Madrid

Wandering into Madrid, we found the May Day public holiday in full swing. Luckily, this was a tourist day for us. Our whole focus was to chill out, wander around and see the sites. The park in the middle of the city was absolutely chock-a-block with people relaxing, families eating, playing games and making music.

A decision was made, we found a spot in the sun, laid our outer shell coats on the grass, boiled the Trangia and baristaed two hot chocolates. Chilled out we were, for some time.

Bikes and Trains

Spanish railway employees have been a mixed breed. Sometimes the conductor will actually help you with your bike onto the train. Sometimes they want to argue with you, that you can’t take the bikes on the train even though you are showing them the bicycle specific ticket you have just purchased, in addition to your own personal ticket. Ah the fun…. admittedly, we were never actually thrown off a train for having the bikes. The rules are a bit grey around what you actually need to do with the bikes on what trains and whether or not you are actually supposed to be there with the bikes at all. We always bagged the bikes on the fast trains and that was in our favour. One conductor was adamant that the bicycle counted as our suitcase and we weren’t allowed to take the panniers on the train. Mind you, the train was half-empty with spare seats everywhere. In the end he gave up, and our bike had a double seat to themselves.

These experiences give you something to laugh about later. If Mandy couldn’t communicate in Spanish, we would have really had a problem.

Travelling with fully loaded tour bicycles with a full camping kit is so much fun on trains, that we’ve decided this is the last time we will do it. The final stages of this section of the the trip will include us travelling from Madrid to Valencia by train, then cycling from Valencia the 400 km to Barcelona.

From Barcelona a new trip style will develop.

Toledo

Toledo tools and knives are some of the best you can find. I always thought it was a brand name, and didn’t realise it was an actual place. Toledo is known for making some of the best bladed weapons and knives in the world. We went for a walk through the factory where they were still making jewelry and bladed knives and swords all forged by hand. If we weren’t on bicycles, we could’ve spent a lot of money on knives here.

Warm feet

It is so nice to once again feel warm feet. Sitting on the beach in Valencia, going for a swim and walking in the sand.

This is nice.