Morella

We awoke to a fresh morning after last nights storm.

Leaving the bodegas behind us we set off on today’s journey, crossing the level plain past mile after mile of industry and distribution warehouses we hoped the drive would become more interesting.

Once pass Zaragoza we once again headed into the hills. The inclines were gentler than those earlier in the week, and the landscape around us looked like the surface of the moon, small mounds, that from a distance looked liked large sand dunes.

Further on the road levelled out, and we were in olive country, the olive trees a welcome green after the arid landscape we’d just driven through.

Then a few miles on, the rocks that started to tower above us on either side were of a striking, vibrant red stone. The area reminded us of Colorado and off the back drop you see in many western films, it seemed only a matter of time before we would see cowboys riding by. We saw some beautiful sights, but the road was so it was not possible for us to stop and take photographs.

Our planned stop for the night was Abalate del Arzobispo. There was only one other van there when we arrived, owned by a German man, who told us he had driven 2,500 km from Germany in just two days. He was staying on the aire as he was visiting a friend in the town. But the stop did not feel right, the town looked down at heel, and there was a lot of grafitti about. We are agreed, that if a place doesn’t feel right, it isn’t, so we moved on. We passed through many areas with derelict hamlets and towns, the houses and churches grumbling ruins, (this area used to be a mining area, and we think the decline of mining must have led to the people moving on in search of work). Then we arrived at the town of Andorra. The aire here was on the edge of an industrial estate. It was noisy and we were the only van there. Once again we weren’t happy, so decided to drive for just over another hour towards the hilltop town of Morella, altitude 1000 metres, we don’t learn do we?

So it was a case of here we go again, but surprisingly the roads were quite good, although winding and twisting.

At one point the road narrowed to about the width of two cars as it followed the base of the towering rocks beside us, luckily, we did not meet any of the many lorries on the road at this point.

Along the road we saw a church and hotel perched on the edge of the rock above us. We wondered if the people in the building could see the very large crack in the rock just below them!

So, now we are safely installed on the aire, with fellow campervans at Morello. As we were late arriving the meal of choice was homemade pizza a la John.

We have now travelled over 2000 miles and we are about 1 ½ hours from the east coast.