A trip up the M1

This weekend I have taken a rather long trip, around the M25, and up the M1 to see my lovely family. By family, I mean Mum and Nana as Fraz is currently in Thailand and Russ was busy working. The trip up was a bit of a ballache. M1 on a Friday- I should have known better really. 5 hours it took. I got there in the end though. As much as I love the south, there is something really homely and special about Sheffield. I love how you can be so close to the Peak District yet still be so close to the city centre too. I love all the little independent restaurants and shops, something you don't see a lot of in many cities these days. So what did we get up to? Well Friday night I was pretty shattered so we got an early night. Saturday morning, John, Mum and I went to a cafe we found last month. One of our wonderful friends Hazel recommended it and it was nothing short of brilliant! They do a delicious brekkie so we all tucked in; that set us up for the day. I had to go into town to collect my photos from the exhibition as it ends today (sob). So we did that, and had a mooch around town. We went to the winter gardens and had a browse around the museum at the back. All over the city centre there are yellow bikes placed, to mark the start of the Tour De France in a few weeks. That will be the next time we are up north, to watch that! Sheffield is a city that takes pride in its heritage and people from the city, as well as what is happening there, so it was great to see the Tour being promoted in such a creative way. We headed home and had a simple but tasty dinner,even Mum enjoyed my veggie cooking! Today we met up with the lovely Mark and Liz, and went for a walk with our cameras. This was the first time we had met Mark and Liz properly, so it was great to put a face to a name and have a good old natter. And even the weather was good! On leaving Mark and Liz we met up with Nana, Mimi and their brother, Uncle Anthony and his wife Elaine for some lunch. The 5 hour drive there and 4 hour drive back was so worth it. Nothing can compare to spending some quality time with loved ones, in a city you love, enjoying good food, walks and laughing lots :)