Live truly remote in ancient waterfall forest in Asturias, Spain

Infos

• 

  Description

  Hello people this is Anton
   
  Im a 25 year old german that after having travelled multiple countries found his own little stone cabin and a plot of land in the middle of an ancient mountain forest in northern Spain trying to create a little home.
  
  My 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 and spent time in different Communities and with crazy off grid pioneers that i was able to draw alot of inspiration from.
  
  After also spending some time in southeast Asia i returned to europe and 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 structure 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 coming 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 travelling souls 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 was able to soak into their experiences.
   
  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.
  
  With some help from some friendly neighbours we gave that cabin a good clean, removing the rat shit and dust that covered it making it a very cozy place to live in.
  I couldnt believe that i didnt have to live in my tent anymore while waiting for an success to my own cabin project. In the meantime i also made progress there, i dug access to it in hopes to be able to drive there some day. (Which turned out way more difficult than anticipated!)
  
  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 to other travellers and maybe even create a little community of like-minded people.
  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! Last year around 25 people came to visit and to 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 friendly 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 it back up again using the same rock and some fresh clay.
  Others helped me fixing the road that turned out to be way too 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 my 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!

• 

  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  Aide dans une ferme

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
• 

  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Ferme

  

  Jardinage

  

  Soin des plantes

  

  Plage

  

  Nature

  

  Camping

  

  Montagne

  

  Activités en plein air

  

  Randonnée

  

  Cyclisme

  

  Sports d'aventure
• 

  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  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.

• 

  Aide

  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.

• 

  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant
  Espagnol: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Spanish :)
• 

  Hébergement

  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 cold shower 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.

• 

  Autres infos...

  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. Waterpipes can get blocked, electric power disabled or heavy rain could make the road 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 up there. So if anybody needed to leave for some reason they can always tell me and i will drive them to town where they are connected again to services.
  
  You got to come with some preparation, 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.
  
  Although you got very good internet reception in the hunters cabin, my own cabin has only got quite limited service. You gotta walk up the hill again to connect to the internet.
  
  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 :)

• 

  Informations complémentaires

  • 

    Accès Internet

  • 

    Accès Internet limité

  • 

    Nous avons des animaux

  • 

    Nous sommes fumeurs

  • 

    Familles bienvenues

• 

  Espace pour garer des 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.

• 

  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  Cet hôte a dit qu’il acceptait les personnes voyageant avec un animal.

• 

  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

• 

  Mes animaux

Sécurité du site

Discutez avec des workawayers qui ont séjourné chez cet hôte

Feedback (6)