The past couple of months haven’t really seen much travel for me and Wandering Beeb. We have been moving house and as anyone who has been through that experience knows, it takes up lots of time and almost all of your money! After lots of sorting and box carrying, we decided we needed some time out and a bit of time away from the house-moving world.
We jumped in the car and took off to Formby beach and squirrel park. We chose Formby because it’s fairly easy for us to get to, has a beautifully clean beach and has a lovely forest area nearby.
After lots of busy weekends, it was so nice to stroll through the forest area. We’d picked a beautiful day (that one sunny day that the U.K. gets each year!) and the sun was streaming down through the trees. We were keeping our eyes pealed for squirrels but we didn’t spot a single one, despite the forest’s name! We did spot millions of magpies though, so that might have provided an explanation as to where all of the squirrels had gone.
Looking up at the tree line, we were struck by how much they resembled the trees in Zion National Park. This led us on to a lengthy discussion about Zion and what we’d enjoyed there – making us reflect on our experiences. Although it wasn’t quite the same (no waterfall to walk underneath and certainly not as hot!), it had a similar calming effect on the both of us.
We’d arrived in Formby stressed out and worked up, but looking at the trees and taking time to appreciate our surroundings instantly made us feel far more relaxed.
As we strolled along the beach, the sun bouncing off the sea and the calm sound of the waves made us take a breathe and slow down for a second amongst the hustle and bustle of daily life. Jumping over the pools of water and slushing through the wet sand, our shoes became drenched and our socks were soggy, but our smiles were much wider than when we first got out of the car.
Before this trip, I was getting ready to write a post for last week’s photo challenge on my place in the world. I probably would have picked Yosemite as my place in the world – however, our visit to Formby made me realise, it’s not a specific place where I feel at home. Instead, it’s being somewhere in nature: tall trees, water, sunshine and good people are what I need to feel at home, the actual location doesn’t matter.
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