The wild mountain
woman and her caravan journey-part one
Greetings from an isolated caravan in the
Spanish mountains.
In February 2022 I took myself away from daily life to work through the deep trauma and grief and that occurred during 2020/2021 and disconnect from the global madness (or so I thought!)
My plan was that solitude and nature combined would aid in bringing me back to a greater sense of balance, healing and clarity about my life´s journey. Death tends to do that to you especially when 1) One of them was one of the most important people in your life and 2) Sudden deaths of various family members and friends within less than a year is enough to rock most people´s worlds and send them on a journey of self discovery...
Having written and self -published two books and begun three more, I was attempting to work on articles and short stories to reignite my passion for the craft and to distract my rather fucked from life brain. Depression is something that has been present most of my life though fortunately through much self work, therapy and the study of hypnosis, I´ve managed to understand and keep control of my mental health until this final blow. Despite most of my nearest and dearest understanding my resons for going off alone, there was still concern that too much thought time may have an even greater detrimental effect.
However, I found myself instead falling in love with the area, the mountain walks, the proximity to the coast, clear starry skies and the thought of new beginnings and possibilities in a place with no personal history. I grew up camping, and both my parents and myself owned VW campervans over the years. I have struggled living in apartments and always knew the time would come when the great outdoors would beckon me...
My friend, Si, who has lived in the area for almost three decades (and I have known for almost as long) offered me the opportunity to do up an old, dilapidated caravan on his many hectares of land and create a home for myself there. He is a multi -talented individual who has lived as a traveler since the 80s, has an array of curious vehicles including an old British ambulance, a bus (ex tour bus of a famous British band), a London taxi and more parked up on the 40, 000m2 of terrain. We realized that by combining our mutual talents and creativity we could help each other go forward at a time of great change for us both...
The initial lockdown in Spain 2020 was at the time, Italy and Wuhan aside, one of the strictest in the world and without a doubt pushed me over the edge. A free spirit such as myself imprisoned in a dark apartment without views and prohibited from even exercising was the beginning of the end for me. Never again! Add to that, both my daughters that I brought up alone are now independent young adults, well now my time had come to find a different path.
So, in May the project began. I have been preparing mentally and spiritually for years for ‘The great reset’, the shift, global economic meltdown etc and finally I was able to begin my true preparation for a place where I could become as self sufficient as possible, live off grid, grow my own food and evolve into the mad wild mountain woman I have always been at heart!
When I first looked at the caravan, I
almost ran a mile: Twenty years abandoned, full of junk, dirt and wildlife, it
was not for the faint hearted! But I have vision and a creative spirit and I knew with Si´s help we could transform it.
Hence the real hard physical work began during the scorching Spanish summer. The caravan was located amongst pine trees which at least gave us some shade but still the heat was/is a killer!
We began by pulling out an unbelievable amount of objects, clothes, books, rubbish-the expression, ´How many elephants can you fit in a mini´ sprung to mind...
We stood sweating, staring in disbelief at the mountain of objects whilst I attempted to keep postive when looking at the state of the caravan, the dirt, rot, broken panels and thinking of the area where we would move it to, an expanse of abandoned land that was almost uninhabitable...
What the actual f**k was I thinking? Then I imagined being back in the apartment like a caged animal climbing the walls and knew I would find the strength and tenacity to create something amazing and gave thanks for this amazing opportunity to change my life.
Slowly but surely the caravan began to resemble something other than a junkyard and over the months in between driving up and down the mountains and tending to other personal emergencies and issues we managed to keep the project going on a shoestring budget.
The day I finally painted the inside a bright refreshing mint green was definitely cause for celebration!Now I could truly imagine this space evolving into my home...
We had a few wasp incidents a long the way and I found out the hard way that one must always check empty tubes, car doors and an array of other places before moving them. I learnt very quickly that applying mud to the area instantly made a difference, the day I kicked a pipe, disturbing some angry wasps who managed to get inside my shorts! Anyone observing the nutty woman doing some kind of mad rain dance whilst stripping at lightning speed and shouting an array of expletives would have been left wondering ...
Ah and then the day I came face to face with the large snake...
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