Pencillines sketch 209

At last I have managed to do the birthday sketch from Pencillines. I have had all the stash sitting on my desk all week, but been so tired every evening have just thought about doing it! But this afternoon I have spent in the conservatory at my desk, watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and doing this page.

I have used the papers from Sarah's Cards April kit - which are GCD Ava papers, plus some AC cardstock. I still have some of this kit left and this is about my fourth layout with it! I love that there are so many flowers and butterflies you can cut out of it - unfortunately it makes the kit spread to many, many layouts!

The journalling tells how Hugh and I took a very long, hot and steep walk up to see this castle in Portugal. We were the only ones on the path and at times we were not sure we were going the right way, as there was very little signage. We had the Rough Guide to the Algarve with us and that wasn't very informative, but we did manage to get there - only to find that the castle, although undergoing restoration, was closed! The outside however was magnificent and Hugh managed to find a large rock for us to stand on round the back which meant we could see over the wall into the castle, which was better than nothing. The views from the top were superb - we could see for miles. It was a very lonely and isolated spot and we couldn't imagine having to live there hundreds of years ago. It took us nearly an hour and a half to walk there from the road and the nearest village was about another thirty minutes walk away.

We went on from there - after a long walk back! - to see another castle, which I will do a layout and tell you about another day. I will also tell you about our walk back down and the goats!