Bonus & Wendy's Big Adventure . . . .

[Bonus]

How far back does your place date back to?

Not sure. I've checked the deeds and it doesn't say. Maybe because it was built as an agricultural building(s) I'll have to ask the locals next time we're there.

[Gen]

Not sure. I've checked the deeds and it doesn't say. Maybe because it was built as an agricultural building(s) I'll have to ask the locals next time we're there.

Would be interesting to know..

[Matchstix]

That is freaken awesome!!!

[Bonus]

Whoops.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Bonus

[Bonus]

Shipping is expensive! We decided on Britannia. On average, about 7% cheaper than the others we had. The fx rate will hammer you. Door to door including packing from cpt to amsterdam for about half a container is R60k.

 

White goods are generally more pricey here in Europe than SA. Funnily enough, I find tye UK to have very competitive prices on household goods compared to the Netherlands. Not sure what it will be like with your destination.

 

Johan from Britannia came round on Thursday to talk to us and now he's preparing a "worst case scenario" quote for us. (ie worst case because it's the option to take most of our stuff with is) Once we see the quote I suspect we will whittle down our wish list a bit!

 

It was only after he'd been that I remembered you'd mentioned them specifically.

Nice guy and had some good tips for us :-)

Edited October 18, 2015 by Bonus

[Jacques@ACT]

Johan from Britannia came round on Thursday to talk to us and now he's preparing a "worst case scenario" quote for us. (ie worst case because it's the option to take most of our stuff with is) Once we see the quote I suspect we will whittle down our wish list a bit!

 

It was only after he'd been that I remembered you'd mentioned them specifically.

Nice guy and had some good tips for us :-)

Generally very good. They gave us an idea of costs for individual items if we had to leave it behind. Was useful to work out what would be best left behind.

[Bonus]

Generally very good. They gave us an idea of costs for individual items if we had to leave it behind. Was useful to work out what would be best left behind.

He's doing us two quotes. One for lots of suff and one with a few things left out. Just to give us an idea where we stand. Should get it tomorrow hopefully.

[Slowbee]

any updates ? I have been away for a while ....

[Bonus]

Hi SB!

 

Second moving company came today to quote removals to Spain. Haven't had first companies quote back yet - chased it today.

 

House sale here is going through - fingers crossed for no hiccups . . . .

Architects drawings in Spain are well on their way.

 

Tour de France route was announced last week and it goes past our front door (well - sort of . . . . )

 

:-)

[Bonus]

Great meeting up with "The Boys" at the Africa Cycle Fair . . . Thanks for the encouragement guys - see you in Spain :-)

 

 

[Bonus]

Our latest news . . .

 

 

Some years ago a small group of enthusiastic people living in and around the small town of Ainsa in northern Spain decided that if their town and the surrounding villages (including the one that we have bought a property in) were to survive the ongoing European recession and even prosper in the future, then steps would have to be taken to encourage growth in the form of tourism in this already naturally beautiful part of the world.

 

To that end, over the next few years around 700km of rural pathways and tracks in the area were joined together and turned into a network of maintained and sign posted MTB trails which, along with the road-riding, white river rafting, kayaking, hill walking, nearby mountain climbing and skiing, make Ainsa the "Sports Adventure Town" that it is.

 

Plans and growth continue - in September this year Round 7 of the Enduro World Series MTB races was successfully held in Ainsa.

 

Yesterday, the municipal councils of the areas on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees around Ainsa signed agreements with their French counterparts on the northern side of the mountains that will aid and encourage continued growth and co-operation.

 

This sort of forward thinking is great to see!  

 

 

 

Council Press Release (9th November 2015): (Translated as best as I can!)

 

To continue growth and sustainability in the area and to help the Pyrenees mountains to regain and maintain the dignity they deserve, in this case, with our neighbours on the French side..... 

 

"Today we have signed a partnership agreement between the municipalities of Ainsa-Sobrarbe, Boltaña, Sant-Lary Soulan and Arreau, and between the business associations of the Sobrarbe (council) and Zone Zero (the local MTB organisation), to go forward united for the development of our mountains on both sides of the Pyrenees......."

[Bonus]

Some of the trails around our soon to be "Home Town" . . . .

 

https://www.facebook.com/LasBicisGiant/videos/10153706261299805/

[SwissVan]

Some of the trails around our soon to be "Home Town" . . . .

 

https://www.facebook.com/LasBicisGiant/videos/10153706261299805/

 

Lekker

 

Why are there so many orange coloured bikes and helmets, are they rentals?

[Bonus]

Lekker

 

Why are there so many orange coloured bikes and helmets, are they rentals?

I'm not sure SV - maybe just down to the people who made the video/advert? The hire bikes I saw were std black frames.

 

I will research the situation properly when I go back in January . . . .

[Bonus]

We have now received an email from our Spanish architect with plans for our house renovation attached 

 

They look very good and we're happy. We've had a few copies printed out on A3 and A2 sizes so that we can mark them up / scribble on them. Now we can start measuring the new rooms and working out what furniture to take with us and where it will fit in. We still won't take everything, but it looks like we will take what we can - since we have a 6m container to fill anyway and our stuff has no great resale value here..

 

Some more good news - by extending the walls of the tower by a meter or so, we are now able to have 2 double rooms en suite on both the middle and the top floors.

 

Previously we were looking at 2 doubles en suite on the middle floor and two singles sharing a bathroom on the top floor.

 

Total guest bed count is now 8 - was previously 6. I doubt we would want to manage more than 8 people max at any one time anyway, so were happy.

 

B&W

 

[Bonus]

Today we used the renovation building plans to calculate which bits of our furniture will fit where. We now have a good idea of what to take with us - based on what will actually fit into our new house.

 

 

Next step will be to get our chosen shipping agent back to re-quote on what we've finally decided to take. Meanwhile Andrea is packing up ornaments and things . . . time is moving on!