This week in our early retirement adventures we experienced the healing effect of being in the wild places, spent the week in the Lake District ticking off more Wainwright peaks, enjoyed a couple of amazing impromptu days with friends from the past and continue to recognise the importance and value of living a simple life.
The healing effect of the hills
We both felt a bit off it on Monday after a busy day at the house meeting people to talk about our future plans. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but it was a definite underlying anxiety about everything we had to do. Without realising it, we stumbled upon the holistic healing effect of the mountains. The weather was good, and we decided to have a quick blast up Ingleborough for some much needed thinking time.
Within half an hour, we were both feeling much better and way more relaxed. Simply focusing on one foot in front of the other, the effort of the up hill and the natural beauty that surrounded us bumped us out of our feelings of angst. It was unbelievable and it took us both by surprise. The sense of accomplishment after any mountain summit always seems to leave a warm afterglow, long after the walk is complete. It really is food for the soul- and something that we always knew to be true, but had never really felt it to this extent.
If you are ever feeling a little jaded or down, getting out into nature and getting a bit of a sweat on is a great way to turn things around.
A simple life
We are loving the simplicity of this week. We did a big weekly food shop for a week in the van, loaded up our outdoor gear and headed to the Lake District . We have spent our days waking up with the dawn, walking all day, coming home to the van and cooking simple comfort food together, reading into the night and pretty much going to sleep as soon as it gets dark. So simple and cheap and yet we love it!
When it has rained, we have stayed in side, drank tea (Richard)/wine (Jackie) and read books to the sound of the patter of the rain. When it has been dry we have got out and done things. When the weather was good for the day, we have blasted big mountain days with lots of vertical. It’s a pretty simple equation that seems to be working for us.
Wainwright bagging
We have spent most of this week out and about bagging Wainwright’s. For those people that are unaware, Wainwright’s are lakeland peaks that appear in the seminal works of Alfred Wainwright- the seven volumes of his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. There are 214 peaks in total to climb, and since my 50th birthday, we are well on with this significant challenge- about 120+ peaks already completed.
We started in the area just north of Grassmere, hitting 5 peaks in a pretty big 18km day on the hills (with 1100m of vertical!). After a day being washed out, which we were quite thankful for the day of recovery, we relocated to the Eskdale valley at the far west of the Lake District- an area we had never visited before. We were blessed with the best day of weather and had another incredibly long day in the mountains, bagging another 3 more peaks. A couple of days later, there was a little break in the inclement weather that allowed us a couple of hours to fly up another Wainwright- bringing our total to the week to 9.
It sounds very nerdy and very much like stamp collecting, and it is, but we love it. It is a real physical challenge, but more importantly it gets us out to visit places that we never would have visited of our own accord. It provides a focus to our efforts and provides us with a real sense of achievement when we have completed a new peak. The books are beautifully written and presented, and I love diving into them, getting an insight into these beautiful places that were written about over 50 years ago. The planning process is almost as enjoyable as the actual walks, thinking about the best routes to a particular summit and how we can link summits together in one walk. In the Lakes there are so many people on the same quest and it great to take time to chat to these strangers with which we share a common goal.
Time with good friends
Whist we were in the lakes, we managed to meet up with some good friends that we had not seen for years. What started as an impromptu suggestion of coffee turned out to be the most amazing 48 hours being hosted at their lakeland home. It was like time had stood still over the years we had not seen each other and we really enjoyed catching up and sharing our life experiences during the missing years.
For us it really did show that true friendship is timeless. As we move into early retirement we are finding that we naturally have more time to reconnect with our friends that we may have partially neglected during our working years simply down to time pressures. Having the freedom to take advantage of impromptu opportunities like this is genuinely priceless. As the rest of the world was in the middle of a busy work week, we had the opportunity to have lazy lunches, time to do as we please and relaxed evenings together reminiscing about our shared past.
House update
We are dismayed to report that there have been no further development with the house purchase this week. The legal wheels are still grinding stubbornly slowly, seemingly resistant to our constant chivvying and harassing on the phone. It is frustrating as we can do nothing more about this- the situation is completely out of our control. No matter how hard we try, it will not change the situation- we just need to let it run its natural course.
On a positive note, meeting up and spending time with our friends in the Lakes was so encouraging as they have fully renovated their own property over the course of the past few years. What they have achieved is truly remarkable and they have given us the confidence that we too can do this with our own house. We just want to get going now…but that is in the hands of the legal teams. We are keeping fingers crossed that we may have the keys by the end of the month…
So that’s it, another week gone in flash and another week houseless- the tenth week in succession! It has been a great week and we have learned so much about what is important to us in life. We cannot wait to get our hands on the house keys, but we know that is out of our control and we just need to be a little more patient.
Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel here for more updates on our adventures. Our latest house video update can be found here.
Have a fantastic week,
Richard & Jackie.
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