We moved!
As many of you long term readers will know, we used to live on the Isle of Wight, which was great while the kids were little. As they’ve got older and we’ve wanted to go on more adventures on the mainland, the geographic isolation and cost of ferries pushed us to find somewhere else to live.
So where do you go when you’re used to Island life but need to be more connected to the mainland?
Portland.
We were fortunate enough to move during that first lockdown but it was a whirlwind, here’s a brief timeline of events:
- 9th March 2020 – Job Interview
- 10th March – Accepted job offer
- 16th March – Looked around new school and sorted somewhere to to live
- 17th March – Boy gets sent home from school with a cough. 2 week isolation period begins
- 26th March – National Lockdown
- 20th May – I move down here, staying with wonderful in-laws
- 22nd June – The rest of the family join me as we move into our little bungalow on a rock in the sea.
As I mentioned before, that summer was difficult for adventures but we still had some fun exploring our new island. It truly is a wonderful place. We have some cool, if stony, beaches, massive limestone cliffs and quarries filled with climbing lines and bouldering problems. There’s space for mountain biking and trail running and the skies are filled with a myriad of different coloured kites and sails from the various watersports along the causeway. And circling it all, the South West Coast Path.
Despite all of that we’re desperate to get a little further afield this summer, as we plan long trails and camping trips and some urban hiking, which is all so much more accessible because of the mile long causeway, but how nice is it knowing just how much we have on our doorstep. I can finish work at 4:30, meet up with the family and be swimming/hiking/bouldering, even just shooting a basketball in the park by 5.
So things are looking up, we have plans for big adventures but if they don’t work out we’re ok. You can always find us in the boulderfield. Or on the water. Or in the pirate graveyard.
Or on the trail.
Just Up The Trail 