In this weeks blog, we have temporarily relocated to the Lake District for a relaxed spot of house sitting for friends. We encounter classic winter conditions, climb amazing peaks and hit some key milestones for the year. We also take time to consider solutions to our biggest conundrum at this moment- how best to heat our dream Yorkshire Dales early retirement home?
A hectic start to the week
Monday saw us heading off to the Lake District for a spot of house sitting for friends as they are away on holiday. The mountain weather looks set for a blue sky and freezing week- ideal for exploring the fells and getting some vertical. All is good, apart from the fact that we had to make a quick journey back home on Tuesday to meet up with the chimney sweep as that was his only available day. We could not believe the timing of this- but reminded ourselves that the one thing that we now have an abundance of is time. We desperately need the chimney sweeping so that we can enjoy the comfort and warmth of an open fire for the rest of the year- and as we now know- chimney sweeps are in short supply. So we got back in the van, had a 3 hour round trip from the Lakes to the Dales and back again- but now have a clean chimney that we can enjoy throughout the winter as we await the renovations to take place.
Heating conundrums
One of our real points of debate at this current time is all about heating solutions for the house. Everyone at this moment in time must be debating the most efficient way to heat their houses during the current astronomical costs for energy. In some respects, we count ourselves lucky as we are starting with a blank canvas and can do as we please in relation to heating systems for the house, but in other ways we are really restricted in that choice. We only have electricity in the village so our choices are very limited. We currently have antiquated storage heaters that take advantage of cheap electricity in the night and then slowly release that heat during the day. Surprisingly they are really good at heating the house, but eat up electricity (even though it is the cheap night time stuff) and sadly run out of heat at around 5pm everyday. We know in the future that we will have the multi fuel stove to fire up at this time…so that could be a solution?
We have been told that we could upgrade the storage heaters to more modern and efficient ones. Granted- they look an improvement on the scabby 1970’s versions that we currently have, but they are still pretty ugly in terms of appearance.
We have just started to explore electric radiators as a potential as they can look very stylish…but their efficiency and cost to run is hard to calculate. They are in effect standard radiators that have a heating element retrofitted in them that heats the fluid within. We have seen some amazing retro cast iron ones that we really fancy, but if they don’t heat the house or cost a fortune to run, good looks mean nothing!
We know, and don’t have the inclination to fit an LPG system as we do not have the required space to site a storage tank within the current safety regulations.
Likewise, we have discounted an oil system due to the ever increasing cost of oil.
A heat source pump solution is increasingly popular in the village, but for a property of our small size would probably not be efficient. In effect we would use more electricity to run the system than the heat actually produced by the system.
Solar is a thought for the future, and is quite an appealing option, but not for quite now. We feel that we have enough going on in terms of house renovation at this moment in time, but a solar solution may be an effective upgrade in the future…particularly as a direct way of heating water.
House sitting in the Lakes
We have had a fantastic week of house sitting in the beautiful Lake District. We have been based in the western lakes, close to Sellafield. It is a really isolated spot, with the mountains of the Wasdale valley on our doorstep as well as the luxury of endless beaches only a few minutes away.
It doesn’t take Einstein to work out that in such a location we have had an absolute blast. Our legs are shattered from days in the hills bagging yet more Wainwright’s- we have just hit the 100 mark- only 114 to go! As predicted, we have had classic winter conditions of blue skies and freezing temperatures, which have shown the mountains off to their very best. I know I am biased- but I love the mountains at this time of year. There is something very comforting about getting wrapped up, getting a sweat on going up hill and then feeling the wind chill on the summits whist looking out for miles over snow capped peaks.
We have spent our evenings soothing our aching limbs, cooking comfort food, sitting around an open fire and definitely not watching either the TV or football. Time to chat, read, play backgammon (a newfound love) and snuggle has been just amazing.
Winter is here
The conditions this week have been amazing, but almost too amazing. We were so excited to wake up to fresh snow on the mountain tops on Saturday morning. We hurried to pack our winter kit and were soon heading off up the Wasdale Valley to tackle some Wainwrights in full winter conditions. This was all going well right up until we realised that the big freeze also effects the access roads. Nelson did really well right up until the point that he started going sideways up a hill! We managed to stop and then had a precarious reverse backwards down the hill as he struggled for traction. After a sketchy few minutes, we decided that our plans for the day were not going to happen, so we headed for the beach! It is hard to believe that only 15 minutes away from our icy escapades we were walking on the beach at St Bees in the glorious sunshine. Only in Britain!
Everest Challenge and YouTube updates
You may be aware, Jackie and I love a good challenge, and we also love a good statistic. After a few calculations, Jackie realised we had hit our 4 Everest total for the year. For those that are unaware, the Everest challenge is to climb the height of Everest (8848m) in a set time. We have done this for a number of years, climbing 3 Everests last year. This year we have already climbed over 38km vertical (that's a long way up!) and still have the rest of a very active December to go.
In other news, we hit 500 subscribers on YouTube this week. We are so blown away that so many people are interested in our modest little channel. We are loving the process, and little milestones like this make it all the more rewarding. We always set out to use YouTube as a way of documenting our journey into early retirement and we are not going to stray from this path, but knowing that our little adventures are helping others in some way is really gratifying. If you have not yet visited our channel- check it out here.
So that’s it for another week. We are planning a restful Sunday around the house to let our legs recover from the exertions of week. Cooking a slow roast, catching up on admin' and looking out over frozen peaks will be the order of the day.
Have a brilliant week,
Richard & Jackie
Sadly not which is why we had to turn back 😬 we have stayed by the coast and have been popping into the ennerdale valley where the roads are clear and only a couple of miles from the main road. We are still having a great week and have been amazed at finding frozen slushy ice on the beach on the tide lines!
Do you have All Seasons or Winter tyres on Nelson?