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Bliss Ventures

Bliss Ventures

I am Bliss, descended from wolves, a 4000 year lineage of Siberian Huskies. I’m travelling the World in our self converted campervan Ivy with my Mum & Dad (Vikki & Darren). I love to be in nature seeking adventure. The spirit of my ancestors with me. Meer informatie🇬🇧Isle of Wight
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    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage
      On a pedestal where she belongs
      There's Crocs in them there waters tooI've never seen Darren so relaxed, he just never does 😊

      Paradise Found 🕊️

      1 juni 2024, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      We woke up late feeling tired, seasick and groggy after a disturbed night sleep but ready to get out of the constant gusting winds. Just as we were packing up to leave about 30 beautiful Spanish horses being ridden by what were clearly very experienced riders suddenly arrived out of nowhere in the car park and stopped right outside Ivy for a rest. A lot of the horses were quite frisky because of the strong winds that were spooking them but it made them look all the more majestic and stunning as they were high stepping and prancing around each other, it was a real treat to see such an unexpected scene.

      New Flag for Ivy. Portugal 🇵🇹

      We left the windy mountain and headed off towards Portugal, excited to be going to a new country for the first time. We crossed the border into Portugal, no fanfare or border controls, just a couple of signs. Immediately we crossed the road changed from smooth tarmac to bumpy roads with potholes so progress slowed. The terrain and buildings were different too. Houses in Portugal are huge compared with the uk it seemed, well at least what we’ve seen so far. We passed through some pretty villages and eventually arrived at the place I had found on Park4night which had promised to be in the words of the last person who stayed here “the best park up ever”

      We were not disappointed, it is a little paradise. A small river, hidden from the nearby quiet road, lined by trees for shade and safe to allow Bliss complete freedom off lead to get in the slow flowing river whenever she wanted, Bliss most definitely approved of this place, she kept doing little happy dances and doing zoomies all around the trees and into the water, smiling from ear to ear.
      The place is absolutely idyllic and goes down as my (and I think Bliss’s) favourite park up so far. The best thing... strangely...no mosquitoes!
      Darren went for a swim in the river and tried his best to get me in but I declined saying I might go in tomorrow.
      There were small fish and frogs, even crayfish which we might have fully expected. But this Garden of Eden came with the full package including a 3ft snake seen swimming across the river 30m further down from where we were. That definitely put me off swimming in it! And not 5 minutes later a huge wasp that was about 1.5 inches long was hanging around the van. I think it might have been an Asian hornet 🐝 but not sure, never seen anything like it!!
      Darren did look up snakes in Portugal and assured me that they were not likely to be venomous and even if they were they are unlikely to bite as they’d sooner avoid us. The one we saw was almost certainly a Viperine water snake and harmless. Well... I hope he’s right about that! Kinda sounds like a Marvel Superhero (Viperine) so I’m not entirely sure if he’s having me on, you never can tell with Darren. 🙄
      Darren set up a hammock between the trees which made lounging next to the river with the sound of the cool breeze rustling the leaves in the trees, the water, birds and frogs just the most relaxing thing ever. I could just stay here... my version of heaven looks a lot like this.
      Late in the afternoon a chap arrived on a small tractor, we thought he might be coming to say “you can’t park there mate!” but he was just a local farmer come to collect water from the river. We smiled and waved at him and he waved back nicely… so we stayed.
      The best nights sleep was had after the most perfectly tranquil day.
      We decide one night is not going to be enough!😁      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      Walled city and windy stary night

      31 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Darren is keen to find a mountain top for tonight where he can stargaze unhindered by clouds and light pollution so we find a likely spot that’s in the direction of Portugal. On the way we schedule a stop at an ancient fortified walled city (Ciudad Rodrigo). We figured that we’d be able to stay in the shade mostly whilst we do the tourist thing. It was a very interesting place to walk around and kill a couple of hours with the usual shops, cafes, restaurants, hotels and most prominently a cathedral that you could pay to visit if that’s your thing. But seeing as both paying and religion are really not our thing, we declined. We soon learn from various posters and photographs around the place that the main square is sometimes (even in this day and age) used as a stadium for the disgusting practice of bull fighting. This leaves us feeling a little sickened and puts us off staying any longer. It was getting a bit too peopley for us, and the folks here all seem a bit grumpy if I’m honest, not a smile to be seen anywhere even when you offer them your most friendliest, bestest cheesiest smileys first all you get is stoney faced crabbiness in return.
      So we left for the quiet sanctuary of Ivy after picking up a few supplies at the local store.
      We continued on our way up to the mountains, in the foothills there were large fields with many trees evenly spread across them that we surmised were planted that way to provide shade for the abundance of livestock in the area, lots of cattle and horses. We had made sure as much as we could that the roads were good on the way up there. It was steep with switchbacks but nice wide tarmac so not too scary.
      We arrived at our destination to find a large gravel plateau surrounded by huge boulders that formed the edge of the car park. It felt like a safe place to stay the night so we got out to explore the area, the view was breathtaking and vast. You could see so far across the valleys below because it was such a clear day. Surprisingly even up here on the mountain it was 29º and there was a strong warm breeze. It was very warm inside Ivy as we didn’t dare open the windows or the skylight too wide for fear that the wind might damage them or take them completely off as it was seriously increasing in intensity. Bliss took refuge underneath Ivy as it was like a cool wind tunnel for her. She definitely had the most comfortable place to be in the heat. There wasn’t much of a sunset but once it got dark the sky was ablaze with so many bright stars. The wind gusts continued to batter Ivy through the night so we didn’t get much sleep. The van was rocking all night long (but not in a good way!) 😉🤣      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      Hot, hot, hot!!

      30 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      We’re heading in the direction of Portugal. We have never been there so why not? It’ll be another country flag for Ivy. The roads once we get back down the mountain are long and straight mostly so we made good progress. It’s too hot to be outside anyway, especially walking anywhere with Bliss so driving during the day with short stops along the way is for the best. Luckily Ivy has lovely cool air con and it’s just so good to be able to escape the heat.
      We came to a huge lake with a bridge for us to cross over. Darren noticed that there were hundreds of big fish in it so we parked up and went back to have a look. Bliss took the opportunity to cool off in the lake for a while before we continued on our way. The drive is always interesting, the landscape changed regularly from huge flat agricultural fields to meadows full of flowers, huge boulders that were stacked strangely on top of each other leading us to wonder how they were created. We passed a hotel in the middle of nowhere that really reminded us of The Bates Motel! 😳...we decided not to stop!
      Another free aire for the night, one other campervan there. It’s still pretty hot so Bliss immediately took her place underneath Ivy for a nap, while we sheltered inside. The flies are a bloody nuisance and though we have fly screens on all the windows and skylight we don’t for the side door and the back doors so we vowed to get some. I think you really need them both to be open when it’s this hot to create a through breeze.
      It stays hot until the sun goes down at 21:45 so we aren’t able to explore the village with Bliss.
      Highlight of our day… The sunset which was absolutely stunning, there were a few clouds that really caught the sun’s golden glow as it went down.      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      Easing back into the Mountains

      29 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      We love the mountains so we decide that although we are still nervous because of recent events we will carefully plan another mountain trip. We choose a free aire which is in the direction we want to go and make sure (with a bit of research) that the roads leading to it are of a decent size and tarmac not gravel. It’s a lovely drive, nice and easy and although it is mountainous it’s not terrifying. We arrived late afternoon to a basic park up that had a great view. Below us was a municipal swimming pool which looked very inviting as it was so hot but we can’t take Bliss.
      Bliss has a new favourite place to stay cool, underneath the van. Ivy is quite high off the ground so she has plenty of room underneath in the shade.      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      Dull and boring by design 🥱

      28 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      We went for a lovely SAFE walk around the quaint little village in the morning. There’s so many ancient buildings and interesting things like lookout towers and lots of sheltered seating areas all around the village. It’s like they really care about making it a pleasant place to live here.
      Bliss made friends with a sweet natured local horse that was penned inside someone’s back garden. The poor thing was being plagued by flies. It was starting to get hot so we headed back to the sanctuary of Ivy and continued on our way. It was going to be a scorcher so we decided we would just try to get as far towards Portugal as we could and settle in an aire along the way. The aire we found was nothing to write home about so I went bother. It was purely somewhere to get our heads down. No drama today!      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      Braking Bad

      27 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Chapter one: Ivy gets her new handbrake (eventually!)
      Monday finally arrives and we head off early to the Iveco garage with our fingers crossed that it wasn’t going to cost an arm and a leg and they would get it done quickly so we can get going. Darren went in while I waited in the van with Bliss and quickly came back saying the receptionist was abrupt and quite rude. Well in my experience that seems to be a requirement for receptionists as most that I’ve met have been the same. Full of their own self importance! We are told to go away and come back after they have had their siesta at 4pm and have ordered and received delivery of the new handbrake cables. We took a drive to the nearest village to pick up a few supplies from the local shop and wait the five hours before going back to the garage. It was a scorching 30º day so it wasn’t a pleasant wait. When we went back to the garage we hoped that we would be on our way pretty soon but unfortunately the wrong part had been ordered and we had to wait for the correct part to be delivered before they could fix Ivy. The mechanics were all rude and obnoxious to be frank. I’ve never experienced such bad attitudes from a business in all my life. It really was like they were doing us a favour extremely reluctantly and we’d done something that seriously pissed them all off! Anyway finally at 7pm Ivy was all fixed, our bank balance was £250 lighter and we were able to go on our way. We were charged for 3 hours labour when we knew it only actually took an hour as we were sat inside the van while the work was done but at least we have a working handbrake and we can get on with our adventuring.

      Chapter Two: A drama a day
      We headed for our place to stay for the night which wasn’t too far away. We arrived at a lovely well maintained old village that had a free aire on the outskirts. We immediately went for a walk with Bliss as we’d all been cooped up in a hot van all day so we really needed some fresh air and exercise. There was a lovely country path that led us through a wide open grassy area with trees all along it, there was a few cows with their young on the grass so we quietly passed so as not to disturb them. We made it to the edge of a large lake and Bliss wasted no time in getting in to cool off. She leapt around like a young puppy, I guess she was relieved to feel the cool water on her belly after such a long hot day. We turned around to get back to Ivy feeling tired and ready for bed. Halfway back we came across the cows that we seen earlier but now they were all moving along the path slowly with their babies in the same direction as us so we hung back to give them space. Then one of the cows stopped right in front of us with her calf so we stopped too. She stood and stared back at us for what seemed like an eternity daring us to come closer, not moving apart from the occasional stamping of her feet. “Oh dear, what are we going to do” she’s not moving away and she’s protecting her calf. All we want to do is go back to Ivy and go to bed. Then as we continue to stand quietly and wait for her to move on we suddenly notice that coming to her to the left is the most ginormous muscle bound ginger bull with knackers the size of basketballs!! 🏀 Oh shit!! Not another bloody drama! So... we back away as quietly as we could and when we’re far enough away that we think we can make it to the fence we leg it, climb the fence and manage to circumnavigate the herd. Back at the van we vow, no more risk taking for a little while.      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      ⚠️ A warning unheeded!

      25–26 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      Chapter 1: Calm before the storm.
      We started the day with a walk around the picturesque meadow we’d stayed. Last night Bliss was looking around like she could see or smell something near us. She was extremely alert to something that’s for sure. We ourselves did hear a few strange sounds from some kind of animal, but had no idea what. It sounded a lot like the sound a large cat would make, but although there are wild cats and Iberian lynx in Spain they are extremely rare so we thought it doubtful. During the walk we discovered some droppings, and mounds and troughs of freshly dug earth near the oak trees. So we guessed that the noises we had heard were probably wild boar. Glad we didn’t come across them on our walk as they are known to be quite aggressive. Darren has a favourite “During the War” story of a late night encounter with a group of wild boar from his army days.
      We were going to stay for another day but the flies were becoming very annoying, so we decided to leave.
      Wanting to go back in a north west direction to avoid the increased heat south of the mountains, and the city of Madrid, we found what looked like the only route that was going that way.
      We had a look at google maps to check the road and there was only one bit of the road that looked a little sketchy, but we thought “ it’ll be okay” we’ve done lots of roads like that before! It can be a little nerve wracking but always doable in our experience so far. So we head off in that direction glad to be getting away from the flies.

      Chapter 2: An EXTREME error of judgment!
      All seemed fine to start with, we saw other people for the first time in ages, mainly folk on motorcycles but also a few small cars. Then we come to the brow of a hill with a sign saying 15 degree incline, we hesitated for a moment, did a swift mental geometry calculation of what 15 degrees looks like (you’d think not too steep right) and decided to go for it!
      So we started our descent down the hill knowing it was a case of “There’s no turning back now!“
      The first stretch was okay-ish, then I saw the first switch back and just thought “oh bother”. OK... a few expletives may have escaped my lips! I knew it was too late to reverse back and I definitely wasn’t going to be turning a 7m long van around. There was barely enough room for one vehicle so I pray nothing comes up the other way!
      We manage the first tight switch back and continue down the extremely steep road and then “oh god” there’s a car coming up! We barely squeezed passed each other. Continuing downhill, the air is blue with the French words I’ve suddenly become fluent in, and the switchbacks just feel like they’re getting steeper and tighter. Worrying that the brakes will get too hot with the pressure they are under I shakily crawl on down, more scared than I think I have ever been. I can tell that even though Darren is trying his best to reassure me he is actually shitting himself too! One wrong move, or failing brakes, or steering issues and it’s game over!
      After what seems like an eternity we reach the bottom, our nerves shattered into a million pieces.
      Whilst still on a gradient I needed to stop and take a breather before attempting the climb back up the other side which I’m guessing is just as steep. So I pulled over into the only spot available to gather myself before the next onslaught of terrifying driving. I put Ivy into park and pulled the handbrake. With a creak of a submarine about to implode she kept creeping forward on the hill, unable to hold our position. So Darren gave the handbrake one more firm tug and “SNAP!” the handbrake failed. It was just flapping about uselessly. I looked at Darren, Darren looked at me... no words were spoken, not even French ones, we were simply aghast. We were now relying upon just the foot brake!
      After a few moments of utter panic we realised we had to continue and find a safe flat position (with a signal) to then be able to find a garage that would be close enough and able to fix Ivy’s handbrake.
      We now had to get up the other side of this most terrifying mountain road, no working handbrake and nerves that were shredded so badly I was quite literally trembling and weak in the legs. The same legs I now needed more than ever to hold the brakes. Anyway... It was quite a long steep switchbacky climb but we made it up to a safe spot without further catastrophe.

      Edit:
      After some research we discover the road is actually listed on the “World’s most dangerous roads” website! Only we could accidentally and completely randomly find, and then drive a 7.2m long, 4.5 tonne motorhome on such a notoriously dangerous road. It’s a miracle we’re alive.

      Chapter 3: Safe haven
      We were then able to start our search for a nearby Iveco garage. Luckily Iveco is a popular make of vehicle here and Ivy has an onboard list of all the Iveco garages in Europe. We quickly found one, called them, and they said they could see us on Monday. So now we just had to find somewhere to stay for the weekend that wouldn’t be too far. We found a campsite and headed there. We arrived and had to phone a number to gain entry to the small site but we were just relieved to be alive and able to relax for a couple of days. We entered the site and it felt like everyone that was there stared at us like we were alien invaders but I think we were just being overly sensitive about being foreigners and being locked in. It was actually fine. We spent the rest of the day and the next day trying to relax and waiting for the garage to open Monday morning. Fingers crossed that they can fix it quickly so we can get back to less adventurous adventures. 🤣      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      Mountain roads and total isolation

      24 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      We headed up to the park up that we had chosen for the night. Up, and up and up we went. Many steep narrow roads with lots of very tight switchbacks that took all my concentration. We arrived at a junction that was supposed to be where we would continue up but having looked at the surface of the road we decided that it looked a bit too sketchy and went the other way. Now we weren’t sure where we were going to stop and without a signal we couldn’t search for anything so we just decided we’d stop when and if we found a suitable spot. It’s so remote that we hadn’t seen another vehicle since we started up the mountain. There had been several opportunities for parking but none had any signal so we continued until we came across a large flat plateau that was so very pretty we stopped and thankfully we had a signal. It was still very sunny so we got out and explored the immediate area. Lots of oak trees and bushes with pretty white flowers surrounded us on a meadow of small yellow and purple flowers. There was slate rock formations everywhere. What I found so fascinating about the slate formations was the knowledge they’d once been horizontally flat layered down as sedimentary rock, but had since been tilted 90 degrees vertical by the power of the Earths tectonic plates literally lifting mountains. Such an interesting landscape.
      This area is strewn with lots and lots of beautifully smelling wild lavender as well as all the other flowers. Spring has always been my favourite season and when left alone mother nature really does make the best gardener.      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage

      A magical place found quite by chance

      24 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      We set off in the morning not really knowing where we were going, but just decided to take the road at the bottom of the canyon because that looked interesting. Travelling beneath the huge cliffs that we had only yesterday been looking down from gave us a completely different perspective of this terrain. We came across a car park at the end of the prettiest road I’ve ever driven along and parked up. It looked like it had lots of trails to explore so that’s exactly what we did.
      We walked along a lovely stream that was full of water Lilly, the banks full of wild flowers of all types. Words cannot express how special this place is. At the end of the trail we found a huge church surrounded by massive rock formations, as we continued around the edge of the church there was a bridge that went over the stream and right up to the bottom of the rocks. Turning right we discovered an immense cave the size of a cathedral. Darren ventured as far in as he could actually see for some pics while I waited at the entrance with Bliss. Never been a fan of cold dark holes myself, though it was an amazing natural sight to behold (from the safety of the entrance!)      Meer informatie

      Zie vertaling
    • Bliss VenturesReizigerIvy’s Maiden Voyage
      IcarusThere's a road down there somewhere

      We visit the Grand-ish Canyon.

      23 mei 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      Part two of this epic day took us high up on a mountain for the night. There was a tourist viewpoint across the road from where we parked up which we immediately went to investigate. It was both quite a surprise and quite spectacular. Obscenely high and very frightening for me. I am quite scared of heights so this really set off my vertigo. The view in every direction including downwards was incredible, but I couldn’t fully enjoy it because of my annoying fears. Only Darren ventured to the edge.
      We went back to the van for a while to eat our tea. We were parked amongst trees in a wooded area and were visited by quite a few azure-winged magpies. ( I googled them) After I brushed Bliss I left her fur on the ground near the trees, and it wasn’t long before they started collecting it all up, presumably for their nests.

      Later on we returned to the viewpoint for the sunset and spent a good hour just watching the sky change colour, as sunsets often are it was beautiful.
      Whilst we were waiting we met a couple of dogs with their owner. Nice for Bliss as they were friendly unlike most of the dogs she’s met so far on this trip. It was nice for us to get a bit of a doggy fix too, we do so miss all our 4 pawed friends.
      Then suddenly we had a huge Spanish imperial eagle (thanks Google) 🦅 who took quite an interest in us, it kept flying over us and circling around for about half an hour. I think Bliss was on its menu! Apparently they have been known to take on badgers and even bear cubs so I think he was sizing Bliss up for his supper! We had a wonderful view as it was so close. There were also lots of swifts zooming around and again because we were on the edge of a high cliff we got a great view of their acrobatic displays. By the time we went back to the van I was freezing cold so I went straight to my bed and it wasn’t long, after such a full day before I was asleep 😴      Meer informatie

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