The Road from Santiago

  Today is a day of mystery and exploration and why my internet search History is the way it is so yours doesn’t have to. Ok, I have looked up the reviews of motorway bridges but I was young and the big boys said it was alright. We are by the Caracuel lagoon.  The map shows vast amounts of water.  Turning, as our first photo shows you, to see it, the water is gone.  I have looked this up and the opening bit of the website explains all ‘The Caracuel Lagoon is a temporary wetland of volcanic origin where water, geology and wildlife combine to create one of the most dynamic and biodiverse ecosystems in the Campo de Calatrava.’  The pictures make it look much more exciting. https://www.turismocastillalamancha.es/es/naturaleza/microrreservas/microrreserva-laguna-de-caracuel   Today is a bit sparse so I will include the castle - which a few kilometres to the west.  Tomas reports ‘ Its most striking feature is its impressive pentagonal barbican tower, ten met...

  It is a day of straight roads and open roads and roads uncluttered by cafes, museums or small but reviewed obelisks.  Better do five things…. Spain’s underground women’s football team got going in 1970 with Rafael Muga and others. The first official game was on 5th February 1983, where Spain lost 1-0 to Portugal at A Guarda, Galicia. The Dacia Sandero is the best-selling car in Spain with more than 38,500 sold in 2025. The N-340 National Road is the longest road in Spain, going 1,248km from Cadiz to Barcelona. It follows a lot of the Roman Via Augusta.  Wiki notes the two greatest disasters on it.  In 1978 the Los Alfaques disaster occurred on 11th July.  A tanker of liquefied propylene exploded near a campsite, killing 215 people.  The other was in 2001.  A Binter Mediterraneo flight crashed near Malaga, killing 4 of the 44 people on board. We’ve been up Spain’s highest peak - Teide on Tenerife.  The next is Mulhacen in the Sierra Nevada. ...

 Big  open spaces then two settlements in as many days.  We are going for Argamasila de Calatrava with spirit and alacrity.  What we said yesterday, you know, depopulation, resettlement in the 13th century, that stuff.  Same as today really. Spanish wiki says ‘D. José de Hosta, author of Chronicle of the Province of Ciudad Real (1865), stated  that the town had 2149 inhabitants, with 350 one- and two-story houses distributed around a fairly spacious square and twelve cobbled streets, though poorly maintained. The town hall was rebuilt in 1776 on the site of the former granary, which had served as a jail. The land within its municipal boundaries is flat, sandy, and dry, but it has some orchards irrigated by waterwheels, reaching slightly towards the Puertollano mountain range. The roads between towns are all cart tracks but poorly maintained. Among the crops grown are wheat, barley, rye, chickpeas, beans, legumes, wine, and some olive oil. Sheep, goats, cat...

  We are off to Puertollano - which is what happens when people spot a convenient gap in the hills to run road and railway transport through. 45,565 people lived here last year and it has been described as ‘the mining city’ and ‘the industrial beacon of La Mancha.’ This is a bit of a surprise - well, I wasn’t expecting a place of such size. It is August. The average temperature is 25 oC. That is about half a degree less than July but if you want rain, forget it. 6mm for the whole month. This region was depopulated during the advance of the Christian powers. The Order of Calatrava, a Castilian Military, got given the place - which is first mentioned in 1245.  Things were going reasonably - what with crops and livestock - when the Black Death swept through the place, leaving 13 families to carry the place on. In the 16th century Philip II gave the place a town charter - which spurred them on to develop a weaving industry and become a manufacturer of small jugs. Puertollano becam...