From Bronchales to Alcala Del Jucar (231km)

This forested campsite gave us a brief interlude from the heat with the temperature dropping from 40 degrees the day before in Aneto down to 16 degrees making for a comfortable night sleep amongst the trees. This was the first night we managed to eat at a restaurant - albeit the campsite restaurant and a limited menu due to it being a bank holiday in Spain and a lack of fresh supplies 😐. We turned up to eat at 7.40 as we had checked to see when it opened (7.30pm), and were greeted with confused faces as the Spanish generally eat between 9-12😂

The following morning we made the most of the extensive trails throughout the forest and had a very refreshing walk at a fresh 15 degrees plus a cool wind - like being back at home.

 

On the road again I was excited to be heading to an Aire in Alcala Del Jucar (East of Albacete) that looked like a site not to be missed and the reviews were right 😲. We had a hair-raising drive down steep mountain hairpin bends that descended the steep gorge down to this small town on the Jucar river.

Views from the cab as we zigzagged down - 0n the right you can see the town carpeting the hillside:

 

The town rewarded us with its medieval Arab Fortress and 15th century church of San Andres, and its steeply built streets lining the sides of the gorge and the Aire was right next to the river allowing us and Winnie to cool off with a paddle. 

 

 

Now adapting to the Spanish timings we headed out for supper at 8.30 to find nowhere opened until 9pm, but luckily the restaurant we had chosen felt sorry for us and let us in at 8.45 and let us look at the menus until 9pm 😂😂, then after supper we were rewarded by the town lit up in the darkness:

 

The morning followed our new routine of finding a walking route on our new App Wikiloc (recommended by Jaqueline back in Lumbier and it has been our best friend since for finding walking routes). Another great walk taking in the views over the Gorge before heading on down to Murcia for some rock climbing.