It’s been a hard day’s drive for Guy today, across country to the south west. Doesn’t look very far on the map but needed full on concentration on the winding, narrow roads. The scenery was beautiful though, driving through the cork oak forest of Los Alcornocles Natural Park was like a page from a book of fairy tales. The red trunks of the trees where the cork has been stripped and the pale green lichen growing on everything made it look quite magical.
Shortly before we reached Alcalá, Guy had had enough, so we pulled into a viewpoint with a picnic area. It was warm, but to Guy, it was boiling 🥵 …there is definitely an issue with his thermostat!
More huge vultures were circling around, so the camera came out for an hour of birdwatching.
He only went and managed to capture a Spanish Eagle while I was washing the pots. Ordinarily, this would turn out to be a common buzzard once Mr Simpson had seen it, but today it’s been fully verified – result!
When we reached Alcalá de los Gazules mid afternoon, the first parking option seemed to be a gypsy encampment, so we ended up driving up into the town’s little car park. It was a lovely place with the bonus being that we haven’t been here before – both unsure on the road in. 🙄The only downside was the crazy drivers racing up and down the narrow streets – thought we were in Italy for a while.
Looking for somewhere to park for the night, we drove just south of the town to a reservoir thinking there’d be parking. Nothing suitable.
The nearest place was in the little town of Benalup and it didn’t have good reviews. After parking there for an hour we understood why. It was utter bedlam. Next to a farm with many dogs and cockerels – apparently, they don’t stop all night long!
We moved again.
Now near a football stadium. There’s a little bar on the corner that seemed quite peaceful but now there’s the sound of a marching band and a lot of people seem to be in fancy dress! 🤣
Good job there’s some wine left!