Day 20 – to Puerto de las Crucetillas

PART TWO

Day 20 – to Puerto de las Crucetillas

Moving day today. I’ve had a couple of weeks in the Montanas Vacias and it’s been very pleasant; some real wilderness. The small roads continued for the first hour or so, down and up between 1000 and 1500 metres several times, and over this spectacular bridge..

A couple of hundred miles south and I’m in Parque Natural Los Collares del Mundo de la Sima (my attempt at a translation.. the neck scarves of the chasms of the World) It’s the northern part of a group of mountains and forests referred to as the Sierra de los Filabres, of which Cazorla is in the south, the biggest town. It’s known by hikers, bikers, and climbers as Bosques del Sur.

The journey was fine, with a planned stop at the Mercadona in Requena to restock the cupboards and the fridge. It was a rainy and cool day which helped also. The roads were quiet, even going round the city of Albacete.

I was headed for Paterna del Moderna, but on getting there, decided to take on the road / track towards Riopar, stopping at the Crucetillas Pass at 1450 metres. We took a walk, and met a Park Ranger in his pick-up who encouraged me to keep going another few kilometres for spectacular views. They weren’t quite as good his enthusiast demeanour made out, but still a good bit of exercise after some hours in the van. And we were back just seconds before a big storm..

This is another quality stopover place. No one passed at all, and I was left to watch the Friday rugby in peace, with just a few deer nosing around late on.