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Our Spanish Road TripOur Spanish Road Trip
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Our Spanish Road Trip

ottobre - novembre 2022
  • Misadventures Of Wanda
Follow along as we head down through France to Spain looking for hiking and biking trails to explore. There’s lots on the bucket list from castles to caves, will we find our ultimate adventure playground in Spain 🇪🇸 Leggi altro
  • Misadventures Of Wanda

Elenco dei paesi

  • Spagna Spagna
  • Andorra Andorra
  • Francia Francia
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Bicicletta, Camper, Coppia, Escursionismo, Natura, Fotografia, Breve viaggio, Giro turistico, Tour, Natura selvaggia
  • 4,1kmiglia percorse
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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Lake Negratín to Galera

    6 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Last night we slept well, it was really quiet but it was also really cold. The coldest it has been except when we were travelling down through France. It was just 3°c outside at 7:30am and only 9°c inside.
    We had nothing planned for today and I thought we would be staying here or moving down a little further to the badlands but after breakfast I took the drone out for half an hour to photograph the lake managed to get some shots of the badlands in the background so I decided we didn’t need to go any further down.
    Ellie wanted to head to Galera. She has been looking at cave houses online for years and Galera is home of the cave houses so we plotted the sat Nav and headed northbound.
    Our first stop was an open air museum called Castiltón Alto. It’s not really a museum but more of an open archeological site. We found out why it had the word Alto in the title when we had to climb 150 meters to reach the site.
    The tour starts at the highest point where the uppermost necropolis is, here there were the remains of a Skelton that was buried in a building under the floor. The site dates back to the Bronze Age and it was the practise to bury the dead family members in the house either in a pit in the floor, or a small alcove in the wall or if they were a small child in a ceramic jar and buried.
    We followed the steps around the top of the Alto and started to come down and here we saw the remains of Bronze Age buildings. It was amazing to see wooden posts left in the ground that were once supports for the roofs.
    Unfortunately we didn’t get to look much further around as it was closing at 1pm and reopened at 4pm so our visit was cut short but that gave us a chance to head into town.
    Both Ellie and I have googled Galera town and the streets look really tight and narrow and although the village is small it seemed quite compact so we didn’t think we would ever get parked actually in town.
    I found a place on park4night right in the centre of town in the town square and after abit of negotiating the streets we managed to get parked in the town square right outside a restaurant with the church in front of us and the museum on the road behind us.
    We now knew everything in town was closed until atleast 4pm and infact the museum didn’t open again until 5pm so we treated ourselves to a lunch out at the nearby restaurant and then went for a walk around the town.
    Ellie had spotted a glass walkway about 200 meters up the side of one of the hills so we first hiked up to that passing by beautiful cave houses. They were all painted white but actually well camouflaged into the scenery. We walked past a lot without even noticing them at first. Of course the ones that were just abandoned I went in. It was amazing to think that over 100 years ago people lived in them.
    We finally reached the platform and had a spectacular 360° view of Galera and the surrounding landscape. It did look beautiful and very Star Wars like. We then followed a concrete path along the top of the mountain to the cave houses at the other end of the village and walked down looking at them and Ellie was telling me which ones she had seen online. It is a beautiful area but it gets cold in the winter so it’s not a good winter get away zone. I think we’ve realised that Wanda is our happy place, not a region or town or even a country.
    We headed back to Wanda, and after a little siesta and rehydration we headed for the museum at 5pm.
    As we left Wanda Ellie noticed that the church doors were now open and we do love a European church so we headed in there first and true to form it was covered with gold leaf, amazing paintings and statues and beautiful stained glass. Ellie and I aren’t religious atall but we do appreciate the history of these places. This church was built in the 16th century.
    From the church we headed around the corner to the museum and couldn’t believe our own eyes when at 5pm on a Sunday evening the museum had just opened.
    We were greeted by a lovely Spanish lady, paid our €2 entry fee and she gave us a 15 minute intro of how the museum came to be built on donations from the local community. The museum itself was filled with the artifacts from Castleton Alto aswell as Roman artifacts covered over 3 floors and the ground floor was actually a cave and one part was fitted out as a cave house and the other half was fitted out as a Bodega with huge wine Vats from the 1700’s. It was a very impressive museum.
    After the museum we headed just out of town to the car park of the Necropolis. We were going to look around but it was just closing so instead we went for a walk down the road.
    About 1/2 mile into the walk I spotted some abandoned cave houses way up on a hill so I decided to scramble up the vertical climb and as I came to the ledge where the cave houses were I was greeted by hundreds of bones. At first I thought wow, I’ve just discovered a new burial site and shouted at Ellie to climb up and join me and as she was scrambling up I realised they were actually animal bones. Probably sheep.
    I ventured into the cave houses and they were massive in there original state with the roofs in a precarious state of collapse, but I could still get inside and get some great pictures.
    Then it was back to Wanda as the sun started to set, the temperature was already dropping and it was already 15°c at 6pm. It looks like it’s set to be another cold night.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Castril and Pueblo de Don Fadrique

    7 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    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.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Pablo de Don Fadrique to La Toba

    8 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Surprisingly we had a peaceful nights sleep even though we were parked next to the community sports centre. There were no kids playing, no dogs barking and it was relatively warm compared to our last couple of nights. We were both awake at 7:30am and last night after abit of debating we decided we would travel to our next destination through the Sierra de Cazorla national park. No tolls and no motorways.
    It would be a 20 mile shorter journey than the motorway route of 191 miles taking 3.5 hours. This route would be 171 miles but take 5 hours. It would be an adventurous route and I’d already decided 5 hours was too much to ask if Wanda and me so we would look for a stopover around halfway.
    We set off around 9am leaving our little park up in Pueblo de Don Fadrique and straight away picked up the A-317a leaving town. Funnily enough this was a main highway but it was just wider than single lane and around 40mph speed limit most of the way. As soon as we left town we were out in the sticks and we were going uphill. The first summit was 1600 meters. It was a beautiful route and Wanda drove lovely all the way taking the hills, switchbacks and mountains in her stride like a mountain goat. The further we drove the more remote it became and we saw deers, mountain goats and red squirrels, not to mention tonnes of vultures the higher we climbed.
    We kept stopping to take photos because the views were spectacular with mountain views, gorges and bridges and littles caves dotted the hillsides. It was an amazing road.
    Around 40 miles in, while we still had a 4G signal I plotted our park up for the night. Ellie didn’t have a clue where we were going but I promised her she’d love it when we got there. It was listed as the best motorhome park up.
    The coordinates were set and we had 32 miles to go. 12 on this A-317a and the rest off of a side road which did worry me a little because this road was already quite narrow.
    Finally we reached the turn off and headed off the main road and started going downhill through a forested area. The road was tarmac and in excellent condition and the signs for snow chains only worried us because that meant more hills, and there were, lots of them with 180° switchbacks and now we were following the path of the river through the forest. We passed hiking trails, biking trails, abandoned villages where the houses were just crumbling, tiny little hamlets with 3 or 4 houses in them in the middle of nowhere until after 20 miles we crossed over a bridge and into the hamlet of La Toba. This was where we would be spending the night.
    There was a car park immediately to the left of the bridge and the sat Nav said this was the spot but it didn’t look like the pictures so we locked Wanda up and then took a walk uphill into the centre of the hamlet.
    It was a great walk seeing all the old storage dens cut into the side of the mountains with there tiny little doorways. A waterfall came down the side of the cliff face, ran under the road we were walking on and back out the other side down the cliff and into the river below. Where it ran under the road there was a diversion for some of the water and it ran into a four posted wooden structure and into a huge concrete basin and at the sides were concrete washboards. This was a traditional washing house of the area. There was also another one slightly further up the road. There were only about 20 houses and large closed restaurant and a closed hostel in the whole place but at the far end of the village there was a mini shrine to a saint where water from the river ran into the back and out through a fountain at the front. It was beautiful.
    We turned around and walked back towards Wanda and continued past her and then I spotted our real parking spot from the pictures so I went back and moved Wanda to her home for the night.
    We were now sat next to the running river, it is literally 3 foot away, surrounded by huge mountains all around us with some woods running off into the distant mountains behind us. It is the most scenic park up we have had and we are completely alone. So alone that after I cut my hair and had a shave I went skinny dipping in the river to wash off. It was unbelievably cold but refreshing.
    Just before dinner we set off for a little explore down one of the trails as the sun was setting, we didn’t go far but did cross the river using stepping stones which was exciting and as the sun disappeared the temperature dropped from 22°c to 10°c in less than an hour although both our phones say that, that is the lowest it should get.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    La Toba to Genave

    9 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We had a wonderful nights sleep, the temperature was just right inside, there wasn’t a sound outside and despite Ellie’s reservations, we didn’t have any vanlifers turn up at stupid hour. We both woke up just after 7am feeling refreshed. Which was good because I had spent last night looking at local rides and I had found one. It wasn’t very far but it was a huge climb up a mountain, the biggest real world climb I have done, if I completed it.
    I didn’t bother with breakfast as it was still early but took a couple of yoghurt bars and some sweet nuts for energy later on and just before 9am I set off. Straight away I started climbing on a 4% gradient, this was the shallowest gradient it would be until my return journey. After 20 minutes of climbing I had already done just over 300 meters of climbing with an average gradient of 7% and as I rounded one of the switchbacks I could see Wanda and Ellie far below me. I thought I must be slightly mad, it was cold because it was so early so I luckily I’d put my winter cycling clothes on, the climb was ahead of me was massive but the gradient looked manageable and as I pushed on passing through a wooded area some deers were just standing in the road.
    50 mins in my breathing was all over the place, the air was unbelievably thin. I was over 1000 meters in elevation now and I just couldn’t catch a full breath so after a steep 10% gradient of a couple of kilometres I had to stop. Even when I had stopped my breathing felt laboured, I can normally recover in a couple of minutes but this was taking a lot longer. I did check my heart rate and it was actually lower than a normal ride so it wasn’t my fitness that was letting me down it was the altitude.
    5 minutes later I pushed on and I was glad I had stopped because as I rounded a 180° bend the gradient just veered up. I dropped to my lowest gear and just held a steady pace, it was 12% now and as I came to the very top of the gradients it was a leg breaking 25%.
    12 kilometres of climbing later I was finally at the summit, I had 5 kilometres of cycling left but I thought I was done with the climbing and I was just cycling across a summit now to the viewpoint. As the tarmac ran out the surface changed first to a fine gravel and then to stones and then to brick like rocks. I passed through some more woods and this time there were hundreds of deer. Vultures circled just above me willing for me to mess up or go off the edge and I cycled on more hills appeared. From a distance they looked doable but as I neared them they were just a wall of brick, gravel and rocks. I just had 2km to go to the real summit and even though I couldn’t breathe and I was cold I gave my last bit of energy and climbed the 25% gradient to the summit.
    I was knackered but really pleased with my achievement. I had climbed 1054 meters and tackled gradients I never thought possible. A year ago they wouldn’t have been.
    I was level with the Vultures now but it was blowing a gale, it was really exposed and I could see rain coming in the distance so I stopped for just 5 minutes before starting my return journey.
    Just as I was leaving I messaged Ellie to say I’d be back soon. That was a big mistake. Cycling back down the 25% rocks was probably slower than coming up and when I reached the bottom of them I had one hill to climb. I decided I’d push the back up that one as I needed a change in motion on my legs and I hadn’t stopped long at the summit so I thought I might catch my breath. I didn’t.
    Reaching the top of this hill my job was done, it was all downhill from here but I still had 2 kilometres of rocks and gravel to get across before I could really pick speed up on the tarmac, and that’s when disaster struck. As I started descending on the rocks my front tyre which did already have a slow puncture completely popped. I wasn’t worried as I had 2 spare inner tubes so I layer the bike down. Removed the front wheel and then the inner tube and it started raining. I put the second inner tube in and normally I put it in place, put a little air into it to give it some shape then let the air back out and fit the tube and tyre. Try as I might I could not get air into the inner tube. I started off with the hand pump and after 10 minutes gave up then went onto the CO2 pump. I just couldn’t get it to go up and by now it was throwing it down with rain and I was getting cold and pissed off. I completely removed the inner tube and tried pumping it up completely out of the wheel and then I noticed a 3mm hole in the side of it. Now I was really pissed off because it was a new tube, and I was cold and wet. I got my second spare tube and put it in the wheel and put the tyre back on but the last bit of the tyre took me about 15 minutes because my hands were wet and cold. Finally after 40 minutes it was done and I was moving again and for the next 1.5km of gravel and rock I was riding very cautiously as I had no spare inner tubes now. Once I reached the tarmac the rain was so hard it was bouncing off the road so I took shelter under a small pine tree to eat and drink something and let myself calm down before starting the descent which would be tricky now with all this water on the road. Just as I was getting my snacks out a young guy stopped in his little car to check on me, I told him I was fine but he asked me which way I was going and offered to put the bike in the car. He was so kind.
    Obviously I refused the help, I didn’t cycle all the way up here and fix a puncture just to get a lift back down and once the rain started to ease I kicked off from the summit. I travelled at an average of 50kph on the way down, gliding around the hairpins and then picking up speed again on the straights. It was a really sketchy descent and it took me all of 10 minutes. I couldn’t believe it when I reached Wanda so quickly. Ellie saw me coming and had put the kettle on which was great because I was soaked through and freezing.
    It was now 2pm and the ride had taken 2 hours longer than I had planned. Partly because of the puncture but I think mainly it was the altitude.
    My plan now was to chill out for the rest of the day but Ellie had cleaned everything, listened to everything in her phone and was bored. And it was rainy so our beautiful views had turned to low cloud.
    I had something to eat and then we prepped Wanda and by 3pm we were back in the road driving through the woods leaving La Toba. I found a nice little airè with 5 star reviews and we headed for that and after 35 miles we had reached the town of Genave. The airè was just as we came into town but it was up a steep gravel hill and Wanda didn’t think to much of that in the wet and after stopping halfway up we just slipped all the way back down and into the main road. Luckily there was no traffic.
    Ellie immediately started looking for somewhere else but I drove into the village centre turned Wanda around and said let’s give it a go from this direction with a little more speed. This time Wanda made it up first go and didn’t even struggle and we found ourselves at a beautifully made airè that looks new. It has 10 motorhome spaces with fresh hedges planted inbetween and each space has it’s own tap and picnic bench, it also has a toilet dump and grey waste and we have a mountain view to our left and a view of the town to our right. For a town if just 600 inhabitants this is a remarkable airè.
    As the sun disappeared tiny lights came on in the town and now it looks like it’s glowing, tomorrow we will have to go down and investigate it further.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Genave to Chinchilla

    10 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We both had a lay in this morning and woke up at 7:45am. We had a very peaceful night in the beautiful airè at Genave.
    Just after 9am we went for a walk into the town. A few shops were open and we brought some freshly baked bread for breakfast, had a Wander around the streets and went to see the bullring and then went back to Wanda to have Jam on fresh bread for breakfast.
    At 10:30am we were ready to leave and on the way out we stopped at the service point to empty the toilet and grey waste and fill up the fresh water. Today was going to be a busy day of driving. Wanda needed LPG and diesel at some point and we also needed fresh food for the cupboards so we plotted the Sat Nav and headed for the city of Albecete 70 miles away, following the N322 all the way through winding roads and a canyon like landscape.
    Just after 1pm we were at the edge of the city and our first stop was Lidl, and it was a big one so we managed to get all of our shopping and some junk food to fill out junk food cupboard and from there we went to a Decathlon store just a mile down the road to replace my inner tubes that I had used and I found a new type of tyre lever and a decent puncture repair kit.
    Then it was to our final destination of the day and our park up for the night in the city of chinchilla and on route we found a garage that did LPG so we filled Wanda and her gas tanks.
    We arrived in Chinchilla de Monte-Aragon at 3:20pm and it was easy to get to the area de auto caravans and after we parked up the first thing we did was make a cup of tea and check google to see what this town had to offer and at first glance it looked promising as there was a huge castle on the hill.
    Chinchilla de Montearagón preserves the beauty of its medieval layout and is declared as a Historic-Artistic Site and its streets are lined with stone mansions emblazoned with coats of arms, testimony to the ancient noblemen who inhabited it years ago. It has a castle and a fortress in a strategic position on the hilltop and the castle had Iberian and Roman bases and even an Arab origin, but the one we see today on the hill is from the 15th century and remains, after numerous reforms, in excellent condition, Crowning the rock and bordering the old town, the walls vary in height and open eyes to its interior from different doorways.
    We both knew nothing would be open now as it was siesta time for the Spanish so Ellie looked up the local tourist information point and that said it would open again at 5pm until 8pm so we waited around and left Wanda at 5:10pm to have a look around.
    We walked up the hill away from the airè and through an archway left from when Chinchilla was a walled city and into the main town square called the Plaza de La Mancha. Here we had the huge church of Santa Maria Del Salvador, but it was closed. Next to it was the Palace de Nuñez Cortès also closed, and next to that was the tourist information centre. That was also closed. We rechecked google for the opening hours and checked the signs on the door and everything said it should have been open from 5pm until 8pm. We will try again in the morning.
    Feeling a little p’eed off we went for a walk around the streets anyway and it looks like a fascinating town. It’s full of cobbled streets and archways, history is oozing out if every doorway and all we want to do is find out when things are open or if they open.
    Disappointed but excited at the same time to see what might be open tomorrow we went back to Wanda, watching the sun set on the way and turning the big white clouds into pink clouds that made it look like the sky was full of candy floss.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Chinchilla to Belmonte

    11 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We had a good nights sleep in the airè at Chinchilla. It was quiet from 10pm onwards although the wind got up with some pretty big gusts and Wanda was rocking about.
    At 6:30am we were both awake and to our disappointment it had started to rain for the first time in our trip. It was only light but as the sun rose at 7:15am we could see how murky it was and it looked like it was set in for the day.
    At 10am we set off to the tourist information office to see if it was open. It was the first time we’d had to Don our coats and now the rain was heavier and the wind was blowing a gale. It felt like a British winters day.
    Fortunately for us the tourist information office was open this morning and we were greeted by a friendly and enthusiastic little man who tried his best to explain about the castle exhibits on display in english.
    The exhibition started with how Chinchilla was first built and it’s strategic position over the years and gradually went through the years explaining who had been in the castle, the wars it had been through right up until the end of the 18th century when the castle was turned into a prison which had deplorable conditions it’s entire working life until it was finally shut down in 1937.
    Canons from the 15th century had been pulled from the moat along with concrete cannonballs, glass grenades and swords. It was a fascinating display and we were gutted the castle wasn’t open.
    From the information centre we looked in the church, the doors were open for visitors but all the lights were off so although it was a fabulous building it looked a little dark and creepy with no lights on and no one inside.
    From the church we headed uphill back to one of the hermitage’s which was still closed so we pressed on further uphill to see the cave houses. These cave houses were nothing like the ones in Galera. These cave houses looked like pixie houses you would see in a fairytale book with the white facades and white crooked chimneys with different coloured tops. It looked like toytown for trogs.
    The rain was really coming down now and we were soaked through so we went back to Wanda, had fresh bread and jam again for breakfast with the gas fire on to dry out and then we packed up, filled the fresh water and emptied the grey and at the same time lost our rubber hose adapter down the drain and then left chinchilla.
    We really need that rubber hose adapter and headed back to Albacete to a Leroy Merlin which is the euro B&Q to try and find one. Unfortunately they didn’t have exactly what we needed but they did have every other kind of adapter so we picked a few that would definitely fit the euro taps and we’ll have to manage.
    From Leroy Merlin we could finally head to where we started to head to 4 days ago before heading through the national parks and getting distracted.
    It was another 75 miles down the motorway to finally reach Belmonte and it was well worth the journey. We were greeted by a completely restored castle high up on a hill that looked formidable and glorious at the same time. The rain had now stopped and beams of sunshine fell on the castle giving it a glow from it’s sandstone facade.
    We arrived in the car park of the castle just after 2pm and the Castle was just closing from it’s morning hours and would reopen at 3:30pm which we knew so we had 90 minutes to kill which gave us time for some lunch and a quick power nap before heading in, in the meantime we had the best view in the house of Belmonte castle as we were the only ones here.
    Just after 3:30pm we paid our €7 each downloaded a free app that would guide us around the castle and we were in. From the moment we walked over the drawbridge we were amazed at the restoration. We were greeted in a huge courtyard that was the former training area for the 15th century soldiers. The whole bottom floor of the castle was cloistered and after going through a video introduction room we headed up to the first floor via an unbelievably decorated staircase. All of the ceilings were elaborately carved and most had thousands of individual original carvings all painted different colours. The underside of each wooden staircase was exactly the same. Each room had original furniture in including rugs and pictures from the 15th to the 18th century including a painting of Napoleon as the former Empress was french.
    From the inside we headed back out to the courtyard to the armoury which housed original armour from the 16th century in immaculate condition and an array of weapons from spears to crossbows. We have never seen such a unique collection in such good condition. Finally we headed down in to the dungeon’s which had 3 tiny caved cells with iron doors and then a large cave area with torture devices, this is the first real dungeon we had been in and it was a real creepy insight.
    We left the castle just after 5pm and drove to our parking spot about 200 meters away on a hilltop overlooking the castle. We had the best view in the house that money can’t buy even if the wind is giving us a battering. We parked Wanda up and then stood on the hillside watching the sunset behind the castle as the sky glowed orange and then pink and the castle was a black silhouette against a technicolor background. It was beautiful.
    Then the castle lights came on and it was glowing against a midnight blue background as the sky turned to nautical twilight so we headed back to Wanda for dinner and watched the castle through the window while eating before settling in for the night.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Belmonte to Arroyo de la Coronilla

    12 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Last nights sleep was non existent, just before bedtime the wind really got up and Wanda was getting a battering and rocking side to side. Just as we got into bed I said to Ellie that I quite liked it being windy and having Wanda rock. That was a big mistake because the wind got worst and we were having 50-60mph gusts all night. Neither of us got any sleep, we both sat up twice in bed because we were wide awake and I was having serious reservations about staying put. We were both dreading going outside this morning to find bits hanging from Wanda and our new cycle cover ripped to shreds. But Wanda was fine. She took the battering like a trooper and kept us safe for the night and our new cycle cover was still there and hadn’t even moved.
    At 6am we were both up and by 7am we were both dressed and had Wanda ready to go. We both just wanted to get off the hillside but I checked the weather and it was a widespread wind so it would be windy even at ground level.
    I set the sat Nav and at 8am we left windy Belmonte and it’s fabulous castle to go to Alcalà de Heneras, just outside of Madrid. I wanted a rainproof cycling Jacket so our first stop was Decathlon where I tried a couple on and bought one. Then it was a half mile drive to the other side of Decathlon where there was a shopping centre that had a laundrette in so we threw our dirty washing in there and then went to get some breakfast. We ended up buying pastries from the bakery section in a supermarket called AlCampo. It was the largest supermarket we had ever been in, standing at one end you couldn’t see the other it was easily the size of 3 football pitches and makes Tesco in Stalham look like a corner shop.
    We went back to Wanda, ate our pastries and had a cup of tea and Ellie finished sorting the washing out, then it was off to a National park 50 miles away.
    Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park is full of green and Rocky Mountains and it surprised us being so close to Madrid. It is illegal to wild camp in national parks unless it’s in a dedicated area and the camp sites charge extortionate rates as they are normally sitting on a prize tourist hotspot like a waterfall or cave but I had found a free place on a hill overlooking a reservoir.
    We arrived at our parking spot around 1:30pm, we had an amazing view being around 200ft up on the edge of a hill overlooking a reservoir down a little dirt track away from the roads. The only downside was we had a radio mast next to us but it didn’t really bother us.
    We both layed across the backseats to get a power nap in but 10 minutes in a local lad pulled up with his girlfriend and sat in the boot of the hatchback drinking beer. They left after an hour but then 10 minutes later a vanlifer turned up. Of course almost immediately there van exploded and the chairs, tables a cadac BBQ and any other crap they couldn’t fit in it while they wanted to be in it came out. Then they started cooking outside and then it started raining and had a mad panic to get everything back in the van with them aswell. Ellie and I chuckled.
    It was only a quick shower so as they started to move there stuff out of the van to restart cooking Ellie and I went for a walk to a nearby tower. It was only around a mile either way so we thought we could beat any more rain coming.
    It was a fascinating tower called the Watchtower of El Berrueco and was high up on a hill adjacent to ours and was once used to watch over the nearby town. To get in it used to have a ladder to get into a door cut in to the side and the ladder would be pulled inside if trouble was coming and a beacon lit. Now instead of a ladder there are iron rungs in the side and you can haul yourself up if your brave enough and pull yourself inside. Of course I did this while Ellie watched, I climbed in then ascended 3 flights of steps to get to the roof and just as I ventured out I could see a band of rain coming across the hills.
    I took a few pictures and then made the perilous descent down the rickety old steps and out and down the iron rungs and as we made our way back to awards the rain started to fall.
    Just as we got to Wanda the heavens opened and as we climbed back in the Vanlifers were doing the mad dash to get themselves and all there cooking stuff which was now hot back into there van. Ellie and I chuckled again.
    We had really heavy rain, then really heavy hail. Some of the ice falling was an inch in size and it made a hell of a racquet.
    An hour later another vanlifer turned up with a pop top camper and parked next to the first van, he popped his lid up and wound out an awning and that was how the scene remained until 6pm.
    At 6pm the wind really started to get up and the sky went really black and then the rain started again. It was really heavy this time and we both chuckled as the new van struggled to get his awning in before the wind took it. Then the thunder and lightning started and the first van took off. The rain was really coming down now and as the storm got closer it suddenly dawned on us that we were next to a radio mast on the highest hill here. Just as things were getting exciting the second van dropped his pop top and left and that’s when Ellie and I started getting worried. The lightning was all around us now and the thunder was just a constant roll with huge claps going above our heads and when ground strikes started hitting nearby we thought it best to get Wanda out of there fast. I drove halfway down the bumpy track we came in on to the a low point and backed Wanda into a bit of wasteland then we watched forks of lightning streak across the sky hitting every high point around us. I got out with my camera but the storm was moving fast and by the time I was set up it was already moving away across the reservoir.
    At 7:30pm we moved back up to radio mast and watched the storm drift away into the distance. The wind dropped down and we’re really hoping that, that’s it now for the night. We’re both really knackered and need a good nights sleep.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Arroya de la Coronilla to Arnedillo

    13 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We had a great nights sleep which was well needed after the fiasco the night before. The storms stayed away and the wind dropped right off before bedtime and when we went to bed at 10pm it was silent and we both slept right through until 7:30am this morning.
    At 8:30am we were ready to leave. I didn’t want to hang around to long incase the park rangers were doing an early patrol and I wasn’t sure if where we parked was legal. It was certainly more legal than the motorhome we passed on the way out that had pulled off of the dirt track and pitched up on the grass on chocks. He wasn’t there at 7:30pm last night when we were running from the storm so god knows when he turned up.
    We drove right through the national park on the N-133 passing through little towns with castles and all sorts of ancient monuments mainly from Roman times although some were older.
    We stopped around 11:30am in a little car park in a village and made some breakfast and just after we had finished a van pulled up next to us to tell us that we were on private property. The sign said it was a car park so we think he thought that we were going to pitch up for the night. I didn’t argue, I just apologised and said we were leaving but as he didn’t speak English and we don’t speak Spanish he didn’t really understand so we started Wanda and left. He understood that. He also understood how slow we travel when he got stuck behind us for the next 5 miles.
    From the N-133 we left the national park area and followed the A1 for 50 miles until eventually at 12:30pm we turned off and picked up the mountain pass heading for Ardeno. We had travelled this road before and it was just as beautiful this time with bridges and gorges, tiny little hamlets that we passed through and the high mountains with Vultures soaring overhead.
    Finally at 1:30pm we arrived in Arnedillo. We have been here before and it is one of our favourite places and it ticks all of our boxes which are mountains, good views, quiet, small, lots to look at, caves and cave houses, and hot springs.
    We were here for the hot springs as we hadn’t really found any on this trip yet and we love them, so after a quick lunch and cup of tea we got changed and headed down the hill to the Main Street and then down another hill to the river where the hot springs were. Being a Sunday it was busy but I wanted 2 dips in the springs atleast while we were here so we were definitely getting in.
    There are 3 pools in Arnedillo, a cool pool, a medium and hot, and then there’s the freezing river. The medicinal hydrotherapy way to use the pools is start of in the cool pool for 2 minutes, move to the medium pool for 5 minutes, then dip in the river for minutes and then sit in the hot pool for no more than 10 minutes.
    We skipped the cool pool and went straight for the middle pool then dipped in the freezing river and then went for the hot. It is the weirdest feeling as not only do you feel light headed all of your tight muscles crack as the tension is released. We didn’t talk much on the way back to Wanda as we both felt a little stoned.
    Back at Wanda we sat on the benches at the back of Wanda and watched the Vultures soaring overhead. No matter how hard Ellie tried she couldn’t get them to come down for a photo.
    After dinner we sat in Wanda and watched the sun set behind the mountains and as the little LED street lamps came on in our airè the cats came out to check the bins for food. We saw 2 black ones first of all but then others stated appearing from nowhere and in the end there were 5. Ellie went outside with a big bag of cat food we had brought at Lidl on our last shop for just such an occasion and she through some handfuls around the outside of Wanda and we had all of the cats munching and crunching for 45 minutes outside.
    At 7:30pm we closed the doors, windows and roof hatches and settled in for the night the temperature was dropping fast outside but it shouldn’t be to cold tonight.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Arnedillo, Herce & Calahorra

    14 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We had a pretty good nights sleep except for the moron vanlifers, one turned up at 9:30pm and parked right next to us. Considering there were another 20 free spaces that was unfortunate. One turned up at 8:30pm and decided to leave at 3:30am. They weren’t parked right next to us but we did hear there 20 doors banging shut so they might as well have been and the last ones turned up at 11:30pm and parked right between 2 other motorhomers. There’s no doubt about it, vanlifers are selfish arseholes.
    We were up early at 6:30am, we wanted to get into the hotsprings nice and early so at 7:15am after a coffee we headed back down the hill to the hotsprings. It was 11°c outside so it was cold and felt fresh.
    When we got to the hotsprings there were already 3 locals in it, 2 ladies and a man. One of the ladies got out as we were getting changed and is I walked past her to get in she had a towel wrapped around her waist but her boobs were hanging over the top. I didn’t know where to look so concentrated on the steps going down and then she said good morning. I still didn’t know were to look as I said hello and good morning back and literally fell into the hotsprings and ducked my head under.
    It was toasty and crystal clear this morning and we had the whole middle pool to ourselves. It was lovely.
    We spent about 20 minutes in the pools boiling our brains until finally I admitted that the heat was getting to me and we should go back to Wanda.
    We were back at Wanda and having breakfast for 8am, and we both felt pretty chilled out after our morning dip and had to force ourselves to get going again. Ellie washed her hair, I tidied up and put things away and by 9:30am we were ready to leave.
    We had to pay to stay in the Airè at Arnedillo which broke our run of free camps of 37 nights. They only charged us for the time we spent there so it cost around £7:50 for a nights parking, and 2 uses of the thermal springs which we thought was a bargain.
    We turned right out of Arnedillo and headed back down the mountain road we came down yesterday 6 miles to the town of Enciso.
    Enciso is famous for having dinosaur footprints which is what we had come to see. There is a long walking route of 6km and an even longer driving route called the route of the dinosaurs and there is a boardwalk. We did the boardwalk after spending 20 minutes trying to find it, and it was quite impressive. The walk takes you up a steep plateau of rock and in the rock are dinosaur footprints. There is actually thousands but not all are properly formed but the ones that are have been painted around so you can see how big they are. At the end of the boardwalk were crocodile scrape marks and tail marks from where they had pulled themselves along on what was once a river bed. It was quite fascinating and all for free.
    From there our plan was to head to the town of Calahorra, pop into Lidl and do a restock and then head to the airè a mile away and investigate the town but that’s not how our day went.
    We passed back through Arnedillo and then into the town of Herce, it was here that Ellie noticed hundreds of vultures quite low, so I found a parking spot and pulled over. There were also hundreds of cave houses up in the side of the mountain so we decided to head up a little track to so Ellie could video the vultures and I wanted to get into a cave house. The vultures soared above us and Ellie was having a nightmare trying to video them from her phone and said she wanted to get higher, but the track we were on didn’t take us much higher and we couldn’t get to the cave houses.
    We decided to leave Wanda where she was and walked up through the dead town of Herce until we came to the sign for the hermitage and the castle viewpoint. Ellie reckoned she could video the vultures there and we turned left off the main high street, through the town square where they had croquet flowers onto all the lamp posts and then we started going uphill. It was a mega climb upto 540ft of 1.5 miles and we hadn’t taken a drink or food. Luckily on this occasion god provided us with a water fountain outside the hermitage for which we were very grateful.
    The castle was 13th century, it was only the remains but it all adds to the fascinating history of the area and we could even get on the roof. This is when we saw the vultures had started to roost on a not to distant mountain top because the sun had gone in, so we waited about 20 mins to see if they would start circling again but they didn’t. That’s when I noticed a tiny goat trail heading up that mountain, so I told Ellie to wait on a ledge by the castle and I would climb up with my camera. Get some good shots and scare the vultures and they would fly past the castle and Ellie could video them. Off I went, up the side of the mountain using the goat trail, it was a lot steeper than it looked and extremely slippery on the loose stone but finally I got to the top, cut across through the rough and thorny bushes until I was around 50 meters away from the vultures. Just as I got my camera out they spotted me and one by one they took off like a squadron of fighters leaving the airfield.
    Coming back down I looked at the ledge where I left Ellie but couldn’t see her, she also wasn’t at the foot of the track I was on and as I glanced towards the castle I just caught sight of her pink bag on her back as she scrambled up the side of the mountain where the castle was. It was a proper funny sight as I saw her stop for a few minutes because she couldn’t work out how to get back to the top.
    Back together again we marched back down the hill, into town and then back to Wanda. It was now 2:30pm and we had,had a proper exploring day.
    It was 15 miles to Calahorra and stopping at Lidl our first impression of the town was it was busy, built up and abit of a hole. I offered to find somewhere else but I checked the map and the airè here is just outside of town so we headed for that to see what it was like.
    We finally parked up just after 5pm and we were starving because we had skipped lunch. The airè is on the outskirts of the city with a view of the cathedral and monastery and as the sun set it all became lit up. There’s only us and one other motorhome here who turned up at 7pm and the car park is massive with 8 dedicated motorhome, it’s not glamorous or scenic like many of our other stops but we got here late so to us it’s just a place to put our heads down for the night.    Leggi altro

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaOur Spanish Road Trip

    Calahorra to Barnedas Reales & Aguedas

    15 novembre 2022, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I was woken up at 6am by barking dogs. I tried to go back to sleep for an hour but at 6:30am I gave up and put the kettle on. Much to Ellie’s disgust.
    By 8am we were pretty much ready to go and rolled down to the water station to tip off and fill up.
    We had a big day planned for today but no exact route. I had screenshot someone else’s route last night but when I was trying to plot the route this morning I realised his map was rubbish so I ended up plotting a course on google using waypoints but to get us to the start of the route I could use TomTom.
    We set off just after 9am and the traffic leaving Calahorra was pretty manic to start with. The national speed limit in Spain for a single carriageway is 90kph that’s just above 50mph and seems fast enough to me so I set the cruise control not wanting the hassle or fines from police. But the Spanish couldn’t care less. They will overtake you wherever and whenever they want, including blind bends and hills. The only exception to this is the single white line which they 99% seem to adhere to.
    It was only a 25 mile drive to our starting point of the journey and 45mins later we were at the tourist information centre for the Barnedas Reales national park in Navarre.
    Navarra (or Navarre) began its story as the medieval Basque Kingdom of Pamplona in around 700AD & over seven centuries was absorbed into larger entities forming the Kingdom of Navarra. Reales – literally translated means Royal – with these lands once being the legacy of the Kings of Navarre.
    The tale of this wild area, however, goes much further back than the Kings that reigned here. This semi-desert or ‘badlands’ were formed around ten million years ago when the basin opened to the Mediterranean Sea & drained, leaving what is now the Ebro Basin. The soils of the Bardenas Reales comprised of clay, chalk & sandstone, have been eroded by water & wind forming quite the twist of nature.
    An Unesco World Biosphere Reserve, the park itself is split into three main areas.
    • Bardena Blanca (White Bardena) right in the centre, feels the most desert-like. It takes its name from the presence of salt on the surface of its soil. Here is where you’ll discover vast plains & deep gorges which have been formed by rivers flowing over the centuries.
    • Plano (plane) once an inland sea enclosed by the Catalan Coastal Range, when the Bardenas Reales formed, it left this part of the land relatively flat. The alternating soft & hard materials caused by erosion have created swirling layers, with hills dotted throughout the horizon.
    • Bardena Negra (Black Bardena) is located at the South Eastern tip of the Bardenas Reales bordering Aragón. The soil here is darker (hence the name) & is covered in vegetation. You’ll find plateaus of different altitudes here with Mediterranean forests on one side & grainfields on the other.
    We started our journey at the panoramic viewpoint. From here you get a real sense of the scale of the place and a board points out all the various landmarks.
    From there we went to the must see destination of the entire park. The extraordinary looking Castil de Tierra is a sight to behold. Nicknamed Cabezas (which translated means head) these isolated hills are dotted throughout the park with a one exuding a character all of its own.
    From there we were in the hands of google following from waypoint to waypoint until I jumped out with my phone to get some pictures and accidentally deleted the route. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it back because there was no signal but I thought I knew where we were going so I didn’t worry. This is when our trip went off the rails entirely.
    I came to a road where I should have turned right but there was an articulated lorry and workers blocking that road. There were no diversion signs so I just assumed that if I kept going it would bring me around to the end of that road which I thought it did 15 minutes later. I then knew I had to turn left at a crossroads at a hunting lodge and it would be a straight run back to the tourist information centre.
    At a crossroads we came to a building with a huge statue of a man and a goat. This didn’t look like a hunting lodge and after trying to get google to work we turned left. I also programmed TomTom to head for the information centre but these gravel tracks weren’t even in TomTom. Off we drove, down a gravel track and it got bumpier and bumpier. Then turned to rocks which Wanda handled very well and then turned to dirt. Ellie was cursing me saying I should have just gone the road way, but neither of us knew at the time that this was going to be this bad. For 15 miles we drove across desert, stone, rock and mud and we were completely in the middle of nowhere until finally 1 mile from our park up we popped out of the gravel track and onto a concrete road. We had just a few hundred meters to go and the road signs said something about this concrete road for access only but we pressed on anyway heading down a very steep hill where the road got so tight against the cliffs that Wanda had to breath in, and when we came to the bottom we were at the airè.
    I hadn’t read many good reviews about this airè, lots of people had said it’s smelly because the waste disposal area is to close and really noisy. I thought we’d risk it as it’s out of season and even when we got here it was busy. But respectfully quiet for daytime. Let’s hope the night stays the same.
    The airè is overlooked by huge sandstone cliffs and up until the 1960’s people lived in cave houses in them and the cliff face is dotted with hundreds and hundreds of doorways and windows.
    After a cup of tea Ellie and I went exploring and to our amazement you can get into 4 of the cave houses and they have been preserved for tourists and it’s free. There was also an app we could download with a 3D tour and videos from the people that lived there but unfortunately it was all in Spanish. The boards inside the houses to explain about the living conditions were in several languages including English so we did learn about life in a cave house and it was fascinating. There was no running water, the women went to fetch water and carried it back in there heads or hips and the farm animals used to live in the houses with them. Some of the houses still had trough’s carved into the walls.
    It was now getting late and it was trying desperately to rain as it’s been doing all day so we headed back to Wanda for some dinner and to settle in for the night.    Leggi altro

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