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by
Judy Prince |
Many people talk about leaving cold
and wintry Blighty and moving to sunnier climes to live
but in reality, few actually ever muster the courage to do
it.
At the tender(!) young age of 44,
after a year of Spanish lessons and with £100,000 in her
pocket from the sale of their estate property in Dunmow,
Jon's younger sister Judy sets off with her partner Clive
on the journey of a lifetime.
This is the first part of their story.
The travel documents arrived a week
before we were due to leave. I heard the thud on the mat
and ran to the door, glancing up at the window just in
time to see the postman's familiar wave disappearing
around the corner. The envelope stared up at me
enticingly. Half an hour later it sat on the kitchen table
still unopened.
We had waited a long time for this
moment. For as long as I could remember, it had always
been a dream of mine to live in Spain. Only a pipe dream,
admittedly, but now it was reality, staring me in the
face, and I felt scared for the very first time.
I had arrived at a crossroads. In one
direction there were clear views ahead, whilst in the
other the road was winding away into the distance with not
a cat's eye in sight. So which was it to be?
I ripped open the envelope - there was
no contest!
We travelled across the channel to
France on Eurotunnel. It was all part of the 'big
adventure'. Our accommodation along the way was to vary
from clean but basic 'logis', traditional chambre d'hotes,
homely B&B's found on the Internet (nothing had been
booked in advance as we had not wanted to be tied to
times) and our one single indulgence - a night in a luxury
hotel room. |
We had planned to spend seven to eight days in total,
meandering through the Loire Valley, taking in a few chateaux
along the was, then down to Sarlat, famous for its foie gras
(which we managed to avoid with great difficulty!) and across
to the medieval 'cite'of Rocamadour in the Dordogne. From here
we drove south via the famous 'Gorges du Tarn', a region rich
in natural wonders. The scenery was spectacular, the landscape
extreme in its variation, from the flat lands of the north,
through the peaks and valleys of the Midi-Pyrenees and then
leading down to Provence with its gentle rolling hills and the
sparkling crystal waters of the Cote D'Azur. Having allowed
ourselves two weeks for a brief holiday on arrival, our
'honeymoon' period is now well and truly over. We must now get
down to the nitty-gritty and decide where it is that we want
to live. We have based ourselves in a rented villa located
near Moraira on the Costa Blanca, but this week we are
travelling down to Torrevieja, south of Alicante in order to
discover what that area has to offer.
We are learning new things every day that would never have
crossed our minds back in the UK. But it is early days. We
have given ourselves six months to make up our minds whether
Spain is for us, and I would recommend anyone who has the
opportunity to do the same. It gives one time to gain a real
feel for a place. Searching for a holiday house is one thing,
but looking for a new area in which to set up a permanent home
is a completely different matter.
At the moment I remain very optimistic with few doubts, but
if at the end of the day we decide that living abroad is not
for us then we are not afraid to turn round and head back to
the crossroads in order to take the straight road again.
November 5th - It's Guy Fawkes night here and the
temperature outside is 25 degrees centigrade. I wonder what
the weather is like back in Blighty? (It's been absolutely wet
and miserable! - Jon)
To be
continued..
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