Our stocks of food, beer and wine in the caravan are just fine.

Still, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to stock up on some fine Spanish wine and replenish our somewhat depleted stocks in blighty.

We visited Rueda which is central to the wine growing region we are in and visited a place called La Cuba De Rueda which is a kind of wine wholesale operation stocking wines mainly from the local bodegas. There was a huge selection of wine and we were encouraged to taste as many as we wished.

We naturally left with quite a selection of half cases – not all of which we had tasted.

I’m certain we were their premier customers of the day (if not week) judging by the first class treatment we received.

The deals seemed good but how does one know it isn’t like shopping at a farm shop in England where more oft than not, the similar quality if not same product is available at a fraction of the price in a local supermarket… It’s not as though any of the wines purchased were household names. Still, it was a lot more fun than wandering around Sainsburys looking for half price Wolf Blass Yellow label.

The afternoon was a trip to Leroy Merlin – a DIY Hyperstore. I had a few things I wanted to buy for my computerised irrigation system in England (prices are a fraction of what they are in the UK) but sadly the primary items I wanted were out of stock. We’ve been away from the house a long time now and it will be interesting to see how many of our plants have survived. Still, next time, the raspberry pi linked to weather forecasts ought to do the trick.

Evening was a meal at the Campsite restaurant which was very good and of course reasonably priced. We ended up eating in the bar as an early evening thunderstorm or two were brewing. That’s when we realised the European cup final was taking place live on TV and we watched our first television since departing our green and pleasant land.