Consciously Exploring Every County.

When my dad became ill with early onset dementia and it became clear he wouldn’t be returning home, that he would be spending his remaining time in the care of a nursing home, it was understandably upsetting and stressful. But travelling is my big love, I love nothing more than packing a small bag and stepping onto a plane or train for the unknown, ready to experience whatever new sights, smells, tastes are thrown at me and emerge myself in a new way of life for few days or weeks, or as in my big trip in 2006, a few months.  

With the instability of dads illness, it became apparent very quickly that my priority needed to be close to home, or at least I needed to be able to get home quickly if there were any problems. I am an only child you see, so there is just me and mum, and as is the nature of dementia, dad can no longer make decisions about his care and needs 24hr nursing support. So my dreams of visiting some of the more far flung places had to be put on hold. I didn’t feel safe or comfortable with the idea of travelling across Russia or exploring India by train, knowing that things were so unpredictable at home, and I wouldn’t be able to get back quickly if a crisis came up. But I still had a burning wanderlust and travelling is my passion, so I needed to find a way to replicate that, but also be able to get home quickly if needed.

That is when I decided that I would visit every county in the UK. I have visited many in the past, explored some extensively, or passed through others on the way to somewhere else. Once I had made the decision, my friend Weene (she will probably come up quite a lot in this blog, as she is involved in many of my adventures especially here at home) renamed my project ‘Emma Consciously Explores the Counties’. This was because Gywneth Paltrow and Chris Martin had just announced they were ‘consciously uncoupling’ so it was all over the media, and I wanted to make a point of consciously exploring each UK county individually. To educate myself about the history of each region, try some of the local food and visit some of the tourist spots, basically set about each county as if I was in Europe on a city break. 

So I did . . . and I still am doing, so I will document my progress here and its why my own country will have a big section devoted entirely to itself. I used to be snobby about holidaying locally, I was all about the far off locations and the new passport stamps and visa’s, but things change, life changes, and sometimes in ways you don’t want it too, so you can struggle and resist, or go with it and adapt, so after a bit of a struggle, I adapted, and it turns out I quite like the UK after all.