Have you missed me??

Its only been a week but seems so much longer - been to quite a few places and seen a lot but nothing to match El Rocio- but more of that later - firstly Sanlucar de Barrameda photos, am guessing you all know what the inside of a bodega looks like so thought you'd like a nice sunset -taken from where I was parked

Good job that I liked the aire as I had to stay a bit longer than anticipated due to a slightly, thankfully only slightly, dodgy mussel, if it had been a real rogue I would have booked myself into a hotel but that wasnt necessary, but after three days  I had no power left in the leisure battery so had to move on - so off I went to El Rocio - now this is an unusual small town just across the river from Sde B on the fringes of the Donana National Park. Its a pilgrimage centre, famous for the Whitsun fiesta which attracts around a million, yes a million devotees. What makes it so unusual is that there arent any roads, just sand and as there are more horses than cars all the properties have hitching rails - its like stepping into the wild west- really quite peculiar. In common with all pilgrimage centres there are lots of shops selling souvenirs but here its different- they're selling cowboy boots and flamenco dresses cause evidently this is a real  party - lasts three days(sorry photos go where they want...)

 As I mentioned there is also a national park and I really enjoyed myself birdwatching- well anyone would when its flamingoes, spoonbills, herons and the like- it was just fab to be near them in such beautiful surroundings.
The other thing that this little area is famous for is explorers - would you believe that in this small area not only Christopher Columbus set sail but also Magellan left from here on the first circumnavigation of the globe- all this kept me happy for days as I'm sure you would appreciate!

By now I was running out of places to visit in this little corner of Andalucia and so it was time to head north, visit some parts of Extramadura that I had missed out last time - - lots to see - in one day I went down a gold mine ( couldnt find any leftovers), down some amazing caves- (they filmed part of Journey to the Centre of the Earth there) and to a museum of Jamon to learn all about the production of the finest Iberian ham ( and have a tasting - delish)and of course drove through some stunning scenery. One of things I love is seeing the storks on their nests - all my other trips I've only seen empty nests - they're everywhere  that has a flat surface- electric pylons seem to be a favourite

By now I was starting to feel a bit weary - there's a surprise I hear you say, so decided a couple of stop days were called for so headed into the mountain, a misguided idea that it would be a bit cooler. Last eve it was still 32deg at 10pm so you can imagine what the day temp has been like- so today i headed off again and am now on the outskirts of Salamanca.
And thats it for tonight- I'm off to bed. Hope you are still enjoying these missives -I'm enjoying living them, well most of the time... till the next time,
All blessings