The Ham Nomads

18 Feb 2015. <ES> Toledo, & Consuegra, Toledo, & Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha —

D-Day! Dental appointments at 10am. We got there with time to spare, and Suzie went in first. They had scheduled another dentist for the job, one who speaks pretty good English, although our original dentist was there as well — really good professional concern. Suzie went through the ordeal first, and came out pretty happy — a numb face, the first part of the job done, and she was pretty chipper. The bad news — we need to wait 4 weeks between treatments, so the final work won't be done until March 18. This means a considerable change to our travel plans, as we will have to me back in Toledo on March 18. Never mind — the Hams are nothing if not flexible!

Then it was Warren's turn. Went in, and indicated that the pain had abated after the first couple of days. The dentist did a full check, re-X-rayed the tooth, and came to the conclusion that the problem has fully resolved itself, and that nothing needs to be done unless it flares up again — which is unlikely.

So we were free to leave Toledo, at least for the next month. The only real part of Andalucia we still really want to see is Granada and the Alhambra, so this is our destination — but this is about 400km away — a couple of days' drive. So off we go!

On the way, we passed Consuegra, where we had previously noted a group of windmills and a castle on the hill nearby. We decided to call in — another good choice. This is a fairly popular tourist destination, as was evidenced by the number of tourist buses coming through while we were there, in an off season!

We drove through the village — yes, narrow streets again — real fun for Suzie. And the secondary school had obviously just finished classes for the day, as we met numerous students coming through the streets. We drove up to the hill towards the castle.

We found a carpark half-way up, so decided to park and walk the rest of the way. In the first windmill we found a tourist office, where we went upstairs to see the mill's mechanism. Then we walked along, past the castle and marveling at the 12 windmills sitting on the hilltop. Apparently each farming family in the region had its own windmill — not like in England where the various farmers used to bring their grain to a specialist miller who served the whole area. But this means more windmills dotting Andalucia, to the delight of tourists!

Anyway, we left Consuegra and drove south to Valdepeñas, where we found a flat parking area outside the local park, where we settled in for the night.

Distance driven — today, 104 miles ( 168 km ); to date, 13,610 miles ( 21,904 km )