5 PLACENSIA AND MONFRAGUE PARK
Storks must really have welcomed the discovery of electricity. And, in particular, the need to get electrons from A to B. Every pylon we saw on the way South had at least one stork nest in the upper levels. Most with residents large and small. It must have been a real relief not to have had to rely on the chimneys of houses. Because, for mile after mile, there weren’t any houses – certainly none with chimneys!
Anyway, with more hogging of the fast lane we reached the town of Placensia. A last minute change of plans took us into the centre of town looking for our second choice of campsite. One which we hadn’t got in the sat nav. We can tell you that this town has more roundabouts than Basingstoke – and that’s saying something! We found the site by following written instructions and road signs. Another novelty! It was located right by the river with a nice cycle path into town. But the site had dozens of long-term resident caravans and attendant awnings, tents, gazebos and tarpaulins – but no people. This gave the site an eerie atmosphere – and there were no views. So back to plan A. Switch the sat nav back on and find the site Glenda had really wanted to go to all the time!
Great decision. About 6 kms from town, out in the country more or less on the edge of the Parque Montfrague. Very close to the Rio Tajo which I guess is the River Tagus of Lisbon fame. We solve the rain and hail problem by parking under a permanent (well, I hope it’s permanent) shelter.
We have a magnificent view out over rolling meadows full of wild flowers. White, purple, blue and yellow. Plus the occasional horse.
There are lots of Iberian magpies about…
… and good sunsets too!
The best pitch we’ve had this trip! By a long chalk! (I put that expression in especially for Hetty – I know how much she enjoys trying to fathom out my use of English!)
However – and there’s always a “however” – and it sort of involves Hetty… and John and Thea, of course. Our pitch is next to a Dutch campervan. They were really annoyed with us for parking beside them. They refused to acknowledge us and when we said hello in our best Dutch they actually turned their chairs round so they could look at the side of their vehicle rather than make eye contact with two invaders of Dutch territory (news travels fast in these parts!).
We are, it must be said in our defence, completely on our own designated space this time – and at a fair distance from them (I’ll measure it when they go out for a cycle ride and let you know!) Anyway that’s two sets of Netherlanders we’ve managed to really annoy in less than 24 hours. “Chips!” (and there are only three of you that will get that comment!) But at least this lot say grace before they eat their meals while watching the side of their van – we’ve been watching! So they can’t be ALL bad!
Now the good news – we’ve managed to dry everything out and repack the car so it looks less like the transport vehicle for the Spanish scuba diving team. We’ve also done 10 days worth of washing (I know it’s 10 days – one pair each a day each – I counted 20!)
Furthermore, the site has an excellent restaurant which caters for locals as much as for campers. A three course menu del dia complete with a whole bottle of vino tinto, a large bottle of water and bread (about one baguette’s worth) comes in at a favourable €9 a head. If they can do it, why does the Slug and Lettuce (and other similar pubs in England) charge almost that much for a single glass of wine? You have to wonder.
We wandered into the National Park of Montfrague. The new visitor centre has been built immediately adjacent to our campsite (a convenient 14 kms outside the actual park). It is a state of the art exhibition and information centre (it must have cost a fortune – EU funding?). Absolutely fabulous. Bran new – only opened two weeks ago. Loads of info on the region, it’s history, it’s agriculture and it’s natural resources. But, sadly for us, not a word in English. However there were QR barcodes everywhere leading to websites with the appropriate text in English – but again, sadly, no telephone coverage or wifi. I think that’s coming next week along with map hand-outs in English!
So, as I say, we meandered into the park and found the old visitor centre (in the park). Also a very up-market sort of place but space-limited. No new buildings are allowed in the protected zone. But they did have loos – again, very posh.
We drove to El Santo de Gitano – “The Gypsy’s Leap”. And that’s a long story in itself involving a bandit (gypsy) the local police and some fantastical leap of escape over the River Tagus. Said gypsy immediately turning into a huge rocky outcrop. Well, that just shows I’m not the only person to make things up!
The Leap with Griffon Vultures circling
The rocky cliffs were home to about 180 pairs of Griffon Vultures, at least one pair of black storks, maybe a pair of eagle owls and possibly an Imperial Eagle or two. Well we saw the common jobs and one pair of black storks circling the buttress. No eagle and no owls.
Parking at the next stop for a walk to the castle on top of the mountain ridge, we were hailed in fluent Spanish by the driver of a mini-bus. He either said “It’s early closing in Madrid today” or “Get your rears in gear, the free bus up the hill is leaving three minutes ago”. Turned out it was the latter and it was indeed free. And he’d seen us arriving and was waiting for us. Our local number 12 bus wouldn’t wait for an errant passenger – and you have to pay for the privilege (or be old enough for a bus pass!)
Just as well the first kilometre of hill was by bus. That just left 5457 steps to the top of the castle with panoramic views of the area. Actually, only 180 or so steps. Just felt like more. And now we were above the vultures circling the “Leap”.
By this time Glenda was vultured-out, not to mention stepped-out! So we headed south out of the park. Just before the village of Torrejon el Rubio, we chanced on a rather up-market hotel – the Hostelrie de Extramedura. It looked very pricey but we are on holiday so, what the hell, we decided to stop for coffee. We ended up staying for lunch on account of their three course menu which was attractively priced at just €15. And not a paper napkin in sight! Very plush. We hid ourselves in a corner because of our (in truth, mainly my) sartorial inelegance. We were dressed for the country. Another little gem. I’m totally converted – Spain, a least what we have seen of it on this trip, far exceeds our pre-conceived expectations! We must do it again – and anyway we aren’t leaving for France any time soon.
After lunch we headed a further 40 kms South to Trujillo, another beautiful town with storks nesting on all possible ledges and chimneys. These were the traditional, pre-pylon storks. Superb.
Trujillo – main square and church roof with 12 stork nests
Back to base via the scenic route which took in a section of the old main road to Madrid – now a totally deserted three-lane road. Obviously not quite totally, cos we were on it. Over little rivers and past fields of pumpkins, pepper and tobacco plants. Very rural, but well tended countryside just outside the park.
Old bridge over the River Tagus
Coffee, well a beer actually, with Bente (Oslo-wegian) and Michael (Ozzie from Perth). Great company. But that was Friday and I have to stop this for now…
[As promised I measured the caravan separation from the religious Dutchfolk… It had been 27 feet – over 8 metres – by the way.