We were surprised to end up with three neighbours in the place we thought we’d discovered. Perhaps we were a little hasty in publishing the spot on Park4night, although it would be a little arrogant to believe we were the first ever people to overnight here. All behaved impeccably, which is mostly always the case.

We were first to arrive and last to leave, so nothing new there. I didn’t see the sun rise, but I did see the moon set over the mountains, which was unexpected.

We continued our winding and very picturesque route a few more kilometres to the Monasterio de Yuste, where King Charles V retired from public life in 1556. Being a Sunday morning, the place was mobbed, so we didn’t hang around.

Back Roads Spain also suggested a quick look at Jarandilla de la Vera, so we parked up, topped up our drinking water from a free-flowing fountain, couldn’t decide were we wanted to visit, so promptly moved on.

Clearly we were not slavishly following our guide book today. Next stop was Losar, a helpful town that lays on motorhome facilities, for which we were very grateful.

From up here in the mountains we made a break to the South-West, with the Parque Nacional de Monfragüe in our sights. We love seeing a variety of landscapes, and Spain offers this in spades as today we were now touring through flat lands, but with no shortage of trees.

On the lead up to the national park, cork trees were the order of the day, and it was interesting to see how they’d been farmed.

Once in the park, the narrow, but perfectly fine, 40km speed limited roads wound us around past waterways and modest hills. Motorhomes are not allowed to overnight here and in fact are limited to a maximum of two hours parking, which seems unnecessary, but there you go.

After a lunch break we headed out of the park, where we came across the highlight for us, a narrow gorge, with massive towering rocks, where many dozens of gryphon vultures soared and, if we were lucky, swooped down to our level, where they caught the sun beautifully. We were surprised at the sheer size of the various zoom lenses we saw here, but it takes more than that to intimidate Sophie and her iPhone.

Next objective was to find a home for the night. In truth, I couldn’t see too many options in the general direction we were heading in, but programmed in a few hopefuls. Fortunately, en route to my first attempt, and whilst driving along a pretty minor, and little frequented road, we noticed a road sign indicating an official parking area.

We thought we’d have a look, just to see if it might be set sufficiently away from the road, and were pleasantly surprised to find a very picturesque rural area with firm footing, and overlooking a lovely scene of trees and sheep. As with last night’s find, we have now also made this an official Park4night spot.

We look forward to the usual quiet night, and to being lulled to sleep by the baaing of the sheep and the tinkle of their bells.