Now That's What I Call Music Vol IV

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TAKE IT TO THE MAX
SO....the great Dinner Law Loophole:

It wasn't really a loophole, we just found a place that must be run by the brother of the Chief of the Dinner Laws Police.  He raised his shutters at 6pm and stood there, arms folded, with a look that said "What the f@#k are you going to do about it sunshine?".

It only sold burgers and pizza and wasn't exactly the place to celebrate your Silver Wedding Anniversary but 6pm!!!!  This left us in the rather novel position of having finished dinner before bedtime.  We were in Alcazar de San Juan which isn't exactly a buzzing town, and Sunday seemed to be especially sleepy, so our search for a lively bar drew a blank.  Instead, we invested €3 in a very acceptable bottle of tinto and went back to our room for some TV.

There is NO English speaking TV in Spanish hotels!  Instead, we watch DMax which has English content dubbed into Spanish.  This means we watch old favourites like Deadliest Catch and Wheeler Dealers...but in Spanish.  In this way we are slowly learning the language.  Should we encounter anyone in Spain who needs a hand adjusting the timing chain on a Renault Megane, or advice on the best sort of seabed for catching Spider Crab we are the guys.  It's a pity that the Wheeler Dealers team doesn't spend more time checking into hotels and ordering Tapas.

WELCOME TO THE WORKING WEEK
While the Spanish all head back to work we had a day off today. Well, not exactly a day off but it was 10 miles and 1300ft less than an average day and probably the easiest of the trip. Or at least that was the plan.  The temperature was only 4 degrees again so full survival mode.


ROCKY ROAD
We did 51 easy miles with either one or no hills depending on how you look at things (we climbed at a steady 0.5% all day) and had developed a cunning plan to check in by 1pm and have a proper Spanish lunch.  Unfortunately, we reached a road closed sign...which naturally we ignored and pressed on.  The road wasn't so much closed as non-existent, with bare earth and heavy construction plant.  We wasted an hour and several miles trying to find a way past the construction before backtracking to a point where we had the choice of a 20 mile detour or an unpaved road of unknown quality.  We went for the latter and had an exciting half an hour on a mix of gravel, compacted earth and mud before eventually reaching our hotel at almost 3pm.

THE CAVE
Our hotel is a very basic roadside inn but with tables in the sun so we checked in and, being too late for lunch, started some serious rehydration without even bothering to view our room.  We were joined by a British couple* who have just purchased a cave somewhere nearby.  The obvious question - 'dear God, why?' seemed inappropriate somehow.

We chatted until the sun dropped below the roofline and went for a shower.

*I very nearly wrote 'another British couple', I really need to spend less time with Plum!

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