into the sunshine

1st May, “El Astal” at Tordesillas

180 miles south was the drive into sunshine, the journey was worth every minute with beautiful scenery.

We stopped here at the highest part of the journey and made coffee, what a welcome change to be bathed in sunshine, as someone once said “ you can’t enjoy the good without knowing the bad. We’ve certainly had our share of rain. The rest of our trip was all down hill but the weather wasn't, glorious sunshine for the rest of our stay at Tordesillas.

We assemble the Safari in it’s new position together with the BBQ table with some confidence as we had checked the forecast which was posted at the camp site.

I had rigged a table to hang beneath the galley window which enabled Mary to pass food, plates, etc from the MH through to the new awning area, saving her the unnecessary exercise?

;

Despite being a “short-house” I can just reach, in case you wondered?

Tordesillas can be seen from the camp site which is very interesting, we spent a hole day wondering around.

We stumbled upon a Chinese shop, and for a 20 Euro note we filled the car up with junk that we will probably throw away soon, if it lasts that long?

We found a watering hole!

After the rest we earnestly searched out the next watering hole. It’s our age? On our way we soaked up the atmosphere.

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Despite the language barrier, someone managed to convey to Mary information regarding the whereabouts of a market the next day. I was so exited I could hardly sleep that night. Mary found heaven in a shoe stall.

For my part I passed the time viewing unrecognisable vegetables and studying the exit root!!

After a day of rest we travelled to Salamanca some 50 miles away. We drove there in the little red car to suss out our next camp site and for a day out. The scenery was flat and uninteresting apart from the various colures of the crops planted on the vast plains.

Salamanca on the other hand was far from uninteresting. A large city which we shall explore. I spent 3 hours looking for the camp site, which is supposed to be on the river that passes through the centre? We almost give up, but found it by chance, the site is more like 5Km from the centre. However, we feel we know our way around Salamanca already?

The next day, Thursday, we decided to live it up and have lunch in Tordisilla, for some reason the restaurants seemed closed. The square, which was previously buzzing was now deserted. We did find a bar that served food upstairs “vot a mistaka to maka” The menu was very expensive, 12 Euros for a Roquefort salad as a starter, at that price we decided that was all we would have. The salad had a small amount of smoked salmon as a top dressing and the Roquefort was hot, then poured on small salad leaves, oh I mustn't forget the two green olives. The waiter brought a bread bun each which he placed with serving tongues on the side plates, this he did with extreme care, when we tried to break it open we realised why, had he dropped one it would have shattered and he would still be Hovering the bits up. When we came to pay the bill we were asked for 39 Euros which included five Euros for the two bread rolls. I was so shocked I paid! We went back to the camp site, bought a packet of Madeleines, eat them all and sulked in disbelief till bedtime.

We were about to leave the next day when I spotted a plastic shopping bag that had been trapped under the windscreen wiper on the little red car. I dumped the bag in the rubbish bin cursing whoever had left it there. Turning towards the exit gate as we left, a Germen lady stopped us and asked, did we get her note and enjoy our sweet breakfast? We had told her the day before of our expensive meal and she had asked “did the price include sweet?” No photo available of me upside down in the rubbish bin retrieving the plastic bag together with her note and the sweet chocolate biscuits. A kind gesture of compensation. I felt like Basil from Faulty towers?