for around 2 hours and managed to walk around everything once - pictures and viewing it from the outside does not give it justice to how big it is! The whole thing is really interactive too, with stunning doorways, hidden rooms and two magnificent towers which you can climb to the top of for stunning 360 degree views of Monmouthshire and beyond! One of the towers even had a birds nest built in it, with tiny chicks chirping at you as you went past! It was a lovely end to my Welsh adventures, but I definitely have to go back even if it's just to visit more castles or historical ruins!
As mentioned before, I am now back in the Lake District for summer, and I have a constantly expanding list of places to visit with my mum that I am super excited to share with you guys! A lot of these places I have found from searching instagram or walking websites so it will be great to capture these places from my own perspective! A lot of these places are further into the Lakes, but I also have a lot of places to visit in Northumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire so it will be great to visit some unfamiliar territories and see what gems we find along the way!
However, after a walk exploring a little woods near Storth and Hazelslack my mum found whilst I was at University, we got caught in a massive thunderstorm which soaked us from head to toe, and we had to trudge through fields and down flooded roads whilst counting the strikes of lightning crashing above our heads (58, in case you wondered!). We returned to the car and I realised my phone had got soaked (I was wearing a waterproof jacket and bag but the storm was that intense my waterproofs stood no chance!) and the LED screen was no longer working, I was miffed but I knew it would be easy enough to replace...
... Whereas all hell broke loose when I realised that my DLSR camera had decided to play sponge and had absorbed most of the rain which had come into my bag!!
So I am currently without a camera, however I do have a replacement on the way. The morning it broke I had almost spent over a £100 on a new lens - so thank goodness I hadn't in the end! The body of the camera is the only part which isn't working, but I feel I deserve an upgrade! I settled on a Canon 1300D which comes with 4 lenses and an array of accessories such as a tripod or memory card. In a way I am actually better off with my camera breaking because with that one I was only just beginning to expand with my lenses and now I will have more than I will (probably) know what to do with! I'm very excited to receive my new camera, but for now it's a waiting game of refreshing my email for the dispatch confirmation! What an exciting life I lead...
Unfortunately in June I received the awful news that one of my closest friends had died, and for a while it didn't feel right going about my day to day business, let alone heading out with my camera. I'm not going to go into big detail about this now, but if you had the honour of ever meeting my friend you know that she was someone who deserved the best in life and life will never be the same without her zany personality to brighten up our days. I did find out that she absolutely loved birds, something I knew but didn't realise the extent of, so once I get my new camera I am going to try my hand at some wildlife bird photography in her honour. They may not be something I will share here but I find comfort in knowing I can be connected to her whilst doing something I love. I guess I don't really have much to say after that, other than reminding you all to live life to its fullest. You never know what is around the corner.
Hope you guys have enjoyed the first two months of Summer, let's hope August continues with the lovely weather!
