'Welcome to Paradise'
That's how I was welcomed to the country a few days ago over dinner by one of the guests as soon as they learned I'd just moved to this part of Portugal.
She may have been slightly crazy, in a good way (she thinks the FED are satanic forces, personally I'll just go with 'psychopaths'), but she was right about paradise, it's great around here!
I awoke this morning to perfectly clear, crisp sunshine, and was able to breakfast outside in shorts and sandals (two layers on top though), even though it's mid October, and had a reasonably warm solar heated shower around midday, all the while looking out on cork oaks and olive trees, mellow bird song all around.
OK so the nice mid autumn weather isn't going to last forever, but winter is relatively short here, and 'cold' isn't going to be the same sort of damp, penetrating miserable cold you get on the Welsh boarders, and it's not going to be as dark either - you get an extra hour of daylight at the solstice, which is quite significant!
And that's just the beginning. I've carried on my life-long tradition of somehow managing to land on my feet without making too much effort in so many many ways.
A great basic needs set up
Here's the cabin and decking area I'll be over-wintering in:
The cabin's pretty spacious inside - I've gone for a single bed for the first time in decades (but I could easily fit in a double), kitchen area, sofa, room for a desk when I get round to buying one, and still enough floor space to do yoga or even basic circuit training.
Outdoor kitchen/ shower, but I can use the hot shower up at the main house when it gets cold (the Qunita owner is just great!) and I've use of a washing machine up there too, so, YES, I've got regular electricity.
Portable gas heating is fine, drinking water from the local font - but I only have to top up the former every month and the later around every 10 days.
And one serious compost toilet!
So I am off-grid ish: water, gas, sewage, just the leccy that I'm gridded for, which is kind of handy when you work online!
I like it so much I'm half tempted to just abandon my land search for a year or two, just stay here, and then sell my house in the UK and buy a proper Quinta myself, rather than virgin land.
A fantastic local area
The cabin is situated in a nine acre Quinta, very private, full of cork oaks and olive trees, I've got a natural swimming pool on my doorstep, which I'm hoping fills when it starts raining as I can just jump straight in there for some cold therapy after my runs.
It's a runner's paradise - lots of local undulating tracks and mountains just a five minute drive away.
Just a beautiful area, and perfect weather so far this October.
More People and a saner culture
I've already met more people who I've clicked with in a week here in Castelo Branco than I met in Hereford in two years - it's just easier to meet people when you've got stuff in common - and I guess moving abroad and buying land/ property bonds you like nothing else!
Portugal is also so laid back (bureaucracy aside). There's just not the covid-fear you get back in the UK - people just take it in their stride, treating it as the minor nuisance it is!
A cheaper cost of living
This isn't so much because of being in Portugal - food, fuel, cars, internet, all quite similar to the UK, but it's the property that's the clincher - the number one outgoing for most people - renting here is half the price of in the UK, and property is too, if you do a bit of digging around!
Who'd have thought that just ONE change, albeit the major financial one, can make SUCH a difference to one's income and lifestyle!
My new easy-life routine
So I've only been here for three weeks, but I'm feeling so settled I've kind of fallen into this easy life routine that kind of goes something like this:
- Wake up at dawn, pluck up the courage to get out of bed (it is cold in the mornings)
- Get some tea on and breakfast, at some point (time no longer worries me!)
- Dick about on Hive for a while, pet the crazy cute dogs who come to visit in the morning.
- Let the chickens out and feed them - I seem to have picked up chicken duty somehow, not sure how that happened, but there you go!
- Do some online work, for my main blog/ do some marking
- Go out for a run if it's a run day and shower, timing my return for around midday so I get a peak solar heat experience with the water.
- Maybe pop out and run some errands or help out around the Quinta - we're currently building a fence for a veg plot, olive harvesting very soon, looking forward to that!
- Do a bit more work online if I need to, maybe
- Put the chickens to bed about an hour before sunset, they seem to be ready for it around then. This can sometimes be a challenge, one of them is quite stupid and has trouble finding its way into the keep.
- Get some dinner on the go, nothing too complex.
- Dick about on Hive some more, do a bit of language learning and hit the sack around 22.00
And there you go, that's my idyllic life.
Challenges
There are some:
The language, the fucking language - it is a bit stressful sorting some stuff out! Must focus more on leaning Portuguese.
Must sort out my residency and other Bureaucratic stuff - it's bugging me - all of this is NOT fun, I need to crack on!
It's a struggle to work - I can't face it for more than around 3 hours a day, life here is just too nice. I just want to laze around and look at the trees!
Winter is coming - I might not feel like I'm living in Paradise in mid January. I'll be sure to keep you posted on that!
Final thoughts
I need a good couple of focused weeks to blitz some outstanding chores and get ahead with work, just a kick start really, to get me over my chillaxed transition phase.
Following that I need to think about my land purchase - although TBH I'm really feeling delaying it might be an option - until I've sold the house so I can 'buy big' rather than doing the super cheap option with only the savings I've got.
Buy it once, buy it right, is a phrase I'm mindful of here, and the bigger the purchase I guess the more important that is to keep in mind.
But I need to sort the small shit first!