Chapter One – 28th April – 26th July 2022
Where to start? This might be a long blog, its 3 months since I left Helensburgh to start my journey of rediscovering my authentic self. I have wrote a brief description on my homepage of what led me to this point in my life. I gave up everything that was dear and familiar to me, to a life full of risks, facing the unknown, overcoming my fears, having adventures and fun. Everyday I grow a little bit more into myself and I’m enjoying every moment that life gives me, making the most of this time. I am living in the present and learning to love myself and life unconditionally.
In October 2021 a friend of mine went travelling in a camper van to Europe, something that I have always dreamed of doing. He was in contact with me daily and I got to share his adventures with him over what’s app. Over this time, our friendship grew and we realised we both shared the same outlook in life and when he returned home two months later we started discussing doing this together.
In January 2022 I decided that I was going to close my business, sell my flat and buy a camper van with my friend, Alan, and take time out from my normal day to day life and do some travelling and also discover what is it that makes me happy. This is when I decided to live by the motto ” If not now, when ? “, and this is what I’ve been doing.
On 28th April 2022 after going through every emotion and fear possible we left Helensburgh in our two cars and a few possessions and headed to Berwick upon Tweed where Alan has a static caravan and this is going to be our base for the time being. Now it was time to find our perfect camper van, that we have already named (Bertie). We arrived at the static which is in a remote caravan site, in the middle of nowhere, the views are amazing, looking out to vast fields of many changing colours and you can watch the sunset from the living room window. I can honestly say this is so beautiful and to be able to watch this while sitting relaxing in the evening is such a bonus.
Living in the caravan has taken a little bit to get use too but I do like it. Some things that you would normally take for granted have had to change, for example if one of us want a shower then the other one can’t turn any water on in the kitchen, or if we have washing we need to go to a washing machine that is outside a large retail shop, we can’t hold a lot of food supplies and need to make sure we have enough in as the nearest shop is 7 miles away. I have quarter the amount of clothes I use to have and if I buy anything new I have to let something go, all these things are certainly not a hardship and it makes you appreciate what you do have more. Some of the benefits are, living around nature, not being cluttered with lots of things, appreciating what you have and watching the sunset.
Day one at the caravan (which is now called Moonstone, no clues given to who named it haha) the cars were unpacked and everything tidily put away. Day two, the adventure begins, after the busyness of the last few weeks we really should be resting but that’s not what happened , we walked part of the Berwick Coastal Path, Eyemouth to Berwick – 17.5 km, I was delighted to have done this walk and the scenery along the coast was amazing but wow did I ache and struggle with the last few kilometres.
Week one was very busy, in fact that is the running theme of every week since the end of April. So this week was a lot of long distance walking, discovering what Berwick upon Tweed was like, going to Newcastle for the day and finding the Duddos Stones. I can’t tell you how happy I was to find standing stones, they are only 2 miles away from the caravan and it looks like they are in alignment. Standing at these stones and hugging each one (as you do or as I do haha) made me feel extremely alive and full of energies.
In the second week of May, we went to Richmond in Yorkshire and stayed for a couple of nights with Alan’s Brother and Sister-in -law. They were the perfect hosts and didn’t mind that we had turned up with a bag of washing and me asking to soak in their bath as that is something that I have really missed. I must be letting my fears go as this is something I would never had done with people that I have never met before, but I do have to say, having a bath was definitely something I was grateful for. What a lovely place Richmond is.
After leaving Richmond, we drove to Keswick for a hypnotherapy weekend which was hosted by Antony and Freddy Jacquin, from the Jacquin Hypnosis Academy (JHA). Alan is a trained hypnotherapist and it was with people he has worked with. We also managed to find some standing stones near Keswick before booking into the hotel, and of course I did have to hug each one whilst there. The whole weekend was amazing, I loved everything about it, we met great people, and practised using hypnosis on each other, I’m now learning hynpotherapy and this will be another skill that I will be able to offer online along with my other therapies that I will be offering online by the end of the year.
On the 18th May we went to Cyprus for a month. This month was spent, running, cycling, walking, swimming, sunbathing, relaxing, eating great food and drinking fine wine. What a great time we had, and the month seemed to fly by. I got over my fear of swimming in open water there, so much so that by the end of the month I was craving going in the sea for a swim. (since Cyprus I have swam in both the English Channel and the North Sea.) When we first started our morning 5km run in 26 degrees we were so hot that we would jump into our swimming pool at the end of the run but then we started timing our run so that we would finish at the lido which was at the harbour and jump in the sea. The first time I did it I could hardly catch my breath and I was scared but feeling the benefit of it afterwards made me do it again and again until eventually I absolutely loved it. Definitely, a face your fear and go for it moment, I’m so glad I did.
By the end of the month, after all the over indulgence in great food and drink, my clothes were feeling very tight, but I was extremely happy, I feel now I was feeding my soul and I did benefit from it. I am now back on the straight and narrow and losing every inch that I put on, through eating healthy, wholesome foods and refraining from drinking alcohol, this has given me greater focus and led me to doing lots more walking and running. Cyprus truly nourished my soul and I loved every moment we were there.
The day after returning from Cyprus, I drove to Helensburgh to say a quick hello to my family and get a cuddle from my grandchildren then came back to Berwick for a day before heading to Brighton with my friend Michele. We returned to the hotel that we had went to last year. The hotel sat on the waterfront and on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday they have live singers outside and you can get up and dance in the street which is exactly what we love and exactly what we did. We had a great time and although most nights we were in bed for 10pm our days were busy and fun. Michele and I have been friends for 35 years and are both gone through there same thing’s at the same time, you could not make up the timing of this and it was not planned but were were both divorced and sold up our homes and gave up our jobs at the same time searching for the next chapter of our lives.
After coming back from Brighton, Alan and I decided to finish off the Northumberland Coastal walk, so far we have completed the Berwick Coastal Walk and now we had 60kms left to finish the Northumberland Coastal Walk, the two walks combined are 162kms in total. On the 4th of July we drove to Bamburgh and started our walk to Alnmouth where we were staying for the night and continuing the second part of the walk to Cresswell the next day. The first days walk was 35km, never again , I was in so much pain by the end of it but was determined to finish, my right hip was in agony and both my pinky toes were so sore, I was limping and at 17km Alan had taken my rucksack, I hobbled on as he was left with both rucksacks. We reached the hotel around 7pm and what a disappointment that was. It was the worst hotel I have ever stayed at, there was one person running it and one chef, when we eventually got seen to we were sent to the furthest away room at the highest point of the hotel and I really wanted to crawl up the stairs but the carpets were so dirty and the wallpaper was hanging off the walls, it was disgusting. The only good thing about the room was it had a bath, the toiletries consisted of the tiniest bar of soap I’ve ever seen and that was it. Alan ran me a bath and nearly had to carry me into it, when I came out he strapped up my feet so I could get back down the stairs to get some dinner. When we finally got our dinner it was very tasty but the portion was tiny and we went to bed still hungry. In the morning we had the worst breakfast with watered down orange juice and coffee that tasted of nothing and after taking painkillers and getting my feet strapped up set off on the final stage. In hindsight I shouldn’t have went on but with my stubbornness and determination I was adamant that I was going to finish. That days walk was 26km, on route I felt a searing pain in my left pinky toe then half an hour later the same on my right, it wasn’t till the next day I realised I had snapped the nailbed at the base of the two toes. We made it and I can honestly say I nearly cried for joy at the end of it. It hasn’t put me off and we are planning doing Hadrians wall (141kms) walk next which will take me 6 days but it took me days to walk again, my feet were a mess and I’ve since lost both these nails with a third one that’s all bruised and looking like I might lose that too.
Middle of July I went back to Helensburgh for a bit and spent some time with my family and helped my son celebrate his birthday, was lovely to see them, I never got the chance to see everyone I wanted so will need to go back again soon.
We still haven’t found our camper van and although we have been to view lots none of them have been the right one, I’m sure we will both know the right one as soon as it appears and I’m a great believer everything happens at the right time so I’m not worrying about it and just waiting for him to appear. On Monday(yesterday) it was pouring with rain and we had a look at last minute holidays, we got a bargain and are now heading off to Bulgaria for a week in the early hours of Friday morning.
The freedom that I feel by being so spontaneous like this, reinforces my belief that I am starting to live my life as my true authentic self.
For anyone wishing to make changes in their life I would say, ” If not now, when ?”
In the last 3 months I feel that I have changed so much, not only have I become stronger and fitter, I have also grown mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have faced and overcome many of my fears, I’ve got over my fear of swimming in the open water, I’m in the process of putting my business online and getting over my nervousness of doing that, I have faced my fear of putting aspects of my life and pictures of myself on social media and I am also getting over the fear of writing about myself by writing this blog in the hope that it can help others learn how to face their fears. I am learning to be accepting of myself as I am and to be happy with me. I am sharing this in the hope that I can help others to live in the moment, have fun, learn self-care and self-love, feed their soul and be their true authentic self.
Sending lots of love
Diane xx
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