Seven months in Spain and a fair few more to come.

Once again its been a while since we last updated our blog but it is with much joy and excitement in our lives that we have this opportunity to inform you that after spending seven months in Spain we have been successful in obtaining our Spanish Residencia. This basically means that Spain has now become our main base and the place where we will reside for the majority of the year.

Andalusian Flag

This might come as a surprise to some of you but after arriving here in the middle of October in our dear little VW Campervan (Elsie) on what we thought would be a two month stay we have loved the lifestyle, the weather, the people and the options that this nation with all of it's history affords us.

So lets rewind a bit with some highlights of the last seven months and we shall do this via a list view as below.

Biking along the Prom at Torrox Costa

- We sailed from Portsmouth on an overnight ferry to Santander in northern Spain Elsie (the VW Campervan) packed up ready for a two month stay before a return to the UK for Christmas.

- Prior to the trip we had agreed with our good friends in England that we would aim to stay in their 'holiday home' in Andalucía for a couple of months making our way slowly through north and western Spain on our way there.

- Soon after arriving in Spain the nation was sent into a second lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus and instead of a slow journey taking in the sights and sounds we made our way directly to Torrox on the Costa Del Sol.

City Walls at Avilla

- Thankfully we had a few days of travel before the announcement and were able to visit the towns and cities of Burgos, Salamanca, Avilla (with its wonderful city walls and historic Christian heritage), Toledo and even Cordoba (and it's amazing cathedral which we will have to revisit sometime in the near future)

Pueblo Blanco 

- We arrived in Torrox Park in torrential rain but were thankful that the sun returned by the next morning and were able to explore the three parts of Torrox (the old 'Pueblo' with it's traditional whitewashed houses set on a hill, the modern 'Park' where we were staying and the Costa, which is as expected set on the Mediterranean coast!) 

Time with Arry

- Amazingly our youngest son had been travelling in Portugal and was due to meet up with the yacht he was working on in Malaga so he was able to join us for a night before sailing off across the Atlantic to Mexico. 

- After we'd been in Torrox Park for a few weeks we began to think about the options that we currently had for the next phase of our lives, which as with many other people, had been deeply impacted by the lack of opportunities to travel to those far off places where we had more recently been sharing the Leadership for Life programme. 

Winter Solstice sunset from our apartment

- With the Covid-19 virus showing no sign of let up, the continued restrictions in the UK and the thought of spending Christmas and New Years in a caravan in a field in Buckinghamshire with the possibility of not even seeing family if we were back in England, we decided that the options that living in Spain for this next phase of our lives gave us we would apply for residency here.

- We weren't too hopeful that our application would be accepted as there were many factors that we didn't tick but after visiting a local lawyer we were advised to move quickly due to the 31st December deadline that was in place following the UK's exit of the European Union.

Monika, Ralf and Lucy

- The first thing we needed was a longer term place to stay, our friends holiday villa was just that a place for them to holiday and to offer to friends and their family so we looked around and found a wonderful apartment overlooking the beach at the el Morche end of Torrox Costa which has been a godsend and not something that we will ever take too lightly.

- After opening a Spanish bank account, registering for our NIE at the local police station and informing the local municipality of our permanent (semi permanent) address, all before the 31st, we then had to wait until we had actually been here for three months, thus showing bank statements, receipts for items purchased locally etc, before applying which we did in the middle of January 2021.

Beach Bars

- During those three months we were enjoying walking in the mountains, shopping at the local market buying all our fresh fruit there on a Monday morning from a dear old couple who we have struck up a firm friendship with, running on the beach, eating tapas at local bars and creating friendships with both locals and expats.

- This is the longest time we have spent in one place since leaving Grabouw, South Africa, in 2015 and the third longest period of time in one place since we got married 33 years ago. 

Yoga

- Maz has started Yoga on a Wednesday morning and has made some good connections with likeminded people there and she spends around an hour a day learning Spanish via an app which she is steadily but surely mastering.

- I have been struggling with achilles and back problems which have limited my longer runs but have taken up playing 'Padel', a racket sport similar to Tennis but played on a smaller court with glass sides where the ball is in play like Squash, and have English, Danish, German and Spanish friends that I play with at least twice a week.

Sledging in the Sierra Nevada 

- We have ventured out to the Sierra Nevada to visit the snow at the ski center there and even bought a sledge which we really had fun with before Christmas. We have also bought a Paddle Board (SUP) which we take out on the sea as and when the conditions are in our favour (i.e not too choppy!)

- The weather has been wonderful, most days we wake to clear blue skies with the promise of sun and warm temperatures, although we have had some rain and during the winter months it has felt more like the 'Costa del Wind' rather than the Costa del Sol but as spring moves into summer the winds have dropped and we are actually grateful for the gentle sea breezes.

SUP!

- It's been a great time for us to chill out, read books (too many to mention here but we will update our list on the side bar for you to see what we have been reading), listening to podcasts and generally taking life one day as it comes. We don't earn any money but live a simple life which we are very much enjoying.

- The Covid-19 lockdown restrictions seem to have been easier than those set in England or France and other than having to wear masks when in public places we have been able to live a relative normal life which means we feel so blessed.

Christmas Day

- Obviously we have missed our family and friends immensely, especially over Christmas, which we celebrated on our own for the first time ever but that was a similar situation for many people so we didn't feel too alone.

- Lastly we have made two very good friends, Ralf and Monika from Germany, who are both Yoga teachers and along with their dear little dog, Lucy, we've enjoyed some special times with, mostly bumping into along the prom for an impromptu coffee or Tinto de Verano, watching films, eating some of Maz' amazing plant based food and we even visited Seville (Sevilla) last weekend where we enjoyed the stunning city with it's awesome architecture, history, bars, parks and shops!

New friends and good food.

Our lives seem so full at the moment, we do have a daily rhythm which starts off with exercise, stretching, mindfulness and even meditation we play at least three games of Backgammon and tax our brains with online quizzes as well as having a daily walk and continuing to encourage others who are in our sphere of influence be they in South Africa, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia or South Korea and we try to maintain weekly connections with our wonderful family via zoom and other medium who are so dear to us and whom we miss very much.

 

Walkers Run for Water - An 80km run in Spain

It's been a while since we updated our blog so as we enter into 2021 with further trepidation we wanted to encourage you with news of a run I (Tim) completed on the 21st December to raise funds to dig a second well to install a water pump in a remote village in southern Madagascar.

Off for an Ultra Run!

Yes you read the title of this post correctly I ran 80 kilometers non stop on the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere from sunrise at 8.30am here in Spain to sunset at just before 6pm completing the challenge in 8 hours and 35 minutes, raising near on half the $5,000 that we need to sink this well in the process.

I wanted to write this post as an encouragement to those of us who have just drifted into middle age and to show that if I can achieve something that I only ever dreamt of then let that be a motivation to us all that each one of us has amazing amazing potential inside of us that is just waiting to be released.

So before we go into my run and look at how I undertook what was the longest run of my life, beating my previous best by seven kilometers, I want to take you back to the summer of 2016 when I took up running again and look back at the motivation to do that.

We'd arrived back in England after a three month trip to Madagascar where we once again engaged with our wonderful friends working in the capital Antananarivo and the eastern port city of Toamasina. Our return was to help support Maz' sister as she supported her mum who was in the final stages of her battle against cancer, sadly Judy passed away from just after we had got back home but it was good to be there at the end.

After a visit to see our eldest son and his family in Bath I felt overweight and short of breath as I played football and attempted to chase our three precious grandchildren around the local park.

My logo care of Emily House

I'd always been a good runner in my secondary school years, often picked for the cross-country team, longer distance track runs and spending nights at the athletic club in Aylesbury, Bucks. I had also continued to keep my fit playing football for my local team until I was 40 years old but then we took the bold step and moved to South Africa to set up the Village of Hope, a home for children impacted by HIV and TB, and although I ran a sports outreach programme into the local community using football and netball to encourage the young people living in the formal and informal settlements where we lived I had become lazy, overindulging in a tad too many braai's (BBQ) and perhaps enjoying the wonderful South African wine a little too much! 

Back to that June day in 2016 I looked at my life, the choices that I was making and observed other people around me, some who like me had just let things slip and others who were pushing themselves as they neared their fiftieth birthdays I was worried that within a few years I could have further grandchildren and pondered on what sort of Granddad would they grow up knowing and what fun would we all miss out on if I couldn't even kick a ball with them.

My motivation to run, the current water
situation in Madagascar 

So a few days later I decided to dust off a pair of old astro turf football boots, put on a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts and head off for a run around the block a simple run of around 500 meters. By the end of the run I could hardly breath but undeterred I woke the next morning to undertake another round of that 500 meter loop.

By the morning of 23rd June, just a few days into my new found regime I decided that I needed to download an App to help me keep a note of my activities, mainly to motivate me but also to have a base point to look back on. If you click this link you'll be taken to my Strava page where you'll see that during that first recorded run I covered 2.62km in a total time of near on 15 minutes at an average pace of 5 mins 36 seconds per kilometer.

Water hole for a village of 2,000 people

Over the following days, weeks and now years I've extended my runs, starting with a 5km, a 10k in just under one hour by the middle of July and that was really that with the longer distances as I continued with runs around 5km-10km for just over a year. However on July 24th 2017 I pushed the boat out and ran with my Ultra running Brother-in-law, Chris, over my longest run to date a 14.8km run in France which took almost one and a half hours.

That August I turned 50 and on my birthday I ran a 10km in just over 50 minutes which I was very pleased with and with that in the bag I decided to enter into my first half marathon, again with my brother-in-law, and also my sister in Northampton, which I ran in just under one hour 50 minutes, I think I'd found my running legs but my distances really didn't go up again until I entered my first marathon over a year later.

My aim was to get over the line in under 4 hour's so I made up my mind that I would complete this with a run/walk strategy, thus ensuring I didn't burn out too quickly and giving my legs and body some time to recover as I tackled the tough Winelands Marathon held in the stunning South African town of Stellenbosch, more famed for its wines than it's marathon and guess what, just over 3 hours and 57 minutes since I set out I stumbled over the 26.2 mile (42.2km) line completely exhausted but I'd done it!

The pump on top of the first
new Well that we funded in early
2020

As you can see it took me quite some time to build up to a marathon distance and by the end of 2018 not only myself but also Maz had got into running regularly and we'd also changed our eating habits, inspired by the book Finding Ultra by Rich Roll we cut out all meat and dairy from our diets, a decision that we feel has both benefitted our health, weight, well-being and the well-being of the planet and those that we share it with.

Whilst in South Africa, we were based there to undertake some work for Emerging Leaders, working with local farms and the communities around those farms sharing the amazing Leadership for Life programme and seeing some very positive impact into the lives of those people who we'd come to know and love during our near on seven years setting up and running the Village of Hope, we both entered into the bi yearly 'trail series', runs up in the beautiful mountains that surround Cape Town which we both really enjoyed.

I wasn't without injury, during those first few years I really struggled with a bad back, slipping my disc whilst in South Africa which meant three months without running, continuing problems with my achilles and both knees, especially my left knee which I'm sure was the result of my 35 years or so playing football.

In early 2019 my crazy Brother-in-law challenged me to join him on an Ultra marathon, basically an ultra is any run that is longer than a marathon, technically I suppose it could be 43kms or 27 miles, but this one was going to be 73kms or just over 45 miles and would be taking place on the stunning island of Jersey which is situated just off of the north coast of France and although has long beautiful beaches to its west and southern sides has a very rugged north coast which was going to make the challenge of running it in under 11 hours very tough indeed....but once again we did it and although I couldn't walk for a couple of days after that event I was so proud of my achievement and to look back on where I'd come from just over 3 years before, however I vowed never to undertake another ultra distance again!

Since then I've tried to complete a marathon distance over a week every week and am not only feeling the benefit to my physical health but also my mental and spiritual health, it also means that I get out most days to take in some fresh air and to enjoy all that nature has to offer, be that on the pavements of England, fields of Zambia, sand tracks in Zimbabwe, mountain paths in South Africa, dusty streets in Madagascar, footpaths through the slums in Uganda, the beaches of Mauritius or the promenades here in Spain, I am blessed and I don't take that for granted.

Just the 75,500 steps!

So if I vowed never to do an ultra distance again why undertake the latest run here in Spain, where we are trying to gain our Spanish residency? Well that's a long story but it mainly comes down to the fact that I can't paint, I can't sing and to be honest I'm not very productive at all but what I have proved to myself is that I can run, and if I can run then maybe some kind people will sponsor me to push myself beyond my comfort zone so I can bless those who have very challenging lives each and everyday so to put my body on the line for just over 8 hours surely isn't too much to do.

If you haven't given up reading by now I'll just quickly let you know how I managed to cover the 80kms within the timescales that I had set myself. 

Firstly I made sure I had put some miles or Kilometers in my legs, training each day to do either some hill work, short sprints or longer distances. 

Next I made my plan for the run, my two previous ultra distances had been over some hilly terrain (I didn't mention that I had actually completed a second ultra distance, this was last June when I ran a 7.5km lap around Buckinghamshire on the shortest night of the year, completing the 56kms with some friends in just under six hours during the middle of the night, yes that was crazy but a wonderful way to celebrate the summer solstice and raise further funds for our friends who are struggling in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and Madagascar), this time I wasn't going to put the challenging hills in so I opted for an 8km lap (x10) up and down the promenade in Torrox Costa, lightweight I know!

At 8.30am I started my run, equipped with a drinks bottle and Maz on hand to bring down supplies as per the timings I'd estimated that I would run passed our apartment. I aimed to get through the first marathon as fast as I could and then worry about the following 38km once I'd got that under my belt. 

Lunch time

My first 12km I hit at a non stop 5 mins per km pace, the second 12km I slowed it down to a 2,5km run with a 250m walk which actually went really well so I continued that until I reached the full marathon point at my fastest marathon time of 3hrs 53 mins which I was really pleased with as I was aiming to undertake that at around 4hrs. 

After a short break for lunch, where Maz bought down a pot noddle to compliment the nuts, seeds and dried fruit that I had been consuming since the first hour, I knew that I had around five hours to keep going to hit the final 38km. I reached 50km by running 1.5Km and walking 500 meters in 4hrs 50 mins and kept that going till I got to 60km.

The sun has shone all day and it was quite fun to see the shadows created as I passed the lighthouse and also bars where people had been enjoying their pre-Christmas drinks and food whilst I plodded passed them with sweat pouring from under my Santa hat which I had worn since the start. 

The last 20kms were made up of a walk/run with 500m intervals with Maz joining me for the last 14km which was a great encouragement to me and I crossed the 80km mark with 35 minutes left before the beautiful sun dropped into the mediterranean sea to end a perfect day!

Nearly finished

The 80km run also allowed me to pass my 2,300kms mark for the year 2020 a feat that I never dreamed of achieving way back in June 2016 when I stumbled out of bed in the hope that I could one day run a 5km and be able to chase my grandchildren around the park in my older age.

I hope you've enjoyed the read and that you have been inspired to realise the amazing potential that lies within each and everyone of us, maybe you won't go out for an 80km run but I would encourage you all to at least take time to exercise your body each day and if you can think more about what you put in your body via your choice of diet, I can guarantee that you'll feel better both in your body (I lost 20kg once I made my life choices) and in your mind.

Lastly if you are able to spare a few pennies then please visit our Facebook Fundraising page by clicking on to this link and help me to make a difference to those we know who are currently facing a daily challenge of finding fresh water just to live.