Our friend and mentor Brian is moving back to the UK to be with his lovely partner Gill and so we decided to take them out for lunch before Gill goes back on Sunday.

Brian picked a restaurant in Castril, a town we had never been to, and then decided to give us a tour of the surrounding area….an impromptu Simpson tour! What a wonderful day!

First he took us to a wonderful view point over the Portillo lake that lies just north of Castril and this was truly wonderful, especially in the crisp and clear winter light. The water is low in all the lakes due to the extremely hot summer but it was still wonderful, the colour of all the lakes is such a vivid blue due to the dissolved minerals.

We then went down into the valley where Brian showed us some of his favourite picnic areas on the river. Absolutely wonderful and I am just in awe of how we go from one wonderful place to another I feel so lucky.

We finally got to Castril and we ate outside in the sunshine (mid November!!!). Castril is a beautiful village and is famous for a valley boardwalk along the river valley. It was cool at this time of year and we were suprised by how it looked like the English countryside with weeping willows, birch and sycamores. It was too late to do this walk but this is definitely one to do soon.

On the way back we visited an old mill that Brian has always wanted to buy and renovate, the river was fast flowing and deep and with the sun setting it was magical…..and to complete the perfect day we got the call we had been waiting for – acceptance on an offer we had placed earlier in the day! Wait for the next post!