TOTAL TOUR STATISTICS
- Distance travelled 1524 km
- Travelling time 51 hrs 42 mins
- Amount of fuel used 142.95 litres
- Cost of fuel used €182.75
- Average fuel consumption 9.08litres/100km (31.11mpg)
- Nights away 20
- Nights in free aires 11
- Nights in paid aires 1 at a cost of €3 (owed)
- Nights in campsites 7 at a cost of €137
- Nights wildcamping 1
- Stunning views seen Too many to mention!
- Total kilometres walked 81
Wednesday 22/05/2019 Home to Hellín
N38°30'30.1'' W001°42'22.7'' Free aire on pea gravel for 7 vans, service point seperate taps!), shared site with wholesale fruit and veg market - no problems.
140 km in 1hr 45min
Well - talk about a fractious start!
Our van Cervantes is in storage in a motorhome aire in Santiago de la Ribera near us because our previous parking spot, next to our house on some spare ground, has now had some apartment blocks built on it.
I have therefore not been inside Cervantes since I dropped it off after our last trip, and thus cannot monitor what is going on inside and outside.
The fridge would not start after 58 days of non-use. It has been playing up ever since we made the trip to UK for the birth of our daughters first child in June 2018.
There it worked for 5 days out of 5 weeks, so we were resigned to getting it fixed as soon as possible.
On the way back to home through France and Spain it worked flawlessly, the only problem was that it wouldn't turn off.
I overcame this when we put Cervantes in storage by putting the fridge doors on locked open, then cutting a wine cork to size to wedge between the door and the "off" button. When the door clicks closed, the cork presses the "off" to off.
This has worked perfectly for a year, but today, after removing the cork, the fridge would not turn on!
I must have cut the cork too long, and the pressure pushed the button too far in, and it would not come out.
We drove home in silence, wondering what to do - 1, abandon the tour, 2, carry on and take an electric cool box, 3, take the van to have the fridge repaired.
We decided on option 2, and luckily the fridge sparked into life as we were 3/4 of the way through packing Cervantes.
It is now showing -16° in the freezer, and 5° in the fridge (remote temperature sensors from Clas Ohlson) so, as has been the norm for the last 12 months, the fridge is performing brilliantly.
Our trip to Hellín was uneventful through Murcia and up the Cieza valley on the A30.
The aire itself is new, only opened in February 2019.
It is shared with a wholesale fruit and vegetable market - it sounds bizarre, but works quite well.
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| Sharing with a fruit and veg market |
7 well-marked pitches on pea gravel are plenty big enough for most vans.
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| A brand new service point in Hellín |
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| The old town surprised us with its authenticity |
The tall narrow streets hid its position on the hill, and we only saw it again back at the aire.
Our only other motorhome was gone when we got back, so it looks like we are on our own tonight - I don't think we will have any problems here.
Thursday 23/05/2019 Hellín to Consuegra
N39°27'13.1'' W003°36'41.0'' Free overnight parking in windmill and castle car park on sand and gravel. Ask at the tourist info office in one of the windmills first.
221km in 3hr 15min
After a surprisingly quiet night, given the location, we used the service point then called in at the local Lidl for some supplies.
It looked like a free-for-all jumble sale inside on the offers aisle - we realised it was Thursday and the offers were new this morning - carnage.
Heading north on the fantastic CM313, quiet and fast, it was a pleasure to drive on (until we reached the province of Ciudad Real, when the road surface deteriorated drastically).
We had read about a new aire in Alcazar de San Juan, so made a detour to look at it, to find it was the same one we had visited 3 years ago!
Onward and upward to Consuegra, where there is a very popular tourist attraction of 13 windmills (5 of them working with all original parts) and a castle with a great tour and lots of history.
We found the parking place listed in Campercontact beside the sports ground, but it seemed a bit bleak and exposed, so we moved on to see the castle and windmills.
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| A bit bleak |
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| Great view from the car park |
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| No motorhomes allowed! |
All very harmless, but a bit overwhelming in terms of movement and photos.
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| It's a climb to here, but it's worth it |
"No problem" was the answer, which we were thankful for. We asked the same question at the Tourist Information Office (in one of the windmills) and received the same answer - excellent.
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| A great view from the castle walls |
Glyn was super exited that she had seen a new bird for her collection - a rock sparrow (no guitar!!) spotted by the windmills. I saw what looked like 2 miniature ravens flying out of the castle walls - and I haven't a clue! (have since looked up a jackdaw and it's pretty close)
We watched the sunset sat next to Cervantes - excellent.
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| Great way to end the day |
Friday 24/05/2019 Consuegra to Toledo
N39°51'57.2'' W004°02'49.6'' Campsite on sand for 102 vans. €23 per night, service point, electric €4.90 per day. Free WiFi near reception.
68km in 1hr 3min
We had a very quiet night last night with just one van for company arriving at 8pm.
We previously made a flying overnight stop in Toledo, parking in the car park next to the river. We arrived too late to go into the city, but vowed that we would return and do it justice
Therefore our stop today was Camping El Greco, just outside Toledo on the banks of the River Tajo.
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| Our pitch in Camping El Greco |
There is a bus service into Toledo from the campsite. It costs €1.40 each way and runs every hour.
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| Bus timetable thoughtfully added to site map |
We planned a route and made our way through the throngs of people in the busy main street to eventually emerge at the cathedral.
It was closely surrounded by buildings, so the shape and scale of it from the outside was quite hard to see.
There was a separate entrance for worshippers, cordoned off from the main body of the cathedral, where you didn't have to pay.
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| Cathedral entrance for worshippers only |
We bookmarked the restaurant in MapsMe (free offline mapping of the world) and went to locate our next visit - the Alcazar of Toledo, a superb building with 4 towers (one at each corner) which had been completely rebuilt between 1939 and 1957 after being bombed to destruction in the Spanish civil war in 1936.
After our leisurely lunch we re-traced our steps to the Almacen, and what a building it was - so impressive.
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| A fantastic building, inside and out |
To do this building justice you would have to spend an awfully long time here. It chronicles the history of the Spanish army from Roman days to the present, with room upon room of exhibits.
The scale of the building is immense, and the outside terraces open up a viewing platform where you can see for miles one way, and see the various towers of Toledo the other way - enough to take your breath away.
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| A stunning view |
Saturday 25/05/2019 Toledo
A nice quiet night, and woken by birdsong - what could be better.
We have a lot more to see in Toledo - in truth you could spend a week here and still not have seen everything.
We decided to walk in today - we were on the bridge over the River Tajo in 25 minutes, so as quick as the bus was yesterday.
We concentrated on the Jewish Quarter today, as recommended by the very helpful lady in the Tourist Office yesterday.
Our first visit was to the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes. The double-tiered cloisters next to the church took our breath away - a must-see in Toledo.
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| Double height cloisters - stunning |
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| So, so high |
We passed many restaurants, but one that caught our eye was at the University of Toledo - a 3 course lunch for €7!
Before lunch we went to the Church of Santo Tomé (€3 entry fee) which was stupendous inside - such a massive scale. An added bonus was a trip up the twin towers above the church, which gave us a fantastic view of the city and the surrounding countryside.
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| Fabulous views from the top of the tower |
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| Great place, great beer |
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| Cool shade on a very hot day |
There is so much to do in Toledo, the choice is baffling, but I am sure whatever your interests, there will be something that you will want to see - fascinating.
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| Just a small section on his life |
Sunday 26/05/2019 Toledo to El Boalo
N40°43'15.9'' W003°55'20.8'' Paid aire €3) on tarmac for 8 vans, service point, free electric, 5 minute walk to town centre, mountain views.
125km in 1hr 56min
Not so peaceful last night with children crying until the early hours next door in a tent, and the Germans next to us out talking until after midnight - we're a bit tired this morning.
We had planned to go to a campsite near Escorial tonight, then visit the Palace tomorrow, but Glyn discovered on the internet that it is closed on Mondays.
We revised our plans to stay past Escorial in an aire in El Boalo, on the edge of the Parque Regional de la Cuenca Alta del Manzanares.
90% of the journey was on good motorways, so it was an easy drive today.
The cost of the aire is €3 per night, and according to the signs was payable at the Tourist Office, open until 2pm on Sundays.
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| Payment board |
With no means of paying we went to the town centre and bought some beer and bread to give something back to the town.
Back to the aire, which is next to a park, some young lads were playing loud music and working out on the exercise equipment - we felt bad sitting on a bench opposite having a glass of wine and a smoked salmon sandwich.
I think they thought our option may be the better one, because they left shortly afterwards.
We are on the edge of a national park here, and have a fantastic view of the mountains out of our windscreen.
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| Very high mountain views - fantastic |
We have 5 vans with us at 3pm, so it seems likely that most of them will be staying the night.
Monday 27/05/2019 El Bolao to Camping El Escorial
N40°37'27.8'' W004°05'58.5'' ACSI campsite on grass/sand for 1166 vans, €18 including electric, service point, supermarket, bar & restaurant, pools, showers, toilets, water slides, tennis, fronton, horse riding, etc,etc,etc...
27km in 40min
Just the 3 vans here last night, so it was as quiet as could be.
The mountain views at sunset were excellent, and we've lost count of the number of birds of prey we've seen circling above us - luckily none landed!
Even though the Escorial Palace is closed today, we thought we would go to the campsite and check it out for ourselves - sometimes the blogs you read are correct, and sometimes they are completely wrong - I hope this is the former.
We first did some shopping at Super Cor in Guadarrama, after driving on some excellent mountain roads, arriving at Camping El Escorial at mid-day.
This was all explained by the very nice man on reception who gave us all kinds of information.
The campsite here is huge - we are parked in the middle of a massive field divided up into motorhome-sized plots - according to the plan there are 354 pitches on our field, and another 812 pitches on the field above - this is one big campsite! Our shower block alone (one of many) has 16 showers and 24 toilets.
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| All alone in a huge site |
We knew the palace was closed, but thought we would check the bus timetable was correct, and find somewhere to eat in El Escorial.
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| Frequent buses to El Escorial |
The palace looked huge from the outside -I think it will be another Catherine Palace visit like the one we visited in St Petersburg, Russia - lots and lots of people, and very, very busy.
Tuesday 28/05/2019 Camping El Escorial
The campsite is gearing up for its grand summer opening - the ACSI rate stops on 29/05/2019, so we just made it.
Staff are being trained in all things related to customer service, safety, security and profit making.
We had 30+ people on the road outside our pitch being put through their paces - a lot of people, but this is a huge campsite/holiday village.
The trusty bus once again took us into El Escorial to the Royal Palace. It was only 10.45am, but already the queues were building to get entry tickets - the girl in the single ticket office open was having a busy time.
In 3 weeks time I am 65, and thus able to claim "pensioners rates" (usually free, but always reduced) for entry into many attractions in Spain.
I tried it on in Toledo, gaining access into the Alcazar for free, and tried the same this morning, into the Royal Palace. The deal today was half price entry (€6) which I gladly took.
The Royal Palace is huge from the outside, and I thought that if we were going to see all of it, we would be here all day.
As expected,only part of the Palace was on show. The route was clearly marked, and everything was explained by information boards and cards.
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| The building is huge, as are the gardens |
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| Lots of room in the central square! |
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| We didn't expect this |
The sun is still out, and the fridge is still working (thank goodness) so we're all OK for now.
Wednesday 29/05/2019 El Escorial to Segovia
N40°56'26.7'' W004°06'27.5'' Free aire on block paving for 7 vans, no water or electric, grey and black water disposal, 1km to city centre.
53km in 1hr 28min
An hour's singing and team building was enough for us this morning, so we were off at 10am.
We decided on the scenic route so we went on the CL601 to the top of Puerto de Navacerrada, then down the other side - a great road.
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| Great views from the top |
The aqueduct was stunning - we've seen many pictures of it, but nothing can beat standing at one end of it and looking along its length. What a feat of engineering this is - all built of huge granite blocks.
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| Wow!! |
The tourist office in Segovia have done an excellent job as regards signage and access to the aqueduct - a first class job.
We decided that the cathedral was a must-see, so that was our first port of call. €3 each (the 3 weeks 'till I'm 65 ploy did not work, but it would only have saved me 50 cents)
As expected, everything was on a grand scale - you could hardly see the ceiling it was that far away.
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| Impressive from the outside... |
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| ...and the inside |
A good couple of hours later we were on a city walk, following the city walls to the Alcázar - what a building! It was a cross between a Snow White pointed roof fairy castle, and a proper round, crenellated turret castle.
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| A fairy tale castle |
There is some event on in the bullring tomorrow, so we have to be gone by 8am, so an early start is planned for tomorrow.
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| An early start tomorrow |
Thursday 30/05/2019 Segovia to Villanueva de Ávila
N40°22'39.0'' W004°48'59.2'' Free aire on tarmac for 10 vans. Service point (separate taps!), no electric. Village 2 minutes walk away. Fantastic views, very quiet.
116km in 2hr 27min
Surprisingly quiet last night for somewhere so near the city centre, helped by regular drive-throughs by the police patrols.
We were up and gone by 7.45am, along with another 3 vans - the other 4 vans are obviously going to pleading ignorance when the knock on the door comes.
Our Repsol propane gas bottle ran out last night, so we're now running on UK LPG (100% propane). We called at a Repsol garage in Ávila to replace it (€11.59 for an 11kg bottle - bargain!)
Whilst there we called at a shopping centre with a Carrefour hypermarket. We know from experience how long it takes to go round these huge supermarkets, so Glyn found an Aldi and a Lidl next door to each other (MapsMe is invaluable) just down the road, so off we went.
The Lidl car park was full to bursting, as was all the space outside on the roads, and the same was true of Aldi.
We went back to Carrefour, where the car park was 3/4 full, but the store was very quiet.
Shopping done, we carried on on the superb AV900 through the gorgeous Gredos Mountains on a fantastic mountain road. The views were awesome and the roads fast,wide and smooth - perfect driving conditions.
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| The fabulous AV900 |
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| The perfect aire |
So it was back to Cervantes for wine and tapas in the sun - it turned out for the best.
This location is so good we've decided to stay another night and do some walking in the morning (routes provided in waterproof holders on the wall of the aire).
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| What a great idea - well done Villanueva de Ávila |
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| Advertising pays! |
Friday 31/05/2019 Villanueva de Ávila
We like it so much here we decided to stay for another night.
The town council who built this aire had the good foresight to make 4 waterproof compartments under the flagpoles they had erected, that contained 4 different walking routes around the town and surrounding areas.
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| Brilliant idea |
According to my iphone we took 19,468 steps and walked 13 kilometres.
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| Excellent walking routes |
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| Walkers in the sun |
However, what we wanted now was a long, cold beer, which is exactly what we got.
We left at 1.30pm, after establishing that Menu del Dia was served from 2.00pm onwards.
Back at Cervantes we washed and changed and were back by bang on 2.00pm.
We were the first there. The standard table dressing on every table was tablecloth,cutlery, salt, pepper, oil and vinegar, bread (excellent), 1 litre of cold red wine, and 1 litre of Casera (lemonade).
White wine was unheard of, but Glyn pluckily put aside her reservations and soon had half the bottle (of Casera!) empty, mixed with red wine (known as Tinto Verano in Spain)
The food was mainly meat based, but for all that was superb quality and value at €9.50 for 3 courses and a litre of wine and lemonade - where else could you get that??
The place soon filled up with local workers and townsfolk until all the tables were full.
We obviously left some red wine (for Dios) and went back to Cervantes for some well deserved R&R (Rest and Recreation/Repose and Relax) - the temperature in the shade here is 32°, so after a walk in full sun, I think we deserve some.
Glyn speaking :-
One of the trees in front of the aire was frequented by a bird that I hadn't heard before, but had a beautiful, varied song from early morning to last thing at night. It proved to be a skulking little thing and it took hours to locate it, only for it to fly off before I could identify it. However, finally it showed it's face, but even then we were torn between it being a nightingale or a cetti's warbler - identification by song later.
Finally got a close-up - nightingale!! Big, rufous tail.
Saturday 01/06/2019 Villanueva de Ávila to Navarrevisca
N40°22'05.4'' W004°53'21.9'' Free aire for 30+ vans on sand/gravel. Service point, no electric. Steep, sandy approach, great views.
18km in 35min
Moving on today from this fabulous place, we were not going far.
There was a road (the AV-P-420) which brought us to Navarrevisca in 5km. This looked to be a very narrow, tortuous road, so we took the easy way out, and backtracked back along the AV-901, then left onto the AV-913, which turned out to be probably just as narrow and tortuous as the AV-P-420 would have been.
We made it in the end (as we always do, thanks to Glyn and her sighting around the blind (for me) left hand bends.
The aire was well signed, and having read about the aire beforehand, we realised we had to drive up a very steep, sandy, uneven road to a plateau on the top, which was the aire.
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| It's steep, but driveable |
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| Spectacular, panoramic views |
A couple of beers and some ace tapas later, we were back with Cervantes having bread (panaderia in town), cheese and olives, and a very decent white wine.
On our own here, we could, and do, look at the view for hours. Glyn is always on the lookout (and also the hearout) for sight and sound of new birds.
She thought she heard some Bee-eaters, but no amount of looking showed anything.
We are undecided where to go tomorrow - the weather forecast for Extremadura (our planned stop) showed temperatures in the high 30's, so maybe that will preclude our trip there.
Where we are now (1185 metres or 3888 feet) we can hear no cars, people, music, chatter, - just the sound of the wind and birdsong - perfect!
Sunday 02/06/2019 Navarrevisca to Camping Complejo the Dream
N40°00'46.2'' W004°41'40.8'' ACSI campsite for 83 vans on pea gravel, €20, service point, showers, toilets, cafe, restaurant, shop, pool.
114km in 2hr 34min
Well - talk about climbing and descending - we've done some of that today!
At one point we were 1400m up, and within 17km we were at 500m - that is some descent rate!
I tried to keep Cervantes in 3rd gear and use engine braking - the disc brakes would have been cooked within 5km otherwise.
The hill up and down was a magnet for motorbikes, especially as it was Sunday - sorry guys, but it's just an accident waiting to happen.
There is an enormous heatwave in Spain (even for Spain) - global warming? - where temperatures are in the high 30's, whereas normally they are in the mid to high 20's.
We love the heat and sun, but after 30° plus you start to wilt a bit. It's OK if you're at home and can escape indoors, but a metal box on wheels gets a bit hot, and shade is hard to find.
For this reason we decided to give the Monfragüe National Park between Cáceres and Plasencia a miss, to be visited another day.
We called in at Talavera de la Reina aire to see what it was like, and I have to say, it was a bit ropey.
There were plenty of well-marked spaces with water and a service point.
However, it was next to a sports field where there seemed to have been some sort of rave/concert going on, with lots of youths who looked to be in a trance, and many people wandering about.
We didn't intend to stay - just called in for a look, so we were soon on our way to Camping Complejo The Dream (great name) through the village of Cazalegas to the shore of a man-made lake - very popular with visitors, especially on Sunday.
The only fly in the ointment was that the only road through the village was closed for re-paving or something, so everyone had to turn round and find another way through - great fun!
There were no alternative routes signed - you were on your own.
The locals in the bars lining the streets had a great time explaining in minute detail how to get round the roadworks.
Luckily Glyn had on her Michelin Routefinder head, and had us up some narrow streets (luckily someone reversed up to let us pass), then down a 30% slope to the other end of the roadworks - after that it was a walk in the park!
The campsite is excellent - we are on pitch 10B which could easily site 2 motorhomes - huge pitches with well-established trees for good shade.
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| A great pitch, with shade |
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| A well-run campsite |
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| There was a queue for the barbeques |
Monday 03/06/2019 Camping Complejo The Dreams to Puerto Lapice
N39°19'34.9'' W003°29'00.8'' Free aire for 9 vans on concrete, service point, electric €1, great view of windmills.
166km in 2hr 5min
It was very hot last night - no covers required.
We have run out of coffee, so were hoping to buy one at one of the many bars in the campsite - no one open, and reception was still closed, so we went on our way coffeeless.
It's nearly all motorway today around Toledo, then south to a village aire in Puerto Lapice.
First of all some shopping (coffee!) was needed, so we exited the motorway at Torrijos, where Lidl and Mercadona are next to each other.
Back on the motorway we were in Puerto Lapice before 1pm, and found the aire with no problem.
It's slightly sloping, so good for us (nose-down!) as we needed no ramps.
Just the 3 of us here at the moment, but the day is still young.
It's another hot one today, and we're constantly shuffling round into the shade as the sun sweeps round the van.
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| A bit on the warm side |
We're back in Cervantes country, and our view today from the windscreen is of 3 windmills on top of the hill in front of us - what a great view.
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| Superb view |
We slogged up the hill to the 3 windmills for a magnificent view of the cultivated fields and the dust storms blowing up in the distance - it looked like the American mid-west!
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| You can see for miles from up here |
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| Such a good museum |
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| Very quiet in town |
Tuesday 04/06/2019 Puerto Lapice to Riópar
N38°29'46.5'' W002°25'17.3'' Free aire on crushed stone for 5 vans, service point, no electric. Parking on adjacent road. 2 minutes walk to town.
182km in 2hr 57min
After a good nights sleep, we awoke to find the aire was quite full this morning.
The service point took up one of the bays, but manoeuvering to it was a problem in the limited space available. The motorhome parked next to the service point moved to where we had just vacated, so we had more room to manoeuver, and he wasn't parked next to people emptying grey water next to him.
After a fill-up with diesel, we were on our way. The A4/E5 was fine and fast, which was in stark contrast to the CM412 between Valdepeñas and Villanueva de los Infantes - what a nightmare - it doesn't deserve to be called a road.
For 41km it shook, rattled and rolled poor Cervantes - I had visions of bits dropping off everywhere.
It improved after that (not difficult!) and the run-in to Riópar, where we are in the new aire (opened April 2018), was superb.
Again it was on the CM412, but this time up the wooded mountain and down the other side, with breathtaking scenery - what an absolute pleasure to drive on this road - it was superb.
The aire was empty when we got here, plenty of room, and a wide, empty street opposite for plenty of overspill.
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| Plenty of room here |
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| Eric is definitely impressed |
A surprise was learning that Riópar was a major bronze producer in the past, with a relevant statue in the town hall square to commemorate it.
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| A bronze statue commemorating their bronze-making history |
Wednesday 05/06/2019 Riópar
We woke this morning to the sound of rain on the roof - how dare it! It was also blowing a major gale outside, luckily straight towards the front of the van, so no rocking and rolling.
It was forecast yesterday, so came as no surprise, although the temperature is now 20° lower than yesterday.
I had intended to cycle to the source of the Rio Mundo (which flows into the Rio Segura, which enters the Mediterranean Sea near our house) to see if the road was suitable for motorhomes to drive and park, but conditions now dictate another option - a walk to Old Riópar, high on a hill, just out of town.
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| The hilltop town of Old Riópar |
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| No-one here but us |
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| Great views from the top |
Out of all the restaurants, we only found on (La Cuesta in Calle Maestro Galindo Arjona 20) doing Menu del Dia.
We headed back to Cervantes for a shower and change of clothes, then off to La Cuesta.
€12 got us bread, wine (a bottle of red and white on the table), a huge starter, big main course and a good sweet, all chosen from a large and varied menu and served by a very nice waiter. Eating out in Spain is a totally different experience than the UK - long may it continue.
The 2 vans with us last night have gone today - we are waiting for someone else to appear to keep us company tonight.
Thursday 06/06/2019 Riópar to Elche de la Sierra
N38°27'10.8'' W002°02'46.1'' Free aire on sand and gravel for 10 vans, service point, no electric. Town centre 3 minutes walk away.
51lm in 1hr 10min
Back to normal today - full sun and coffee outside.
We have had a hankering to go to the source of the Rio Mundo, which flows into the Rio Seguro, so we set off from Riópar along the CM 3204 to find that the access road was far too narrow for Cervantes.
There was a car park 1 km up the road where we left Cervantes and crossed over to start our walk on the GR 66.
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| A good, clear map of the route |
The things we had come to see (the waterfall and the start of the river) were in the same place, but about 1000 metres below us, so we didn't get to see them after all.
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| Correct co-ordinates, just a bit too high |
Neither of us got much sleep last night with barking dogs and low temperatures - it was 11° in the van this morning - we had to throw some more covers on the bed halfway through the night.
Our destination today is Elche de la Sierra, a working town on the excellent CM 412.
We got here at 2pm, and immediately went to find a Menu del Dia. There were many restaurants, most of them closed.
We eventually settled on a Tabac on the main street where we had a salad to share, then a "platos combinados" - a main meal of meat or fish with accompanying vegetables and potatoes. An excellent bottle of white wine (€8!) and good food later, we had no need to cook tonight.
The aire is easily found off the CM 412 and has places marked with logs for 10 vans, next to the town sports centre, with the town only a 3 minute walk away.
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| All alone in the aire |
Friday 07/06/2019 Elche de la Sierra to Camping El Nuevo Comienzo
N38°06'18.4'' W001°45'02.4'' Campsite for 6 vans on sand/vegetation, €17.50, shower, toilet, electric, water, waste facilities, swimming pool, seated veranda, views, unmade road access.
81km in 1hr 47min
A deathly quiet night - almost too quiet to sleep.
We have identified a camping area we would like to stay in near Cehegín, which sounds very remote.
First we headed for Calasparra on the fabulous CM 3228 which became the RM 715 (when we crossed from Castilla la Mancha to Region de Murcia), a great driving road - plenty wide enough with some stunning scenery, even though it was only a "white" road.
We were running short of basics, so Glyn found a Mercadona in Cehegín for us to shop at.
It was the only one I've ever seen that had a full size drive-in covered car park big enough to get Cervantes in - goodness knows what it was before.
The sat-nav directed us to the co-ordinates given, and we could see a blue house down another steep lane.
We didn't want to commit ourselves to going any further, so we rang the number provided in Campercontact and Rolf answered - waving from the gate of the blue house.
We duly set off down the lane, and had the biggest welcome ever.
Rolf showed us round the complete package of what they had there.
We could park anywhere, so chose a spot with the fridge pointing north.
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| What a view! |
There was a large covered veranda with lots of chairs, sofas and tables, and a large swimming pool with shower and loungers - all included in the package for us to use.
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| An unexpected bonus |
This place is magical, and so far we have it to ourselves!
We also met Nicole, Rolf's wife back from a shopping trip, who was lovely.
If you want an idyllic spot with great views, great hosts and an adventure to get here - this is for you!
Saturday 08/06/2019 Camping El Nuevo Comienzo
Absolute silence last night - I can't believe it - where are all the dogs?
It's so peaceful here - definitely somewhere to go before you have your blood pressure taken.
You can stare at the view for hours and see the same thing from a different perspective of sun and shade over and over again - great therapy.
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| Rolf and the blue house |
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| The track to get to the tarmacked road |
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| Cervantes in a perfect setting |
Sat under the dappled shade of an old olive tree, writing this, I realise just how lucky we are to be here, doing this - long may it continue.
Sunday 09/06/2019 Camping El Nuevo Comienzo to Lorqui
N38°04'44.2'' W001°15'34.5'' Free aire for 10 vans on tarmac, service point, no electric, bar/restaurant 20 metres away.
66km in 1hr 19min
Time to move on from this brilliant place and start heading for home.
It seems we have stayed in all the aires between here and home, but it was so long since we stayed in Mula, we thought we would give it another go.
The aire is still in the car park of an abandoned swimming pool (now covered in grafitti) and does not give the correct vibe about staying there overnight.
So it was on to Lorqui aire by a river and a park (with a nice bar/restaurant) to spend the night.
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| The very good Bar El Parque |
I tried to book Cervantes in for an oil and filter change at Ginés Huerta Motors in Sangonera on Monday, but the garage is closed (as are most businesses), so I booked Tuesday instead at 9.00am
This means we have to be somewhere reasonably close on Monday night.
The aire at Ikea, just outside Murcia, looks ideal, and when Glyn researched Ikea's opening hours, they were closed on the official day (Sunday), but open on Monday, so plenty of opportunity to spend some money tomorrow.
Monday 10/06/2019 Loqui to Ikea (Murcia)
N38°01'44.4'' W001°08'51.2'' Free aire in Ikea car park for 114 vans on block paving, dual service point, no electric.
18km in 21min
Yesterday was the real local holiday, so more than normal, the children and adults were out to play, because today is a local holiday in lieu of yesterday.
We had had some noise at night in Lorqui on a previous visit (on a normal day) with people talking and playing music, but yesterday night it was full on - cars and people at full volume.
Luckily we had the sound turned up on the 1941 hit video "How green was my valley" - great acting and more songs than dialogue (the father dies in the end)
Much to our amazement the noise died down around midnight, and we had a good nights sleep.
This morning we had toast and coffee in the park bar, then set off on the short drive to Ikea (open today)
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| Ikea is a great aire |
I did however buy a new computer chair (to write this on) which was no more expensive than the poor quality ones from the Chinese todo shops.
Ikea - guaranteed quality at a much lower price than you imagine!
Tuesday 11/06/2019 Ikea to Home
78km in 1hr 20min
A windy night, then an early start to be at Ginés Huerta Motors in Sangonera at 9am for an oil and filter change for Cervantes.
All went well, and we were gone by 10.30am - great service.
We've had a fabulous time, seen some wonderful sights and stayed in some of the most remote places we can imagine.
Now it's time to unpack and put Cervantes back in storage until our next adventure begins.
Hi,I first spotted your video's on YouTube and would like to thank you for taking the time to make them as they have been amazingly useful to me,keep up the good work.
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