I Ran Away to the Mountains to Find Myself

The warm and heavy late August air is lingering between the trees and the last remaining heat of the season is broken only by the gentle breeze over the river. I came looking for summer just as I was escaping my grasp after a busy few months building my van and I found it here in the woods as if time was finally standing still. If you're new here I'm Jessica and I'm traveling full-time in my camp of Anfrodo with my puppy Heidi. Two years ago I quit my job, sold most of my belongings and started living a simple life shaped by the seasons, learning about wild foods and local folklore on the way. Join me on my first solo trip across Europe where I reconnect with nature and grow roots in the wild. Hey guys I hope you're all well. It is a very hot and humid day here in France. I made it to the mainland and I'm about halfway down France. I decided that I would go to the French Alps and then hopefully the Dolomites if I still have time because the Dolomites have been a place that I wanted to see for a very very long time but something always got in the way so maybe this trip is when I finally get to see the Dolomites but we'll see. We have quite a few storms ahead of us. I managed to get into Europe for summer storm season and there's already been a bit of a drizzle here and there and a bit of thunder rumbling in the distance which is a little bit intimidating because I'm on my own but also very exciting. I'm a huge summer person and I was a little bit sad that I didn't get much of a summer this year because the van build took longer than expected which is fine because I wanted to be happy with the van and I am really happy with the van. I have this idea in my head that I want to drive all the way to Mont Blanc because we drove through that area in the winter and I saw so many places where I thought it would be amazing to camp here but I didn't want to do it in the cold because we had some issues with our heater in the last van so yeah I'm gonna try and drive there now and experience those places in full bloom and abundance and make the most of the last remaining summer days. For now I'm gonna make a quick breakfast, tidy up the van because it's a bit chaotic and then probably even continue my journey. As I was going about my morning I could feel a storm brewing around me, the air felt even heavier, the wind picked up and I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance and it occurred to me that being parked in between the trees may not be the best idea so I decided to pack up and drive on and who knows maybe that rumbling in the distance was the mountains telling me that it was time to move on. There is something magical about driving across the entire length of a country. Towns turn into fields, fields into forest, forest merges into hills and eventually the hills make way to mountains and suddenly you feel something shift in the air and that's when I knew I was going the right way. Over the last few months while I was living in a town and working from morning till evening to build my camper van I felt like I lost a part of myself. I burnt out, lost my joy in the concrete sameness of the urban environment and a deep heaviness settled in my chest. So I feel like I really needed this time alone to find out who I am again as an individual outside my partnership and maybe meet a new version of myself which budded while I wasn't paying attention. I'm someone who's incredibly affected by their environment and I can tolerate only very little human activity in my surroundings. Sometimes it feels like my brain and body just soak up the energy of every place I go which can be a blessing or a curse and being here surrounded by greenery really helped me on this journey to ground and rewire my nervous system. I am now parked in the foothills of the Alps next to a little forest and stone bridge and the rushing of the river is just so peaceful and I'm about to go on a hike because I saw that there's a beautiful waterfall nearby and the whole region is steeped in folklore which is super fascinating. I can't wait to learn more about it but before I set off I want to take a minute to talk about the sponsor of today's video eSim.sm. I'm traveling solo in this van while my partner Rissi is back in the UK working on his own little project before he goes back to uni and we'll only see each other for about half of the next nine months so staying connected is really important to us because we send each other lots of little voice notes throughout the day and messages, little pictures and we also FaceTime most evenings so having reliable data is really important to me. Having a solid internet connection can be quite challenging when you're wild camping full-time like me. I don't go to campsites at all and I also like to turn off my wi-fi in the evening to save electricity so I turn off my 4G router which means that I completely rely on my phone to stay connected which also is quite important for emergencies. Since Brexit my UK phone contract has also stopped offering unlimited data in the EU which I know is something a lot of travelers are struggling with so I started looking for a solution and found eSim.sm. I've been using them for a few months now and honestly they've been absolutely brilliant. eSim.sm offer coverage in over 190 countries with unlimited data options and because it's all digital there's no waiting around or swapping sim cards. You just scan a QR code and you're online. I'm on their global plan which works in 155 countries on one eSim which is perfect for van life. I can hotspot my laptop, call through whatsapp and keep working on the road without having to stress about data limits or patchy service. It's really affordable too which is quite important to me because I live very simply. On this trip I crossed from the UK to France with no issues or admin whatsoever and I'm also thinking of going to Italy for a bit before returning to the UK so it's just really nice to have that flexibility and peace of mind. Huge thank you again to eSim.sm for supporting my first solo trip in this van and helping me stay connected. Okay and now let's go see that waterfall. This region of France is not only a gateway into the Alps but an area rich in legends of giants, ghosts, enchanted waters and other supernatural tales which are woven into the landscape in a patchwork of Christian legends and older pagan lore. One of the most famous stories is that of Gargantua, an enormous and very clumsy giant who left his mark on the land by tripping and dropping large amounts of soil which now forms the local hills. It is also said that many dames blanches haunt the riverbanks and bridges, white ladies who appear by the torrents on moonlit nights to wandering travelers. These thickly wooded hills are also home to fey creatures who like to dwell in caves and behind waterfalls. Occasionally they will interact with villagers and sometimes help those who leave them gifts of milk. Some households also harbor Servant, a type of household goblin or spirit that lives in a family's barn or under the floorboards, watching over the livestock and sometimes doing small chores at night in exchange for a morsel of bread. Although I absolutely fell in love with this area and even found myself looking at property prices here for the distant future, I felt that my journey wasn't done yet. So I drove on for a few more hours in search for mountains towering high enough to reawaken my sense of awe and wonder. And after passing through small towns and winding my way through numerous narrow mountain passes, I finally found the place I was looking for. Growing up I spent quite a bit of time in the mountains with my family and I didn't live too far from the Alps either, so these mountains feel like an old friend. And I truly feel like my soul has arrived home here, surrounded by high peaks, dense forests and wildflower meadows. When Rissi and I lived in our old van together he used to cook for us nearly every night, so on this trip I'm also relearning how to cook for myself. On the way here I stopped by my favourite organic supermarket and bought a bunch of local produce, which funnily enough ended up being still cheaper than a regular shop in the UK. And tonight I made fennel pasta with fresh tomatoes, tofu and an oatmeal miso sauce under the setting sun, because despite getting plenty of solar at the moment I really enjoy cooking outside. The beauty about living in a van is that it forces you to do things more slowly and at last I felt like my body and mind started working at a more natural pace again, rather than racing from one thing to the next. If you enjoyed this video make sure to subscribe and tap the notification bell so you don't miss our next adventures. Until next time, I hope that life treats you kindly. Bye.