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Like Christine and Mike, the Brexit deadline prompted Shaun and Anna to make the break, and move lock stock and barrel to establish residency rights in their new home, before the barrier came down. Both couples made it with few days to spare. In Shaun and Anna’s case, they had acquired the Blue Corner House, which sits in three hectares of hilly Asturias countryside: five minutes from the motorway, and less than half an hour from the ferry at Santander. It’s on the Camino de Santiago, with a view of the foothills of the Picos, and an hour’s walk to an enchanting small beach. I know. Shaun persuaded me to walk there, and back.

It’s yet another beach photo, this time with a man doing capoeira to his camera. In a sense, that’s the defining sense of place of Northern Spain sea and mountain. Anna told me a story of the village, which shows up in census records, that all the men went out fishing one sunny day in their little sardine fleet. The weather turned into a raging storm and all were lost, a complete generation. The relatives on land then foreswore the fishing life, and all went to work for the shoe factory in the next town. One census, fishermen, the next, shoe workers. It’s a tough coast.

It is also noted for its links with the Americas in the C19th century: escaping poverty, some emigrated to Mexico, and came back with a fortune to build large mansions. They brought back exotic plants too. Anna, who is an excellent Spanish speaker, finds the area very open to outsiders, which she attributes to the comings and goings of migration, and centuries of pilgrims passing through.

My hosts have decided to establish a sustainable small holding using organic and low impact methods. They have three ducks to eat the snails, and were adopted by two small cats which they think were left by the previous ancient owner. Their plan, once they can get permissions, is to rent the upper apartment, which has been beautifully modernised, either for income, or for labour in lieu as an agroturismo. (Other deals may be available!) At the moment they are working hard to establish a kitchen garden, to sustain a couple of vegetarians, and eventually provide a market surplus. In the meantime Shaun still has his theatre rigging and inspection firm in the UK which he goes back for a few weeks to do. Here’s an ambitious project, but the soil is good and there’s plenty of water. I wish them well, and thanks for the duck egg and the lemon!

Speaking of pilgrimage, my mind went back to the post on travelling, which was, fairly I think, accused of being over-academic. So forgive me if I repeat the sin. The antithesis of travelling is Walden, where Henry David Thoreau writes about building a cabin in the woods, essentially to spend time meditating on nature. He talks about staying put to know one place very well, in opposition to the American dream of travelling west, Whitman’s ‘manifest destiny’. My pilgrimage, like all of them I think, is one of self discovery, to place myself deliberately outside my comfort zone, places where I’m not at ease. A little like the Flying Dutchman at times, condemned to roam the earth, I am become the fliegende englander. So, off to explore the Picos mountains.