We went for a morning stroll along the river and up to the Iglesia de San Andrés which was shut but nice to see from the outside. On the way there we popped into a bakery for some bread and also got a couple of cakes. These were white chocolate pecados (sins! 🤣) On the way back along the path by the river we got chatting to a man in his allotment who told us he was growing cherries, apples, apricots, pomegranates, walnuts and persimmon fruit. He gave us a tour of all his trees. 😃
We had our cakes for breakfast when we got back to the van and Dave had a moment of inspiration and, motivated by his travels, decided to sign up for Babbel and resume his Spanish lessons. After all that excitement we packed up ready to head off.
On our way out up the hill, we saw some mountain goats, including a baby trying to get back to the herd. We had really enjoyed our time in Alcalá de Júcar and felt that we had managed to fit a lot into a day.
We headed to El Herrumblar along a very long straight road edged by poppies, fruit orchards and almond trees. When we arrived, we drove past a huge wine factory and then the campsite emerged ahead of us with a number on the gate for us to ring to be let in through the security gate. The whole place looked beautiful – it had only been open about a month and everything was shiny and new. They had capacity for about 12 vans or caravans in nicely sized pitches with gorgeous views. There was a swimming pool and a lot of inside facilities. I was delighted to see that I could put a wash around for free. 🤣
I got some washing going, hoping it would be the last wash of the trip – it was so windy that the washing nearly blew away. We had to put the drying rack inside while we had lunch because I literally had to hold onto it so it would not be whisked away!! We lunched on tortilla and bread and then had a siesta before going for a stroll around the town. There was a church and bar in the main square, a bullring and then we found a bar that used to be a hermitage and had a beer and some sunflower seeds and altramuzes (lupin beans). We even got a demo from the barmaid on how best to eat the sunflower seeds!!
We walked back past the almond trees and through the village, popping into the tiny supermarket for a few alcohol free beers!! We had a dinner of bread, cheese and leftover sausage and then had a rare evening watching television – Race across the world from last week to be precise!! It felt very strange to be the only ones on the campsite and we felt sure that it’s popularity would build as more people found out about it. They had done a really great job of the place but clearly needed to do a bit more more marketing.
