Crochet on our Travels…

Have any of you lovely readers enjoyed any travel recently? I’ve always loved travelling and discovering new places and it’s something I’ve shared here on my blog many times in the past…

Because no matter where I go, there always seems to be something crochet related to discover and then share with you all! 😃

Here’s a selection of previous blog posts I’ve shared:

Crochet on the Canals in 2019: https://coastalcrochet.com/2019/04/30/crochet-on-the-canals/

Crochet on Corfu (also in 2019): https://coastalcrochet.com/2019/07/22/crochet-on-corfu/

A European Tour in 2018: https://coastalcrochet.com/2018/10/28/a-european-tour-with-crochet-along-the-way-part-1/

Covid has of course meant that travel has been severely limited over the last 18 months. Life certainly changed. I’m half Dutch and we haven’t been to The Netherlands for 2 years now… I have family and friends there so this has been hard… 🙁

This Friday I’m flying to Northern Ireland for the Spinning Yarns Festival where I’ve been invited to speak. I really am so very excited about this. A new destination with a stunning coast (so I’m told but I can’t wait to see it for myself) and a yarn festival to enjoy! A blog post will of course follow but this is a blog post about more recent travels.

Travel is possible once again and we know many people who have ventured across Europe this summer. But for us, this summer (and last summer), staying in the UK and a trip westwards to North Cornwall and North Devon has been our main holiday.

And yes, there’s Coastal Crochet inspiration to share… so after a long time of no travel related blog posts from me, here goes… 💙

It’s a 200 mile drive west from where we live on the south east coast to get to the west coast of North Cornwall and Devon. Our son Rowan decided he wanted to cycle it – that was quite an adventure for him – and I’m relieved and thankful to say he made it safely after 3 days!

We drove down and enjoyed camping for the first part stopping overnight en route near Yeovil. It felt good to get back in the van… I’d missed camping more than I’d realised! Waking up to the sound of birds and immediately having that connection with the outdoors…

The ‘Yeovil Country Park’ was a wonderful place to enjoy a couple of hours with some beautiful waterfalls…

And for the second part of our trip we stayed in a small cottage.

Cornwall and Devon are truly beautiful… so very different to our stretch of coastline (which is also beautiful) but it’s the change of scenery that was very much needed!

We enjoyed sandy beaches…

And pebbles so very different to those we have on our beaches back home…

I tried so hard to find some seaglass but not this time for me!

A beautiful, rugged coastline…

With the Atlantic Ocean giving such a different kind of feel to the English Channel where we live… yes, more surfing and body boarding is possible with those bigger Atlantic waves!

Salty had a fabulous time. We were out and about everyday and she loves the long walks…

Although she’s less keen on the cycle rides when she tolerates a ride in the basket!

She had so much fun in the sand dunes…

Oh the colours and textures…

And whenever we visit somewhere new, there are hopefully yarn shops to discover (yay)! We visited Barnstaple on a Monday but unfortunately the yarn shop was closed…

But I did enjoy a little ‘window shopping’… 😃

There were gorgeous yarn bombs down by the river…

Oh crochet really is alive and well wherever I go!

Happily I was able to visit the yarn shop in Bude. ‘Clares Little Wool Shop’ is a delightful little gem and I got some BIG balls of Stylecraft Aran. I see a cardigan in these, I really do… but it’s been added to a very long list!

Hand dyed yarns were also available in Bude from ‘Daisy Crafts’ and the owner crochets many items which she sells too…

I purchased this set of mini skeins and the colourway is called ‘Shipwrecked’ – I adore them…

We enjoyed some ‘wild swimming’…

And gorgeous coastal walks…

Just look at the colour of that sea… 💙💙

I always feel inspired by the different views and things I see. From colours we pass – just look at this scene…

…to beautiful nature giving a sense of calm and focus…

To messages shared on beach hut doors!

Visiting different shops feeds my creativity too and even locally made chocolate provided a little inspiration. The names such as ‘Barefoot on the Beach’, ‘Ramble in the Woods’ and ‘Tiptoe across the Tide’ are so very wonderful! And the chocolate is delicious too! 😃

So as you can see, time away from home feeds my creativity and that will always come out in my own crochet designs sometime down the line…

Hope you enjoyed that little snapshot from the south west of England…💙

And for those of you who may have missed it, I’m absolutely thrilled to have been shortlisted for two awards in the Let’s Knit ‘British Knitting and Crochet Awards’ 2021! 😮😄 This is such an honour and I’m truly very grateful and thankful to each and every person who nominated me for both: ‘Most Iconic Crochet Designer’ and ‘Social Media Superstar’ awards!

But now it’s down to the public vote so if you feel inclined to vote for me in these categories then voting is open now!!

https://www.letsknit.co.uk/awards

Thank you so much and Happy Crocheting Everyone! 🙂