El Berrueco

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.Read more