I quite liked Caudete, my first ever night in Castilla-La Mancha. The albergue is very comfortable - the only thing against it is that it is right at the top of the town, and I was knackered on a boiling afternoon after having somehow got lost wandering around in Villena (handsome town, with a cleverly executed sombrero on its plaza de toros, so it's now an all-weather concert hall etc, but no albergue - or hotel either, as far as I can remember).
Caudete isn't exactly exciting, but on a hot Friday it was a pleasant spot to have dinner and watch the people beginning to enjoy their weekend. A slightly drunk man in one of the bars told me flatly there was no
camino de Santiago going through the town, but that's hardly a unique experience on the southern caminos - in fact, the girl in the turismo in Elda the previous day had started denying that one went through there ("¿aquí? - no"), before doing a bit of quick internet searching after having had a second look at my hiking sticks, rucksack, scallop shell and general air of bloody-minded determination.