The Power Of Nostalgia

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blogging, Blogging community, Childhood, Comics, Creativity, Dreams, Fantasy, Fun, hobbies, Subbuteo, writer's block

The last few weeks had been a bit odd for me. My creativity had been stifled. Sometimes life gets in the way, and I need to reset. Thankfully, I had some holiday due from work, so I used it to visit my brother in Cheshire. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

My brother surprised me when he got out his old Subbuteo set from his loft. I spent hours on end playing this tabletop soccer game in my bedroom as a teenager. Now, here I was again revisiting my youth. My brother beat me 1-0 in the game we played, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were kids again having fun.

On another day, we visited the town of Stockport. Here, I found a comic book store that stocked old copies of my favourite comics I’d read growing up. Normally, the comic book stores I visit are full of Marvel and DC Comic titles, as well as manga and other publications. They’re all great, but here for the first time ever I found titles such as ‘Buster’ and ‘Whizzer and Chips’ – firm British staples of my childhood that are sadly no longer published. Suddenly, I was transported back to Saturday mornings in the mid-80s when I’d run down the local shops and buy a big pile of comics and read through them again and again before school came round again on Monday.

I bought a few copies, and have been laughing my head off ever since.

Comics were so instrumental in me wanting to become a writer as they opened up endless worlds of storytelling and possibility to me. It was good to reminisce about this.

The result of all this is that the power of nostalgia has fuelled my creativity again. I’ve now got a pocketful of ideas for short stories that I’ve begun working on. Plus, I’ve also got a new tactic if I get writer’s block again.

If you’re creativity is lacking, remembering the hobbies you had a child could be one way to help you.

I hope you all have a great and creative week. ☺️

A Week In Northumberland: Photo Blog Post

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Adventure, Blogging community, Britain, England, Hadrian's Wall, Hiking, Mountains, Northumberland, Photo, Photography, Travel, Walking

A few months back, I was looking at a map of the UK trying to work out where to go on a new adventure. I became drawn to Northumberland. I’d visited its neighbours – Cumbria to the west and Yorkshire to the south – a number of times before, and enjoyed those experiences immensely. But, in Northumberland, here was a whole chunk of county that I’d completely overlooked.

I decided to do a bit of research and found out that the county was home to England’s largest and least visited national park. Those facts alone made the idea of visiting there more intriguing to me. So, before I had a chance to rationalise what I was doing, I booked myself a reasonably priced hotel and train journey to go and explore.

I had plans to explore the whole county in six days, but as soon as I got there I knew that I’d need longer. So, this is the first leg of my tour of Northumberland. What follows is the highlights of a four day trek across the southern portion of the county.

Day 1 – Hadrian’s Wall (Steel Rigg and Peel Cragg Circular Walk

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The iconic Sycamore Gap

This was a lovely seven mile walk that involved some short but stiff climbs along one of the most popular stretches of Hadrian’s Wall. The above photo is of the Sycamore Gap, which is the most photographed image along the wall. The cliff faces rose up so high at some points that I couldn’t see beyond them – it truly felt like I was standing on the edge of the world!

Day 2 – Corbridge

Ruins of the old Roman town

Corbridge was the most northerly town of the Roman Empire, so its economic, cultural and historic importance is worthy of note. The village itself today is a charming place to visit with its sandstone buildings, impressive church and tower (where you can stop and have a pint) and abundance of coffee shops. If I had more time, then I’d have loved to have done a river walk. I had a cracking three course Italian lunch for just £8.95 as well!

Day 3 – Allendale, North Pennines

Awesome river walk

Allendale was one of the remotest parts of England I’ve ever visited. The thirty minute bus journey took us deep into the countryside to this village that was surrounded by rolling hills on all sides. I walked a stretch of the river and climbed hills. I spotted nineteenth century farm machinery, fat hens freely grazing across cottage gardens and some truly magical riverside spots like the one above. Then, I ambled back to the village and noticed that Dr Who had popped in…

The Museum Of Classic Sci-Fi, Allendale

Day 4 – Back At Hadrian’s Wall

Looking down along Hadrian’s Wall

Cawfield Quarry

On this last day, I did a seven mile walk that started at the majestic Cawfield Quarry. It’s well worth a moment of anybody’s time to pause by the lake. This stretch of Hadrian’s Wall provided me with some heart-stopping views across the open landscape. I dropped down into the valley, and I was truly the only person in this expanse. On this clear blue day it felt so good to be alive.

Conclusion

I’ve only scratched at the surface of Northumberland. Whilst I haven’t talked about the history or culture of this area in any great detail, I hope you see that by seeing the natural beauty of the places featured that this county is well worth a visit. It’s a county that I want to return to many times: there’s still a great coastline, acres and acres of forest and the Cheviot Hills to explore.

Northumberland rocks!

Have you been to Northumberland? What did you make of it?