Aranjuez

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Geo: 40.042, -3.59983

Our four nights at Marjal Guardamar came to an end and David thankfully was showing signs of being on the mend. The site facilities and pitch were fine, but we did not find the surrounding area inspiring or interesting - we were a bit despondent to say the least. So, after emailing ahead yesterday, we are now in Aranjuez, some 30-40 miles south of Madrid. This has meant a change to the intended itinerary, which was not set in stone anyway, so we shall not now be visiting Andalusia, Costa de la Luz or the Algarve this year.

By recent standards, at 250 miles, it was quite a long transfer, but the road network was superb and extremely quiet - so quiet that I took a spell behind the wheel for 90 minutes or so. Again, we chose to opt for motorway preference on the route planner which took us either on 'autovia' or 'autopista' roads with very good surface and just a small section incurred a toll, but they seemed very little used since commercial traffic appeared to be using the trunk road which ran nearby for the duration of the route. This, together with the high speed railway line, has obviously been a huge investment for the Spanish and very impressive.

About an hour into the journey and well away from the coast, the scenery became more pleasing on the eye with some greenery in the form of tree covered slopes and vine, olive and orange agriculture. The architecture improved too once away from the high rise building of he resorts, with smaller towns and villages. At times the landscape was flat as far as the eye could see - we thought the scenery of northern France was vast, but this was something else. The terrain and climate are ideal also for alternative forms of energy production and we saw many wind turbines and several large solar power generating installations.

Shortly after stopping at a service area for lunch (again, very quiet with less than half a dozen other vehicles passing through whilst we were there), we made the final approach following the guidelines in the handbook, with the route taking us through the main cobbled thoroughfare of Aranjuez, past the Royal Palace, to the site on the outskirts of the town. Looks like we shall have plenty to see and do in the coming days nearby as well as a day out at Toledo which has been highly recommended.

Apologies for the absence of pics - didn't use my camera once at the last stop, but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities soon.

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