Crossing Borders | Van Life Europe | Chapel of Bones

Crossing Borders | Van Life Europe | Chapel of Bones

Two months ago, myself and my little dog Bonny left our narrowboat home to go on a big adventure adventure across Europe in our Camper van We joined up with Sandra another solo traveler to share The experience, look out for each other And try to have as many laughs and giggles

As possible throughout our journey So join us this week to see what we got up to So both of myself and Sandra are loving this van life Aren’t we? We really are. We love living in the vans and all the little quirky things about it, being able to get everywhere.

But we’re really missing our narrowboats back home, mine in the UK, Sandra’s in Ireland. So we’ve decided to go on a boat trip. Woohoo! So cruising on the ocean enabled us to view Portugal’s rugged coastline It’s dramatic cliffs, peaceful coves, and all of its hidden caves.

And today we’ve come to see one of the most famous caves here on the Algarve. This is the Benagil Cave and it has a big hole in the top. So it lets the light in Yeah, it’s just epic. A perfect pirate’s lair. So we came out into the deep blue.

And we’re just seen some dolphins. Absolutely amazing. I really want a dolphin So we just come back off the boat now and Look at my hair! I was sensible and put a headband on it. Yeah. But it was just an amazing trip. We got to the dolphins which was just the highlight

Wasn’t it? Yeah. And the only thing that we didn’t get chance to do was they didn’t have time to stop the boat and let us have a swim. I had my best bikini on as well. Heidi was going skinny dipping Yeah. Such a shame that eh? Gutted

So we grabbed ourselves a bit of lunch from Alberfera then headed back to the vans because Bonny had a vet appointment to get herself a European passport. This means now that there’s going to be no more faffing about in the UK with animal health certificates, which

Are really expensive every time you want to travel to Europe But with a passport she can now just go and ever she feels. So we are now leaving the Algarve of Portugal. But doing van life this time of year in Europe is perfect because the weather has been fantastic.

In a morning it’s about between 13 and 15 degrees and that’s when we did all our adventuring. And then in the afternoon it gets up to about 17 or 18 when it’s not too warm. It’s great. it’s just enough to get the vitamin D, the bright

Sunshine, but not hot, which is great for the vans and great for the dogs. But it is starting to warm up now down there. It’s getting to like 20 now, 22 and that’s just as we’re leaving. So the more north we go now, the more colder it’s going to get

So we’re now on our northward adventure back to our home country’s – Ireland and England. And we’ve decided on our journey to stop into this amazing little town and it’s called Evora. Evora is actually a city though because it’s known as the Museum city of Portugal.

And it’s got over 2,000 years of history. It was very lucky because in 1755 there was a devastating earthquake that took out most of Lisbon and Silves that we visited. But Evora escaped that so most of the buildings have remained since that day.

And it is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. And the main reason we stopped at this quirky city today is for one reason and one reason only And you know me being a pirate, I love cannons and I love skull and cross bones.

Well that’s a little bit of a hint of where we’re going to be going in just a moment. So we’ve come here now to the chapel of bones. So basically in the 16th century around the area of Evora there were about 40 Cemetery’s. And they were taking up precious land so the monks

That lived here decided to move all the bones to free up the land and also put them all into one place And rather than hiding all the bones away, the decided to put them on display so that people could come and be reminded that death was coming.

And above the actual entrance is an inscription which means we bones are here waiting for yours. Apparently there’s over 5,000 corpses in here. The was a myth that these were bones of monks but they’re not their actually ordinary people. And there’s actually some transcriptions on the ceiling.

Which means better is the day of death than the day of birth. That’s the chapel of bones done and I do love a good bone. Yeah, don’t be rude, but it was just amazing to know that all that from the 16th century is still there and all preserved amazing.

Good morning everyone from Evora. I just thought I show you where we parked up last night before we set off. This huge aqueduct here, I don’t know how many arches there are, but it goes right into the town. And it’s a massive aqueduct. It’s bigger than the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the

Llangollen Canal, which have cruised on many of time. However, this one doesn’t take boats, but it does still carry water. Massive. This aqueduct actually carries the drinking water into the city of Evora, and it’s over 11 miles long. And it was built way back in the 1500s, so it’s proper old.

So we’re continuing on Northward Journey today, and we’re hoping today to make it actually back into Spain, But Portugal, it’s so lush and green, it’s beautiful. It’s reminding me of home, the UK, especially from the canals. You know, we see the most stunning countryside, don’t we, on our narrowboats in England, just beautiful.

So Google Maps does say it’s going to take us about four hours today. However, the speed that we go and the fact that we stop to the dogs can have a wee, we can have a wee. So we’re probably getting there in about five, five and a half hours today.

But everything now is northwards, it really is. Oh, and everything now is going to get colder. So goodbye Portugal and welcome back to Spain. ola, Espania. So this is our gorgeous little park for a night spot today. We’re sort of cranking it now through Portugal and Spain

To get to France and then back home. So we are doing long days driving, but at the end of the day, we need to find a lovely little place to park and have a walk. And this that Sandra’s found today is just stunning. And it’s an old ancient battle site.

There was a battle here, the British fort. I think it was against a French here in Spain. Yeah, but what a lovely place. And our vans are just in an epic location for the sunset and the sunrise. Not that I’ll be up for the sunrise.

We’ve actually just found out about the battle on that sign there and it was the Battle of Samanca in 1812 where Lord Wellington with some allies of the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the Germans even. They slaughtered the French here. Yeah, massive battle. Wow. Good morning, everyone.

I was cold this morning waking up I had the diesel heater on But such amazing views here and also an epic sunset last night. So today we’re continuing our northward journey. See where it gets us. So over the last few days, we’ve done nothing but drive, drive, drive.

Quite long days, but we’re trying to get today now through the Spanish border over back into France. And then we’ve got some time then because we’ve done all this driving to do a little bit more exploring in France. So we’re still on our northward journey and we’ve had to stop here in Bordeaux.

And it does not disappoint does it? No, it’s very, very pretty and a very, very French. Yes, it looks like how you imagine a French city to look And behind there – it looks like Disney, that big tower behind it just looks so amazing.

I think it was one of the old gateways to the city. Wow, and it is stunning. So let’s see what else Bordeaux has to offer. So we’re back at the van now, but Bordeaux, what an amazing place. I just wish we had so much more time so

We can go and explore a lot more because Bordeaux is really famous for its wines. And actually there’s over 7,000 wine chateauxs in the region, the Bordeaux region, and it also produces over 700 million bottles of wine a year. Yeah, that’s even more than I can drink. And talking a drinking

We’re going to have a little bit of this now. This is actually a Spanish rum, I’ve just on a read on the back. It’s from Jose, as well as a Spanish. Espania, so we’re going to give that a try. I’m also while I am pouring this, just

A massive thank you to all those that bought me a coffee this week. Obviously I use it for rum. No, I’ll use it for other things as well. Well, thank you so much, could it really does help with producing these videos So it’s only a little ‘un, because I’m driving in

The morning, because we’re trying to get home now. So hopefully in the next video, I’ll be back on my narrow boat. Yeah, so cheers everyone. Let’s give it a try. That’s actually, mmmm, it’s actually quite nice that. It’s quite like a spiced rum, bit of a dark

Rum with a bit of a spiced flavour. I’m not a massive fan of dark rums, and I Like all the random flavours like coffee and banana and coconut and all these weird rums. Well, that is quite nice, it’s quite smooth. So I am going to leave the video there.

So if you have enjoyed it, please do give it a thumbs up, subscribe down below if you haven’t already. But before I go, just a massive thank you to my patrons and just take care of everyone and I’ll see you on the next one and hopefully we’ll get back to our narrow boats.

Bye!

This week we take a boat tour from Albufeira and cruise to view Portugal’s rugged coastline, visit the famous Benagil Cave before heading out to sea to be greeted by a large family of Dolphins. We then continuing our Northward Camper Van adventure to Evora to visit the Chapel of Bones which contains an estimated 5,000 corpses.
After travelling further to Spain staying at an amazing remote Park up in Salamanca we then continued to Bordeaux France to explore it’s amazing architecture .
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Winters in the UK can be miserable especially when living on a boat and with all the canal lock closures for maintenance, I began to feel a little trapped. So for the next 2 months I decided to join up with another fellow solo female traveller and set off across Europe in our two very old camper vans in search of sunshine and to experience Van life at it’s best.
I hope you enjoy something a little different as I swap boat life for van life.
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Thank you so much for watching. If you are new here, I’m Heidi and I live aboard my Narrowboat The Rum Wench and travel the UK’s Canals in search of Adventure. After selling my house to experience an alternative lifestyle I bought a canal boat and a camper van which as a solo female who loves to travel, gives me the best of both worlds. I have recently got myself a new addition to the crew, a fabulous companion – my little rescue dog Bonny who is an absolute joy and the perfect First Mate. I also work full time off grid from my tiny home and trade at canal festivals as The Narrowboat Pirate aboard The Pirate Boat.
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If you want to know more about LIVING ON A BOAT, CANAL RULES or WHAT I DID BEFORE BOAT LIFE then please watch these two videos:


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Music
Stiff Ripples by Heidi Manning
Thrusting Cutlass by Heidi Manning
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Music used in this video

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