16th May. Camp Malpartida at Plasencia.
A journey of about 70 miles takes you to the region of “Parque Nacional Monfrague ” out of our way but worth the trip we were told. We set off bright and early (10am) in order to be there before dark! Two navigators and a trusty map-reader (Mary) followed by instructions from a cafe owner as we stopped for lunch, and we were hopelessly lost. We eventually stumbled upon a camp site and decided to stay the night, to our utter amazement we found ourselves at the camp site we had planned for.
I talk a lot about being lost, so in our defence I must inform you of the road construction program in Spain. Towns, Cities, Mountain ranges and apparent wildernesses all seem to building new or upgrading old roads on a massive scale, some leading nowhere just for fun! The disruption is one thing, but the re-naming of roads makes map reading a nightmare as they are constantly out of date, the same applies to GPS navigators. I guess we know where the funding is coming from? I wish some would come to the UK. Perhaps if we promised to drive on the right they might help out?
Was it worth the journey? Absolutely, the next day after reconnoitring the site to see if we had the most suitable place, we made camp.
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We now felt ready for an adventure. We drove to a village information centre which is being rebuilt, hiding modern facilities behind a traditional facade. We saw a film of the reserve, scenery and wild life projected on a massage screen, as we were the only people in the theatre the film was narated in English. Brilliant!
Bird life here is the crowd puller as there are several endangered species in this area. We saw lots of vultures and one of them feeding its chicks, but unfortunately the camera is not up to it! We decided to drive to the other side of the river which took us to the very top of the mountain range. On one of the hairpin bends I had full lock on the little red car, which didn’t please Mary too much, she was never keen on dizzy heights and she likes to see what's coming up! We were on uncharted territory as far as our map is concerned, but not to worry we were armed with our trusty Garmin? You guessed right, It completely ignored our instruction to take us back to the camp site. We ended up in a village called Trujillo, we had arrived at the point of no return as it was as quick to go forward as it was to go back. We had a very very late lunch here, the meal was a first for us, we discovered later that we had eaten pigs cheeks, very tender and tasty. After another hour of driving we paused for thought!
I consider drowning in the Rio Tojas as an option!
Joking aside we had another fantastic day.
P.S. this is not an image of me! Just an unknown boby that could be me if I put on 5 stone?
The next day was a day of rest, Mary took pictures of these birds which are very tame, we were having a sandwich in the awning when one flew in and sat on the table and began to sample our lunch, Mary was having non of that ”you never know where they've been” she exclaimed as she shooed it away.
Later I wedged a stale French stick in the branch of a tree which I had parked next to.
There is an offer at this site, if we stay 15 days we get a free meal in the restaurant, a bottle of local wine and we only pay for 12 days. Normally this length of stay would be too long, but there is so much to see here we may well take up the offer.
Mary was getting withdrawal systems so I took her to the market in Plasencia, about 8Km. A pair of shoes and a housecoat later she had recovered. I on the other hand was exhausted looking for something interesting. We had drinks in the Playa Mayor and listened to the tunes from the town clock.
We drove back to the camp site and I played with the BBQ and a trout of gigantic proportions that we had purchased, very nice! Another day gone and the weather is still 30’.
Did I crow sometime earlier about my confidence to work the Oyster TV receiver? Guess what, I get nothing here, not a squeak. Marys faith in my fix-it abilities is wading fast, She wants spanners & screwdrivers for Christmas? It took another Oyster owner to get pictures for us.
After soaking up the sun for a couple of days we went back to Plasencia for a bit of shopping and sightseeing, we were told the Cathedral was worth a visit.
We had lunch in the Playa Mayor, which wasn’t so good. 
But what followed was worse, in fact it spoilt our day, we were so furious we didn’t see the Cathedral, although we should have made the effort so I could have asked for forgiveness for the evil thoughts I had for the local Police?
I had inadvertently parked on a taxi rank. There was no sign painted on the road, just a sign “T” some distance from where I had parked. I argued for 1/2 hour but to no avail, the pusillanimous Baxx#T=+RdS took me for 63 Euros. I wanted to pay the money to the taxi drivers who were standing around, after all it was they who were inconvenienced. No they wanted to add funds to the cops ball? We drove back to the camp site and our day became complete, it rained! I've heard that motorcyclists are very vulnerable, I do hope the roads aren't slippery after the rain.
We rested the next day and licked our wounds, the sun came out and we began to feel better.
The wi-fi here is not very good so I publish the report in two parts.
