Can You Live in a Remote Cottage with Just a Bicycle? (Video)

Words, photos, and video by Joshua Kian

You won’t last two months,” chuckled the delivery driver after learning we’d moved to a remote corner of the Lake District National Park, England, without a car.

“We’ve always managed on our bicycles,” we told him. Though, in all honesty, we weren’t sure this would still be the case.

The Lake District is England’s only mountainous region, famous for its Wainwright peaks, Herdwick sheep, and bad weather. The last leaves of autumn were falling before what would be a particularly harsh winter, and we’d just moved to a small cottage, miles from the nearest village and seven miles from the nearest train station. Quite crucially for two bike-dependent beings, there was no public transport, either. Whether it was to the doctors or the post office, to buy some bread or find a community, the only option was a hilly cycle.

Set a year and a half into our Lake District experience, the film above takes an honest look at the wider-reaching impacts of life on a bike in a rural area. It explores the importance of place, connection, community, and landscape. It shows how bicycles can close some doors but also reveal a side to the world that can be easy missed. We hope you enjoy it.

You can find more from Josh and Sarah on Instagram.

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