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