I had logged on to write another post but when I saw today’s question, it seemed a better topic for a lazy Sunday afternoon:

Daily writing prompt

How do you want to retire?

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For me it’s not so much the how that interests me but the how soon. While I am full of admiration for people like Tom Jones and Dick Van Dyke who love what they do and will keep working until they drop, that is not me. I have never understood the folk who say they don’t want to retire as they’ll be bored and won’t know what to do with themselves. I have several issues with that notion, for one I’d rather be bored than working. Two there is nothing wrong with being bored, in fact some of the best ideas have been spraked by a bout of boredom. Finally do you really need a job to fill your days? Even if you are no longer being paid to work you can still do voluntary work or learn a new skill or simply take the time to enjoy some long-forgotten hobbies. Being retired doesn’t mean you have to sit around waiting for the end of days.

I seem to have wandered off course again don’t I? My point, if I have one, is that I work to live not the other way around. If that lottery win comes in then the first thing I’ll be doing is retiring but that doesn’t mean I’ll be giving up on life. So what would it mean, what would retirement look like?

There probably wouldn’t be a huge difference except every hour would be my own. Instead of trying to squeeze everything in to weekends, evenings and days off I’d have the flexibility to focus on what makes me happy. So no, I wouldn’t buy a sprawling mansion, I don’t want a private jet nor would I be booking myself on to a cruise around the world. If we did win a large amount then yes we would move but not into a vast ‘status symbol’ of a place just somewhere with space for a library and a workshop for my partner. Somewhere close to woodland but nothing too remote so we can still stroll to the shops and have access to a lovely, local pub.

There are plenty of ways I’d fill my days if I retired tomorrow but this is a blog about walking so of course that’s the one I will focus on. I am lucky that I am able to fit in plenty of walks, both as part of my commute and local, leisure ones however I do like the idea of doing a really long walk. We will eventually get around to organising a walking holiday but when you’re reliant on annual leave there are often other things you need or want to do with your time off and generally speaking we only take off a maximum of one week so it does limit our options.

With no work getting in the way then I rather like the idea of walking the entirety of the new England’s Coastal Path. It’s not complete yet so that gives me a few months to pick those winning numbers. Once finished it will be 2,700 miles long and will be the longest coastal path in the world. I think I’ve mentioned before that while I love the great outdoors, I don’t want to sleep in it. In other words, I don’t like camping, so as well as having the time to do the walk I would also need money to cover the accommodation. Of course if I had pots of money I could also pay someone to drive my luggage from place to place so that would save another obstacle. Theoretically I could probably cover the distance in about 4 months but the beauty of doing a long-distance walk such as this would be having the time to really get connected with this beautiful island of ours, observing the changing landscape and exploring our different towns, cities and ports. So to really enjoy it I’d probably want to take more time, perhaps 6 months, although hopefully friends and family would be able to join me for parts of it.

There are so many places to explore that I really don’t know how anyone could worry about getting bored without work. I realise that it is highly unlikely those winning numbers will be mine, so I’ll have to be patient and put retirement on hold for a few more years. Thankfully walks don’t have to be completed in one go, so while it’s unlikely that I’ll have the time (or the money!) to complete all 2,700 miles in one attempt there is nothing stopping me doing a section at a time. Of course I also want to walk along several of our national parks too so I will keep playing the lottery in the hopes that retirement day will arrive sooner rather than later.

That’s how I stroll.