roemin around

It a very nice day again, 30degs, 7th in a row, so we are just doing very little in the sun. Went into the small village to support the local economy, including bars, to replenish supplies for the weekend. Site is only selling bread and milk at the moment. We are on Kikopark site, its quite newly constructed like a Spanish street and seems to be used by tourers doing just one or two nights and a few permanents with children and dogs. All the touring pitches are big and fully plumbed. It's not very busy considering its weekend. I wandered over to the railway cutting, which was closer than I thought to photograph the high speed train. Only one train an hour, it's about as busy as the motorway! Had a meal in the friendly site bar tonite. Good value and tasty. Fitted in well with today's objective of R and R. Waitress told us that the 1 second bleep that starts around sunset and goes on for hours is an Autillo - a scop owl! So now we know.

We have moved 150miles east into the hills about an hour from Valencia on the med coast. It's a very quiet rural ACSI site within site of a big reservoir and within sound of the Valencia-Madrid high speed rail link which tunnels through the mountains about a 1km away. We will stay here on Saturday and move another 100miles on Sunday to the coast at Benicassim and stay there a few days. The Brits next to us were also at the last four sites we have been, but at slightly different times. Watched the BBC news on my smart phone to get election results. Good 3G coverage in Spain. Cons result means even more euros to spend!

The chuff chuff train that takes tourists around Aranjuez is kept at our site and gives free lifts in to town every morning. We took the train, what a bone shaking experience that was , then the 50min tour. It shook us round town and the royal garden in particular, which is essentially a big arboretum. We had a coffee to recuperate and then strolled around the big palace site and flower gardend without actually going in the palace. The River Tagus below the weir was full of huge barbel or similar, jockeying for position and chasing off what looked like an intruding catfish. It was very hot so we decided to do  what Spaniards do and have a long late lunch in El Rana Verde, which I think means Green Frog. We were early enough to get a nice terrace table by river (see photo) for menu del dia and were entertained by the geese with dozens of their young. The waiters throw them uneaten bread from tables and a feeding frenzy ensues. After lunch we walked back though the arboretum and o...

Asparagus and strawberries are regional specialities of the area, so this is what we had as a starter for lunch.

Moved about 30 miles east today to our fourth and final culture stop at the former royal spring palace at Aranjuez. Quite a sprawling dense suburbs with a now abandoned palace and famous gardens (the Spanish versailles apparently) on the banks of the Tajo. The campsite is on the opposite bank to the gardens but it's 1km to the nearest bridge. We will go in for the day tomorrow, today is a rest day. Their are a lot of Brits here, must be on a caravan club itinerary. Rodriguez named a concerto after the place, which is its other claim to fame.

What a fine old walled town,  situated high on a hill with the River Tajo loopin around its walls. It's full of  tourists of course but with so many historic places to go it does not seem to matter. No Cortes Ingles or Zara and only a token MacDonalds. Just lots of beautifully preserved and presented history from when the Moors, Jews and Christians ruled the land from this  their capital. We spent 7 hours site seeing and managed to miss the one site you must not miss - the cathedral. In fact we did manage to take a peak after closing time by pretending we were going to mass (how many hail Marys is that?). We did see numerous convents, synagogues , museums, El Greco gallery, gourmet market and the post-office. Many were free to enter for European pensioners. It was a sunny day but not too hot. We did our 10,000 paces and everything is up hill in Toledo or so the local saying goes. Quite few Brits had arrived when we returned to site, so we are no longer alone. The c...

We travelled about 75 miles to the west of Madrid on mostly rural roads to get to Toledo. Its a walled town on a hill and was the capital of Spain until 1561 when Philip II moved to Madrid. In just 10 minutes the bus dropped us off in the centre, so we went in for couple of hours. Very touristy with lots to see from El Greco paintings to a magnificent cathedral, except today when most places are closed. We just had a coffee and bought some marzipan, a local speciality, to return again tomorrow. It's a multinational camp site with most western  Europeans represented. A lot of French here for some reason and we seem to by the only Brits again! Overcast but warm,  Rosemary cooked a paella which we ate outside at 9 o'clock.