Where's Bertie? He's at a free Aire overlooking the village of La Peza, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, to the east of Granada (exact location: 37.27530, -3.28179)
Weather: A few high clouds when we left Seville, but clear skies further east. High of 18 degrees.
I lay in bed this morning and contemplated the question of 'to shower or not to shower'. Even though the available facilities were less than inviting, it seemed somehow wrong to give up the opportunity for a mains-water shower. After a back-and-forth intercranial battle, I threw a towel and soap into a bag and off I went in the pre-sunrise darkness.
I was so quick that I was back at Bertie almost before I'd left. The water temperature wasn't the issue today, but rather that to access the shower I'd had to walk through a waiting room full of transporter drivers. With no locking door between the shower and that reception area, and no door (or even curtain) on the shower cubicle itself, not to mention the clear glass window on the wall opposite (albeit someone would have to be rather tall to see through it), I didn't find it conducive to lingering.
After breakfast, and once Mick had levered his aching quads from the bed, there seemed little point in hanging around, particularly given the length of drive we had ahead of us (300km). Duties were reassigned from the norm (I emptied the toilet whilst Mick paid our bill), a quick stop at Aldi was had (me: shopping; Mick: using the recycling bins in the adjacent road to get rid of the three bags of recyclables we had amassed in Bertie's boot), then eastwards we headed.
The route was straightforward: stay on the A92, although not to Guadix, which had been my original thought as to a destination for today. You may recall that we nearly visited Guadix on our journey south last month, but turned around just a few kilometres short, based on the weather. However, the motorhome parking in Guadix didn't look promising for a quiet night, and in the interests of Mick recovering quickly from his marathon (he's got another training plan to start in 2 weeks' time), a quiet location was appealing. I came up with two options, one of which was on the way to the other.
Stopping at the first (roadside parking next to a large dam), we thought we were going to stay until I decided that La Peza sounded like it might be the more interesting option. A good call! The Aire here is new and nice, sitting looking over the village of La Peza.
The Aire, complete with brand new street furniture and picnic benches.
View from in front of Bertie
I immediately fancied walking up to the top of the nobble opposite, so pencilled that in for tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I left Mick with his head in his book and took myself off for a walk around.
It's an interesting place (in a completely non-touristy sort of way) in that there are bits of the town that have clearly received investment (and the road here is an impressive bit of engineering, cutting straight through the undulations of the landscape), but there's an above average number of abandoned houses. Or maybe the number of abandoned houses isn't that high, but it's just they're more eye-catching here for the number that have fallen completely to ruin.
On the left - one of many examples of buildings beyond salvage
I liked the optimistic 'se vende' sign on the front of this one
I was on my way back to Bertie, when this sculpture caught my eye...
...if you're viewing on a big screen (or otherwise zoom in) you may be able to see the three old chaps sitting on benches on the other side of the road, left of shot. The sun was obviously troubling them and two of them were holding up what looked like the lids off pizza boxes to shield their eyes.
I'd like to blame my preoccupation with the sculpture for the fact that I then took a wrong turn. I thought I was returning to Bertie, but instead found myself at the castle ruins on top of the nobble that I'd pencilled in for tomorrow. That gave me half an hour of entertainment, as I made my way around the site testing out my Spanish by trying to understand all of the information signs.
View from the castle. Bertie is in shot on the left; snow capped hills peeking into shot on the right.
Whilst I had an intersting afternoon, I concede that this wasn't the best possible location for Mick's current purposes. His legs aren't appreciating downhill today, so he's had to make do with my descriptions of the place.
Weather: A few high clouds when we left Seville, but clear skies further east. High of 18 degrees.
I lay in bed this morning and contemplated the question of 'to shower or not to shower'. Even though the available facilities were less than inviting, it seemed somehow wrong to give up the opportunity for a mains-water shower. After a back-and-forth intercranial battle, I threw a towel and soap into a bag and off I went in the pre-sunrise darkness.
I was so quick that I was back at Bertie almost before I'd left. The water temperature wasn't the issue today, but rather that to access the shower I'd had to walk through a waiting room full of transporter drivers. With no locking door between the shower and that reception area, and no door (or even curtain) on the shower cubicle itself, not to mention the clear glass window on the wall opposite (albeit someone would have to be rather tall to see through it), I didn't find it conducive to lingering.
After breakfast, and once Mick had levered his aching quads from the bed, there seemed little point in hanging around, particularly given the length of drive we had ahead of us (300km). Duties were reassigned from the norm (I emptied the toilet whilst Mick paid our bill), a quick stop at Aldi was had (me: shopping; Mick: using the recycling bins in the adjacent road to get rid of the three bags of recyclables we had amassed in Bertie's boot), then eastwards we headed.
The route was straightforward: stay on the A92, although not to Guadix, which had been my original thought as to a destination for today. You may recall that we nearly visited Guadix on our journey south last month, but turned around just a few kilometres short, based on the weather. However, the motorhome parking in Guadix didn't look promising for a quiet night, and in the interests of Mick recovering quickly from his marathon (he's got another training plan to start in 2 weeks' time), a quiet location was appealing. I came up with two options, one of which was on the way to the other.
Stopping at the first (roadside parking next to a large dam), we thought we were going to stay until I decided that La Peza sounded like it might be the more interesting option. A good call! The Aire here is new and nice, sitting looking over the village of La Peza.
I immediately fancied walking up to the top of the nobble opposite, so pencilled that in for tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I left Mick with his head in his book and took myself off for a walk around.
It's an interesting place (in a completely non-touristy sort of way) in that there are bits of the town that have clearly received investment (and the road here is an impressive bit of engineering, cutting straight through the undulations of the landscape), but there's an above average number of abandoned houses. Or maybe the number of abandoned houses isn't that high, but it's just they're more eye-catching here for the number that have fallen completely to ruin.
I was on my way back to Bertie, when this sculpture caught my eye...
...if you're viewing on a big screen (or otherwise zoom in) you may be able to see the three old chaps sitting on benches on the other side of the road, left of shot. The sun was obviously troubling them and two of them were holding up what looked like the lids off pizza boxes to shield their eyes.
I'd like to blame my preoccupation with the sculpture for the fact that I then took a wrong turn. I thought I was returning to Bertie, but instead found myself at the castle ruins on top of the nobble that I'd pencilled in for tomorrow. That gave me half an hour of entertainment, as I made my way around the site testing out my Spanish by trying to understand all of the information signs.
Whilst I had an intersting afternoon, I concede that this wasn't the best possible location for Mick's current purposes. His legs aren't appreciating downhill today, so he's had to make do with my descriptions of the place.
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