Old Castile, the land of churches and castles

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We left the Lagunas de Ruidera yesterday at 11 a.m. to drive to Tordesillas in Castile y León. The journey took just under six hours, since we made several stops for dog-walking, changing drivers, coffee and a picnic. The distance was 431 kilometres and the sun shone down on us all the way! After leaving the gorge and Ruidera, in no time at all we were back in the land of windmills and wheat fields; mostly modern windmills but also quite a few old ones of the style that Don Quixote would have enjoyed doing battle with. Apart from wheat fields, at times we drove through vineyards, stretching to the distant horizon on this vaste central Spanish plateau; Valdepeñas wine in the growing! It is easy to forget how high the central plateau is, especially on a calm day like yesterday when the windmills didn´t turn much; the plateau is mostly around 600 metres and going up to over 1,000 metres above sea level, which is why, of course, Madrid is the highest altitude capital city in Europe.

Our route through La Mancha took us through Manzanares and on to the province of Toledo. Despite having seen Castilian cities several times before (Avila, Salamanca, Segovia for example), it is always a surprise to come to them across the flat high plains. Unlike in England, where one is in the countryside for a while and then in the city, with an almost unnoticed transition, Spanish cities are just suddenly there in front of you - in their entirety, viewed in their totality on the horizon, with their castles, cathedrals and church towers pointing to heaven. The only city we know of like this in England is Lincoln, since it's cathedral is so tall and the fens around are so flat that it dominates the landscape for miles around. The Spanish cathedrals dominate the cities, being always on the highest point, and the surrounding countryside, as the Church dominated the Spanish peasantry for centuries before the Civil War. So we rounded a bend in the road and there before us, suddenly, was Toledo and its huge cathedral with all its little buildings huddled around it. Quite a spectacular sight!

Leaving Toledo along an autopista which we had virtually to ourselves (most vehicles use the autovia which is toll free) we got to Madrid. As with the afore-mentioned cities, and despite its size, one views virtually the whole of Madrid upon approach from whichever direction. It lay before us, shimmering in the afternoon sunshine and with its backdrop of the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra de Guadarrama, it really did look magnificent. To enter or leave Madrid, one passes through one of its gateways (puertas) in the sierras which surround it, and we stopped near the Puerta de Guardarrama for coffee and to admire the view. And so we entered Castile y León, the old heart of Spain.

Castile is a land of castles, churches, green fields and meadows with cows in (we don´t have such animals in Alicante, it is too hot)! It is rich land, a lush land and a wealthy land. Here the vineyards which stretch as far as the eye can see are those that make the Rueda wine, and Rueda near Tordesillas is the centre of this wine-making region. We got to Tordesillas and found our campsite easily - Camping El Astral, on the banks of the River Duero and just a fifteen minute stroll to the Plaza Major in the centre of this old Medieval town. The campsite turned out to be as good as the previous one in Ruidera, with very posh loos (potted palms and piped classical music) and also dog-friendly. We were able to have a night off from cooking and ate in the campsite bar and restaurant - dogs allowed in as well, no problem. It was just as well because the evening turned out to be quite chilly.

Today we had a leisurely stroll around Tordesillas and then found an Eroski supermarket to stock up on supplies. Tordesillas is a very picturesque old town and we have so far only seen a small part of it, so we shall stroll around more tomorrow. Right now we are back in the campsite preparing the barbecue and we have just opened a bottle of Rueda. We really couldn´t drink any other wine in this neck of the woods, could we?

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