Monesterio

A hidden gem. As we reached the town we filled up Bertie. It’s always been expensive to fill up but the price was €30 more than the same litrage a month ago, eased by a discount of €20. The Spanish lorry drivers have recently been on strike due to the diesel prices and as a result the government/fuel companies are discounting the fuel until June. We drove through the long ribbon village with it’s small selection of shops and restaurants to the standard edge of town motorhome parking. This parking (€0) provides electricity free. We misread the notice and walked to the closed tourist office when all we needed to do was to plug in the electrics but it meant we saw the town and, from the outside, the Museum of Ham. In the evening we walked down a lane into the country. It is so green and rolling. You get lots of farmed animals, goats, sheep, cows, horses and donkeys, and my favourite, pigs which are grazing orchard land. Don’t think high intensity Norfolk free range pigs, think pigs surrounded by green grass, lots of meadow flowers and olive trees. The fields are alive with the colours of meadow flowers. We walked through a row of trees accompanied by a chorus of nightingales. I have never heard so many small birds singing at one time. Alas the temperature has dropped 16 degrees in the last 24 hours so it feels very cold. The next day we cycled down the same lane, stopping with binoculars. In 30 mins we saw nightingales, siskin, bee eater, goldfinch, wheatear, hoopoe, vultures, skylarks, and so so many swallows. We cycled on to a reservoir for picnic lunch in the sun where we were entertained by black kites. The cycle route took us back to town through a wood and just before we hit town the bikes screeched to a halt as we saw a whole flock of bee eaters and then lots of azure winged magpies. Not a bad day bird watching to say we had gone for a bike ride. I was tempted to stay longer but the ferry is booked, our van is pointing back to the north.