This weeks blog sees our final days of working fast approaching, an emotional farewell to our CrossFit friends and the most amazing weekend of impromptu travel adventures that gives us a small indication of what life is going to be like when early retirement truly becomes a reality in a weeks time!
House updates and the dreaded office clear out
We are seemingly getting much closer to our house move this week- we met (virtually) with our solicitor and it is looking increasingly like a 9th August completion date is on the horizon for our house sale. Put in a more candid way, we could be houseless- but not homeless in about 3 weeks time! Jackie met with our buyers earlier in the week as they wanted to measure up some doors- they could not believe how relaxed we are about the move and the potential for being temporarily houseless. For us we don’t mind as we know that we always have the ultimate comfort of Nelson and the freedom to travel as we wait for things to go through with our house purchase. Whatever happens, its going to be an exciting summer!
It was also a busy week at work, when I finally got stuck into the office. Just like our loft, I don’t think you realise how much crap you accumulate over the years until you have to move on. 14 years in a job means a lot of crap to deal with and a lot of bins required. Luckily, my site team are amazing and provided me with all the gear to clear said crap in an easy way. Looking back at my accumulated stuff, I am not sure why I held onto most things for so long. In reality, most useful stuff is electronic any way, so most physical things went. Collections of old diaries and note books were cute, but ultimately serve no purpose. The memories I hold are far more important than these physical relics of the past- I do not need these place-holders to trigger my memories- they just needed to go.
Last WOD at CW1 CrossFit
Wednesday saw us pay a sad farewell to our CrossFit box- CWOne. We have been members of this community for over 8 years and it has been a central part in our family life. It is fair to say that the kids pretty much grew up in and around the box.
CrossFit is so much more than an exercise regime- it is very much a living, breathing community. CrossFit has given us some of our best friends from all walks of life, provided amazing memories over the years and enabled us to travel the world knowing that there will always be a friendly CrossFit community close by to drop into.
In true CrossFit tradition, our good friend and coach Craig programmed a stinker of a WOD (Workout of the day)- “Pickles”. It was a good half hour grind of constant movement in searing temperatures. As always, part way through the WOD I was in fear of not been able to finish the workout as it was just endless. It took me to a very dark place, but I chipped away at it a bit at a time and managed to finish in about 30 mins.
Once I had recovered from this monster of a workout, the team gave us the most unbelievable personalised gift for our future travels- a one off CWOne BBQ and fire pit. One thing is for certain, it will travel the world with us and we will always think of our happy place at CWOne when we set a fire.
Jackie’s mini adventures
Jackie has been keeping herself busy until I am free to play full-time by embarking on a series of mini challenges, one of which is clocking up over 400000 steps per calendar month. This is no mean feat, and she is really pulling out all the stops on this one. She is taking the opportunity to get out and about in our local Cheshire countryside on a daily basis, clocking up the steps as she goes. It is so great to know that when I am stuck in work she is sending me gorgeous pictures of the places she is exploring!!! She is also taking this as an opportunity to hook up with her friends and colleagues to connect in the great outdoors. An additional benefit to all of this hard work is that she is romping towards her third Everest challenge of the year in terms of vertical climbing, leaving me somewhere lagging behind- as always!
Our last Friday at work and last Friday night getaway
It crept up on us in an unassuming way that this Friday was our very last ever Friday of working life, and consequently our last Friday night get-a-way that we will ever have to do. If we choose to travel on a Friday night in the future- it will be our choice rather than a work related necessity! The M6 did not disappoint, with SatNav showing the usual heavy delays northbound for no apparent reason. We decided to take our time packing up and planned for a lazy depart. Sure enough, by just leaving it a few hours the route had cleared and we were on our way to the lakes. We had never seen the shores of Windermere so beautiful as the sun set on a still evening. It would have been so easy to just drive on by this beautiful and familiar vista in the rush to get to our park up and get settled for the night. We checked ourselves and did the opposite of our instinct- stopping, taking our time to soak up the beauty around us and simply just slowing down. This is going to be one of the challenges of shifting from work mode to retirement- learning to slow down and taking life at the pace that it comes- not the pace that we have to deal with it due to external pressures.
Anyway, we had a cracking weekend in the Lakes in some of the best conditions we have experienced- it was a proper alpine summer adventure. We hit the mountains early- hoping to avoid the heat of the day. Even Jackie was keen to get up and going on a Saturday morning- although I fear that this was more down to the early morning visitors of Highland Coo’s to the van rather than a need to get climbing! We managed to bag a further 4 Wainwrights during the day- but the theme of the walk had to be Bogs and Bugs. Despite the dry conditions, we found ourselves having to tramp through half a mile of soaking wet bogs on the tops, as well as enduring clouds of midges whenever we stopped. Taking the positives- great fun as the wet feet kept us cool and we have hopefully both built up some natural resistance to bites for later in the season!
Jackie had found a little known campsite for the Saturday night that had no website and no pre-booking…how exciting! Tarn Foot Farm didn’t disappoint. A simple working farm campsite with two loos and a water tap, situated in the most iddilic location on the shores of Loughrigg Tarn- what more could you want for £14 per night?
We spent the rest of the day lazing by the tarn, wild swimming to cool down, drinking beer and generally just switching off. It was such a brilliant impromptu day that we never expected, topped off with an amazing sunset looking out over the tarn towards the towering peaks of the Langdales.
So that's it for another week. Lots of lessons learned in terms of what you can discover if you just go with the flow. This weekend was an absolute banker in terms of places that we plan to revisit in the future. You don't need many things to make lasting memories.
Take care out there...it's going to be a hot one. Have a great week.
Jackie & Richard
BREAKING NEWS: It's Sunday night and Richard's long awaited school trip to Chester Zoo has just been cancelled due to the heatwave- he is gutted!
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