Sometimes You Just Need to Stop and Look Around

There are some places where you arrive, take a look around and immediately realise that you are going to remember the view.

Castillo de la Muela in Consuegra, Toledo, is one of those places for me.

The climb up to the castle was certainly hot work in the Spanish sunshine, but once we got up there and I saw the view across La Mancha, it was pretty easy to forget about the walk up.

A castle with more than 800 years of history

The castle sits high on the Cerro Calderico and has a fascinating history. Its origins go back to a Muslim fortress built during the 10th century, during the period of the Caliphate of Córdoba. After the Christian Reconquista, the castle and surrounding territory were given to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1183, who developed and expanded the fortress.

There is something quite strange yet wonderful about standing somewhere that has been stood for hundreds of years, and looking out over the same landscape that so many people before you would have seen.

A pretty good place to pause

What I noticed most, though, wasn't the history - it was the feeling of standing there.

You can see for miles across the countryside, with the famous windmills of Consuegra along the ridge, and the landscape seems to stretch on forever.

I think in life we can all get caught up in what comes next.

The next job.

The next appointment.

The thing we haven't finished.

The thing we think we should have done already.

Sometimes it is good to stop for a while and actually look at where you are, and not because everything else has suddenly disappeared, but because you don't always need to be thinking about the next thing.

Sometimes the moment you are in is worth enjoying - and appreciating.

And standing on top of an 800-year-old castle, in the Spanish sunshine, looking across La Mancha was a pretty good reminder of that.