Distance: 450km, Start Pamplona, Spain, End: Madrid, Spain
This morning I thought I left in good time but i didn’t realise until later the clocks had gone forward so I lost an hour.
Initially I set my Satnav to Salamanca avoiding motorways, my intention was to go via Portugal, a place I have never been. After about an hour of depressing sights of closed businesses and decay all the while following alongside an empty motorway (it is Sunday), I reassessed what I was going to do. I decided riding around Spain and Portugal is something I can do in future, this trip is about Africa so why am I going via Portugal? If in future I circumnavigate Spain, going through the middle is a good plan for now. So that’s what I am doing. I reset the Satnav to Madrid using motorways and here I am.
On the way I booked a hotel for two nights via Expedia. That will allow me time tomorrow to drop a geocache, fix my camera mount which has broken and do the tourist bit. I am also trying to contact local Scouts.
I tried to use Android speech recognition to enter this blog. This is what it came up with:
“later my phone i started by putting in thanet have for destination direction sports cars sending to get an portuguese coast birds of a bad how are traveling little tikes live with free much normal to see boat way to pregnancy aside change correction sofia to m2 motorway 20 latex start with mamas and long big valleys with mountains around it snow colours of snow camp covering the tops of them langtons finchley big flat plane and the organisation of madrid amtrak stop in hotel tonight what is all day tomorrow to look around madrid it jobs contact me i have tried to contact them i’m trying to dictate this and make sure it is a very good job”
Ok I know I talk drivel somtimes but that is taking the piss!!!
The journey down was initially through fertile wide valleys surrounded by hills, some of them snow covered. There were oceans of wind turbines on most rises but as much of the business premises seemed to have closed down, or makes you wonder if they still need alk that power. It seems crazy that we have infrastructure laying empty and people without employment. Mssrs Blaire, Bush, Brown etc. Have a lot to answer for. I suspect the recession has not effected their living standards! !
The theme of wide valleys surrounded by snow capped hills continued all the way took Mardrid who’s urban sprawl started about 20km from its centre.