Not quite the start we anticipated. After an amazing weekend in France celebrating our friend Lara’s 50th, we headed off on the train from Milton Keynes. The date was August 22nd – we had a few changes, but no hiccups getting to Minehead – Hooray!

We then caught the bus to Portlock where we were staying for 2 nights at Sparkhayes campsite. We had a lovely meal in the Royal oak as well as a very warm welcome. On 23rd we got the bus back to Minehead and had our obligatory photo at the start of the South West Coast Path (SWCP) and off we went!

We soon realised what a difference our heavy packs make, especially on steep ascents and descents – of which there were many. But it was peaceful, the views were stunning and we quickly found a rhythm – slow but steady. We completed 10 miles to get us back to Portlock – the showers were VERY welcome and we were ready for bed early. Especially given the next day was a long walk plus our first pack up and walk day.

Day 2 was a 17 miler to Lynmouth. It should have been about 13 miles but we missed a marker and ended up doing a larger circuit back to where we started… but it was through beautiful woods so not all bad! We stayed in woods most of the day, many ups and downs, sometimes arduous but with little streams, waterfalls and glimpses of the sea. To say we were tired at the end is a massive understatement, but we were very proud of ourselves.

Days 3 & 4 were Lynmouth to Combe Martin, which we might have done in one day if we hadn’t over done it on day 2. We stopped halfway overnight after a wet walk with lots of walking along the edge of cliffs – not for the faint hearted (but very beautiful!) This walk included the high point on the path – Great Hangman and we were glad to get that under our belts.

We have been bowled over by the places we’ve visited so far. Lynmouth and Combe Martin particularly are beautiful. We felt like we were getting into our stride and looking forward to the next day.

However, it wasn’t to be just then. We had a phone call from my daughter to say her Dad was dying. So, of course, we headed home to support her. (Thanks to Paul’s daughter and son in law who came and picked us up after driving through the night.)

But we arrived back at Combe Martin on 5th September but needed to bring the car so we could get back to Stafford in a few weeks. Paul took the car to Bude and made his way back on public transport – no mean feat with 4 buses to catch! But now we are ready to head off again on 7th September towards Ilfracombe – can’t wait!

Hello World,

After a long absence during whch we have done many, many interesting things, we are back for a new adventure.

Starting today we are hiking the South West Coast Path – 632 miles with a little tent and whatever we can carry on our backs. Our inspiration is a book called The Salt Path by Raynor Winn – highly recommended if you haven’t read it.

The hike started off with a single purpose but now has three:

Originally we just wanted to remove ourselves from the comforts and distractions of life and challenge ourselves physically and mentally whilst emersed in nature.

Now we also want to gently raise awareness about mental health and emotional wellbeing and the benefits of exercise in a natural setting (which has really helped both of us) and finally, because so may people asked or encouraged ….

We have also decided to support the Samaritan branch where we volunteer.

We have a facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550280639930

And if you did want to donate, the link is here: https://gofund.me/04496b7f

See you in the next exciting chapter…

Sam and Paul

Nemaste x

2nd July – 8th July – On The Road
After a couple more days relaxing with Fred and Irene at their secluded little site at St Jory de Chalais, we decided to get a bit footloose and fancy free and we spent a few days moving from place to place and exploring this lovely countryside.
The Creuse Valley is a new discovery for us and we think it must be one of France’s best kept secrets. There are rolling hills, acres and acres of beautiful woodland and picturesque villages to match the best we have seen in the Dordogne.
So – on Monday 2nd July we wound up wild camping in Sauviat-sur-Vige – we found a simple little pull-off from a minor road with a municipal storage building at the back and woodland to one side. Bonus was it had a very posh loo available – all electronic with flashing lights and buttons which knew when were in, when we were out and when to unlock the door and flush itself. Bit too clever for it’s own good if you ask me.

Tuesday we did quite a bit of C road exploring and found a lovely quiet car park near Eymoutiers and by a beautiful lake where we spent the night. A small island in the lake was home to a colony of Coypu which kept us entertained as they swam around in small family groups, nibbled at the grasses which border the water and generally enjoyed life.

Wednesday saw more exploring, circling round and back eventually to Sourzac for another night and some more walking by the river there as we had liked it so much. All that exploring is tiring work doncha know so we then headed back for a few more days R and R with Fred and Irene.
On Sunday 8th July we headed south towards the Tarn and broke the journey for the night in Figeac – a very pretty town with some fabulous cobbled streets and beautiful old buildings – some of it almost Dickensian. A bit up and down though so our legs would have liked it better if they had ironed it before we arrived.

Monday 9th – Sunday 15th July – La Malene
I visited the Tarn Gorge a bunch of years ago with my Sister Lin and her Husband Kip and I have had fond memories of the place ever since. Sam had never been so we decided to book (and pay for!) a pitch on a campsite in the gorge right beside the river. The last part of the journey was interesting and a little testing with the descent we chose into the gorge being pretty steep and with the longest series of hairpin bends we have so far encountered (even counting Portugal). If you check out a map of France and find the D995 road which goes down into the gorge to les Vignes just south of La Malene you can see ‘em – but I’m sure there are more turns than it shows!

The gorge is as stunning as I remember and we both had an amazing week of walking, cycling, swimming and kayaking. I could wax lyrical about the cliffs, the trees, the crystal clear water, the waterfalls, the birdsong, the road which winds along the valley side and punches tunnels through the cliffs. Hopefully the photos give you a little of the flavour.

Hauterives was a highlight amongst highlights (we got a bit of wow fatigue again) and is a tuny hamlet clinging to the ‘wrong’ side of the gorge, accessed by boat and with a motorised zip wire to carry supplies to and from. We passed it by road initially, then by kayak and eventually, the day before we left, we discovered a cliff path whch followed the river and led us their for a visit. Wonderful. Wizards or Dwarves would feel right at home.

Monday 16 July – It was with a bit of a heavy heart that we bade farewell to La Malene but the road was calling so we headed West and spent the night in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, a scruffy carpark hard against the railway line but quiet enough as it’s a little out of town and the trains are few and far between. First impressions can be decieving because the road in and the area where we parked had left us a little depressed at the grubby, unloved vibes we got, but when we ventured out for a walk into the heart of the town we found a well-kept, well-used centre with some quirky winding streets and some awesome architecture.

We have been doing quite a bit more of the inward journey this time (which those of you who follow our blogs will have come across before) and we have been wrestling with some tricky issues, looking at our values and trying to figure out where to point our energies for the next phase of our lives. This has left us a bit confused, a bit tired and a bit frustrated so we have decided to head for points North and go and invade the wondeful Paul and Lara for a bit of earth therapy a bit of deep conversation and a bit of TLC (they’re good at all those things).

So – Tuesday 17th July – we took pot luck and drove to a free site by a lake which looked pretty good on the Camper Contact app we use (highly recommended). Well ….. The place is called Lac de St Pardoux and it’s fabulous. If you want a lesson in how to create just the right balance between accessibility, outdoor activities and maintaining the natural ‘feel’ of a place then look no further.

Here we have a huge beautiful lake which spreads its limbs through several interlinked valleys and which is largely surrounded by woodland, predominantly oak and pine. There are several free car parks, a bus service and an area dedicated to ‘Camping Cars’ (also free).
There is a swimming pool, childrens play areas, cycling, kayaking, lake swimming from sandy beaches, woodland walks, sailing, water skiing etc etc.

We quite liked and we will probably come back and spend a week here sometime soon.

Wednesday 18th July – we had a lazy start (we usually do) and then wended our merry way back onto the major roads and up the A28, skirting Tours and stopping briefly in Mayet where we found that, whilst there is still a service point for motorhomes, there is also a sign politely suggesting the use of a campsite rather than the carpark so we partook of light refreshments and then drove on to a lorry park at Ecommoy. All nice and quiet until an agro-convoy van arrived. “Hmmm” we thought “we wonder what this might portend”. A few minutes later a huge combine harvester arrived, towing its own cutters, limbered up, mounted the kerb of the lorry park and started harvesting the field beside it. This was also just outside our (open) windows so we trundled over to the far side of the site from whence I am now drafting this amazing tome.

Namaste

Paul and Sam x

 

 

So ….here we are back in France – apologies for lack of blog activity in recent weeks.

We had a medium family crisis early in June and decided to cut our trip short to go and respond to that back in the UK. Decided to buck the trend and not share all our personal stuff on the World Wide Web hence no blog for a while.

We came back to France last Monday and decided to try Newhaven to Dieppe for a change, which kept the ferry affordable but still saved a few hours motoring dahn sahf at Bessie Speed (similar to Light Speed in that both contain the word ‘Speed’).

During this week we have made our way south to the Dordogne, which is rapidly becoming one of our favourite haunts, and since then we have been gently trundling from pretty place to pretty place, usually with pretty places in between – it’s a hard job but someone has to do it.

(Editors Note – the previous passage should be taken with a pinch of salt (or pepper, or other condiment of your choice) as it contains certain factual errors:-

1. Driving round France in the sunshine is not, in fact, a hard job
2. Nobody actually has to do it …. actually … just saying… not jealous at all

On Monday we wound up at a lovely little Aire at a tiny place called La Perouille which is near to Chateauroux. Here there is a small grass meadow on the edge of the hamlet beside a very pretty lake surrounded by trees with open farmland beyond. The peace and tranquility here are tangible – there were just two other campers with couples also quietly enjoying this magical place as we did. We walked round the lake barefoot, just holding hands and soaking up the atmosphere and it was all rather lovely really.

On Tuesday we made our way further south to Sourzac, a pretty village near Mussidan, where we parked on a dedicated area for campers on the bank of the river L’isle. The road and the beautiful old village church nestle into foot of the cliffs here and we found a glorious waterfall cascading down the rocks into a man made pool with a lovely shrine and a statue of the Madonna gazing benignly down.

Wednesday saw us deciding to stay a second day as the place was so nice and we gave the bikes their first outing and took a ride to Bourgnac down some lovely country lanes – we rode for several hours for the round trip and saw only one or two cars in the whole trip! We also had a walk over a single track bridge across the river in Sourzac and explored a bit.

On Thursday we were on the move again, but only for a couple of hours, touring the little (sometimes very little) country lanes and ending up on a small grass campsite Le Petite Land, just inside the Perigord National Park between Thivier and Chalais. The site is run by Fred and Irene, a lovely Dutch couple and has everything you could possibly want peace, nature, showers, hook up and even a small pool to cool off when it all gets a bit to warm. I don’t wish to be stereotypical, but the Dutch do seem to do this stuff really well.

On Friday we took a trip to Jumilhac le Grande, only half an hour away and a fabulous village in the hills with a delightful river running through the tree lined valley and the most astonishing fairytale chateaux, all round towers and lofty walls, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the valley. There is a legend attached to the chateaux of ‘The Spinner’ – Louise de Hautefort – the Lady of an early Marquis de Jumilhac, who was imprisoned in a tower in the chateaux for thirty years while her jealous husband was away fighting. This was to prevent Louise from seeing her previous lover who she had not been allowed to marry. The story goes that her lover took a job as shepherd to the castle so that he could be near her and they communicated by hiding messages in spun wool bobbins lowered from her window.

Saturday and Sunday have been lazy days at the site, where we are now the only campers and I’m sitting in the shade of our awning watching Fred mow the grass on his ride-on mower, listening to the bird song and writing a blog. Probably go for a dip later.

Ho Hum

Namaste

Paul and Sam

 

 

 

 

By special request (Jenna) we wanted to share something about what we’ve been eating whilst we’ve been away.

As some of you will be aware, since our visit to India last November/December, we have eaten meat only a few times (and not at all since we came away). This is not for any noble reasons, although interestingly since we made this change we have started to think more about how animals are treated, but simply because I spent five weeks in Rishikesh where meat is not an option.  enjoyed my food hugely, as did Paul when he joined me. After that, we looked at each other and said “why would we go back to eating meat when eating a vegetarian diet tastes so good?” We didn’t have an answer, so here we are!

So, how do you learn about a new way of eating when the only cooking facility is a three burner gas hob, a frying pan, two saucepans, a mixing bowl and a jug? The internet helps, when we have it. We’ve found it really useful to be able to look up vegetarian versions of our favourite meals – fajitas, tagine, paella – to name a few. And they have been delicious.

‘Blissful Basil’ (feel free to google it) gave us the recipe for a beautiful mushroom paella and BBC Good Food a lovely tagine. However a lot of the time we just play around with stuff – trying different vegetables on different days for variety; adding vegetables that will give us the ‘bite’ that we miss from meat; including beans, chickpeas and lentils when we can and playing with alternatives to rice and pasta, like quinoa and couscous.

Some of our experiments have worked better than others but we haven’t had anything that we weren’t prepared to eat yet. We’ve also really enjoyed preparing the food together; sitting across the table from each other, each with a chopping board and knife, chatting about any old nonsense while we prepare all of the vegetables before one of us (usually Paul) puts it all together. It’s a lovely way of ‘being’ and one we will try and keep hold of when we get back home.

Breakfast has sometimes been cereals, particularly when we want to make an early start to the next town. We’ve also had the odd cooked breakfast with eggs, avocado, mushrooms and tomatoes, but rarely. Most of the time we’ve enjoyed an old fashioned bowl of porridge, usually made with an alternative milk (strangely enough oat is our preferred option), and whatever fruit has looked good in the shops, often bananas and oranges, sometimes apples, raspberries, strawberries and pomegranate and adding nuts and seeds. Served with lashings of honey (Paul) or maple syrup (Sam) we love it – even as the weather has heated up, which really surprised me.

We find lunch the trickiest meal to adapt, especially as bread, cheese, tomatoes and sometimes olives, are such a staple in France, Spain and Portugal. We do love this but we know it’s not good to have it every day. So that’s a work in progress. The other challenge for us has been eating out. We haven’t eaten out much, as we are trying to keep the costs down, but on the very few occasions we have we’ve really struggled to find a decent choice of vegetarian food. Usually we end up with fries, pizza, salad and/or omelette. We’ve only ever seen one vegetarian restaurant (in Cordoba I think) and in Spain in particular it was very difficult to get away from cold meats (which we used to love) as they seem to fill one aisle of most supermarkets.

My experience at Gravito was of ‘proper’ vegetarian food, which was all delicious. It’s certainly given me an appetite to get some new cookbooks when I get home to see if I can recreate some of the foods I enjoyed there. It’ll come but it all takes time. If you have any recommendations for great vegetarian cookbooks we’d love to hear from you and if you want to try any of our own creations just shout and we’ll send you the recipe.

Bon Appetit

Sam and Paul xx

 

Profound Blog Alert – may cause headaches – you have been warned (again)!

 

Thursday 1 June 2018 – St Cyprien, Dordogne

Since my first reflective post early last month, we have moved around a lot, had some amazing and sometimes slightly scary experiences and been challenged by the distance away from family when some tough stuff has happened to folks we care about in the UK.

All these things have helped us look deeper within ourselves and grow our understanding of the way our thoughts latch on to events and drive our emotional responses, often leading us to reactive decisions which aren’t always the most helpful. It’s been really interesting as well as enlightening to think about and talk all this through in the context of our reading and research.

We are working with some particularly challenging, deep but very worthwhile material at the moment, including The Untethered Soul (Michael Singer); Conversations with God (Neale Donald Walsh); and May Cause Miracles (Gabrielle Bernstein). What is really interesting and hugely exciting to us is that these various sources, as well as over a dozen we have previously worked with, each contain core truths and paradigms which are essentially the same. This has allowed us to absorb, review and compare all this material as we slowly forge and grow our own joint and individual way of viewing the world we live and choose how we will respond to that world and who we want to be within it.

There is an inspirational film (available on Gaia) called ‘Finding Joe’ – highly recommended if you are a fellow searcher after Truth – which contains the message that each Warrior must find his or her own way through the Dark Forest. One of the truths Sam and I have become really clear about is that, in order to find our true selves and fulfill our true purpose, she and I must each find our own path, separate even from each other. We have realised that for us at least, walking a path already trodden will not serve, neither will a single path walked always hand in hand. This has been a difficult realisation for each of us because of the joy we have found in each other, but we reckon this will take us from a place of (some) codependency to complete interdependency – where we do not need each other, but we do choose to be together.

We have come across one particular message many times now, given in many forms, which essentially says that each of us is capable of doing anything we choose to do and of being anything we choose to be. What prevents us, over and over again, is our own lack of self-belief, our fear and our refusal to open the door when the Universe comes knocking.

So – we have decided that now is the time to start Getting Out Of Our Own Way 

…. And we’ll let you know what happens next!

Namaste

Paul and Sam x

 

 

Bessie’s Bit

Living in the van has been fun and a real grounding experience. Bessie is pretty comfy but bottom line is two people sharing a 10 x 6 space for a long time. Usually no problem when the sun is shining as we are off out and about or sat outside soaking up rays so her primary purpose is as a kitchen and dormitory. Gets a little small if the weather stays bad for more than a couple of days but we have only had two sessions like that and got through on books and scrabble!

 

We gave the over-cab bed a try a couple of times and it’s ok, but headroom is limited and it gets a tad warm up there in hot weather. The main bed takes less than 5 minutes to put up or down and is over 6 feet square so we generally go with that option – very comfy.

 

The little three-ring hob has been great and haven’t really missed having an oven – we did consider getting a slow-cooker but decided not to bother – we’ve prepped and cooked a range of curries, pasta dishes, veggie-burgers, fajitas and loads of other dishes, plus of course we’ve had lots of the compulsory bread and cheese and local fruit and salad. As always in these countries, there is much less ubiquitous consistency of sizes and shapes but MUCH more flavour! We’re pretty much confirmed veggies now – finding so much flavour can’t see the point of going back to meat. The fridge (which had a major overhaul and refit before we left) has been great and has kept stuff cool and fresh on gas and 12 volt for almost the entire trip – we have only hooked up to mains once in ten weeks.

The bathroom works well – small but perfectly formed – given the fragility of that bit of the van and the repairs we have had to make we’ve opted not to use the shower and go for stand up, all-over washes instead and find showers elsewhere when we can – not a problem in the heat but we’d probably revert to the shower if it got cold!

 

The solar panel and deep cycle batteries have never run low on juice one despite daily use for lights, water pump and phone and tablet/laptop charging. Same goes for the refillable gas system – we estimate one gas bottle does about three weeks when we don’t need to use the heater. Gas is less available in Spain and Portugal than in France but still enough around so that we have had no problems filling up, but prices of both gas and diesel vary enormously.

 

 

Driving is great fun now we’re used to it – the high position gives us great views, the performance means you have no choice but to take it all nice and steady, the left-hand drive makes the road position natural and, almost without exception, drivers in all three countries are much more courteous, patient and less rushed than in Blighty. Probably partly because there’s so much less traffic anyway, but we have seen virtually no assertive driving, much less the aggressive sort – can’t recall the last time I could have said that after a trip in the UK.

As we’ve said in previous posts, Bessie has been a perfect lady throughout the trip so far. She may be slow on hills, but she gets there in the end (well, ok … there was that one time but who’s counting); she may corner like a pregnant duck but…umm … pregnant ducks are cool too; she may be quaint to look at these days, but she’s bloody comfortable to live in and great fun to drive… well…. Most of the time  🙂

Some TLC has been required though and so far we have:

Installed an inverter – fantastic piece of kit – highly recommended

Repaired two blackout blinds

Repaired the upholstery when buttons keep coming adrift

Major repairs to the bathroom when we thought we were going to leave the rear wall in the road!

Repaired a spotlight which Sam head-butted (I may never know why she did, but she did – scary when angry that Sam)

Repaired various cupboard and window latches – we think the plastic has got brittle from age and to much sun (a bit like me really)

Made holders for some stuff to stop it rattling about

Utilised a bespoke trippo reset device (bent paper clip) cos the button is snapped off

Invented a new way to check how full the loo tank is cos the magnetic level gauge broke (open the valve and have a butchers – not subtle but it does work)

Made a new shower bracket out of a pipe clip

Kept her topped up with engine oil

And sorted various other accessories and running repairs courtesy of Heath Robinson, Bob Botch-Job and Jerry Built

Conclusions:

Superglue rules (hammer is a close second)

Corners are best done in straight lines (erm…what?)

Mountains are certainly beautiful, but also definitely steep, at which times …

The value of second gear can not be overrated

(oh and brakes – brakes are good too)

Sites with hot showers are sublime

Bessie is definitely not the swishest van on the road, and

We wouldn’t swap her for anything else we’ve seen

And also ….

In the way of all people when they have something new, we have spotted a few Bessie look-alikes, although almost all of them with a side kitchen rather than a rear one like ours (which is, of course, best). We’ve also seen just about every size, shape and age of van you can imagine. We won’t bother you with lots of pictures of those, but a few that really struck us to finish off this post (just shout if you want to know a bit more about these):

1. Bessie Goes To War

2. Transformers (half coach, half Hotel)

3. The Mini – Mobile

 

What could I possibly add to that!

Namaste

Paul and Sam x

Last year when I did my Reiki II attunement, I met a lovely young woman from Italy called Chiara. Shortly after we met she went to Portugal to learn about womb yoga (or well-woman yoga therapy) with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, the author of a powerful book ‘Yoni Shakti’.  Chiara told me afterwards that the experience was profound for her personally and having attended one of her well woman yoga courses I can safely attest that it is a very different, but beautiful and nourishing practice. My interest was piqued!

I decided to purchase Uma’s aforementioned book for my Kindle before we set off on our travels and I read it avidly. The book is a woman’s guide to power and freedom through yoga and tantra and the title can be translated as ‘source power’ (although it does have other translations, see www.yonishakti.co if you dare, sorry, I mean if you are interested in finding out more).

As we were in Portugal and and I knew that Uma does some of her training there, I decided to find out more – and lo, there was a training session from 10-17 May. I contacted Uma, through her colleague Shivani Mata, to find out if there were places available, but sadly they were fully booked. However, they had a cancellation about a week later, so I had an email asking if I was still interested and a week later, I arrived in beautiful Gravito http://www.gravito.co.uk 

How do you explain a place like Gravito in words? You can’t, it needs to be experienced to appreciate it – and if you ever have an opportunity to go, I would recommend you do. It is a little piece of heaven on earth. There is an energy there that is quite magical. It is in Mid Portugal and it is a healing retreat centre, run by Shobha and Miguel and a team of staff and volunteers. They serve freshly prepared vegetarian and vegan food, much of which is foraged in the fields or grown in their own garden. The eco credentials at Gravito are excellent – solar heating for the showers; water is pumped from the river for washing and from the spring for drinking (or you can wash in the river if you prefer – I did!); there are composting loos; candles to light the paths at night; and wild wee-ing is positively encouraged. The accommodation is in shared tipis or domes and the training took place either in a large dome, on an outdoor platform or on the grass amongst the tree spirits (my particular favourite).

I shared a tipi with Poonam (from the UK), Adele (from Australia) and Anna (from Sweden); they were three beautiful yoginis, inside and out. However there was a total of about 27 on the course, so there were many opportunities to get to know everyone else.

A big focus for the training was the mutual support of women (through yoga of course); teaching a respect for our life cycles and practicing in a way that honours that. The asana (physical) practice was very different from that which you would experience in most yoga classes. It had a fluidity and femininity which allows women to practice in a way that acknowledges that our bodies are different to men’s and offers therapeutic benefit for specific times of a woman’s life, including menstruation, pregnancy and peri-menopause.

So, what did I learn from this amazing week of training with Uma, Shivani and Maren?

1. My physical yoga practice may never be the same again. Whilst many of the postures are the same, the fluidity of movement and the respect for the way women’s bodies are made meant that the practice is almost unrecognisable – it’s like a dance, rather than a linear set of moves.

2. The connection between our heart and yoni (womb) was honoured and nourished, as was our connection to the earth and air. Along with the asana we also learned more about mudras (hand gestures) and breathing techniques. We had daily Kirtan (devotional song/chant) which takes some getting used to at first as it is all sung in Sanskrit but if you let yourself settle into it, it is a very moving practice. We had yoga nidra at least twice a day which was deeply relaxing. These are practices which, as time allows, I’d like to find out more about. But I will use what I can in my own practice and in teaching others.

3. Great teachers don’t preach from the pulpit, they share what they know with love and passion and great humility.

4. There are so many different situations and times in women’s lives that call for care in yoga practice. What I have learned will support me in my own life but will also help me to provide the right care for women that I might teach. If I can help women to connect to their seasons/cycles and their own femininity and power, I’ll be very happy.

5. We spent one sunny afternoon drawing our own pelvis’s and getting to know our anatomy – you’d think after living as long as I have (and it’s not an insignificant amount of time as those who know me will attest) that I’d know that stuff quite well but apparently not!

6. Women are great, and women and girls of all ages have a lot to learn from each other. There was a lot of laughter, many tears and a lot of open sharing during this week and it was hugely healing. To know that others are going through similar stuff and to be able to hear and hold them as they express their own pain can be hugely liberating. And for me, I realised how pointless it is to constantly compare myself (usually unfavourably) to others. We all have our own unique talents and abilities and we should celebrate those, not waste our time running ourselves down or running others’ down to make ourselves feel better.

7. I really connected with nature during my time at Gravito and I love it. I hadn’t realised how important that is to me but I was at my best barefoot, in my shorts and t-shirt, pee-ing in the field, swimming or skinny-dipping in the river, sleeping under the trees (in yoga nidra) or in a tipi,  and eating fresh food in the sun. I will be doing more of these things whenever I can.

8. One last thing, which I already knew, but which really came home to me, was how much I have to be grateful for, not least my relationship with Paul. We’ve spent the last 10 weeks with only each other for company. However, when I told Paul about the course, his only thought was for me – he pretty much insisted that I go, even though it meant he would be on his own, in a foreign country, in a very aged motorhome, for a week – with no-one to play Scrabble with! I have many people to thank for this experience, but Paul sits right at the top of that list.

Thank you to Paul; Uma, Shivani Mata and Maren; Shobha and Miguel and their team; and all of the yogini’s on the training course – you know who you are. It was an experience I’ll never forget. And for the women in my life, I’d love to share what I learned, let me know if you want to find out more.

Namaste, Jai Ma

Sam x

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 – 6 May 2018 – Confession Time!

OK so the weather was so good and the place so lovely that we stayed (a bit) longer. More of the same – walking, yoga, swimming, sun, sand and sea….

After initially hearing that it was full, Sam has been offered and accepted a place on a Well Woman Yoga training course in a tiny, remote, eco-friendly retreat in the mountains not far from Pedrogao Grande. The week long course starts on Thursday so we we are heading North.

Monday 7 May 2018 – Sagres Lighthouse

Very easy run down from Praia da Falesia – only about two hours through lovely countryside. Portugal is a beautiful mixture of patchwork green fields, vast tracts of wild land with a full spectrum of green in the trees and scrub and a riot of colour from the wild flowers.Then add really wild country with mountains, sheer granite cliffs, pine-clad slopes, hidden valleys, lakes and rivers plus of course the cliffs, beaches and sea. We rather love Portugal.

Sagres Lighthouse sits on a rocky peninsula pretty much in the middle of nowhere – very bleak and unforgiving with the wind a primal force of nature, throwing its weight around and often getting all surprising and thundering in from inland rather than the sea. Within the harshness however, is a rare and unusual beauty – the swift moving clouds and glimpses of sunshine causing light changes almost momentarily, transforming the cliffs from brooding and sinister behemoths to glittering and uplifting celebrations of the relationship twixt land and sea.

 

 

Sagres Light is the most South Westerly point of Europe – sometimes called Europe’s Lands End – and it feels like it. The place is famous for its stunning sunsets so we went and waited with a small crowd of others, cameras poised. Spying a professional looking chap with a long lens and a tripod, we followed him out onto the rocky promentary (probably a little closer to the edge than our comfort dictated) thinking “aha – he clearly knows his stuff, we’ll get some amazing shots”. Twas not to be however -the clouds decided to thicken and drop to thick mist level. Sam did manage a pretty shot as you can see, but that was the best there was to have.

 

 

Tuesday 8 May 2018 – Coruche

Overnight stop here to break the journey North. Pleasant little town by a wide, slow, meandering river with several narrow bridges which were fun to negotiate. The river has sandy ‘ beaches’ – we think it’s tidal by the look of it. Not much more to say – we have been a bit spoiled methinks.

 

 

Wednesday 9 May 2018 – Serta

Very pretty town in the mountains, larger than it first appeared as we arrived. We parked up in a picturesque car park by the river, right up against a weir. There is a lovely old multi-arch, cobbled bridge which looked really magical in the evening when the lights came on.

 

Thursday 10 May 2018 – Gravito Retreat Centre and Casal da Lapa

Well!  What a day today has been.

Scary #1

The drive from Serta to Gravito was pleasant with great views if a little steep and hairpinny in places. Then we got to the dirt track which leads to the retreat. No problem for most small and medium vehicles I think, but Bessie with her top heavy, overloaded, front wheel drive set up did struggle. It’s around a kilometre long and we took it steady, mostly in first gear as the surface is quite uneven and there are some significant inclines. The final approach to the retreat was the steepest (downhill) and also very loose shale on top of rock, but we got there with warm brakes and clutch.

Sublime #1

This place is utterly wonderful – a hidden valley in the mountains with a happy little river running through and a mixture of meadow and forest with the mountains forming a distant backdrop. The whole place is run in tune with nature and has a profound sense of peace and tranquillity. Everything that can be Eco is – hot water, loos, building, water – you name it, and the people here radiate loving contentment. Sam is staying in a simple but cosy tepee with a few other ladies. It was not easy for Sam and I to say goodbye to each other for a week, but I was happy she was in such a wonderful place.

(Look out for Sam’s separate blog – coming soon!)

Scary #2

The problems started when I tried to get Bessie back up the hill. The combination of a very uneven, gravelly surface, a very steep incline and nowhere to get a run up were more than she could handle. Crack on and the front wheels lost traction, take it slow and the engine stalled. I did eventually manage to get her about three quarters of the way up on the umpteenth attempt, at which point there was a lingering smell of clutch and brakes cooking and the handle of the handbrake came away in my hand (I confess this was not my calmest moment).

I had to let her back down the hill as steadily as I could, but rear vision is not Bessie’s forte and the handbrake wouldn’t hold her at all. Hmmmmm – what next I pondered with Sam (who had been watching me with a great impersonation of a rabbit in headlights). Spoke to Miguel and it turns out there is another way out of the valley which is less steep but longer and less used – that’ll have to do then. Said my farewells (again) and headed off – well…..

It was much less precipitous to be fair, but brought it’s own challenges. There were many overhanging trees much lower than our roof (people with sensible vehicles don’t really think about these things), several places had suffered small rock falls from the cliff on one side and one or two places had collapsed a bit on the other side where there was a drop to the river. The biggest challenge was in trying to take it steady enough to keep stable whilst giving her enough power and momentum to keep going over some of the larger rock lumps in the track. If anyone had come the other way he or she would have been reversing – trust me on this. Finally reached a metalled road (still single track) – Hooray, then came to an unsigned junction – Boo – (and there is no Sat-Nav signal at all in case you wondered). Took Gandalf’s advice and followed my nose which turned out to be a wise old nose. Reached a village with a tiny square overhung with lovely trees and with a few workmen taking their ease in the shade. Lovely, but much much less headroom under the trees than I needed and no other route. Said workmen had as much English as I have Portuguese but were content to stare drolly as the entertainment unfolded. Easing forward at ohhh – about half a mile an hour I picked the thinnest branches I could see and slithered through with much scraping and grinding from the roof and sides. Got through!  Checked the road behind me – No Smashed Solar Panel on the road! Said workmen scratched their heads, shook their heads and continued with their lunch.

Finally got clear enough of the surrounding mountains to get a brief signal and got the coordinates of my next stop. Sat Nav was having none of it so used my phone (which doesn’t know how big Bessie is). Consequently I had an astonishing, scary, beautiful ride up and over rather than down and round. Got to about 3000 feet on single track with passing places and felt like I was at the top of the world. Steadily back down again feeling suitably proud of the achievement until I met an articulated lorry coming the other way., so…

Couple of things – firstly all got a little tense as I found a passing place and discovered they are wide enough, but barely – secondly felt a little deflated that my heroic driving feat was clearly emulated on a regular basis by much bigger vehicles as a shortcut!

Sublime #2

Fair enough, my quarters for the week are a little less wonderful than Sam’s, but that being said I parked up in Casal da Lapa, a tiny hamlet in the mountains on the banks of Barragem da Santa Luzia, with views through pine trees to the lake on one side, towering granite mountains on another and a broad view into the distance on a third; not too shabby.

The tensions of the day had about used me up though so quick cuppa, bit of supper and so to bed.

Namaste

Paul (and Sam from a distance) x

 

Almost no signal and no WiFi for the next seven days whilst in the mountains again.

Still – time for my creative muse to wake up and for your anticipation to build 🤔😴😁