Tag Archives: Portugal

Hand Harvesting Olives

With the sale of our house in the UK at a critical period, the perfect time spent to put that to the back of our minds was to begin harvesting the olives in our rented space in Portugal.

The other day, as I walked past a local family harvesting their olives, I was astonished at how quickly they cleared their olive trees of olives. It was done with expert precision.

Our efforts today, however, might have seemed a little amateurish compared to our neighbours’ skills. Nevertheless, this was a moment to learn something new and as we discovered, a time to think.

Thinking clearly becomes difficult when there are so many plates to spin. Perhaps you’ve felt the same way at times too? It can feel like you’re taking on one too many plates and the only outcome you can visualise is one where the plates come crashing down.

Standing in a field, then, picking olives from the many trees, seemed like a much needed respite from the spinning plates.

And this is not an activity to be taken lightly in Portugal. Olive cultivation is big business and one of the oldest traditions in the country. It’s fun too.

Some time ago I wrote an article about my ‘happy place’. This was when I was walking along Cleveland Way in Scarborough, UK, and my family and I went berry picking. The kids were happy to explore their natural surroundings, learn about foraging and discovering what they could make with their newly picked berries.

No screens, no rush to be elsewhere, just living in the moment with nature. Today enabled me to feel that again as we harvested the olives. It humbled and grounded me. I think it did with the kids too. Finding them a school in their new home is paramount, but standing in a field learning new cultural standards comes a very close second.

Tomorrow we have many more trees to strip. Along with some textbook homeschooling and more phone calls to get our house sale over the line, I’ll be looking forward to standing in our field again.

Palhais

Along with my new resistance training which I’m now completing each morning, as a family we are beginning to explore our local area of Palhais in Sertá. And as I don’t have the use of a full time car, walking long distances has been a daily activity.

We happen to be almost in the very centre of Portugal. So much so that in the distance of our accommodation we can see the Centro Geodésico de Portugal, which is a tall white tower signalling the geographical centre of Portugal in Vila de Rei which offers fantastic panoramic views. But this region also has its challenges.

Buses are irregular and, if you do drive, the long and winding road through the mountainous route from Palhais to Cernache do Bonjardim is not for the faint hearted. And for those who are walking from place to place, kerbs aren’t really a thing here.

And that’s what we’re doing for the most part, doing lots of walking.

But luckily, whether we are on foot or in a car, we rarely see many cars on the road which suits my left hand lane driving brain.

In the town of Sertá, there are lots of things to see and do even on a drizzly (yet warmish) November day. Of course, the boys found a football pitch to have a kick about.

And then there’s Trizio, which is a wonderful river beach offering water sports during the summer periods. For now though, we got to see its beauty without any people there. When our youngest, Finlay, managed to stop talking for a second, we could hear just the silence of our surroundings. Bliss.

There are those days where we don’t feel like leaving our accommodation at all. It has a pool, which is freezing, but that didn’t stop Finlay from having a dip!

We know that what is around the corner for us in our lives will be a challenge. But it’s one that we signed up for. Tomorrow we will be looking at another house that has the potential to be our permanent home and business. It won’t be the finished product and we will have to put all of our resources into it, as well as ensuring that the kids’ wellbeing and schooling needs are met. So far, we have been able to explore our surroundings at our leisure. But we await the next chapter and we hope it will be in Palhais.

And we don’t expect a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but we are hoping for a fulfilling, grounding and loving one.

A Day To Start A New Routine

Since arriving in Portugal I’ve ticked off a few necessary jobs that had to be done. Driving my (potentially) new car yesterday was a nerve-wracking task that I had to get over as I had never driven outside of the UK before. Another ‘biggie’ today will be to view a house that we are looking to buy.

But before that, another essential task will be to begin a fitness routine. Regular readers of my blog will recall me saying that I was prepared to put any regular training regime on hold while I focused fully on moving my family out of the UK.

I had left the gym that I worked and trained from in the summer and my own bits of gym equipment had been gradually palletised over the past few months so access to heavy resistance was difficult. Time was also an issue as I have been putting every ounce of energy into the move every second of each day.

Stopping a daily training program can be dangerous. Excuses can always be found and, whether they may be good enough reasons or not, a plan to begin a training program in the near future must be a priority if we are serious about our fitness goals. My passion for mental and physical health (and aesthetics) has never waned. I’ve kept my calories in check throughout so that I haven’t spiralled too much. I’ve been desperate to begin training again. But other than a calisthenics routine, I have felt restricted.

Now, just to be clear. Calisthenics is a great way to train. This is by exercising using bodyweight only. So push ups, press ups, squats, Burpees etc are good examples. But it has never excited me in the same way as resistance training. And I like to feel excited by a new challenge such as a different weight or a new piece of gym kit.

Oh, and talking of new bits of gym kit, I decided to start my daily routine again by lifting breeze blocks and bottles filled with sand!

I do appreciate an unconventional method. I sometimes feel that the polished arrangement of a commercial gym can be off putting. Lifting heavy stuff in a Portuguese field with the view of the mountains, however, is something that can’t be bought with a gym membership. I just had to take advantage. Today was a day to start a new routine.

And I have little excuse not to. For a short time now this land and its gym is what I call home. Until we can find our new permanent home and create our new business, this is my life. I have energy and lots of thinking and meditating time in abundance. Sure the kids will keep me busy, and home schooling will be important to us until we find a permanent school. But that’s all part of finding this new routine.

I just know that my workouts will become an important part of it.

Houndgate Cafe

An image from the local Dine magazine

In a small bistro in the centre of Darlington, big ideas were being refined by its two managers.

Louise and I were to open this new dining establishment back in 2008. I know the date well. As we opened the doors, the news came out that a worldwide economic crash had begun.

It seemed like we were going to be up against it straight away!

It is true that we had no experience in managing such a big project within this industry. And we certainly had no experience of the massive impact the economic crash would have on an industry such as a restaurant. But we created something special for our loyal customers.

Lou would create the menu and design the serving styles of each dish whilst managing the kitchen. I became the wine and coffee ‘specialist’ while managing front of house.

Saturdays were especially busy and people would often be queuing out of the door to get a seat where, regrettably, once I had to turn down ex England manager Steve McClaren and his family as the waiting time for a table went well into extra time.

But in those down times, where people would call in for a cuppa, we made sure that we had time for a chat.

I love cafe culture. Some of my most memorable moments on my travels were just sitting outside the cafe at places like Piazza Della Signora in Florence and the quaint cimbalimo in Tomar drinking an americano.

Somehow, it allows the world to stand still for a moment. Sure, I see the people mulling about and going about their business, but it all seems calm. Peaceful.

So that’s what I wanted to create a little bit of for the customers of Houndgate Cafe.

Fast forward fifteen years and it is still what I want to create for my customers. And since Houndgate I’ve added to my people skills with working in the fitness industry.

Roll my experience up into a ball and you kind of get what we will create in Portugal. A wellbeing centre and glamping site. Or Centro de bem estar é glamping, as it will be known.

For the past twelve months I’ve been dreaming of seeing our visitors sitting outside their accommodation, cooking BBQ food and enjoying the Portuguese summer evenings. Well, that and dreaming of Liverpool winning the Premier League, but you get what I mean.

I can only create what I know that I would want in a service. That’s what I’ve always done. As a support worker, I wanted to treat people like I would want to be supported. At Houndgate, I wanted to give the customer the experience that I look for in a bistro. And as a personal trainer, I wanted to make the client feel positive about themselves both mentally and physically.

Our youthful optimism from when we began our journey at Houndgate has since taken some beatings. After all, we need to experience the lows for us to know where to improve and embrace the highs! It’s just a part of the process.

But our ideas are now ready to be rolled out onto new beginnings. We’re ready to create something new again.