Another good year! And yet – other years, a post of annual highlights has poured out of me, but this year I’m not sure what to write. Could it be because I’m blogging much more and I’ve already said it all? I’ve almost tripled the number of posts (89 as opposed to 32 in 2013) and, gratifyingly, page views have gone up by almost the same factor. I have one thing to thank for that: The A to Z Challenge, which encourages you to blog every day (except Sundays) in April and meet other bloggers doing the same thing. It certainly got me into the habit of writing more (last January, I had a queue of post ideas from 2013 still waiting to be written; this year I have only one.) I also made some good blogging friends whose posts I still follow and who still appear to read mine occasionally too!

Anyway, writing that paragraph and looking at my 89 posts has focused my thoughts and I now know what my two stars of the year are. Ta da! The first is – the weather! The sun has shone on us when it mattered this year (does that make us righteous?), even unseasonably when we didn’t expect it – Bruges (March/April) and Cornwall (September/October). This is not something I could say every year. The blob of pink in the first photo is me enjoying an al fresco lunch in Bruges, while on the right John enjoys coffee on the roof terrace of Tate St Ives.

De Windmolen

Roof café

My second star is Scotland. We had a momentous year politically, with the independence referendum decided in an exemplary display of democracy and with an unprecedented level of political engagement which shows no sign of going away. However, that’s not the main reason for my choice. I was amazed to find that, despite writing about lots of exotic places, particularly during the Challenge, my 5 most read posts of the year were all Scottish! They were:

1. Jupiter Artland
2. Great Tapestry of Scotland
3. Kinneil and Bo’ness
4. Costumes and quilts at Dalgarven Mill
5. Celtic Connections 2014

So what of 2015? I mean to keep up-to-date with current travels and carry on with the original purpose of this blog, to write a retrospective travel diary (for my own satisfaction) back to 1999! The A to Z Challenge helped a lot with that in 2014, so I have fewer gaps to fill in. I definitely intend to take part in the Challenge again – my theme is picked out and I’ve started collecting thoughts and pictures. And I hope to keep the friends I made in 2014 and maybe make some new ones.

So, finally, thanks to everyone who visited last year, to read or comment, or just to look at the pictures. I hope 2015 is good for you all – happy travelling!