Since the rains have come the fire risk has been downgraded and we are finally able to use machinery again safely. So this week it was time to put some final touches on our new road and test it out!
0:00 Introduction
0:57 Grading of the existing road
3:29 Taking down a previously dangerous tree
5:11 Pruning a willow tree and lowering an old dam
9:30 Detour, creating a path to our new terraces
14:27 New access path
17:00 Final obstacle
20:23 Test drive in the van
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Lea van der Eems
Apartado 001144
EC Zona Industrial Castelo Branco
6001 – 901 Castelo Branco
Portugal
Music: Epidemic Sound
New here? My name is Lea and I live with my partner Maarten, our toddler Puck and baby Bo on our land in Central Portugal. We left the rat race in the Netherlands in 2018 and moved south in our old campervan. Two years ago we bought land in Portugal that had been abandoned for several decades. After lots of hard work we now live in a beautiful yurt and keep ourselves busy growing our own vegetables as well as producing olive oil, wine and honey on a small scale. This channel documents all the different jobs we have to do, and sometimes some nice footage of this beautiful country we now call home.
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Plse keep your baby as far away as possible. Don’t want any accident to happen. Prevention is better than cure!
Nice Job ! That was a lot of work !!
Nice work.
Having grown up on a smallholding where we made our own road in a similar climate (Western Cape, South Africa) I recommend digging gutters on the uphill side of the road an making sure the surface of the road slopes gently towards those gutters. Not doing so will mean lots of maintenance after heavy rains. Occasional diagonal gutters across the road reinforced with stones to drain any pools that form on the uphill side of the road recommended too.
If your area seldom gets heavy rains, ignore my comment.
Well done!
No chickens, dogs or small children were squashed during the making of this video….😊
Great improvement. That will make life a lot easier.
Burn the caterpillars
Looking good
Nice
Too bad excavator doesn’t have a thumb
A lot of work but so worth it for you, Bravo Maarten 👏🌟😊.
It would be better slightly wider, in my opinion. Lots of work though. Great job 👏
You need to get a quad bike to pull that trailer.
Do you rent that little yellow excavator or did you buy it? Very useful machine.
are you going to name that road Aubergines Road
We have a dirt gravel long driveway and any hollows or little hills will need to be leveled out from the start as we still have a dip where we didn't do it. Also when it rains hard it forms little deep rivers with the water running down the drive instead of across it. We needed to put small ditches across the drive to stop the water running down. Looks good. I've seen them line the ditches with wood level with the drive to prevent erosion. I wish we had done that.
Best of luck, you guys are the best expats in Portugal!
Opening shot of Louis and Bo! Glad you caught it on camera and can show him one day. Good job Maarten! Great video as always! Thanks for sharing!
Congrats!!! Great work!!!
A few bits are more cliff-like than I would be comfortable, but then I am a chicken.
Speaking of chickens, you had me laughing out loud! When the hubbie asked why, I said "The chickens remembered!"
Oddly, he was not enlightened 🙂
Wow! Coming right along! Exciting!
looks like it was fun for the whole crew including chickens…how many acres or hectares do you have?
This digger is the best tool you have. Amazing how much you have accomplished with it. So happy you getting things in place for building your new home. The microphone’s are terrific.
Your so blessed to have all the different fruit trees
Love watching your videos your such hard workers and such a beautiful place
The second video of making the road to your new house. Totally awesome work Maarten. Well done.
Love the road vids
Yes have to make Lea to learn how to drive she can be so independent that way hopefully very soon ♥️♥️👍👍
The road access is coming along nicely, thank goodness for digger and power drill eh xxx
Ilove your dog wants to be with durning your project, very good job !! The chickens even want to help 😂😂😂😂 excellent work on the tree stump 💪💪💪
Maarten you have done a big break through grading the road. As you say it does need to be widened some more in some areas and I would perhaps run a ditch down both side of the road so when it rains it will let the rain drain off the road. Your property is very nice and the new property you bought is lovely. I can not wait till you and Leah start building your home.
Hi. Recommend to make a side ditch and add some gravel to the road. in winter this road may be flood or muddy and the car will be stuck. winter is hard and whit several rainy days .Cheer´s
Out of interest, Maarten, why didn't you use the chainsaw on that big willow, and cut up the branches for firewood, as well as the quince etc.? That looked like very nasty brush. I have just got a new FS361 brushcutter that has a great shredder blade for bramble, that mulches it as well.
Maarten at the controls, digging gurt holes😁
That is one long steep driveway! Great job
Good job! Blessings to your new home!
Great Progress! Glad you are starting on the ruina. It can become a wonderful space for you to design to meet your dreams for a home.
Oh, this is a huge thing, to have two access roads! Now, why did the chicken cross the road? To follow Maarten, obviously😎
🌟👏👍🍀💐
Crushed rock layer next, then guard rails, then a bike path, then fortifications on the steeper areas!
Thanks for the great video. Could you let me know how much the digger cost and where you found it? I want one.
What great progress you've made. The road has increased the value of your land immensely. More access has made your land more useful. As the road is cleared more along side it, it will also be a potentially useful firebreak in this changing climate.
wow that VW rocks!
WOW 🎉🎉👏👏
Nice job! You will be able to start building your house. What a view from up there!
Nice looking job with the road. A lots of hard work went into that. Things are only getting better. I am very Happy for you all. Thank you for sharing your progress.
Will the roads be accessible during raining season?