November 4, 2024
November 4, 2024 - Navalcarnero to Madrid
Our personal guide gets us to town
Hostal Cruz Sol, Plaza de Santa Cruz, 6, Centro, 28012 Madrid, Spain
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A QUICK check of the forecast showed that a bit of rain was on its way for late morning. Time to get a move on.
Because the bikes were in the room with their bags still on, it took no time at all to be ready. Once we had checked in on the world with our devices we rolled through the lobby and out the door to a fairly quiet street that was just coming to life.
The route took us down the hill past yesterday's convenience store then along a road that was so busy, I'm glad there was a quiet service road alongside as we did the long climb away from the centre. There was even one point where we both dismounted and walked so we wouldn't burn out too quickly.
Having noticed that my preplanned route would include some unpaved sections, I decided to use the GPS routing instead. This brough us along a somewhat longer route and was a bit unusual as we headed straight west at one point though I knew that our final destination was almost straight east of here.
Parts of the road were fairly busy - I think the road was a path to the motorway into Madrid. Parts of the road were very quiet. Either way, the routing was not bringing us through pretty villages along the way and seemed to be purposefully avoiding them. But we needed food! It was when we needed a baño that I pulled over at the next Repsol service station where we bought some expensive junky carb food. At least with calories we would be able to continue.
With about 15 km to go the road became a very serious highway, though with a wide margin. One intersection was confusing so I stopped to ask a passing cyclist (I estimated he was in his seventies) for directions. He was riding a carbon road bike with Campognolo components. He spoke no english, but luckily my spanish has improved a tiny bit enough that I could understand him. He said to follow him and he would show us.
After getting off of the busy road and winding through a few tree=covered back streets, he guided us on to a bike path which skirted the Casa de Campo park - a huge park filled with trees, paths, green spaces and no cars. The whole time, we carried on somewhat of a conversation as he asked us about our tour, told us about his ride to Santiago de Compostela earlier in the year and said how he would like to come to Canada to cycle some day.
I hadn't expected him to bring us so far into the city, but he said he lived not far from the centre. He brought us right to the Madrid sign across the river from the Royal Palace's gardens. After a few photos, he headed on his way, and we crossed the road and headed up toward the palace and cathedral, through which I had ridden last year on my way to the Principe Pio train station for my train to Salamanca. Of course, that morning last year was dark and I was carrying my tablet for directions. I had not yet figured out how to deal with my GPS and the problem I had with one of the buttons. (I was soon able to get a temporary fix then a more permanent one when I returned home.)
The hill up to the cathedral was really steep and we were pretty tired, so we just walked up the hill. Then we found the streets quite busy so continued to walk from the palace toward and through the Plaza Mayor, then a few tens of metres further to the Plaza de Santa Cruz - the square from where we had started about teo weeks ago! We'd done it!
I captured the moment with my camera then walked over to the Hostal Cruz Sol and brought our gear up to the third floor. Both the owner and the cleaner greeted us and ushered us in where we quickly checked in, moved our bikes and gear into the room, and collected the bike boxes from their storage. As always - though some hours of some days never end, the entire tour is done in an instant.
I suggested to Alex that he just rest while I went ver to a grocery store for a wide variety of foods for our celebration lunch - sushi, jamon, salads, bread, drinks and mangos. After a fantastic lunch I did some of the initial work to pack up the bikes. I ended up getting the Dahom completely packaged up, but ran in to a slight problem with the Cannondale. I had brought along a Torx-25 bit to remove the front wheel disc, but after looking through everything I could not find it. The disc could easily be bent if it was left on the wheel so we had to figure this out. Alex the Canadian Tire expert looked up a hardware store then guided us there with the tablet where I found just what we needed. On the way back we saw a Doner shop so stopped in for supper, though I was still fairly full from lunch. Then we continued back to the room where I removed the disc from the front wheel, foamed up the bike tubes, then plopped the bike into its box. Now I need only organize our carry-on bags for the flight and put the rest of our gear into the second pannier for the flight. I am going to wait until I get the boxes to the airport to wrap them in their plastic wrap so I don't shred it on the way.
Much organizing done, we went out and about. I took a few night APs of the Plaza Mahyor which was busy but not terribly so (good time of the year to be here) then over to the San Miguel market to peruse all of the seafood, jamon, chorrizo, sweets, and other prepared goodies. Now this place was BUSY. Alex commented that it was the perfect place for pickpockets, and I would agree, so was very careful.
Next we headed down to the Cathedral where Alex went in while I stayed outside (I was in shorts). He was in awe of the majesty of the place. Next, the palace and the views overlooking the gardens and out across the city, though by night. It was still really nice out, so we guided ourselves to the Plaza de España to visit with Cervantes and Don Quixote. People were about everywhere, but not too many. It was a bit sillier over along the Gran Via, especially near some theatre where some 'famous' woman was posing for hundreds of people with their phones.
We were quite enjoying the wandering when suddenly there were a few drops of rain, then a few more, so decided to guide ourselves back to our hostal. Along the way, we passed the restaurant where we had the calamari sandwich last time. The rain had stopped by the time we reached our room, but it was around 9 pm by now so we called it a day.
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Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 421 km (261 miles)
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