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G'morning....I think I ate my pillow.... was stuffed.... and very disorientated. Remember saying that fire water never effects me and that's it......blank after dat....so staggered up.... pulled the curtains and sunnn.
Whaaaa hooo sooo time to shower, shave, contemplate life...grab some breaky and try to sort out me bags. Then I figure out that I forgot some cords at Diego's place. Time to go into the bowels of Madrid on me own to find a charge cord...would call Diego but he lives outside of town and he goes to bed about 4 am and to work at about 2 pm. Soooo I don't want to bug him.
So day one I woke up late and behind schedule....and then remembered it's a holiday..who cares LOL! Now that I got my priorities set I started packing up, got me gear on, loaded the bike, stopped at the hotel desk and asked the gal at the desk where to go...she gave me a name of a place...for a cord.
GPS time...loaded in a name and voila...a route...off I went...frig....no hope in hell of finding it without a GPS...crazy ride...I lost count of roundabouts. Good news...didn't piss off one Madrid driver....acted local...merged as it made sense...signaled once in a while... and blended in. Good thing is that I got Spanish plates.
Gotta be careful as this bike is a bit torquey front tire keeps lifting..... Even with asc on.....sucks not having cruise. Limits me picture taking abilities whilst riding. Anyhooooo I ended up in central Madrid sooo cool...narrow twisty roads, historical buildings, and people walking....everywhere.
So I find the store I need and get me cords and cool part is its right near the central square. So I wandered around a bit. Awesome! They are pedestrian only areas....tonnes of people....but a bit touristy.....sooooo time to go.
Hop on me steed... Rev the putt putt... Put er in gear and go! Bonk!!!! Hit the pannier on the parking post....they are low so couldn't see it ...frig....ahh well cost of fun. No major damage just me pride. Sigh!
They plan if you call it that is.... No plan lol. I have routes suggested by Diego... I figure I'll loosely follow them. So first plan is.......... I'll check out Valle de Los caidos. It's a huge monument built by Franco's republican prisoners as an act of atonement. Me being history buff seems natural.
Well off I went in the general direction. Now nothing here is north south east west sooo navigating was crazzzzzzzy. In my wandering way I ended up in Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Say that ten times fast..
This brings up something I'm finding funny my gps links into my helmet via blue tooth...so I get b****in Betty in awesome stereo in my helmet. This is a good thing, as she seems to have my best interests at heart.....cept when she tries to drive me over a cliff. But I forgave her. That seems to be what us guys do. Well she has an Aussi accent and she's really trying with the Spanish names but man.......very few things here are named like Madrid, or the streets are not Oak street ohhh no it's like "turn right at Calle de dis n dat en hablo hablo hablo more spanish words" all in like a second.....I just go HUH to myself in the helmet and look at the gps...big arrow turn now...ok...easy enough. but not really as the intersections are like meters apart....had to turn around a few times to get it right. to add to the challenge as the turns are like every 20 meters it gets tiring. She's trying to hablo the best she can, I'm trying to drive and once in a while look for a street sign LOL...why I ask myself as nothing lines up. How a postman earns a living here is beyond me.
Funny thing was getting breakfast and my GPS is a Zumo and the waitress asks me Sumo? I look at her....wonder how the hell does she know that I need navigation help......until it dawns on me Sumo...Juice.... laughed me arse off...she just thought I was un autre loco tourista.
So I'm now in the middle of an ancient town with a huge old Monastery its amazing...gotta check it out. So park me bike and start fiddling....and Kawasaki pulls up right behind me....nice thing about bikes can park real close to things...on sidewalks etc etc...
Well this is where I meet me new bud Berni. We get to chatting and he can't believe what I am doing. He is a polizia from Madrid, born n raised. Awesome guy just out for a day ride. So he asks where I am going next and I tell him so he says....hey I'll show you how to get there. So after taking some pics and looking around off we go with Berni in the lead.
We find the Valle de sol Caidos and its pretty spectacular. We get to chatting more and he asks where to next.....I tell him that there is a Nasa station nearby he says...lets go. My map isn't accurate enough to find it so he gets on the telly and asks his partner where it is. He leads and off we go. He tells me he's got a few days off and told his significants that he was going for smokes...LOL thought I was bad.
Off we go and its an awesome ride...lots of twists but Berni is a bit conservative must be the copper in him. He leads me to a bar that all bikers in the area stop at....so cerveza time LOL. LIL bar at a ...yes you guessed it ... roundabout....on the highway.
After a break we carry on...it's a lil nippy out his bike is naked but he's dressed for it. Still warmer than at home LOL.Lots of twists n turns..... awesome...just a lil slower than I like but all good. The roads here are in excellent condition by the way. Then poof there are these monster satellite dishes .... they talked to the Apollo mission via these dishes....tres cool. So take some pics and Berni tells me this is awesome he needs to travel with tourists more often to see the cool stuff..LOL!
So Brerni asks me to go with him to meet his partner (police partner)....how can I say no and its on the way to what I think will be me next stop a lil town called Jerte. Well after some wild navigating where even Berni got lost we wandered all around the side streets of this small town and poof.....a welcoming committee of about 15 is at the bar to meet us plus a cool boxer (dog). Can't get me helmet off and everyone is shaking me hand and being awesome. Seems a friend of Berni's is a friend for all.
Beers show up outta the blue and then the Tapas.......awesome.....some kinda pork in tomato sauce that you put on bread and then the omelet thingy....was so tasty. these guys had me in stitches. One guy knew a little english and insisted I only speak to him in english (he's the town mortician). The others would corner me to tell me where in Spain to go....each took a turn at me map and made suggestions I got a ton of ideas. But all good things must end so Berni and his partner needed to head back to Madrid. I needed to find a hotel. So I had an idea of where to head and a cool road to do it thanks to me new friends. Berni got me cell phone number and insisted if I need anything just call. He also insists that when I get back to Madrid he wants to take me for a ride into an area that is suppose to be crazy. AWESOME!
So we parted ways after they lead me outta the mouse trap we were in....I heading west....and they heading east. Well...the road was crazyyyyyyyy. Twists all over the place....only down side is I had the sun ball right in me line of site....makes for some dodgy situations....so I'm blasting along...no hotel yet....and outta the blue on the side of the road a hotel. Looks good and its getting nippy...suns almost down too...soooo might be a good place to check out.
So stop go in.....not a word of English here no prob I hablo a bit and a room with supper and breakfast 50 euros LOL.....duh...I'm in. I park unload...and head for the pub. Supper is at 9 again bit later than at home., But wowwwwwww pasta and some kinda beef steak......and not sure what the desert was but I think some kinda cheese cake.....very tasty and I was stuffed. Ohhh wine with the meal of course.
So retire to pub...lthis is where the bartender starts to bring me all sorts of different dishes....I have no idea what some are but dammmmmm they good. He also recommends a rum and I'm set! but eventually all good things must end....wander up to me room and crashhhhhhh! Not a long ride day but jet lag and still adjusting me tinks has me tuckered.
- comments
Shauna nice shot!
Shauna ummmm.... do I see tomatoes on that??
Shauna ummmmm.. Do I see tomatoes on that?