Wild & Free

When i was YOUNGER, i wasn't always fond of the outdoors.  Or more accurately, i didn't truly appreciate quite how stunningly magnificent it could be.  We moved to the West coast of Scotland when i was twelve.  I didn't appreciate being dragged up and down hills and along beaches when i was twelve.  I was convinced i was destined for the big lights of the city and all of the glittering opportunities it might bring me.  A land that always felt so faraway and so much better than always being in the middle of nowhere.
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Fast forward eighteen years (but we'll just skip right over that part) and i find myself feeling the complete and polar opposite of how i felt so many years ago.  I am incredibly LUCKY to call Cumbria my home.  It's perfect in the way i get a little of the hustle and bustle of small city life (the only thing that really makes Carlisle a city is its beautiful cathedral and the fact it has a Starbucks, Costa and Nero - it is essentially a big town) and yet at the same time i am only minutes away from miles and miles of green landscapes in any direction.  

Nothing empties my head, has me feeling perfectly and completely PEACEFUL or happier than being in the most remote, beautiful green landscape that i can get to.  And it's taken me a good few years to realise quite how much love i have for the empty places i used to sulk about in years gone by.  Yesterday we took ourselves as far up as our sweet little Henry Ford  automobile would allow, up on to Honister Pass, just along from Keswick and Derwent Water.



^Just casually feeling all kinds of blown away all the way up there^

^This artfully edited snazzy photo is courtesy of the Mr^
The lighting was hit and miss and most of our wander was covered by an almighty blanket of grey low CLOUD - so the photos are a bit inconsistent and do not by any means do this place justice.  There was a camp site on the way back down, which just looks like heaven.  Can you imagine opening up your tent and having this as your breakfast view? To be able to sit on the grass and toast crumpets and drink earl grey tea from a flask? Or how quiet it must be to sleep under a blanket of stars up there?! 
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Afterwards we had a drive back down (which the car found much easier!) and stopped for a few hours in Keswick where we re-fuelled on steak sandwiches and elderflower fizz.  We both said how CALM and 'on holiday' we felt for the rest of the day.  We also spent the rest of the evening searching the Honister pass hashtag on Instagram and marvelling at how much more beautiful (if you could believe it) that place looks in Autumn, Spring, Winter…in fact just the whole year round! 
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Yesterday was by far my FAVOURITE day in a long long time.  It's a luxury to spend the whole and entire day together  and i was left feeling so content and relaxed and feeling ever so grateful for somewhere that is almost quite literally on our doorstep! 

Are you a lover of the GREEN?  Or is your happy place buried deep in the hustle and BUSTLE of city life?