North towards Moscardón, Teruel, Spain.*

Well what a ******* nightmare !!!!

Stephen Powell and I were off heading North East towards Moscardón where we were going to spend a few days looking for butterflies including the rare Zapata's Ringlet (Erebia zapateri) and Southern Hermit (Chazara prieuri).

On the way we picked up Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Black (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans) and Red Kite (Milano Real / Milvus milvus), Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila pennatus), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Iberian  (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) and Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), European Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Western Jackdaw (Grajilla occidental / Corvus monedula), Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and at a lay-by where we stopped to stretch our legs we heard a couple of European Crested Tits (Herrerillo Capuchino / Lophophanes cristatus).

We continued on and had got to within 40km of the site we wanted to visit but this was when it all went wrong, the car lost power but then restarted, it happened again but the third time it didn't restart and we had to stop on the roadside and call the insurance company.

Once we got through on the assistance line everything went well, a young lady from the Grúas from Cañete arrived quickly and got the car loaded and took us back to there workshops. 

Whilst we were stuck on the roadside we did see a few butterflies 😀😀😀 including Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x1, Berger's Clouded Yellow (Colias alfacariensis) x2, Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) x2 and Iberian Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthameli) x1.

Unfortunately due to it being August all the Mechanic's were on holiday in the area so we had no choose but to leave the car there and go in a taxi to Cuenca railway station where we collected a hire car for 24 hours and then drove back south to my house.

I have now got to wait for the car to be transported back down here in the south before I can hopefully get it sorted but impressed with the insurance company as all was taken care of and we didn't need to pay anything out.

Once we reach Huétor we stopped off at the Chinese restaurant and had a meal which wasn't too bad but not as good as I remember it was the last time I went 6 years ago.