#live simply
“5 Simple Rules" *something I did quick between work and having to read for my summer class. These words right here mean so much to me, expect to see them recreated in many ways in the future ;)
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Not every day on the road can be an adventure. We need rest days, van repair days, life admin days.
Days where we just chill, where we sleep in late and sip coffee gazing out of the back doors. Days where we clean the van from top to bottom or catch up on our work. Rainy days spent cosied up under blankets trying to catch the various leaks in our roof.
Contrary to our little highlight reel on here it’s not all epic roadtrips and new discoveries; for every day of exploring there’s a down day closely following behind (or two, or three…). Constant motion is exhausting; travel sometimes overstimulating. We need time to process and digest just as much as we crave new experiences and changing scenery.
As with everything in life it’s all about balance, and the days spent sipping coffee in bed are just as important as the days we’re out scaling mountains.
Sometimes we just need to disconnect for a while; distance ourselves from the humdrum of life and regain clarity.⠀
A few weeks ago I surprised Ben with a trip to Snowdonia for his birthday. Although we’ve driven extensively across Europe in our van, we’ve never taken the time to explore much on our home island, and Snowdonia was a place we’d always wanted to see.⠀
A six hour drive used to seem like a long way to us, but now as the miles are racking up under our belts the world is starting to seem smaller, and Wales suddenly didn’t seem that far away.⠀
This time however we opted to ditch the van, and take our five day stint away back to basics. We loaded up the car with sleeping bags, tent, walking boots, axe, coal, a tarpaulin- not that at this point we knew just how much we’d need one.⠀
We hit the road and immediately our shoulders felt lighter as the burden of routine was lifted. ⠀
When we were still in uni, I used to drive us all over Cornwall in my little, clapped-out old Polo. We’d set up camp on the cliffs, on the sands of an empty beach, or camp in the car if somebody forgot to pack the tent poles. We’d stay up til sunrise talking around the fire, in awe of the crashing waves below and the distant lights of ships on the horizon hovering above coastal fog. After a couple hours sleep at most we’d pack up our wind-flattened tent as walkers passed by and laughed, and drag ourselves into the nearest public toilets for a wash.⠀
It’s these kind of memories- haphazard, spontaneous and wonderfully simplistic that we look back on fondly, and it’s these days that inspired us to undertake an equally haphazard trip to Wales with nothing but ourselves, an old, crumpled road atlas and a car full of camping gear. We left in search of peace, in search of isolation and beautiful corners of this island, and boy did we find them.⠀
Story continues on Sunday!⠀
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It’s been a while since we last spent any time on social media- life’s just got in the way of many things. We’ve been so busy living, working, building our future that there’s been barely a moment to rest.
Lockdown hasn’t changed much for us, apart from being grounded and unable to travel, but truthfully we’d still be where we are now- saving money, crafting our ideas and dreams into something tangible, laying foundations for the next roadtrip. There will always be a next trip, a crazy idea flitting about the backs of our minds ready to flourish and manifest into reality; it’s not so much ? as ?
The rare moments of the summer when we’re not working on something have been spent here; our local swimming hole. A short walk through the mines and moorlands brings us out into a little slice of evening paradise. An icy but just bearable dip in the water with fish darting around our ankles followed by a jumper-wrapped warm-up by the fire, fingers greasy with oil, eating homegrown vegetables charred on the BBQ.
I guess what I’m conveying here is our lust for a simple life; simple food, simple pleasures, time away from routine, disconnected, and time spent living wildly. It’s truly tonic for the soul.
We’d love to have a little catch up with you all, so maybe drop us a comment and let us know what’s been keeping you busy this summer? ⠀
