We are awoken by the ringing of church bells, it is still dark which deceives us into thinking it is early. It is 7.30am, so we make coffee and discuss our route and plans for today. We need to reach Conchar, south of Granada, about 140km, by late afternoon to meet the host of the villa, so plan our day around that. After breakfast, we walk to the old town of
Ùbeda along a raised walkway overlooking the plain below, it takes about 7 minutes. At an elevation of 750m in the valley of the Alto Guadalquivir, we have a great view across Jaen towards the Sierra Mágina mountains.

The old town of Ùbeda is another walled town with typical narrow streets opening onto wide squares and plazas each with a church (Iglesia). As it is Sunday the church bells ring out, each one is open but we do not go in. Instead we wander around exploring the narrow streets and ornate public buildings. We weave our way back to the camp site and have lunch around 1.00pm. We service the Hymer and pass the time of day with a French couple about where we are from and where we are going. Of the eleven campers on the site, two are French, one Netherlands, one German, us from GB and the rest are Spanish.

We decide to take the scenic route through the mountains (rather than the faster E-4), so head south on the A-401 through Jódar and Sierra Mágina mountains. Again spectacular scenery all the way through the mountains to Guadahortuna. From here we take the A-323 south west to Izanollas and the E-44 south to Granada. South of Granada we leave the E-44 at junction 153 and take the GR3208 towards Conchar and then the GR-3210 down the hill into the village. At a cattle road sign we turn into a small road of about ten houses and find Le Era, villa 4 on El Pueblo where we are staying.

Mar, the owner meets us and shows us around. The villa is great, three bedrooms (two twin, one double), two bathrooms (one upstairs, one downstairs) and a large living area and kitchen. The villa is built on a hillside overlooking the Sierra Nevada mountains, so that the kitchen and living area downstairs (and our bedroom and bathroom upstairs) are east-facing, directly towards the mountains. The patio door in the living room opens onto a wide terrace with a super view overlooking the village of Conchar and mountains beyond… perfect.

We take our stuff from the camper into the villa, open wine and sit in the evening sun on the terrace. Listening to the sounds, there are goat bells, goats braying, birds twittering (and later bats flying) the odd dog barking but nothing else.

Our Canadian friends have been keeping in contact with us via text messages, they have been in Salamanca and are now making their way south towards Conchar and will arrive tomorrow, so we have a night on our own in the holiday house. This is unusual for us, once we leave home we’re normally in the Hymer for the whole time that we are away. Hymer will sit outside on the roadside where there is plenty of space, the road is a dead end, so there will be no passing traffic.