Abandoned in the middle of a field

There are several ways to get to Teruel.  Some skip from village to village, small islands amid the rolling acres.  This isn’t one of them.  As is the way in Spain, the convenient route between the hills has the new autopista, the old National road and the railway cheek by jowl.  The only reviewed thing is at the end of the day - so we better leave it till then.


While we are admiring the sweeping vista, let’s talk Luis Mila Aspas.  In Blighty, often if you are in one of the darker provinces, you may support your local Association Footballers, but have a passion for a Premier League team.  Spain is so divided between Barcelona and Real Madrid - see Sid Lowe’s [Fear and Loathing in La Liga] that support for those teams is great, across the country, and the secondary affinity runs deep.  Luis Milla, a Teruel lad, played for both.



Born in 1966, Luis climbed up through lower league teams before joining Barcelona in 1984. Ge played 54 matches for the main team [and 92 for the B and C squads] before moving on after a somewhat testy contract renewal dispute with manager Johan Cruyff and the Board of Directors.  This probably made it easier to join Real Madrid in 1990, where he stayed till 1997.  During this time he played 165 times, despite a serious injury in his debut campaign.  He ended his playing career with Valencia and won three international caps.



Luis’ coaching career has been a little mixed. He coached the Spanish Under-21s but was dismissed when they were elmented in the first round in the 2012 Olympics.  He coached Al-Jazira, CD Lugo, Real Zaragoza and the Indonesian national team before a season with the Indonesian team, Persib. He left the team in 2023 for personal reasons that I have not discovered.



The estación de Puerto Escandón Adif has a fan.  A year ago Vicnent said ‘A very well connected station, always full of people and where many trains stop. It has nothing to envy of Atocha.’  I feel he may be a little overcome with the excitement as this single platformed, low storied thing is functional and plain.  Jose is rather plainer - still with five stars.  ‘The Puerto Escandon station was designed to exchange locomotives to deal with the unevenness. It is a logistics station that has come into disrepair.  In reality, it shouldn't even have passenger traffic.’  FJ was harsher ‘Half abandoned and without anything special. It has very little train movement.’ Jose piled on the misery ‘Station that does not fulfill any function, and abandoned in the middle of the field.’ and Jose gave the last rites ‘A stupid station, without staff, does not connect any town and in poor condition’.























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