Boondocking in Spain again...never saw another vehicle the whole time

When we were up at the castle the day  before, we had seen a dam in the distance. So when we woke up yesterday morning, we drove over there thinking there might be a park or something. There wasn't, but there was a level parking area so we stopped there for breakfast.

It was a really pretty dam though!

We walked across and back...

Dam near Pliego, Spain.

Pretty dry on this side of the dam.

From where we were sitting, we could see what we thought was another castle on a hill way in the distance. I looked it up on my maps.me program on the iPhone, and sure enough it was listed as a castle in the town of Mula. So we decided to head over there.

We don't really have any plan. So we're just kind of wandering for the next week or so until we meet up with friends Glen and Steve.

You can clearly seethe castle as we enter the town of Mula, Spain.

Checking the map again, we could see that there was a road leading up to the castle. But we had no idea if the road was suitable for a small motorhome. Plus, we needed some exercise so we parked in town and walked the road up to the castle. It was about 2 kms (1.3 miles) one way, and of course uphill most of the way.

Heading up towards the castle.

Nice groves of orange trees along the way.

Didn't take long to get a nice view.

Almost there!

An old coat of arms of some kind on the side of the castle.

There was one small signpost explaining a bit about the castle. It was built over a period of four years from 1520 to 1524. It's not in very good shape, and the main entrances are gated and locked. The section that remains standing is blocked off by a fence, but there are a lot of foot trails that go around the fence, so we simply went up that way.

Every castle must have a beautiful view!

Hmm. I wonder if I can get up to that drawbridge part?

Yeah, that's the spot!

There used to be a railing. Sort of.

I got up there, but as I said there was a gate, and it was locked. I stuck my camera through the bars of the gate and turned it in to take a photo...

Somebody had got inside at some point. Graffiti.

View from the castle.

There weren't many people around. Two small cars that had driven up there. One German couple who we spoke to for a few minutes, and one Dutch couple. And a couple of workmen further down repairing a wall.

We walked back down and into the RV. Drove for another hour or so to another dam that I had seen marked with a nature preserve.

Lots of olive tree plantations.

Scenery along the way.

Really odd spot to get to. No signage at all, and at one point we thought we might have been trespassing, so we parked the van and I got out and walked in. Sure enough, this was the right spot. We were the only one's there, and we didn't see another vehicle the whole time. 

There was a gate and a sign saying it was a nature area. Also, beyond the gate there was a sign saying no camping. But we figured if we just stayed in the parking area we would be fine. Plus, we didn't figure anybody else would be coming down here, especially mid week.

The dam.

We tried to go for a hike, but the trail seemed to be on the opposite side of the river and we couldn't find any way over there!

Interesting vegetation.

Louis, parked up for the night at GPS 38.239951, -1.593278

A second attempt at a hike got us a bit of a view, but the trail simply stopped.

Slept like a rock. Didn't hear a thing all night, and never did see another vehicle the whole time we were there.

Heading to our first motorhome aire today...looking forward to telling you about these European free parking areas.

Where we've been so far. Today, we're headed for Chinchilla de Monte Aragon.

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