I can’t remember where we were yesterday (I will check), but it was lovely, a nice little pueblo with a plaza and a few bars scattered about…Cazalegas, that’s what it’s called. It has an embalse (reservoir) there, and it’s pretty. We stayed in Casa del Marques just a stones throw off the plaza and it was also very nice. Again lovely hosts and a good place to stay. We are in Castilla La Mancha and it’s flat! As I drove from Cazalegas to where we are tonight it was so beautiful. Rolling landscape, farming country and fields with red soil and lots of oil seed rape, it was yellow and green, beautiful…

I arrived at tonight’s stopover and oh my goodness, it’s rural beyond belief. We have sheep to keep us company and I can’t get a phone signal! When I drove through the nearby village Navalucillos (Toledo), it’s the strangest village I have driven through to date, it has cobbled streets, but weird. We are going back there later to get a few things for Julia’s feet (those feet need a lot of care). So it will be interesting to see what its like! The hotel we are staying in is also great, amazing food!

Thinking back to yesterday which seems forever ago, we had a bit of drama. In the morning Jane couldn’t find her coat and scarf. Then Julia left her mobile in the room. But it all got solved. Til silly me realised whilst driving on the A5 towards Madrid that my GPS lady (on the phone) had gone silent on me. I thought the battery had run out, but that was okay, just get to services, stop and charge it up. Not great but manageable. I plugged in my phone to charge, saw that I did have battery, turned the phone off and then the realisation came over me that I couldn’t remember the PIN to unlock my phone. I stayed calm. Luckily the woman in the café loaned me her phone and I called Jack who asked our neighbour at home to go into our house and find out my PIN code. It got resolved, but it took all of my strength not to panic! Lesson learned, look closely at where you are going to just in case of technological failures…

As I mention above, Julia has crossed half way today so a major achievement. 22 days out of 43 gone, already. And now the challenge is the heat. Its gone from zero degrees to 25 degrees in a couple of days. So tomorrow the plan is to leave at 0715 and get started at 0800. Me, on the other hand I will still be in bed. I will move on to the next location where we are for 2 nights…thank goodness. And the blue dot on the map is moving south quite rapidly. I will explain more next time. Today’s photo is a lovely scene Jack took en route here, and maybe the odd sheep where we are staying. Reminds me of Northern Ireland…