Spanish Steps from Sussex to the Sierras

Many years of thinking and now a year of doing............the diary of our move to Spain...............................

4 WEEKS AND COUNTING
Thursday, January 23, 2014 @ 9:23 AM

Having just checked my very first blog post I note that it was published on the 12th Jan 2013. As I sit here and write this next chapter it is hard to believe that a whole year plus 4 days has past.

Since that post we have made many friends on this journey to our next destination, most who have advised us and supported us. But we have also encountered those who have looked at us like we are 2 bricks short of a full load.

"De cuerdo y loco todos tenemos un poco."

A few have made comments such as

“I could not leave my children...

wont you miss them”

I think it is they that “miss” the point. Our two Daughters have been our biggest supporters, and for that I am very grateful. The hardest part of having children is when it is time to say goodbye, Be it when they first went to school, left home or moved in with boyfriends. Now it is different, although the goodbye is the same, it somehow feels different, our “children” are in their 30's, but now the difference is that we are doing the leaving, it feels unnatural for the parent to leave the child, however this has to be part of our process. I have tried to bury these feelings deep, but now with 4 weeks to go, its there, raw and red, rising in my stomach, making it churn and acid filled. I have to face reality and either I quench the acid , and stay in the UK or we have to learn to deal with it. But I also know that my husband and I need make this journey, we need to do it for us, it is not a whim, its a yearning that we have had for a long time. I know in my heart that although the distances may be long between us and them, mere roads, seas and mountains cannot separate our hearts from each other.

So, it is a year since we first started the final part of this stage of the journey, (as you know we eventually settled on the stunning area of Extremadura), We have now sold and move into a rented flat here in the UK. This, it turned out , was to be a very quick process, it only took 8 weeks between putting our house on the market to completion. I have now handed in my notice at work and leave shortly, with my NHS pension in place. A leaving party has been organised, and everyone at work has been very kind with their words, however, I am sure some, young bright thing will take over and improve on my work, after all that’s what makes the world tick, one person goes and another takes their place.

S1 healthcare forms organised, we both have cover for 2 years, hopefully they will arrive in Spain, we wait and see. Producing these will be our first foray into Spanish bureaucracy

We have scheduled a ferry crossing Portsmouth to Santander, and managed to obtain a “pet” friendly cabin, we are allowed to to take the cats into these particular cabins. For those of you interested, the ferry is the Cap Finistere and they also have a dog walking deck.

We have decided to take the journey slowly, after all we are in no rush, nothing else planned! so a hotel and dinner with our girls the night before in Portmouth, a 24 hour ferry crossing and then a hotel in Palencia 2 hours out of Santander

both the Uk and Spanish hotels accept our cats in the room which is brilliant. The following day we arrive at our rented accommodation.

Our rented accommodation is a fully furnished pad. When we sold our UK home most of our goods and chattel were put into storage Once we have bought a place to live we will send over for them.

Apart from the goodbyes, I am feeling unsettled. Usually when you sell a house, you are either buying a property or renting, you know whats next. We only know that it will be in Spain. When I describe my feelings as unsettled that is probably the wrong word, it is a combination of unease and excitement, where will we live, what will the views be like, will it be, how are the locals etc etc etc...............So much to think about. I think we just now want to get on, make our way, make the mistakes and learn, we are under no illusions there will be mistakes, but as one stage ends another stage starts, and as my Granny used to say

el que hace la paga.

Back Soon x

ps apologies for poor Spanish Translations I am still learning

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10 Comments

Finca fan said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 6:48 AM

Great blog. All the very best. We bought a finca inland in valencia. Best thing we ever did. Not quite retired from the nhs yet. One year to go. Then the majority of our time will hopefully be in spain

KERRYB said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 8:35 AM

All the best

we purchased back in June in Costa Callida also work in the NHS and looking to retire in 1 year 11 months. It did not seem that long ago that we were talking about retirement in 5 years time it now seems within touching distance

Just came back last weekend from Spain 20oC and sunny 2 hours later landed in Bristol 5oC and raining. And its rained ever since !!

All the best the family is only 2 hours away or immediate via facetime, Skype, etc.

pamela said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 9:48 AM

We wish you lots of luck with your move and great new adventure, we miss our family but they have their lives and we love the holidays back with them and them visiting. Some good advice we had was to bring 10 copies of every document you may need, driving licence, birth certificate, marriage certificate etc. we thought it strange but we did get through them. We have lived here now for three years although had the home for 12 - we came out to sell but enjoyed it so much we stayed. Today the sun is streaming through the window and we can go out in just a jumper. Very best wishes and safe journey.

pamela said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 10:00 AM

I have just read your earlier post and that you drove 3 hours drive from the airport and may I make the point that we are only an hour from the airport and if your visitors take cheap flights, which sometimes with children at school they need to do as that is when flights are most expensive - they come in or leave at unearthly hours so for you that that would be a 6 hour round trip to collect any visitors and off their holiday ! just a thought.

mountain-lass said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 10:23 AM

Thanks,

Yes Pamela we are aware of that, and something we gave due consideration to, however all our "family" drive and expect to. We have explained to Friends they are welcome, but they will have to hire a car. At the end of the day, this is about living in an area and location that we love, not a place for others to Holiday, Our daughters have already booked flights for later this year and car hire. Friends have also agreed that they do not want to be at our beck and call when they visit. The only exceptions to these are our parents who are elderly and on that basis a 6 hour round trip is not much of a hardship, here in the UK our parents live 5 hours away by car, so we are used to this. Having said that, you do make a good point and for those, who expect lots of people holidaying with them maybe distance is important, for us it was more about where we wanted to spend time living x

mountain-lass said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 10:25 AM

Great advice about photocopies.... Def put that on the list

jsevanbergen said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 12:22 PM

My Son and Daughter-in-law and Grandson recently left our family home and now it's time for us to leave and downsize.
I was very upset when they left, but when you think about it we all left our parents and they probably felt the same. We'll get used to it and move on as they did. Very unsettling though.
I am thinking about living half and half in Spain and U.K. We have a holiday flat which we could upgrade to something more suitable in Spain and maybe with a small place in both countries we could have the best of both worlds.
Any thoughts anyone?

joanna

fazeress said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 3:45 PM

I am so excited for you (and for me) yet know your feelings as I am having the same! We are hoping that in about 3 weeks once our never ending saga of selling our business has finally completed! We have had our house for almost a year now and can't wait to finally be able to 'live' in it and retire for some much earned rest! Chance will be a fine thing as Spanish houses need constant maintenance and we have a large plot of land and small olive grove. Infact by your description back a long at the beginning it sounds like it could've been ideal for you! We will be inland from Malaga, about 45kms in a tradditonal Spanish town but we are just outside, 4 minutes drive to the centre (ish). We have two rescue dogs reserved for us who are gorgeous and can't wait to settle in. I too have teary moments when I think of my children (not as old as yours) and my two grandchildren. My granddaughter of two and a half I have a special bond with as I was the first to hold her after her dad couldn't face going into theatre for the C-section! I will Skype, facetime etc... most days I think so she doesn't forget us and although she was only just two when we all holidayed at our house she remembers a lot about it and is looking forward to coming again and swimming in Granny's pool! Good luck with your move, I shall keep a look out for your blog with updates.
:) x

Toolman2 said:
Saturday, January 25, 2014 @ 6:58 PM

Extremadura is a good choice of location, it really is unspoilt. My wife and I bought a town house in one of the mountain villages not far from Zafra. There is plenty of room and a courtyard garden on two levels. The new roof clinched the deal though. There is so much history in the province you can't help tripping over it. Our town is of about 2000 people and there are shops for everything, even a Spar supermarket. We will be retiring to there as soon as we can but there are still things to do. I picked up the tip about 10 copies of everything but we are still unsure of what everything is. I and I think a lot of people would appreciate some sort of list of things to do to wrap up affairs when leaving England and what is needed to start life in Spain. If this hasn't already been done on Eye on Spain, I haven't found it yet, maybe someone who has done it could start if off and others fill in with the how’s, where’s and whys etc.
I envy you very much but wish you all the very best for a long and happy future in Spain.

Passinthru said:
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 @ 3:26 PM

We are also moving to Spain in May. At present we see our daughter for an average of 10 days a year Although we all live in UK. My daughter intends to spend 2 weeks a year with us in Spain and we will visit her in the UK for 2 weeks. So moving to Spain we will see more of her. It also takes as long to drive to visit her as it will take her to fly and visit us in Spain I am sure you and your your family will be seeing plenty of each other and they will be more than pleased that you will be enjoying your new and healthier lifestyle in Spain. Go for it and enjoy

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