I've been doing my big sort out of hard drives and laptop this week, backing up, archiving some of this years footage and binning others to make room for next year.
As I was doing this I found a really old folder just named "Lance" and oh man has it got some memories within!
Even though I'm done for the year I couldn't not share some of these gems with you lot, As a Baby Lance figures out his new world.
Merry Xmas.
C.J, Emma & Lance
Told you I’d keep you in the loop.
Here’s a little peak into the project I mentioned a while back that I’ve been working on for a time.
A new series for next year, covering some of the most interesting camping/vanlife vehicles and their stories from around the world, as well as a couple of event pieces too.
Its still in early stages, not filmed anything yet. But I’ve really been enjoying the research and script writing aspect, it’s not something I thought I’d get...
2022-12-11 15:16:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Lance and I return to the land to begin his long and slow recovery from his leg op, during which I get struck down by manflu/chest infection.
So the next few weeks become recovery for the both of us.
It all started off so great.
Emma returned after what felt like a lifetime away, her reason for returning to the UK had gone as best as could be & she brought back a load of goodies!
All was well again, until it wasn't.
One evening shortly following, Lance had an accident, his worst yet, and we had to get him to the vet to see what damage had been done.
My Urbex senses have once again been tingling, so Lance & I made tracks to a location I've been meaning to explore for a good while.
Tucked into the hills is a village that seemingly everyone has forgotten about.
Yet it's fields are tended, there are street lamps & power on despite no actual roads, and the age/condition of buildings vary dramatically.
One building of which was my main aim, a house, the most intact in the village and inside was a treasure trove of history and ...
Today's video is heavy on the timber.
I modify the deck almost the second it's finished, then head on into the S.H.I.T for some more tinkering with wood and all round have a lovely old man in a shed day, finished off with a shed-cooked meal.
I hope you enjoy.
C.J
.
P.S I forgot to add the "Next time" bit at the end, my bad. You lot are smart, I'm sure you'll figure out when the teaser starts.
2022-11-24 17:55:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Carrying on from the last video, I shot back into town to collect the rest of the wood required and got stuck back in.
The weather tried to put a dampener on things but I was so engrossed (plus I can't sit still) I edged forwards regardless.
I was almost sad to click the last plank down and attach last few bits, this project was the perfect remedy whilst being on my Todd, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
But now it is all together there's a real sense of finishing something on the l...
Happy Sunday all!
Thought I'd share a few screen grabs from yesterday's activities with you as I had a lot of fun stretching Amber's legs, barrelling through some seriously "out there" deserted valleys.
There is another route to our land, but this track is not really used anymore and is almost reclaimed by nature in places, so by no means is it an easy alternative track but it is one of our emergency exit routes if all else fails in the event of fires. But it...
2022-11-13 13:26:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello you lot!
I hope all is well with you all. I've been struck down with man flu this week which has been just wonderful whilst looking after a 3 legged Spaniel. 😆
Lance is doing great though, the op went really well and on day 3 he started using the leg again! I assumed he'd be lame for weeks and we'd have to carry him everywhere, but instead it's been more of a job to slow him down and keep him in once place to not over work the leg.
The cone of...
2022-11-11 17:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all,
Firstly thank you for your patience this week, I've managed to get Lance comfy and had a few hours to get this weeks video done.
For those of you that missed the Lens/Story here on Patreon, Lance has managed to break his leg this week! 🥺 It's been a horrible few days but he is doing really well. The pain killers are working and he's figured out how to get about his day on 3 legs now. Tomorrow is his operation (I am very nervous about) He's broke his "Elbow" quite bad...
We've been scorched by sun for 6 solid months now, without a drop of rain.
But one fateful night changed all that, bringing a storm over us the like I've not seen for a long time.
Overnight the whole mountain side was transformed, colours darkened, tracks became rivers, and the smells of the forested exploded into the air.
The best part of all this rain though was the sheer relief & comfort it brought, knowing that risk of wild fire plummeted from maximum to zero in under 1...
2022-10-21 18:55:08 +0000 UTC View Post
During a visit from my good friend Paul and his other half Shane,
We discover that right under our noses, the grape vines have been at work!
Buckets of grapes have been growing and were discovered just in time!
I set up a Trail cam giving us an insight into the land at night,
And.... well we get locked out of the trailer. 🤦🏼♂️
Enjoy!
It's only taken 2 years but the Van Dock has now been completed!
Well, the basic structure of it anyway, I'm sure we'll come up with more ideas to add very soon.
Here's little teaser trailer for you.
I'm real stoked with how the other half came out.
I couldn't get the same sized wood nor the same decking boards so I was apprehensive about it looking a bit mix-matched, but it suits well and the newer wood is 100% better than the original, it actually shits all over the...
2022-10-09 17:40:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Work cracks on in the caravan as we get the interior ready for use.
After some questionable paint colours and some re-thinks we start see the transformation unfold, without it looking like the inside of a Minion.
Overall I'm really happy with how the living space come out.
There's still lots to be done with things like the bathroom, the shower needs ripping out so there's been talk of a log burner in the future.
But for now were just happy we can now use this caravan as a chill sp...
This week we're tackling a job I've been pretending doesn't exist for a while.
Why? Well because it's... The well. I do not like wells, and ours had a huge deposit of 100 year old shit at the bottom of it that needs extracting.
So, with some helping hands we succeed in draining it down to it's bottom and begin the arduous (and smelly) task of clearing & reviving our old well so it can be used properly once more.
There was a massive chunk of vid 17. I had to cut out.
It didn't really click in right as it was filmed the weekend before when we first went up the Serra Da Estrela and 17 was getting way to long as it was.
Lots of footage gets binned, I've canned entire videos in the past as they weren't good enough but this stuff I felt would be a shame to bin, So I put it aside and those of you that fancy some "deleted scene" stuff can have a gander.
It's "half baked" with lots of the finishing a...
join us as we make our way up the tallest mountain range in Portugal;
Serra Da Estrela.
Translating to 'Mountain of the stars', this place is aptly named, as our first night at a blind park up had more stars on show than I've ever seen.
We woke up to see what was on the doorstep and explored around, enjoying the -10c heat difference.
...Or caravan it's better know at the moment. With Guests not far off from coming to visit, we need to get this steaming heap of tin and ply into a pleasant, habitable & odour free place to stay asap! Mixed into this video is also a "shop along" a bloody back back drop fire & how not to drive your home.
2022-09-15 16:59:02 +0000 UTC View Post
with the gaps in the insane heat increasing and giving us a break, we cracked out the tools and got as much done as we could.
The wood pile was running low, both for fire wood and building materials, so a few trees got the chop and we made it back around the the veg patch, finishing the fences over a year n a bit later.
It was tough going and towards the afternoons we'd still get scortched, but I was pleased with how us two pasty Brits were handling the hottest summer on Portuguese r...
2022-09-10 10:25:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all,
This isn't your main video this week, that's coming up later.
But I've also been working on a sum-up/recap video over the past few weeks, cutting down the full rebuild series of the van.
In today's world of ever decreasing attention spans, you gotta cater to all 😉 and many won't sit through nearly 6 hours of video in a shed with a guy n half a van! Who knew!?
It was fun to sit through it all again and reminisce, some bits more than others, but it makes for some nic...
Upon returning from our trip to "not quite" Nazare, mercifully the heat had died off a bit. I set about recovering the drone and excitedly get back to jobs we've been waiting to do. One fateful day out running some errands, we take a wrong turn that we won't forget in a hurry!
Any suggestions for the Nameless dog statue competition will be collected into a hat and announced on a later video, please comment here on Patreon as YT comments may be missed.
I'm still keep mea...
2022-09-03 17:11:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Seeing as I’m back off Instagram for a bit I’ll slam my photos here instead 😉
Just a few photos and screen grabs, some showing whats in store in the coming weeks.
Happy Wednesday!
2022-08-24 11:06:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh this one took a while! Sometimes a video can just click and fly together, other times the music never fits and you sit and procrastinate over each segment. There's a lot been added, tweaked and taken away before I was happy with this one, and yet it's still one of the longest vlogs I've done. But the subject of this video was one of my favourite trips to date around Portugal.
This year's summer heat has hit a new high this year since records began 80 years ago. What a year to return...
Hey all,
Here's a little extra vid this week for you, it's aimed a little more towards YT, but I'm sure you'll want to see it too.
I've selected 7 other channels that I really enjoy to showcase.
Channels that run on similar paths to mine and have incredible effort put into their content, their production, editing, personalities & journeys, and I think really deserve to be seen by more people.
It'll probably be going up live later tonight, so only a short "early acces...
2022-08-15 10:24:12 +0000 UTC View Post
As summer fully rolls in and cranks the heat dial into the 40's we begin to learn what it takes to live out here and adapt our days, work ethic, even dinner times to better deal with the heat.
Biggest lesson learnt is water is very much your friend, so begin improving the olive vat so we can spend more time in there.
Next week see's the heat raise so high that we have to leave, so look forward to a mini road trip video that despite not going to plan at all, was real good fun.
After spending some time up in the woods decompressing from online bullshittery, I found the little space up there a lovely and calming place to be, as did Emma.
So we began clearing and making it into a useable area and fit for the viewing platform we have planned in the coming months.
We also sink our teeth in the newest addition, the caravan, Trying to get it to blend into the land and start the inside deep clean!
Living in a van full-time comes with it's challenges, getting internet is often one of them. With our base in Portugal being very much off-grid, we were struggling to work, research project & play so something needed to be done about it. So we gave Starlink RV a punt (a very expensive punt) to see if this could fix our online woes and bring living on our tiny farm in the wild bang up to the 21st century. Plus we see how much of a beating it can take.
This one will be going li...
well the heat persists on but the technology is coping to the point I've managed to get a video done and posted early! Upload time 9 mins of a 2.8GB file in the wilderness! 😎.
Thanks all for the messages asking after us during Portugal's wild fires, we are very much safe as it stands, the biggest fire near us was a good 50Km away and nothing has sprouted up near us during the worst of the heat wave. That fire though raged on for 10 days and took 200 fire vehicles and over 800 firefi...
In a slightly different approach to the usual, this video takes you through our recent visit back to the UK, good and bad, as well as having a little catch up chat with you all.
Edit: apologies if you see ads in this one, I've had a copyright claim put on from the ending track. 😆🤦🏼♂️
2022-07-15 19:43:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Me again!
As requesting by a few of you I have set up a Playlist of the videos following on from our return to Portugal, for those of you that are struggling to keep up with Patreon post or just want to binge watch, this playlist will allow you to see the newest videos back to back. As each new video gets uploaded it will be added to this playlist so you can just save this to your Youtube if you find it easier, including today's which is directly below.