Filosofia de reforma

My initial concept is a mountain refuge, a sort of stone hut camping, and land to grow on. With a long-term perspective to improve, working together with friends, while starting out slowly, day trips and overnight stays, without electricity for the construction and lights(cordless drill, hand saw & candles, kerosene lamps, old-school chandeliers), collecting rainwater, drinking from the spring water, using a wood stove (or camping gas!), natural outdoor toilet (aka: hole in the ground).

I´ve come to realize this is a typical idea of vacations in Norway: cabin life in Norway.

There are several reasons for wanting this, but at the root is my appreciation of nature and the history of these cabañas pasiegos, of alternative natural living, of finding simple solutions to basic needs. And since this cabaña will most likely remain as a mountain get-away, and not a permanent residence, I wanted to create a unique weekend experience, and not just taking my city living comforts and lifestyle into the mountains. I will, however, have my smartphone for quickly Googling doubts!

Upstairs: hay and branches

First steps:

1. Road access--fix some pot holes.

2. Clean out the inside: all the manure, straw, branches, etc...

3. Fix the two floors, removing half of the 2nd story to make an open gallery to the bottom floor. Lay a new wood floor on that remaining half of the 2nd story.

4. Place a rain collection gutter and deposit on the uphill side for indoor use.

5. Create steps from the road to the front doors (using wood, gravel, stones).

6. With every trip bring living/cooking/sleeping supplies.

7. Mortar any non-mortared stones with traditional lime mortar.

Stone slab shingles

What do I want to wait and see:

1. The stone slab roof--I want to avoid re-roofing, understanding that I will occasionally have to reposition a stone slab, as was traditionally done.

2. There is humidity on the up-hill, underground wall. I want to see to what extent it leaks, or just remains humid. The gutter might limit water draining down on that wall, and I may dig a french drain uphill from it too....we´ll wait and see. For now, don´t place fragile things in that corner.

3. The bottom floor is of thick stone slab...I´m interested to see whats under them, and to gain some height under the 2nd floor it could be useful to remove that half....wait and see.

Non-essentials:

1. Plant trees (see legal aspects, only native species...how about non-native bushes? Blueberries would be nice).

2. Create vegetable garden

3. Install rain-water plumbing for sink.

4. Install woodstove/woodfurnace (legally only allowed one chimney escape)

5. Outdoor firepit/Picnic table

La cabaña

So this is the one, in the comarca Miera, near Hoyo Castrejon: La Cabaña, a typical Cabaña Pasiega, date of construction unknown (the living owners claim their grandparents lived in it too) .

Dimensions: 10 x 7 meters, 7 meters high, in two stories. Made of 3ft thick karst stone walls with dark stone slab shingles, fastened by gravity.

The inner structure of the second story and roof is of wood. The lot comes with 5 acres (2 hectares), mainly on a sloping pasture, with about 10 Ash trees (fresnos), wild blackberries and good ol´ stinging nettles.

These stone huts were used as summer pasture huts for dairy farmers, using a traditional manure recycling system: housing the cows on the bottom floor which has a stone canal (wedged by foot thick stone slabs) leading out the south side to drain and collect manure and urine. In late early spring this is spread around the pasture grasses as fertilizer for a healthy summer pasture. There´s a good video on it here.

The second story, with a wood floor (now needing repair) was for the shepherd and family to sleep, cook in the chimney, and store/dry hay. Conditions were very rustic: no electricity or running water, and the "chimney" was really just a stone slab for a fire, and some cracks on the ceiling above it to let the smoke out.

Around the cabaña: it has three "annexes": a bebedero, or stone watering tank, at one time fed by the spring at the edge of the property (the hose was broken when the road was made); a muradal, or a stone walled retainer for cow manure; and a borcil, or a man-made cave (for making cheese!!?).

Geographically, this is the Enguinza massif, directly above is Pico El Mortirio, down the slope from the cabaña: los Averones cave; 1 km away we have the Los Pozos de Noja: two man-made ponds for the 17th cannon factory and all around: views of Santander and the Cantabrian sea.

Averones cave entrance, with La cabaña above it.

Discovering Pico Enguinza

Soon after moving to Cantabria in 2003 Amaia gave me a book on hikes in Cantabria. This was a regular resource for our weekend hikes as we got to know Cantabria. One day, looking for the closest excursion around Santander, I saw Pico Enguinza (964 m), from Rubalcaba, a short 30 minute ride away. I escaped one sunny, slow morning at work while Amaia was away at her guardia, but was unsuccessful after misdirections from a local, unintelligable Meracho cowboy (term for person from the Miera valley) . But I did get to see the Pozos de Noja and a hidden valley with amazing views of the Cantabrian coastline. I was amazed at the sense of remoteness, only a half-hour out of Santander. But, it was a failed attempt, so I had to try again.

My second attempt at Enguinza Peak, following the official route (and not the Merecho´s suggestions), led me past several cabañas, and one in particular which I instantly fell in love with (actually next to the one I now plan on buying)--views of Santander, a dirt road recently made, solid rock construction...Unfortunately, night was falling and once again, I failed in my 2nd attempt to the top of Enguinza, but was even more in love with this hidden valley overlooking Santander. And I also better understood why this route wasn´t so popular...with my 2nd attempt only taking me to its base, near Pico Marmoja with its little cabañas, which I also fell in love with, see pix below:

Upon walking back to the car I saw the Meracho farmer with his sister and mom (below, finally captured by the sister) and asked about the cabañas, only to receive horror stories of the dangers of the mountain, thieves, people drowning in the ponds, and concluding with thier advice to go home, get something to eat, go to bed and safely watch some tv.

They asked what I did: I am translator; then they asked what that was: I described how I convert Spanish into English; and they continued to ask what was English: I had to explain that it was the way people in certain countries talk...and the sister had to interrupt and say her mother doesn´t understand that stuff... With this in mind, I began to understand the real isolation of these people, and so I didn´t take their mountain horror stories too seriously, and chalked it up as local colour fiction.

Grandma, me and excellent photo framing by her daughter

So finally, in my third attempt, I succeeded in reaching the peak and enjoying a full view of Cantabria, from Laredo to los Picos de Europa with Castro Valnera behind us. Being the highest peak in the general Miera region, its views are that of a much higher mountain. This was to become my favourite get-away from Santander, only a half hour away by car, and providing the sensation of a truly remote mountain hike. I´ve been up this peak 4 times now, and because of the karstic, jagged terrain and rarely marked path, I´ve probably never repeated the same final 15 minute scramble.

In the beginning

I´ve always been fascinated with the cabaña pasiega in Cantabria thier simplicity, thier remote locations, green pastures, the history of the Pasiego dairy farmers, and their stoneness...a lot of rock: walls, roof shingles, stairs. At any point in a mountain hike in Cantabria you´re bound to visit one of these beacons of isolation lost in the highest mountains and wonder, how the hell did this get here--while in other parts of Spain you´re liable to run into a Christian hermitage up in no-man´s land...here it was all about the cows and pasture.

But what really sparked my obsession were two things: their abundance, spotted along the Cantabrian landscape; and of course, their price tag: 10, 20 or 30 thousand euros for two 45 square meter stories and several acres of land. With or without electricity, running water, an accessible road or just a small foot path. And I thought, hey, I could swing that.

Anytime I would spot one of these stone cabins on my many hikes, my imagination would fly: imagine taking a long hike and ending up here, at your own cabaña, with wood to start a fire to cook on, sit and relax on your stone door steps, drinking from you wine boot while looking out to absorb the mountain landscape. The night bonfire, a hot evening meal...and then waking up the next morning with Amaia in a silent morning mist, only hearing cowbells and smelling the wood smoke from the chimney. Working out in the garden, thinking you have the whole day up here to take a hike, a dip in a stream, and not just a few hour hike, which was our customary escape from the overcrowded, concrete city.

So as it ends up, we´re going to buy one, in Miera, under Monte Enguinza, overlooking the Cantabrian Sea and Santander´s sandy beaches. But, besides mustering up the courage to do so, besides digging deep in our pockets, convincing my wife to go along with my bucolic fantasy, and withstanding the confused look on people´s faces when I told of my plans, the hardest part still remains: La Reforma.

Through this blog I hope to document and share the process, doubts, reflections and pictures, and also hope to get some help in solving some of the obstacles I will face by having a space to discuss this adventure with both the internet audience and my friends who will partake in this project helping me both physically in the labour, and intellectually with ideas and motivation to keep going.

Let the fun begin.