With the van expertly packed by Jim; but significantly loaded, we headed to Portsmouth on the 17th December for our Ferry to France. And the beginning of our adventure South, stopping for a night in a Southern Central Medieval hill top town. With an elevation of 1km above sea level, it was a rather chilly and early night. We journeyed on the next day, navigating Protesting Farmers and Roadblocks on the A75, and although a bit of deviation, it was rather pretty and entertaining enjoying the novel Christmas decorations dotted through the villages.

We arrived in Catalonia later that day, with the sun shining and a beautiful sunset as we approached the last roads up to house in the hills. It had been some time since we last visited our house, and learning from previous experiences we bedded down in our neighbours Casita. And enjoyed catching up with our dear friends, dishing out the Christmas contraband we had squirelled away for them. The festive fair included Cheese Savouries, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Ambrosia Custard and Two Boxes of Mince Pies.

With only a few days before headed off to my Ma and Stepdad’s for Christmas we slowly licked out house back into shape, thank fully it was just as we had left it, with only a few gecko’s hanging out in the roof. Ned breathed a sigh of relief not being in the van travelling, and we cleared and tidied the driveway in preparation for our return. With some gentle starts and time reflecting in our land, I slowly started to rest after such a busy lead to Christmas. Making the Solstice Mandala with pieces from the studio with foraged Catalan trophies felt like a beautiful way to close the wheel of the Year.

One day before we left, Emma asked me what I was most looking forward to about our trip. And I think my first response was eating a Mandarin. They are at the start of their season and grown in our region of Catalonia, and they are everywhere you look. Sunshine in a slice, they are simply exquisite. Needless to say we indulged. . . a lot!

My Ma and Stepdad live near Malaga in the Mountains, and this was going to be another 8 hour drive from our house near Tortosa. `We thought that rather than do one big day of driving, we would pace ourselves and the van, and make a stop over somewhere halfway. The quickest route to my folks is avoiding the coast via Granada but with heavy snow in the Sierra Navada, this route was impassible. We would have to go the coastal route, but wanted to try and avoid major cities so that it would be a nicer experience with Ned. Jim planned our pitstop a surreal stay in a converted monastery in the Sierra Espuma national park. The hotel was beautiful and Ned was very welcome, but being Christmas Eve Eve, there were only 2 other guests and this place was capacious. The following morning we found a path to mirador or viewing station, with a very large Jesus statue that we had seen glowing on the hill top the night before. I have to confess to preferring the exquisite sculptures on the way up, they had a feeling of Barbara Hepworth about them.

We arrived to my folks in the hills to a hail storm of large proportions and a power cut, but soon we were relaxing and enjoying the snow topped mountain view of Maroma. Four Days of Family Feasting ensued, as well as soaking up intermittent sunshine and the occasional walk. It was also an absolute treat to partake in Christmas with our niece Olive, who at the tender age of six still very much believes in all of the magic.

And with that Christmas was over, it was a pretty horrendous drive back and I have no record of it! But we drove incredibly slowly and steadily and sung the Carpenters at the top of our lungs to distract us from the giant hail, thunder and lightning.

Over Christmas we found a wood burning stove on Facebook marketplace and the day after we returned navigated google maps to find a fantastic couple and the stove. When things take nearly 2 hrs to purchase things have either taken a turn for the worse, or you have unexpectedly found two humans with an incredibly similar take on life as yourselves. With plans to meet again, we headed home and Jim set about taking the chimney out of the old open fire in the house, ready to situate the new flue and the wood burner. With another successful Facebook haul, we finally had some chairs again for our dining table. Our house was previously fairly well furnished, but after the first Covid lockdown, we were not able to visit our house for 3 years. And the rats took full advantage of our absence. With many more precautions in place we have been rat free for a few years, and can finally start trying to make this more of a home again.

We celebrated owning Cami de Tupi for 10 years whilst we own our sabbatical. Our old plans to emigrate and set up life squashed by Brexit, Covid and infertility don’t sting so much and we have mellowed into accepting that we still get to call this glorious place home, just not all of the time. We carried on with our plans to just gently love it; to be there and make improvements, but to not break ourselves in the process. This land is healing land, the space it affords us physically, mentally and possibly even spiritually. It is a balm from the other corners of our lives together. We are completely off grid, being in a National Park, we relied on two camping solar panels to charge phones and lights. And relied heavily on all of the Olive Tree pruning we had squirrelled away on previous visits, once the fire was ready to go.

A week into the New Year, Ma and Terry arrived with Arthur, to share a few days of campo living in Catalonia. In the time that we have owned our home, we have never had the opportunity to invite friends and family to stay, in fact M&T stayed in their motorhome, we are still a long way from sorting the guest accommodation! However it was an absolute delight to show them our favourites spots in the city of Tortosa and down on the Delta. We walked for miles along a lagoon listening to flamingos, before having a fantastic Sunday lunch in the sunshine.

And before to long, it was time to stow away our provisions, pack the tools and dust sheet the furniture, ready for our return to Devon. The time away gave us time to rest and reflect on the year, and look forward to the year ahead. Our family have all noted that we have two renovation projects on our hands, as well as LF and Jim’s work. But weirdly it all weighs lighter, maybe because change is as good as a rest.