So as usual on Monday, I was sitting waiting for a call from the teaching agency with an offer for work for the day. Part of me wanted the call as the money is always useful, part of me was hoping that there would be no call as I had so many other things that I would prefer to do. However, in addition I had that feeling inside that today I needed to go somewhere beautiful (most schools don’t come under that category!). Well, the call came….and I ignored it. Of course, I felt a little bit of self-flagellation – I always do when I don’t go to work - but the best way to counter this is to ensure that I do something useful and productive on that day. So long as I’m doing something worthwhile, then not going to work is acceptable!

At 8.30am I was out of the door and into the car with the aim of ‘going to the hills’. I had no particular destination in mind and decided to allow the unseen forces to naturally propel me to my destination. Sometimes it’s best to not think too much. At first I thought that I would end up on the North York Moors, but a few turns soon saw me heading west and towards the Lake District. It felt right. Even though I seemed to beat that route almost every week several years ago, I hardly seem to do so these days. The price of petrol could be something to do with it, but a lack of focus on an actual destination is also often a factor. Sometimes I end up just driving around in circles without getting out and actually exploring beautiful locations. Today I had a similar lack of focus, but I knew inside that I was going to stop and do something, somewhere; I was simply trusting natural forces to tell me where.

Somewhere on the A66 I decided that I was going to go Ullswater, after all, it is the closest lake and one that I hadn’t seen for a few years. One thing I love about this particular lake is how it just suddenly appears a few miles down the road after turning off just after Penrith. There are a few miles of pleasant farming land, and then all of a sudden the splendour of the lake appears ahead. Not in the distance, but literally lapping the edge of the road. The water is sheer, glistening and calm with a smooth silvery hue. The mountains suddenly appear on either side and beyond. Almost from nowhere, one has entered the Lake District.

From here, the road south skirts the western edge of the lake, almost following its shape so that any slight deviation to the left might result in the car going for an impromptu swim! It’s a scenic and pleasant route if there are no other vehicles, but today there were a few that made it a little bit irritating. The problem is that there tends to be a car going too slowly so as to take in the views, or a car in a rush that has travelled the route a zillion times and just wants to get its destination. Delivery businesses and that sort of thing. So it necessitates a fair bit of concentration on narrow, twisting roads; when deep down one just wants to take in the scenery!

Still, I wasn’t sure where I was going to stop, but I figured that it was a week day and early so there would be plenty of room at any car-parks. About half-way down the lakeside I found a suitable place – only to discover that there was a charge with it being a National Trust car park. Although it was possible that nobody would actually check whether I had paid, the charge was a few pounds and I didn’t feel like paying it on an off-season day in March. It did give me a chance to look at the map for other options though – the first time that I had looked at the map that day in fact. I decided to keep on driving towards the southern end of the lake with the aim of going for a walk around the hills at that end.

Eventually I reached Glenridding and memories were awoken of when a friend and I parked there and hiked up Helvellyn something like 17 or 18 years ago, literally half a lifetime. Yet it seems like yesterday. Scary. I remember on the descent that my friend was literally running along Striding Edge with me trying to follow, contemplating death at every step! I was quite inexperienced in the hills at the time. I also remember how my knees seemed to hurt much more on the descent than on the ascent, what with the uneven rocky surface. I miss those days, Colin and I did some great walks – even if I did always feel like the unfit one!

But anyway, I drove on a little further until I reached Patterdale; just beyond the end of the lake. At the southern end of the village there is a pub car park that didn’t seem to be charging and simply warned that “cars are left at the owner’s risk” (or something like that), so here I decided would be my stopping place. There were already several cars there even though it was only 10.15am on a Monday.

Without further ado, I quickly put on my boots and as usual headed straight in the direction of where there didn’t seem to be any people. The last thing I want on a beautiful day in the Lake District is to be with crowds! In the height of summer there may be little choice, but in March there should be no excuses! There is stream that flows south from the lake, so I crossed it and followed it a short way along a path towards the lake until I came to a road leading to a farm at the base of the hills. I noticed that this led to a path that goes along the eastern side of the lake and decided that this would be my route.

By now it was obvious that today was an absolutely glorious day to be in the Lake District, as good as any day in the year. There was literally no cloud in the sky, no wind and as yet it was warm but not uncomfortably hot. A day for taking amazing photos that would look splendiferous without effort. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought my camera. In fact I wasn’t even carrying a bag or bottle of water. I was as “light” as I could be. I pressed on despite the fact that there were already two people ahead of me. I’m not “that” unsociable!

The road went through the farm yard and ended at a campsite belonging to the farm. Not sure how much they charged. By now I had caught up with the couple in front. We both agreed that “how can you not be alright on such a beautiful day”. From the path I could now look down upon the lake, and indeed across to Glenridding on the other side with Helvellyn and Striding Edge looming behind. There was even a small amount of snow on the summits, which seemed bizarre on a day as if straight from the middle of the summer. Meanwhile the tourist steamer boat was docking after meandering its way back down the lake.

I was sure that, still being quite early, there would be nobody else in front of me, when lo and behold there was a big group of pensioners posing for a photo with the lake behind. Naturally I offered to take a photo of the whole group. The cheery leader handed me the camera and said “the usual”, and “wait there, we have an assistant”, to his group. I wished him a good day and marched on (after taking the photo of course).

On the near side of the lake were some kayakers being instructed, probably from one of the local outdoor pursuit centres. Meanwhile, a couple had taken a small motorized dinghy to one of the small beaches on the lakeside. I’m not sure if they realised that there is a public footpath 20 metres away looking down upon them!

Turning the corner, I discovered a different path going upwards into the hills, with some rudimentary stone steps carved into the way. This was my chance to get off the main track and burn a few calories. Being fit at this time, I thought that it would be easy, and aerobically it was, but about halfway up when I stopped to look at the view I realised that I was sweating like a pig with the back of my hair dripping. I really hadn’t realised how warm it had become in the last hour and sometimes it takes a stop to even notice that you are sweating. So off came the thin fleece to much relief!

One of the nicest things at this time of year is the number of birds out making a noise that really make the whole vista seem so much more alive and vibrant. Shortly, reaching the top of the short ascent I noticed another lake through the pass. “Which one is that?” I wondered, not recalling any other lake in the vicinity. Then, in a moment that embarrasses my role as an alleged Geography teacher, I realised that I had turned 180 degrees and was going back towards my starting point, albeit at a higher altitude, on a path running parallel to the one I had just taken! I had quickly forgotten that I had just rounded a bend on Ullswater. Sometimes I wonder about my sense of direction….

Before following the path back, I sat on a big stone and did something I rarely do out of doors. I took off my t-shirt and went bare-chested! Ahh yes, there were sheep running away scared in every direction. Birds were flying away to the other side of the country sounding their alarm calls. Sorry Mother Nature, but it was really hot and on I strode, once again looking down to the lake.

I didn’t bump into anyone for a while (and when I did, fortunately I had already put my t-shirt back on) but eventually a couple in probably their 60s appeared. He has a classic outdoor guy appearance. Ginger beard, messy hair, cotton shirt and mad, adventurous, middle-class academic. He said something to me like “we don’t often see many people…” and I don’t remember the rest because I thought I recognised him from my past. I cut him short and said, “I know you, don’t I?” “Mansfield?” I didn’t meant the town, Mansfield, but that he looked like my mentor from teaching practice 11 years previously, Mr Mansfield. But no, apparently not, Mansfield is a place that he’d never been to, fortunate soul. I still think it was him though. Or maybe it was my old Geology teacher? Or maybe one of their long lost half-brothers…

Moving on after that embarrassing episode, I discovered a marvellous large cave set into the hillside, with fresh water running into it. Well, hardly discovered, it was right there next to the path. It did give me the chance to wash my face, hands and neck though, becoming suitably refreshed. I forgot to say that I wasn’t even wearing sun-cream and had been shading my face with my fleece for the last half-hour!

At some point around here there was also a bench placed to take advantage of the beautiful view. Personally, I laid down on it for 5 minutes and covered my head with my fleece to help avoid “lobster-itus”. And then the path just seemed to end! More accurately, it became absorbed by a fairly steep pile of shale that had to be carefully negotiated. Falling on that would be rather painful. Thankfully, it was still officially the path and it came to a close in small hamlet set up on the hill. Hamlet maybe, but some of the abodes were beautiful, especially on a day like this. Still, not to get absorbed in what might have been had I been born with a silver spoon, I quickly descended the road back down towards where the car was parked.

At the car park – now full – I noticed that there was now a board at the entrance saying “£4.00 for parking all day – pay for ticket inside the pub”. I am almost sure that it wasn’t there when I initially arrived. Well, put it this way, I wouldn’t have parked there had I known! My guess is that once the owners realised that the weather was making it a popular day, then they put out the sign to take advantage. My good fortune was arriving fairly early. Speaking of which, after checking out the adjacent toilets and then starting the car, it was still only 12.30pm.

A few minutes later, driving through Glenridding, it became how apparent as to how busy the day had become. The first summer type of day (coincidentally on the first day of spring) had driven everyone outside. For a Monday in March, the place was packed! I was amazed that, especially in a recession, that so many people were out! Not just the retirees, who you might expect, but young people, young couples, middle-aged, even children. Maybe they were just lucky and had booked their holidays for this week.

By now, all of the parking spots that I had passed before were pretty much full. Lots of people were on the small lakeside beaches eating lunch in perfect picnic weather. Plenty of pale, pasty skin was on show as people enthusiastically donned their summer attire at the first available opportunity. At the northern end of Ullswater I went back a slightly different route through Pooley Bridge which was surreally packed. Surreal, because I only ever remember it as a 1 horse town with nothing to do. Maybe I just passed through on the wrong day previously.

At 2.30pm I was already home via a lazy drive across the Pennines and through Barnard Castle – also ultra-busy today. A couple of thoughts stayed with me at the end of the day. The first one is how beautiful England is when the sun is shining, and how eager its inhabitants are to get out to appreciate and enjoy it at the earliest opportunity (the busyness really did surprise me). The second was that at 2.30pm, not even half of the day had passed, yet I had been to the other side of the country and had a beautiful walk in a stunning location. When I consider how often I procrastinate so much that at 2.30 I’ve hardly done a productive thing, there is a valuable lesson here in how much I, indeed we, can actually do and achieve in the course of a single day.

Any day that is fully used and appreciated with the odd lesson learned for the future is a profitable day indeed….

I started this site in April 2010 as my first foray into the world of internet marketing. Although I chose a domain that had a personal leaning, from almost day one the site lacked focus, a true sense of what it is and would be about. Instead, I used it as a way to explore the world of making money online, choosing “keywords” that I might find remotely interesting, writing about them, waiting for citizens of the world to search for them and arrive. Every now and then they did, but not often.

I’m glad that not many people found their way here. Ever since choosing the domain, I knew deep down that I wanted this site to be much more personal; that is, much more reflective of the unique and independent ways that I see the world and live it. The “Independent Rich”. So now it’s so much easier to ‘reclaim’ my domain, my estate, my identity here.

At one stage, this site had well over 100 posts on it. Most of them related to personal finance or guitars, but I even had articles on items such as black leather briefcases and packing tape. Few of them had my heart, soul or personality within them and were moved to other domains to see if they could find a purpose there. A couple, which I feel are worthy of my name, remain here.

As I said above, I have always had an idea about what the subjects that I will cover on this domain. The things that make me “Independent Rich”. These subjects include; frugal living, writing and performing music, niche music, independent travel, nature/environment/ sustainable living, the outdoors, personal development and generally “doing things my own way” without care for how the masses do them.

So here I am, it’s 6pm on a dark January evening in the north of England. It’s the latest of a string of extra-windy evenings that have destroyed  the garden fence and a large willow tree outside. I’m listening to the Pet Shop Boys album “Introspective” from 1988. Neil Tennant is singing to me that “I hope it’s gonna be alright, because the music plays forever”.

I’ve written this spontaneously. For me, the best journeys are those with less planning. That’s when our senses are most alive and our instincts and rawness cause the Law of Attraction to kick into action. In the ether of the internet, that journey can be a lonely one – or at least one made alone -  for a while, but I hope; in fact I know, that others will join me when the time is right.