A mill is a good reason to remember how much of the old Spanish countryside ran on water. Molino de las Fuentes lies close to Nerpio, in the same high valley of the Sierra de Segura, where springs rise from limestone and feed small channels that were once enough to turn a millstone. The name means the Mill of the Springs, and it is a suitable one in a landscape with plenty of them. Around the mill the land is a mixture of orchard and scrub, with poplars along the water and a sharp smell of damp earth and mint on summer evenings.
The nearby shelters belong to the group of Mediterranean-arc rock art that UNESCO listed in 1998, and this stop is one of a cluster in the valleys around Nerpio. The paintings are small and red and often faded, and the best way to see them is to go slowly and let your eyes adjust. Like many such sites, the care taken to protect them means that visiting can involve a guide or a short walk. It is worth checking before you go. If the painted wall is closed, the valley is still a fine place to sit.
For the road, you are in a corner of Albacete that few people visit, which is part of its charm. The approaches wind through pine and holm oak, with exposed rock at the roadside and wide views over folded hills. Traffic is light. The surface is mostly acceptable, though the occasional washout or fallen stone is possible after storms. The air is thin and clean, and at night the sky is dark and full of stars.
There is a small town ahead with a bakery and a couple of bars, but not much else, and the next real towns, Yeste and Moratalla, are a long way off. Carry spare water and keep your tank topped up. Moratalla, in Murcia, has a castle on a hill and a long tradition of drum processions at Easter. If you stay late, the sunset on the pale rock is worth a pause. A short rest by the stream, with the sound of water running over stones, is what the mill was built for.