From Gaucin, Andalucia, Spain to Stoford, Somerset, UK - a long drive started today
Dawn and I moth-balled our home in Gaucin and left for the the long drive home at 8am this morning. The first leg of our route took us past Ronda, then Antequera, Granada, Jaen and Madrid. We covered 750 kms before stopping off at Sepùlveda near Segovia. I did all the driving and Dawn did most of the sleeping!
The weather was perfect, clear blue sky all day, top temp. 25C and the traffic was light until we drove through the centre of Madrid (just for fun). We saw a nice array of species along the way, including: Iberian Magpie, Red-legged Partridge, Common Buzzard, Griffon Vulture, Black Redstart, Spotless Starling and many common species.
The village of Sepùlveda is just wonderful, steeped in history with many ancient buildings and so picturesque.
our hotel is in this plaza
Before dinner we took a short drive out into the surrounding countryside and on the way back into the village we found a COMMON ROCK THRUSH sitting on a pylon sunbathing. What a great bird to finish off our day with.
Common or Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush
We sat in the plaza later with a nice glass of rioja watching hundreds of House Martins gathering over the village before diving down to their nests to roost.
Tomorrow we are taking a leisurely drive to Bilbao to catch a late afternoon ferry, so some sea-watching may be possible!