A year ago, I was writing about wanting to move to the Lake District. Today I’m writing from my flat in Kendal, which feels odd to say given I’ve just been reading (and reflecting) on the last post.
Thanks to my goldfish-like memory, I’d forgotten how much I’ve done in the last year, from trail running in Spain, to a family wedding in Greece with some bonus diving, winter climbing in Scotland, and finally visiting Vilnius with friends (which was one of the two places on my wishlist to visit soon) and much more.
But back to the biggest change, the Lake District… the first hurdle, finding somewhere to live. I had heard it would be quite difficult, mainly thanks to a good portion of the area being dedicated to holiday homes, leaving the remaining options quite competitive.
Fortunately, there’s Kendal, or as someone said to me recently, “where people actually live”. It’s just on the border of the Lake District National Park, and somewhere I’d never been before moving here, because why would I drive all the way from Norwich to not enter the national park?
After opening my search up to include here, I’d managed to go from having no options to having two applications accepted within the same week, which were quite difficult to choose between, knowing nothing about the area to help sway my decision.
There was a third option of a co-living space in Windermere, which was tempting as it seemed a great way to meet people in a place where I know no one, but I quickly snapped out of it after considering I might have to meet those people whilst queuing up to make my own dinner in one of the shared kitchens.
I finally picked one of the two accepted applications, paid my deposit, and the rest was easy. Two round trips to Norwich later, including dropping off my glamorous assistant, Oli, it was me against the Lake District. I settled into the new place very well. Given I’d never been to Kendal, let alone seen the flat in person, I felt very lucky.
I started the new job a few days later. I was so excited for it after committing so much time to the idea; however, the reality of it has been slightly different to what I had imagined.
Some of the same challenges that I’d dealt with in my previous career path were still present here, but now I can’t solve them as I’d like to – on reflection, I’m not sure why I thought this wouldn’t happen. It’s been an adjustment to move my focus to learning as much as possible about the elements of the job that I’m not familiar with, which I really enjoy.
I also completed my Mountain Leader training just two weeks after starting my job. Leaving the training, I had good intentions to spend all my free time consolidating and getting ready for my assessment as soon as possible; however, that hasn’t happened at all, and I’m still office-bound.
Why, you may ask? It’s a great question, and one that Al (who delivered my training) asked when we caught up at the climbing wall recently. Firstly, I had yet more loss to contend with in the family, but mostly because I’ve had to settle into living here, which has taken much longer than I thought.
I’ve been fortunate to meet some fantastic people not long after moving here, both through work and outside of it, who have introduced me to the area and everything it has to offer—far more than I ever experienced during my long weekends here. Who’d have thought it?
I started life here by saying yes to pretty much everything, which led to some amazing experiences. But I don’t think I really stopped to put my feet on the ground until recently. Doing that has made me appreciate where I am and the friendships I’ve built here.
I was surprised by how long it took to meet climbing partners. I had the impression that moving to somewhere which is so popular for climbing would mean partners everywhere just waiting to climb. But most people already have established climbing partners. While they’re usually welcoming and happy to take newcomers out occasionally, it can be difficult to find regular partners – but again, I’ve been very fortunate with the people I’ve met and manage to get out regularly now.
I have also found a stronger appreciation for the friendships I have back home (feels strange typing home), given that I wasn’t sure how things could change since moving. I probably speak to the majority of them more now (unless your name is Charlie, but that’s nothing new), and it’s been lovely to give them an insight into the life I’ve built here.
Family is still a difficult one. I have the feeling that I’m not around as much as I’d like to be (especially with the birth of my niece), and it’s hard for them to visit. I still get back as much as I can, but the weekend hits do take a lot out of me, so I need to find a better balance there.
I keep being asked if I think I’ll stay here, but for now, I’m just trying to live more in the moment. The last few blogs remind me that I’ve been trying to plan my whole future around a career, but through everything, I’m now lucky enough to be living in my favourite part of the UK, surrounded by my hobbies and some fantastic, like-minded people, with plenty of exciting things coming up.
- Another Scottish winter climbing trip – taking a moment to appreciate, I don’t even have to fly there anymore?!
- Attempting the Classic Rock Round after a successful recce last weekend
- Celebrating friends’ weddings
- My first trad trip outside of the UK, to Morocco in November
I’ll also be attempting a 100K run in memory of my Mum, next Saturday, which you can donate to here if you’d like, and see a snippet of my training here.
So for now I’m focusing on enjoying where I am, and my first full year here, and we’ll see what opportunities come up along the way.
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