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Wild at a castle

A few nights ago I was at my temperature limit trying to sleep. I think 28C is it. Maybe with training I could manage warmer but on a relaxing holiday I can just about drop-off at 28C.

One night it had been much cooler but the temperature rose during the dark to 25C. That was a strange feeling. It was the beginning of an early summer heatwave from the Sahara, which even made the Radio 4 news “Andalucia is experiencing temperatures 10 degrees above the May average”.

Yesterday morning at the 6 o’clock wee, the temperature was just 4C. I think that’s a record for a late Spring /early Summer trip. This is mainly due to our height which is around 950m, so similar to that of Scafell in the English Lake District  

We didn’t mind. This is where we stayed.








It was another unplanned stop for which we have the Park4night app to thank. This app will show you places to stop near you / a point on the map. These can range from proper campsites to on-street parking in a town. Anywhere really that people with campervans or motorhomes have used and reviewed for either daytime over overnight stops.

So it was for our castle. The Head of Overnight Stops interrogated the app and it suggested a 10 minute drive off-road along a gravel and rock track, “not really suitable unless you have high clearance”. This is to the south east of Madrid, near the hamlet of Saelices.

We drove the track which was uninspiring at first, only to find that the castle, Castillo de Saelices and an abandoned homestead at the end, were even more amazing than we had imagined.



It was a clear night without a sound. The moon has gone now so it was dark and starry.




I saw a celestial phenomenon that I’ve not seen before. After dusk but before real dark, I saw several satellites reflecting the sun. They appeared as little momentary pinpricks in my area of view. It’s a little like the eye test when you look straight ahead and watch for pinpricks of light in your peripheral vision, clicking a button when you see one. They seemed to pop up in random places, away from the setting sun. Maybe it’s the low orbit Starlink satellites.

I have tried to Goooogle Starlink to see if I’m correct but it’s only served to scare me about eye problems associated with vitreous gel and blue field entopic phenomenon, problems which appear to manifest in the daytime not night. So I will look again tonight!

After waiting long enough for the sun to warm us we had breakfast and another good look around and at the view.

We hadn’t seen another soul since arrival. This just doesn’t happen in most places except Spain it seems.

Rather reluctantly we drove back to the tarmac. 

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