So I’m sure most of you reading this passed your driving test as soon as you could and find it surprising that someone could live so long without a car in the UK. It took me quite a few years before I decided I’d learn, after all I’d always lived in small cities or places with great public transport and so I’d never really needed a car before. Or at least that’s what I had learnt to think. Private transport is always useful while carrying camera equipment from one venue to the next but I’ve rarely needed my own car and after moving to Japan I lost that need even more (or daren't imagine the cost of parking there!)

So, when I came back to the UK, I started to learn. Even if I did decide to drive in Japan I could easily convert my license to a Japanese one anyway. It’s great that they drive of the right (left) side of the road too!

I soon came to regret that I hadn’t learnt to drive when I was younger, it seemed to take a lot longer to learn something I could have quickly picked up otherwise! Many hours and some stressful sessions later, I passed and two weeks later I went to the Lake District, my first time on a motorway and for 265miles north!

I knew it would be a challenge driving through mountain passes but I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much. Yes there was plenty of stalling, hill starts to make any clutch cry and the closest of squeezes past traffic on the narrowest of roads. But for the first time since I’d started learning I actually found driving fun!

Both climbing up and descending in low gears I must have used up so much fuel but the views at every moment were so worth it. Of course I was focusing on the road but when there is no one around for miles but you and the sheep it’s nice to stop and take a look around now and then. Of course the ‘scenic route’ is everywhere in the lake district!

Oh and those sheep… they run away from people but will happily sleep in the middle of the road at night and not even budge for a car!

So, the car came back in one piece, as did I, and now I’m ready for the next adventure! Iceland? 🚗

There’s something about the right location to make a car look pretty special..

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Passing my Test and Driving in the Lake District