Having got my land cleared and the house on said land almost liveable in and having bought another town house in Penamacor I'm now thinking through the option of returning to the UK...
The reason being that I just don't feel very rooted here in Portugal - it's not just the language, although that's a big part of it - the climate, the seasonality doesn't have the same resonance with me.
It's an odd thing but when I had my allotment back in the UK, it was just an allotment, but there was something very familiar about the seasons and growing stuff, I connected with it.
I just don't get that here. I can't honestly see myself living off the land, the seasons just don't resonate with me in the same way.
So maybe I will head back to the UK - I may not even be thinking about this is if it wasn't for a tax shock I had recently - my accountant sent me a miscalculation about how much tax I would be paying in Portugal, like about 6 times more than what I've actually got to pay now it's sorted, which is not very much.
But that shock made me do some math and IF I sell all my property in Portugal, I can head back to the UK, pay most of the mortgage off AND in a couple of years I could afford buy outright a small piece of woodland out there, and start all over again!
Feeling more connected - I dunno there's just something about the UK seasons I really miss too.
Whether I head back or not this move to Portugal was something I had to do at the time so it's all good, and financially I feel like I've spent a small fortune out here in a money down the drain sort of way but somehow, assuming I can get decent prices on my land assets here, I'm still in a very favourable (up) position compared to when I left the UK in late 2020.
I'm in no rush to make this move, I may never make this move, but it's something I'm thinking about.....