We left Kathryn to get over her jet-lag and made our way back to Alcaria taking the toll-free routes. It certainly takes a bit longer for the journey home staying off the motorways, but seeing we had a cancelled appointment and it’s replacement to navigate this month, we had spent more on tolls this than we had anticipated. However the weather that day wasn’t too bad and the road conditions although a bit rough weren’t too bad.
We got to catch up with our bestie and friends which is always nice. We even managed a couple of walks and also a couple of days back on our property cutting back the surge in growth! We were only away for a few weeks and the amount of vegetation growth is scary! On the plus side, the brambles were getting less and less invasive and they seem to get weaker each time we cut them back.
The land really does look beautiful once it has had a haircut and the trees and bushes trimmed. There was still no progress on the build however, but we were into the rainy season. However, we were down at the land working on gardening aspects as often as we could.
Our fear now is that we were essentially going to be away for the next three and a bit months! If the grass and weeds had shot up in three weeks, imagine what it is going to be like after three months! But looking on the bright side, there should be a house where at present there are just foundations, when we return.
It was lucky timing being back too, as it was our friend Bruce’s birthday and we got to share a bit of time with him and give our congratulations as well as eating some of his lovely cake! They also had lovely friends visiting from the UK so it was nice to get together and have a good chat. After dropping their friends off to go back to the UK, they were heading off to Setúbal and invited us to join them to show us the market and the area, but with all the taxes and tolls etc, we just haven’t got enough money to stretch to travel more this week. We would still like to visit that part of the country however, and there are some nice Roman ruins that look worth a visit, so one day we will get down there.
We also used the time at Alcaria to get some more admin done. Annette organized our fourth Covid boosters. We also had a load of tax bills to be paid. The car tax, and a huge tax bill for stamp duty which was a bit of a shock. The local council here decided to re-value our land after we bought it and handed us a mega tax bill, thanks a lot! Fingers crossed, it is only a one off payment.
Also, our local municipality is doing a health discount scheme, as there is a shortage of doctors here, the scheme enables discounts if you use the private sector. It is available in clinics all over the country too, so as traveling house/pet sitters, we think it will be well worth it, and it is free to sign up to. So we scheduled a visit to our local junta to get that sorted too.
Wayne went down to the land to take some drone footage of the foundations, as they currently were, and while he was there noticed that some more material had been delivered to the job site. It was great to finally see some more progress.
We also got to meet up with our new friends, and soon to be neighbors, Peter and Isabele. We met up for a nice walk up to our favorite picnic spot overlooking our valley. The walk took us past our job site and it was fantastic to see the builders were actually working on something. We didn’t stop to look though, as we wanted to get up the hill for the views! It is a fairly easy circular route ending up back at their house. When we arrived we were treated to an amazing tea with food that Isabele had made. She is an amazing cook too! We look forward to reciprocating once we are in our house, so hope it won’t be too long.
So, the following day, we were intrigued to see what the builders were doing. We jumped in the car and went back to check. It seems like they are preparing for the wood frame and it needs to be insulated from the block foundations and it was good to see this had been started. It was super important for us to have a warm comfortable home in the colder months here in Portugal. The wood frame construction is enabling the main structure to be isolated from the block foundation which does get damp in the rain and will therefore add to the thermal insulation properties that we are aiming to achieve.
We will end this one on that positive note, and cross our fingers that the build continues to progress well.
Next week we are starting off with a mini-break at a hotel by the river Tagus, and heading off to our next house sit in Leiria. Not too far away, so we might check in on the house again too.
Our Portuguese Life 