Personal Stories - Look With New Eyes https://www.lookwithneweyes.com Stories and travel guides from the Lake District Fri, 31 Jan 2025 21:44:29 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-lwne-logo-black-rgb-861px@72ppi-32x32.jpg Personal Stories - Look With New Eyes https://www.lookwithneweyes.com 32 32 127582044 5 highlights and a few reflections from Lake District and UK adventures in 2024 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/5-highlights-and-a-few-reflections-from-lake-district-and-uk-adventures-in-2024/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/5-highlights-and-a-few-reflections-from-lake-district-and-uk-adventures-in-2024/#respond Fri, 31 Jan 2025 21:44:28 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=9630 Reflecting on the year gone has become a new tradition I’ve enjoyed doing in the last few years, one that has been made easier as I now sit down at the end of each month and record in my diary the highs and lows of each month, from tiny moments of joy to the things […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/5-highlights-and-a-few-reflections-from-lake-district-and-uk-adventures-in-2024/feed/ 0 9630 On putting down roots – 5 years in the Lake District  https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/on-putting-down-roots-5-years-in-the-lake-district/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/on-putting-down-roots-5-years-in-the-lake-district/#respond Thu, 18 Apr 2024 13:33:20 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=8278 This month marks five years since I arrived in the Lake District. Two backpacks, no plan, just in need of a place to find my feet again and regroup. I’d recently returned from a backpacking trip in South America, newly single, no job and very little direction.  This wasn’t uncommon for me. I happily spent […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/on-putting-down-roots-5-years-in-the-lake-district/feed/ 0 8278 5 highlights and a few reflections from the Lake District in 2023 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/5-highlights-and-a-few-reflections-from-the-lake-district-in-2023/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/5-highlights-and-a-few-reflections-from-the-lake-district-in-2023/#respond Sun, 07 Jan 2024 22:42:56 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=8068 I had intended to sit down and write this in that gloriously liminal time between Christmas and New Year, which was spent at my mum’s in North Wales. But alas, lazy afternoon games of scramble and walks on the beach took over, and now here we are at the end of the first week of […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/5-highlights-and-a-few-reflections-from-the-lake-district-in-2023/feed/ 0 8068 Wild dips, new peaks and a reunion: Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/wild-dips-new-peaks-and-a-reunion-goodbye-2022-hello-2023/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/wild-dips-new-peaks-and-a-reunion-goodbye-2022-hello-2023/#respond Wed, 11 Jan 2023 18:35:23 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=7153 A rainy January afternoon is the perfect time to finally sit down and put the previous year’s memories into words.  Secretly, I write these yearly reviews as much for myself, a window into a previous time, a previous self. But if you are a little bit nosey and a little bit curious like me, I […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/wild-dips-new-peaks-and-a-reunion-goodbye-2022-hello-2023/feed/ 0 7153 A year of wild dips in the Lake District (and Scotland) in 2022 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/a-year-of-wild-dips-in-the-lake-district-and-scotland-in-2022/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/a-year-of-wild-dips-in-the-lake-district-and-scotland-in-2022/#respond Sat, 31 Dec 2022 23:42:21 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=7093 Last December, dreaming up goals for the New Year (many of which often go unfinished) and inspired by past happy memories of Lake District dips during my 3 and a bit years living here, I decided to set myself a challenge for 2022. To take a least one monthly dip in a lake, tarn or […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/a-year-of-wild-dips-in-the-lake-district-and-scotland-in-2022/feed/ 0 7093 3 lessons from 3 years of living in the Lake District https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/3-lessons-from-3-years-of-living-in-the-lake-district/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/3-lessons-from-3-years-of-living-in-the-lake-district/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:22:00 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=6778 I stepped off the last bus from Penrith to Keswick in 2019 with a backpack full of belongings and zero expectations, unaware of the beautiful, incredible adventure about to unfold.  As idyllic as it sounds, I wasn’t in the happiest of places at the time. I was recently back from a 3-month backpacking trip in […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/3-lessons-from-3-years-of-living-in-the-lake-district/feed/ 2 6778 Tiny moments of joy and a dozen Wainwrights: my 2021 in review https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/tiny-moments-of-joy-and-a-dozen-wainwrights-my-2021-in-review/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/tiny-moments-of-joy-and-a-dozen-wainwrights-my-2021-in-review/#respond Thu, 30 Dec 2021 14:41:15 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=6434 I love spending a little time towards the end of December to recall memories from the past year, reflecting on the good and the times when life has felt a little harder but more often than not taught me valuable lessons. I remember making goals just before New Year’s Eve in 2020, dreams of 40 […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/tiny-moments-of-joy-and-a-dozen-wainwrights-my-2021-in-review/feed/ 0 6434 10 memories from the defining year of 2020 in the Lake District https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/10-memories-from-the-defining-year-of-2020-in-the-lake-district/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/10-memories-from-the-defining-year-of-2020-in-the-lake-district/#respond Sat, 30 Jan 2021 09:58:13 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=5789 A few days before Christmas 2019, sitting in Mathelidies cafe overlooking Helm Crag in Grasmere, I set out a vast series of exciting goals for the coming year ahead, goals which now seem whimsical such as visiting one new country, hiking the Cumbria Way, running a half marathon, dipping my toe into freelancing in social […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/10-memories-from-the-defining-year-of-2020-in-the-lake-district/feed/ 0 5789 Capturing autumn walking from Ambleside to Rydal Water + a life catch up https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/capturing-autumn-walking-from-ambleside-to-rydal-water-a-life-catch-up/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/capturing-autumn-walking-from-ambleside-to-rydal-water-a-life-catch-up/#respond Mon, 19 Oct 2020 19:07:58 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=5597 And then suddenly, it was autumn.  The fells have faded from the rich green to coopers and golds, the swathes of bracken on the hillsides now reduced to crisp skeletons. Misty mornings spent kicking through the invariably wet autumn leaves, the trails I run now thick with mud. Last Friday, after abandoning plans to tackle […]

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]]> https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/capturing-autumn-walking-from-ambleside-to-rydal-water-a-life-catch-up/feed/ 0 5597 How I came to live in the Lake District https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/how-i-came-to-live-in-the-lake-district/ https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/how-i-came-to-live-in-the-lake-district/#respond Sun, 30 Aug 2020 20:25:17 +0000 https://www.lookwithneweyes.com/?p=5556 Standing in the middle of Booths supermarket in Keswick, I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Where to go, how to fill the time. Tears of panic trickling down my face.  Outside, the rain continued to pour down in the early March gloom. I had two hours before my interview at the youth hostel. […]

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