I made a questionable travel decision. But it was worth it.
Three flights, 18 hours, and jet lag — for something I could’ve driven to in 5 hours
For 15 years, I lived in or around London. I had a car for most of that time. I spent weekends popping over to Marlow or Henley (20 mins drive), Hampton Court (30 mins drive), or, ooh, the John Lewis in High Wycombe (30 mins drive). Very, very occasionally would I travel farther than that. And if I did, it had to coordinate with long weekends, as longer vacation time was reserved for trips abroad.
And who hasn’t said, “I haven’t been to such-and-such a place in my own country,” because you assume it’ll always be there? “I’ll get to it at some point.”
Then I moved to the US. And with that move, I left undiscovered the coastlines of Wales, the moors of the Peak District, the castles of Scotland, the wild Atlantic coasts of Ireland, and what had been top of my “it will eventually happen” list, the Lake District in Northwest England.
For reasons that are far too laborious to mention, it made most sense to travel to the Lake District now. Now that I live in Miami, it took three flights to get me to Manchester, England. A mere 2 hours south of the Lake District.
Slight aside here. If I’d gone when I was living in England, it would’ve taken about 5 hours door-to-door. And if that’s not bad enough, I very frequently drove to Manchester to watch my favourite football team. At any stage, I could’ve just continued for another couple of hours and found myself by the lakes. But alas, no. Now, I flew from Miami to Atlanta, then to Dublin, and finally to Manchester, and then rented a car.
And it was glorious.
There are places you will visit that have undergone, or will undergo, periods of extreme modernisation. Cities creeping outwards are the clearest example. But aside from the influx of artisanal coffee shops and bakeries that were unlikely to be so heavy in numbers (and calories) when I could have visited previously, the place was exactly how I had envisaged it being 15-20 years ago.
The wifi and phone signal were sketchy. Which I loved. And, oh, the land, the buildings, the history. Perhaps I have lived in the US too long that I’ve forgotten…no, that’s negative…Perhaps I have lived in the US just long enough to appreciate the history of places that were once wallpaper to me. Or maybe it’s just age.
And with age, time, or mainly a desire to photograph sheep and birds interesting places, I have more than a travel bug. I have always traveled. I moved out of my home when I was 21, and until I travelled for work, I was still going back to Ireland 4-6 times a year and taking the odd city break in Europe or a weekend excursion to John Lewis in High Wycombe.
But travel always felt tied to something, not self-serving. Home was for duty, family, obligation; city breaks were box-ticking exercises; work trips were airports, hotels, and meeting rooms. Now I crave a car and my cameras on the passenger seat with the expectation that I will be pulling over, unplanned, to photograph sheep and birds something unique. To me, at least. And there are few greater feelings than the feeling of flow with a camera (or writing).
But I started this story by calling it a questionable decision. Well, my plan is to move back to Europe next year. But for some reason, it made sense not to wait.
The great philosopher William Crystal once mused,
“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible”.
This was not quite like that, but the sentiment is similar. If you can, maybe don’t put off that trip or opportunity to explore something close just because “it’ll always be there”.
And as another wonderful poet, William Mack, once quipped,
“It’s a terrible, terrible mistake, chubbs, but you turned out to be the f**cking love of my life.”
That could be you and your Lake District!!
Here are a few more images.
Your images are gorgeous as always! I think, perhaps, you could have photographed a few more sheep though? Glad you made it to the lakes. Next stop CORNWALL!!