Especially in the area of Cubas many picturesque houses have been cut into the cliff face along the tiny road. A restored 15-century castle high on the cliff is dominating Alcala del Jucar, overlooking the cascade of white houses that are covering the hillside. For the night we picked a campground in El Campello, a city north of Alicante.

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 6:

We had been traveling for six days now, and it was about time to do the laundry. Our motorhome only has limited space, so usually at least once per week we really have to do the laundry, if we want something clean to wear. This means that we have to be on a campground or find a laundromat. This campground had a washing machine and dryer, but those gave us a lot of problems, including laundry which wasn’t dry at the end. After these technical problems, it wasn’t before 1:30 pm that we got going - too late, as we would soon find out.

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.

Winter Tour 2008 - Day 1:

50 kilometers further we tried the next camper park in Hamoir along the river Ourthe. Going up and down the hilly landscape we had to get through some heavy fog, but it helped to be able to see the route on the display of the navigation system. The camper park was a well-lit gravel pit next to a tennis court, scattered with muddy puddles. We arrived around midnight and were the only motorhome there. Just for the night this was good enough.

Just before we were ready to start, Camera.nu called to notify me that my tripod had been repaired. So we slightly adjusted our plans and went north to Urk first to pick up the tripod, which is my lightweight travel tripod.  The store was packed and I had to wait more than half an hour before we were heading towards Bocholt (Germany) to visit by dad who celebrated his birthday just three days before.