Castril and Pueblo de Don Fadrique

We had a great nights sleep again. It was super quiet but in the early hours of the morning the temperatures plummeted to 0°c outside and just 6°c inside. When we woke up at 7am I even put the gas fire on.
We had spent yesterday evening looking at google maps and a place I had dismissed visiting because it was in the mountains and tight roads came up named Castril. Ellie mentioned the gorge walk there and it was already in the Sat Nav so just after 9am we took the 20 mile drive from Galera to Castril.
The closer we got to the town the more spectacular the views became and at one point we crossed of a gorge that must have been 300ft deep over a narrow bridge. Entering the town itself we passed along it’s edge first of all following the mountain road until we came to a reservoir. When we stopped to take pictures Ellie pointed out the goats at the top of a mountain, there must have been a hundred all bouncing about over the cliff face. Shortly after parking up a local man pulled up next to us and he was trying to tell us something but obviously we didn’t understand so he went back to his car, got some binoculars and then gave them to us pointing at the goats. As we looked through the binoculars we can see a Shepard at the top of the mountain n his hands and knees sometimes scrambling over the rocks trying to herd the flock, it was an incredible sight and absolutely bonkers.
We left the local man, thanking him for his hospitality, drove around the reservoir and around the mountain side into the town and parked at the visitors centre which was closed. Then we took a short walk down a very, very steep hill to the gorges.
The Cerrada del Rio Castril is a short but beautiful gorge walk, it normally costs €2 each but all the gates were open and the ticket booth was closed so we just went straight in for free. Almost straight away we were walking on wooden platforms stuck to the side of the cliff face above the rushing water below. We had the whole place to ourselves crossing over a suspension bridge entering a tunnel cut into the sandstone cliffs and re-emerging to 2 waterfalls. It was a great walk and as we found out at the end it was a circular route so we were pleased at the thought of not having to go back up the very steep gravel path we took to get here.
How wrong we were, because as we rejoined the street and followed the road around it just went up like a brick wall. The gradient was unbelievable even though we were walking, I thought I saw the crest after 10 minutes but it was actually a bend and it just went up further. Finally after 15 minutes we had broken the back of the hill and saw 2 benches so we sat down drank some water and continued through the winding streets of Castril until we finally popped out in the town square. And it was beautiful.
Flowers hung from every wall, hanging geraniums and primroses mainly but they were all different shades shades of reds, pinks, purple and white. Against the yellow brick weave and cobbled streets it was one of the prettiest towns we had walked through.
At the end of the street was the church which was set in it’s own gardens with cobbled steps running up to it, next to the church steps was a tiny cobbled water fountain and next to that was a pool for making wishes. It was a very tranquil and beautiful place.
Around 1:30pm we headed back to Wanda, had some lunch and then set off back the way we had come to Huescar, then turned left and took the 30 mile journey to our park up spot in the the town of Pueblo de Don Fadrique. This town has nothing touristy in it but it does have free water, and grey waste and 2 motorhome slots next to the sports centre and except for the odd barking dog it’s pretty quiet. We arrived just after 3pm and nothing except a pharmacy and the local petrol station was open. We took a walk around the town just after 5pm and it was exactly the same. Nothing open. Every shutter on every house is closed, this is a town of 2200 people and except for the odd person milling about and a few visiting the sports centre there’s nobody about. We don’t know where the Spanish people hide but they do it well.
At 6pm we headed back to Wanda, Ellie cooked dinner and tonight as we’re next to a tap we’re both going to abuse the shower. The dust in the air here is incredible, we both feel like we’ve been sandblasted. It looks set to be another cold night so we’ll be wrapping up well at bedtime again.もっと詳しく