The Great Layoff Escape Day 6: How did I end up here?

In an operational sense, I got to Chatsworth on a Boeing 737 from Olso to London Stansted, on an express train from Stansted to London Liverpool Street Station,  on the tube from Liverpool Street to King's Cross via the Circle line, on an East Midlands train from St. Pancras to Chesterfield Station, and then in a taxi from the Chesterfield to the Cavendish Hotel in Baslow.

But really, it took me eight years to end up at Chatsworth.

2003: I join Professor John Bennion and 25 college students on a walking tour of Scotland and England. We start in Edinburgh, Scotland, hike to the Isle of Wight on the Southern tip of England, and then make our way back up to London.  Along the way we study the lives and works of Romantic and Victorian writers from England. After this trip, I become obsessed with pilgrimages, and travel narratives in which walking is the primary form of trasport.

2007: After eating at Momofuku in New York, I tell a new friend, Louisa, about my walking trip in England. As a connoisseur of long solo walking trips herself, in her case in France, Louisa recommends the book A Time of Gifts, by Patrick Leigh Fermor. I purchase the book at Three Lives Book Company that afternoon.

2008: I can't get enough of Patrick Leigh Fermor (Paddy), who in 1933 walked from the hook of Holland to Constantinople.  He becomes my hero, not only because of his adventures, but because of his writing style. I order as many of his books as I can find, and buy extras as Christmas gifts for my literary friends.

Between the Woods and the Water

A Time of Silence

Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese

Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece

2009: Heather informs me that a compilation of letters between Paddy and Deborah Devonshire will be published soon in the USA. I order a copy of In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor from amazon.com.uk because it just isn't coming fast enough. I'm already in love with Patrick, but soon fall for Deborah's wit, fortitude and charm.

In the book, Deborah and Paddy write about his visits to Chatsworth, Deborah's huge estate in the Peaks District of England.

2010: Deborah releases her memoirs, Wait for Me! I'm not sure how I feel about the title, or the pink glossy cover, but order the book anyway because of my growing obsession and vicarious involvement in Paddy and Deborah's lives. Much of the book covers her family's life and struggles keeping and maintaining Chatsworth.

I first get the idea to visit Chatsworth.

2011: I try ordering Chatsworth: The House, a coffee table type book written by Deborah in the 1980s. Amazon doesn't have it, so I'm put on some waiting list, and then kicked off when they can't find a copy to send me. Grossly disappointed, I decide I'll have to visit the house and purchase the book in the giftshop. I don't know when I'll be back in Europe, but tentatively put Chatsworth on my 2012 travel wish list.

In August, Em randomly leaves me a phone message inviting me to go to the English Lake District with her. We haven't spoken in over a year. I can't make the England trip, but ask for a rain check for a Europe meet-up later on.

After getting laid-off by Adobe, I go to Norway for a weekend visit, and stop by Chatsworth on my way home.

Moral of the story? Go on study abroad trips and ask friends for book recommendations. You never know where they might lead you.