Our new land off grid on a Spanish mountain: Part one

 

For those of you who have followed some of our off grid 'experiments' over the last year you will already be aware of our latest adventure but if not, here's the lowdown...

I began caravan life in 2022, fleeing to the hills for much needed headspace and ended up in a friend's caravan that had not been used for a few years post Covid. So I roll up in winter with no heaating or water and some rats and wasps for company...

Got it sorted and then realized I absolutely needed my own caravan  https://1000milesfromnowhere.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-wild-mountain-woman-and-her-caravan_5.html

which you can read about in the link above.

That was no mean feat, restoring a very old very abandoned caravan on a shoestring budget but we did it and she is alive and well  as you will see in a moment (the caravan not me, though she's probably in a better state than me right now!)

That caravan went down the mountain and ended up on someone else's land on the coast...then ended up on my mother's land until its final destination to our own land! In between, I was in another caravan at a cat and donkey sanctuary!

Don't worry if you can't keep up, I can't either...

My partner (we met 2 years ago) and I used the caravan as a bedroom and purchased a large bell tent as our living space:

https://1000milesfromnowhere.blogspot.com/2025/01/life-in-bell-tent-off-grid-in-spain.html

It was an amazing space for a while until we moved to another friend's land without the caravan and just the tent..two of us in the tend in all weathers and health issues...puts your relationship to the test believe me! What was meant to be about 6 weeks turned into more like 6 months...we looked at land locally, searched for land up in Tarragona...gave up...changed our plans and became rather despondent about our direction...

Until one day two months ago an ad appeared on social media that seemed too good to be true for the price but it was real...and it was a resonable price (unlike most things on the Spanish coast!) because there is no water and it had been long abandoned , 2500m2 (aprox half an acre) of hugely overgrown land on a mountain side and no immediate vehicle access...

Some of the access two months ago...

We were ecstatic and couldn't believe it given we had lost hope on finding anything we could afford...

And so began the hard work. We bought it and signed, all within 10 days of seeing the ad_that is lightening speed here!

We borrowed a strimmer, purchased a chain saw and cutters and began clearing the access which is 600m up hill...

Neither the land nor the very long path up had been used in many decades. The local townhall owns the track in order to access the electricity pylons in the area but clearly had not tended to the track...

So slowly by hand we began the laborious task...

And the same on the many abandoned terraces of our land, some so thick with bramble and bushes we could not even decipher where it began and ended...much exasperated swearing would have been heard over the last two months as we encountered nasty thorns and such like!

Before and after mulching, one of the many terraces...

The day the machines finally arrived was a glorious day indeed! You can not imagine the elation when we could finally drive up the track to our own land and begin the next stage...

Our access today!

Clearing the space revealed beautiful rich soil...all the better for planting!

There were many dead almond trees as well as overgrown Olive trees and Carob trees..

We are still slowly discovering exactly what we have around us, including huge amounts of Rosemary and Thyme and wild Lavender! Amazing...

Given it is very dry mountainside we are making sure we remove all the dead wood and create many fire breaks as there have been awful wild fires across the country and in theory all these areas should be cleared nd maintained...which they are not! So, for our sakes and the mountain and everyone nearby, we are doing our bit...

It was the views that made this a no brainer for me...

So, once the access was created and some of the terraces cleaned up it was time to bring up caravan n1:

Oh the joys of watching your baby swinging through the air! This was not the first time we had witnessed this :

https://1000milesfromnowhere.blogspot.com/2025/01/life-in-bell-tent-off-grid-in-spain.html

last year we had the help of 4 other friends, this year just my partner and I, and me with back and stomach issues trying to move and turn a caravan stuck in mud! Bloody great.

Oh how we missed our wonderful friend Marcel, not just for his help and advice but his lovely calming presence. RIP our beautiful friend.

After many a nail biting moment we finally got her up the land courtesy of a tractor! The only vehicle that could tow her the final kms...

You may have noticed she's changed colour...we are going to improve on that with our camoflage ideas...

Next week we bring our second caravan which is up another mountain an hour away which will also need transporting on the back of a tow truck and then the trusty tractor...

More stress and prepping but will be worth it in the end...

Watch this space for the coming chapters of how to get water, how to camoflage your caravan and more...