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Winter Tour 2008 – Day 6: Today we wanted to visit the city of Cuenca and nature to the northeast of it.  While on the map it looked like something close-bye, in reality distances on rural roads are much larger and it took us much longer then predicted to reach Cuenca. Fuel was also getting low, but we were lucky and surprised to find an open gas station in Cuenca on first Christmas day. In fact, most gas stations and also some bakeries were open in the afternoon, something I didn’t expect in catholic Spain on a day like this.

We didn’t stop long in Cuenca and continued following the CM-2105 towards the Ciudad Encantada (Enchanted Forrest) with a coffee break at the Ventano del Diablo close to Salto de Villalba. Unfortunately when we finally arrived at the Ciudad Encantada, it was already too late for the ca. 40-minute hike. The sun was already going down, and according to our car navigation it would take us another 1 ½ hours to get back to the campground.
So in total our first Christmas Day didn’t go at all as expected, because we underestimated time and distances. Here in rural Spain distances are huge and it just takes more time to get from A to B. We did see some pretty landscapes and in the mountains there was still some snow from those snowstorms they had a week before.

Winter Tour 2008 – Day 5: The night in Bernicarlo was rather noisy as dogs everywhere kept barking throughout the night, and it was also freezing again, something we didn’t expect this far to the south. After breakfast we got rid of our waste-water and filled up new freshwater. Originally we had considered visiting Valencia today but changed our mind as going into a busy town with a motorhome, finding a secure parking and running around with a dog really isn’t that much fun. We will save the city trips for later and then come by train, stay in a nice hotel and travel without pets

So instead we were heading west to the world’s largest photovoltaic system currently operating in the world, the ‘Parque Fotovoltaico Olmedilla de Alarcon’, which can provide a peak power of 60 megawatt. The hills around the village Olmedilla de Alarcon are covered with solar panels, which was an amazing sight. Unfortunately there wasn’t a visitors/information center and for reaching the various sites it would have been better to have a 4WD off-road car.

In this area there are some more solar parks but it was getting late in the afternoon, so we went to the Kikopark campground in Villagordo del Cabriel, where next to us where only two other guests. We were grateful, that on Christmas Eve the reception was still open at 5 pm.