Aguilar de Campoo

Lake reservoir at Aguilar de Campoo

A post originally written on the 2nd of November but which I couldn't publish so it's a bit delayed!

We're moving on from Aguilar de Campoo today. The industry here was biscuit making and, although there are only three factories left now, there was a delicious aroma of baking as we arrived. Aguilar is a pretty little town with an olde worlde feel to the centre and lovely porticoed streets that reminded us of Bologna. Unfortunately there was a car parked in front of the pharmacy or I would have photographed its painted frontage. A 16th century arch has been preserved but the medieval walls that adjoined it are long gone. 

We stayed in Camping Monte Royal on a hill above the town. There is a big house at the entrance which doubles up as a bar and restaurant. I imagine it would be busy there in summer as the site is among pine trees and is just over the road from a huge lake-reservoir. The accompanying photograph was taken at dusk on Thursday evening when the rocks were glowing orange in the setting sun. Monte Royal officially stays open all year, but we were directed to set up at the edge of the drive. We discovered that all the water in the sanitary block was off so had to fill the aqua roll from the sinks in the bar toilets! Bailey would probably have got stuck had we tried to tow through the trees but it did feel odd being parked up on concrete. 

The second day saw us walking for a couple of hours part-way round the lake and over its two dams, one current and one decommissioned. Dave was brave enough to stand out on a viewpoint, a concrete tower WAAAAY above the lake. I didn't even want to walk across the narrow concrete bridge. Far too scary!