Turkey I - We are sailing.

We got up around 5am and jumped in a taxi half an hour later, headed for Manchester airport. The queues at the check in desk were horrendous and we had to wait about 2 hours to check in and get through security. People were generally in good spirits though and we made friends with the couple behind who were bartering to sell us their trolley, we offered them a cup of tea in Turkey and hilariously bumped into them at every opportunity. Airside we managed a quick breakfast before getting on the plane. The plane was packed!

Four and a half hours later we arrived in Dalaman, the airport arrivals area looked deserted with no sign of our tour company, everyone seemed to be heading out the front doors and it seemed that all the companies are not allowed to meet and greet inside, but have a designated area. We jumped on the mini bus ride with ten others and off we set, two were being dropped at a hotel, but the rest of us were ocean bound. 

The driver gave us all a splash of lemon cologne, which smelled lovely and really refreshed you and re awoke your senses after being cooped up in an aeroplane for hours. 

"The most important thing people did for me was to expose me to new things." - Temple Grandin

We got to the boats, called gulets, and the people off the mini bus were split between the boats. We met the rep and a few of the others, dropped our bags and had a wander around Fethiye. The clouds were rolling in off the hills and were reminiscent of the Tablecloth clouds on Table Mountain, SA.

Dinner wasn't until 8.30pm so we had our first beer of the holiday, an Efes, and a meze snack of delicious stuffed mushrooms garlic bread and dolmades at the Pelican Cafe on the front of the harbour. The twinkly eyed waiter joked around with us as we watched the world go by and the owner buying his next order of fish.

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." - Henry David Thoreau

 We had a walk, took some photos of the temples built into the cliff face from a distance and had a beer in another bar. 

"The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers." - Matsuo Basho

The area was really lovely, here are some shots of Fethiye, its harbour and monuments...

Turkish Flag waving on a yacht mast.

Pretty mosque.

Lovely harbour.

 
Yachts lined up.

"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it." - David Lee Roth

Bar or boat? that's the question.

 
Each harbour seemed to have its own monuments.

What views!

We headed back to the boat for a shower and dinner with our fellow passengers before crashing out in bed in our lovely little cabin. 

We were lucky enough to be on a boat load of people who were really interesting. Everyone had different backgrounds, but there was lots of synergy and cross over between peoples lives and experiences. The other guests had lived or holidayed all over the world from Zaire to Equatorial Guinea, and I am sure between us there wasn't a continent left untouched. Between us there were so many interesting careers from oil rigs to motor sport engineering, chicken farming to making cigarettes. There was a wealth of life stages and experiences covered too, everyone was interesting to talk to and came from slightly different perspectives and the people were a real highlight of the experience. 

"I've met the most interesting people while flying or on a boat. These methods of travel seem to attract the kind of people I want to be with." - Hedy Lamarr

The next day we were supposed to be up for 9am to meet the rep and have breakfast, we must have needed the sleep as got up and rushed out of bed to see the rep just before she left. After eating a lovely breakfast of bread, cucumber, tomato, cheeses, scrambled egg and juice we had a short walk around Fethiye before we were back on the boat to set sail.

The Captain showed us the map so we could see the itinerary...

"All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination." - Earl Nightingale

...and we motored out to Çiglik Bay for lunch and afternoon tea. We had our first swim, the water wasn't too cold and afterwards we felt nicely refreshed. 

One of our crew heading to shore to moor us up.

Around the bay.

 Islands at sea.

One of the other gulets.

That evening we moored up at Yassica Adasi / Flat Island for dinner, amazing food and drinks and a good nights sleep, its amazing how the ocean air makes you tired. 

Flat islands.

"Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... 'How to Build a Boat.'" - Steven Wright

Our neighbours for the evening.

Time for a sundowner.

Stunning views out over the little islands - ready for more tomorrow!

"A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in." - Robert Orben

Some nice UK walks

Having just left the UK after a short period of searching and organising before I headed off again I wanted to share with you the surrounds of where I live and some lovely walks in the English countryside: one, because it is actually very pretty; and two, so I had an excuse for  some limited sun, exercise and time out of the house and away from all the organising and planning tasks I had to get through before the next thing.

"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far." - Thomas Jefferson

Firstly a quick couple of shots of the views from our house and why its such a nice area to return to...

from the back window

more from the back window

...and at the front.

So despite the clouds...

...and the mud...

...and bits of litter (and dog poo) - please take it with you!....

....and of course the reminders....

...off I set for the first walk of the season: around Entwistle Reservoir, one of my favourite, local, easy walks, just a quick hour round it and plenty of fresh air.

"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day." - Henry David Thoreau

I love that the water board tries to add some sort of grandeur to the water pumps and towers that hide all the machinery....

...and its own Bolton crest...

Ask anyone who lives near reservoirs, one of the most important questions always seems to be 'how high?'

Very high as you can see...

There are some lovely artistic additions in the area...

...but my favourite sites are always from nature itself...

"Green is the prime colour of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises." - Pedro Calderon de la Barca

I have spent a few of my walks going round Entwistle, and find it a lovely place to walk if people come for a visit too, here are some of the best shots of this place...

As we are in the middle of the countryside its really easy to head out just to the top of the road for a walk and here are some of the scenes that greet you....

Baa - its lambing season!

I'm so used to checking for spoor, I almost got very excited that this could be a large carnivore, then quickly realised it was more likely a Labrador!

Storm brewing at the top of the road.

The black part of the back hill is the fire damage.

We had a moor fire a few weeks after my return, right at the back of the houses. Despite having seen moor fires every few years all my life my perspective was really changed having lived in Namibia and when I first spotted it my initial feeling was fear - if this had been on the farm, distance wise, it would have been on our land and a really serious situation. Luckily where we are the fire crew put it out and there was a good few tar roads before it could have gotten too close. Strange how time and experiences in different places change your perspective.

I had to laugh with one of my friends as my automatic 'go-to' if anyone visits is a walk and a pub lunch, but when in the countryside you can't beat it and luckily my friends enjoy outdoorsy stuff too. Here is me and a friend on a walk up Rivington where we visited the mast you can see out of our back window.

Up on the moors with no one around for miles, so refreshing!

There's the pike - miles back!

Off we go!

Closer and closer.

And there we go!

There are also some old gardens in the area that belonged to Lord Leverhulme back in the day - the waterboard who look after Rivington reservoir are planning to spend £3m on doing them up. Sadly I think that means I wont be converting this into my moorland hermitage any time soon!

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!'

Here is the only wildlife I have seen (apart from the dogs!) at the Jumbles Reservoir.

We also had a lovely few walks in Hampshire when we went to stay at Champneys, with another regular guest - Pat Butcher!!

After a bit of a rest it was time for my next adventure.....

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller