Live truly remote in ancient waterfall forest in Asturias, Spain

Details

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  Description

  Hello people this is Anton
   
  Im a 25 year old traveller whos story began in New Zealand where i got "stuck" during covid and ended up spending 3 years there and another year in Australia. Besides hitchhiking around living in a hammock and trying to find untouched nature i also volunteered myself more than often spending time in Communities or with crazy off grid pioneers that i drew alot of inspiration from.
  
  After returning to europe it was in northern Spain that i stumbled upon this cabin by chance sold for almost nothing by a german speaking asturian lady i met again through the power of hitchhiking.
  At first glance the cabin was very unideal: The land sloped, inaccessable by car and the cabin in ruin like shape. It was only when her husband led me to a nearby waterfall next to an ancient beech tree that i got taken back to the magic places i had witnessed in New Zealand and decided to buy it with some money i had saved up on an australian farm.
  I definetely didnt know where that journey would take me.
   
  Now three years into this project i had the most fun and challenging time. I started with no car, only hitchhiking to town to get groceries and come back to live in a tent in front of the cabin, befriending a fox and contemplating the overwhelming feeling of remoteness as well as the footprints of wolfs near my tent one morning.
   
  Luckily i found out that this specific area had somehow drawn alot of other world travellers since centuries to go and live there: I met people from holland, Italy, britain and germany, alot of oldschool hippies and system escapists that i made friends with, Some of them already lived there for 40 years so i had alot to learn from them.
   
  After doing a winter season job in the Alps i returned to Asturias ,this time with a car. As my spanish improved i finally made friends with locals getting invited for asturian stews, getting fresh vegetables from their gardens.
  And then out of sheer luck i met a spanish man who owns a cabin just a walk away from my own. He used to use it for some hunting trips with his children but now they are grown up and his heavy smoking makes him unable to climb around those mountains. So he was very happy to give me the keys and allow me to use it hoping that it would bring back some life to it.
  
  After some help of and old asturian lady from the valley as well as another neighbour a hippie lady from holland we gave that cabin a good clean, removing the rat shit and dust that covered it.
  I couldnt believe that i didnt have to live in my tent anymore while waiting for an success to my cabin project. In the meantime i also made progress on my own land, i dug access to it in hopes to be able to drive there some day.
  
  Then a friend of mine recommended workaway to me as a way to find likeminded people to come and join this project.
  I really liked that idea as it was a way for me to return all that kindness i had received overseas myself to other travellers and maybe even create a little community of like-minded travellers.
  Since the hunters cabin consists of a large upstairs with 6 bunkbeds and a downstairs with a decent kitchen, sink and a fireplace i found it most suitable to host people inside.
  
  And the workaway site really did wonders! The whole year 2025 around 25 people came to visit and contribute to the project. Travellers from britain, chzechia, germany as well as New Zeland and Australia or Iran and many more countries came and really were keen to take this somewhere. Although already just being happy about the company of really cool people they exceeded that expectation by far, together with my new helpers we teared down a whole side of a wall that was dangerously leaning outwards and completely stacked in back up again using the same rock and some fresh clay.
  Others helped me fixing the road that turned out to be to muddy to drive on. So we dug trenches and placed giant boulders in them to improve traction of vehicles. And after i had all the building permissions and somehow managed to deliver building materials down to the land i was set to start tackling the roof, bit by bit taking off all the old timber and tiles and then cementing the top of the walls.
   
  The hunters cabin also became the most cozy place in the world as some helpers had put alot of love into it. I also was given an old norwegian cast iron woodburner that makes it more than toasty in there. I got to know the most interesting people, share music and play games into the night drinking spanish wine. 
  
  I am looking forward to repeat this experience again this year but also ideally aiming at moving down to my own land only using the hunters cabin as a backup. I really missed staying down there as it is the most mystiqual place where every day felt like a dream. In order people visiting think the same i want to set up more bell tents with matresses (3m wide tents you can even stand in) a hot shower and fence the area to keep wolfs out haha.
  A british neighbour might want to sell me his offroader which could definetely take me down straight to the land.
  This means i will be able to drive alot of cool stuff down near the cabin extending all possibilities.
  
  So if you want to join this project for a while on your own travels then hit me up! Besides the important things like fencing the place and improving access (the roof being my personal main target that i can´t ask workawayers to help with) I have alot of fun ideas in my head on what to do: Building a jaccuzi out of the pigs den, a massive swing and finally start a garden. If you come and bring your own ideas i am more than happy to implement them! As long as they respect mother nature and the local Asturians i am happy for this place to become a sort of playground / labratory / retreat for us travellers without destination.
  
  The only requirement is that you arrive to my land on foot on your very first day. After this i will be able to drive us with my car. This is because i want to insure that you can experience this land like i did my first years of living there. I want your first sight to be ancient old growth and hidden waterfalls so that you get the same impression I had that made me fall in love. After that i will be happy to drive to supply groceries or if somebody needs to do something important in town. Also it definetely takes a bit of adventure mindedness to stay there. You got to be a good hiker, have orientation skills, be respectful towards nature and have a sense of the unknown. 
  That being said I'm sure there will be also time for some explorations, I know alot of cool spots as well as beaches not long of a drive away. If we felt stuck in the cabin too much maybe we will go for a surf or explore some caves.
  
  Anyways hope to see you soon!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Sustainability

  

  Farming

  

  Gardening

  

  Plant care

  

  Beach

  

  Nature

  

  Camping

  

  Mountain

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Hiking

  

  Cycling

  

  Adventure sports
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  People staying will soak into one of the last primeval natural places of Europe and get away from the daily hustle of city life. I can share my knowledge of wild edible food, gardening and other bushcraft. Hopefully I can as well learn from everyone visiting, each person is welcome to add to the whole picture from their own experiences. I want the land to be an opportunity for ecological minded souls to be creative and use it as a sort of sandbox. Ideally we can create a group that can explore an alternative way of life in harmony with nature. I want everyone to feel the possibility to have a say and choose what project to focus on.

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  Help

  My personal main target is to finally put a roof on my own cabin which is a task i wont be asking workawayers to help me with as it is dangerous.
  
  But besides that i will need to fence the property, create the first garden and improve access. You may decide to contribute your energy towards that if you feel like you want to be part of that adventure.
  
  But i am very happy for people to freely choose their own tasks. As long as everybody tries to be part of a bigger picture I am happy for anything, making art, collecting wild herbs or mushrooms, preparing meals or building a tree house. There are plenty things to choose from, i love to imagine my place as an adult playground in the wild, that yet respects the locals and mother nature. A community of travellers sharing their stories.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  Spanish :)
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  Accommodation

  Since last year i am able to provide very comfortable shelter in a fully off grid cabin a little walk away from my own. It has an upstairs with a total of 6 beds and an downstairs with a kitchen, dining table, sink and a cozy fireplace. Also there is a smaller seperate room with a bathroom and toilet. Together we can also set up a gas heated shower. But this cabin is not my own and has been offered to me by a very friendly older spanish couple to use so i really need to able to trust everybody staying in it to use it with care.
  
  Ideally my vision for this years workaway experience is to have the camp set up on my own land down in the valley. I feel the atmosphere is very special and unique and also we will have much more freedom there to do things. There already is a 3m wide bell tent with a matress but i plan to get more, install a heated gas shower outside, extending the outside kitchen and fencing the place.

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  What else ...

  I am hoping to host people that want to have a genuine wilderness experience and detach from the rest of the world. As a sort of "test" to be suitable for that kind of life i am will be asking people to do a short hike from the main road to the land in order to really understand the remoteness and magic of this place. You will hike besides a mystical stream dotted with waterfalls and giant old growth next to it until the path takes you up to my cabin where you can still hear it flowing.
  
  After that I will be able to drive people back and forth from the property with my car.
  
  That way i want to ensure that people with the right mindset will arrive, as although i find the place now to be offering alot of comfort, things can always turn, lets say a bit more adventerous. Watepipes can get blocked, electric power disabled or heavy rain will make the road not undrivable.
  
  But if anybody feels uncomfortable and wants to return to civilisation for good again I will make space for that no matter what. I don't want to make anybody feel stuck and have them know that I will always help them leave (drive back to town where there is a hotel)
  
  You got to come with the right mindset, the right clothes (suitable for rain as its more rainy here than the rest of spain), headtorches and generally luggage you can carry on your back. On my own land there is no reception only a little coverage for emergency calls. You have to walk up the mountain 10 minutes to have internet again.
  
  If this doesnt sound like a disadvantage but rather like an opportunity for you to escape this more and more artificial world then please come and have a look :)

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  You can park at the beginning of the 35min hike that takes you to the land. If it is a 4x4 you can get closer to it.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

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