On Google Earth we had found an abandoned power plant, called La Fabrica de la Luz, at the Tajo. The road there clearly was without tarmac, but it didn’t look so bad on google earth. You could see a car parked, so we decided to give it a try.
After going through Valdeverdejo – nothing compared to Greek villages with low balconies – we reached a very good wide gravel route. After a turn off the track got distinctly less used und less maintained. Soon we reached trees hanging into the road which would be passable for a small battered car, but not for us. Edi got his saw out and gave the trees a nice trim.
From there on we decided to walk first and drive only if the track would be manageable. There were not many possibilities to turn around and driving everything in reverse didn’t sound enticing.
The track got steep, washed out and with a slope which didn’t feel very comfortable but was far from a problem. Then we came to the last turn off, which was going up, narrow, a pointed angle with a little stone wall giving even less space to turn.
In the end there was no place we could have stayed. The last 100 metres we walked down and decided it makes no sense to drive down as we might not have made it up again. Knowing that we had to go back the same route made us a little uneasy, and we couldn’t really enjoy the site.
We were relieved, when we reached the good gravel route again. The car had managed the difficult track without problems and we hadn’t destroyed anything, which was surprising. Edi earned a gold medal for his driving skills.
Now we just wanted a nice place at the water which we could reach easily. We were driving on a track and around trees again to get to this spot, but nothing in comparison!
At the Embalse de Valdecañas, near the Roman Temple, we found this spot (39.806134, -5.491454) where we could relax and enjoy a nice lunch in the shade of this big oak.
We felt we needed some time to relax from our off-road tour and also time to work, and enjoyed this beautiful spot, but soon we were off to new adventures again. We were now in the Extremadura, the area we wanted to discover on this trip to Spain and were curious what impressions we will get. More on our next post!