A definite milestone for us today when the mileage on the clock ticked past 70,000! This means that since retiring in October 2017, we’ve done 30,000 miles in the old van and 70,000 in this one, which was new when we got it! Never expected to see so much stuff or cover so much ground when we had the ‘shall we get a motorhome’ conversation!
Today we woke up late because it was dark! Guy went for another stroll around the bird watching area but still didn’t see anything.
Set off on a route to Ávila and what a route it was! So scenic and mountainous complete with mad thunder clouds and bits of sunshine. I think we were climbing over the Sierra de Gredos which is quite a major mountain range even though we’d never heard of it. We even managed to see the ‘transhumance’ at one point, where they bring hundreds of sheep down through the villages to warmer pastures. Looking for bread shops along the way but never saw any so ended up with toast in a lay-by.
Didn’t get to Ávila until mid afternoon so decided to use the secure motorhome parking just outside the city walls. What a flipping faff to get in. Get on website, fill in long form including passport no, pay €12, wait for email with entry code for gate. Five minutes went by…. “Where’s the code?”. Eventually checked junk email and there it was! We are in!
Ávila is known for its eleventh century city walls, which it says in our very old Rough Guide, are perfectly preserved. They looked like they’d been perfectly restored to us, but either way, we felt a little underwhelmed. The views weren’t great, apart from the southern side and there were three separate sections, each time we had to come back to the starting point.
The city itself felt a bit dark and lacked the vibrant Spanish atmosphere that we’ve got used to. Could be something to do with the fact that it’s much cooler here ..needed jackets and trousers. Not sure how we’ll cope in the UK!
