Back to Normal....?

Well, FR is well and truly home. He called us from the ferry on Tuesday afternoon as the children and I were coming back from school. Actually, at the moment he called, we were driving through our village, Almondbury - a normally peaceful little place just outside Huddersfield - just as all hell was breaking loose! We had a helicopter hovering just above us, three police cars and lots of police around, plus another three cars sirening their way up the hill; plumes of smoke rising from behind the bank; groups of kids just leaving school - then more police cars arriving.  Turns out that just as schools came out, there had been an armed robbery on the local bank - thus far, the robbers have not been caught. It's enough to make you want to leave the country! 

At around 9.30pm, a whole hour before we expected him, FR arrived home - and we had a lovely family reunion, with lots of noise and hugs and presents and more hugs and noise, before we eventually got the children off to bed. It's the first time FR has been away from the children for such a long time and he was just so glad to be back and to see them - and me - again. It feels now like we've been over the first hurdle on our big journey and we can move on towards the next one.

Yesterday, we talked and talked about all the things he had seen and all the places he'd looked at; about La Urz and the big house there and about renting options. I was quite right that he had really liked the vineyard in Chantada. We talked through all the issues about living on such an isolate hilltop spot - and it really is on a hilltop - imagine this every morning!

Spectacular, yes, but gives me vertigo to be honest...so, no to vineyard.

I am not sure that FR investigated Asturias as thoroughly as I had hoped. He spent a lot of time in Galicia because he found it so very beautiful - it was a gorgeous time of year to visit a place full of blossom trees and he enjoyed the food. He has taken some lovely photographs and I shall have to find a way of putting a link here so you can see them. He also took some good ones around Taramundi, in Asturias, which is place that had appealed to me from the start. He feels that although it also is very beautiful, it is mainly a lovely tourist spot to visit but not somewhere that he could imagine us living our daily lives in.

This amazing beach is 'La Playa de Catedrales' which is on the coastal border area between Galicia and Asturias - absolutely stunning, even in rather moody weather. There was a piece of land for sale just set back from this view and I know he was slightly tempted to build us a house there - he contacted the owner of the land, who said it would cost 200,000euros. FR had said, by means of saying it was out of our price range, that we couldn't pay more than 100,000 for it (still out of our price range!) and thought no more about it. Three days later, the same man phoned him to say he'd accept 120,000.  Both houses and land are very over-priced in Spain as people selling prefer to drop the price radically if someone is interested, rather than offer it for sale at a sensible starting price. It's what was happening here for a while but I think we've adjusted now.
On that note, (overpriced?) we return to La Urz. I seriously think that when Mateo and I go to look at it next week (volcanic activity permitting) that if we like it, we'll be making our offer to the owner pretty quickly. It is a huge house and not immediately habitable but with such potential that we could do all we wanted and more there. All the villagers are apparently very keen for a family to move in and FR seems to have forged a bond with many of them already - they are ready to meet us next Sunday.
And if I don't like it... square one is to find a place to rent and perhaps investigate Asturias a bit more...and to be absolutely honest, I don't mind this option. Normal will never be quite the same again, I suspect!