Madrid - Lisboa by bicycle

Into the mountains. I have to say, it was a day with great weather and landscape. But especially the latter comes with a price. And now, sitting at the table at the campground, after a good dinner - it was all not so hard ... ;-) The first 20km, I followed mostly an old Railway track next to a (storage) lake. This was flat. It did start to climb just after the local man told me, it is more or less little up and down. After a minor climb at the beginning. It seems like the beginning was about 30km and counting. The last 10km were for me very exhausting. If I would have find a place with a bed, I would have taken it, regardless of the price. In the end, I found a nice campground and the owner made me the special bicyclist dinner.

Today at 1pm, my bag with all my cycling and camping gear came. A parcel company delivered it to my hostel. What a happy moment! It took me only 30 minutes to bring all the stuff to the correct position, where I expect it. My routine after many trips. What a feeling seeing my trustful Fahrrad Manufaktur T900 in its travelling dress. I remember very well the moment in Villarica, Chile, when I wrote my favorite towns, I visited by bike on my black backrollers. The white marker has been faded away by the sun, but with some fantasy you can guess the names. At home, I figured out the route for that trip mostly with Google Maps and ridewithgps.com. It looks good on paper (screen) but in reality, theses beautiful lines often are bad roads. No pavement is one thing, but sand and big holes are another. The weather is great in summer in central Spain. Beautiful blue skies and sun. Sun! Lots of it! It was up to 35’ C. The weather forecast tells me that it may touch the 40'. I don...

Iberia Airlines could not find my lost bag, which has all my cycling gear. So I had to wait and prepare for at least one more night in Madrid. Just this time, I wanted not to sleep at the ground again. My bike is not up to cycling, as I cannot fully assemble it without my tools, especially these skews with a security lock. So, I took a train into town. Finding a place to stay was my next adventure. The prices for hotel rooms where not as crazy as yesterday when the cheapest room was 500€ per night (no joke). The first hostel, I found downtown, was good. 30€ with shared bathroom is ok. Just after I fetched the bike from the airport, the owner "I am the boss"  had rent the room to another person and pushed me harsh out of his place. My next try was via booking.com. A room for 30€. Ok - booked. Just on the confirmation mail it says: "bunkbed in women room". Thank you! Cancelling was possible - just for the full price. These a these days... Ok, I am not 19 years...

the flight was good. An hour late, which made it 11:30pm, but as I have planned for camping the first new gut at a nearby campground- no problem. If you have a tent. At 1am, it was still in Frankfurt. My bicycle was here, but that was all. No tent - no camping. So, I grabbed my transport box and brought it to an unintended usage. Now at the restaurant with the golden arc having breakfast and hoping for the luggage to arrive.

Still at home. Still one way of work ahead of me. But I am preparing. Today, I prepared my bicycle. I will use the Europe-bike , the Fahrradmanufaktur T900, my faithful companion since 16 years. I took a vacation of 14 days from my client, a bank in Frankfurt to inhale some of the being-out-in-nature and camping fresh air on the Iberian Peninsula. The planned trip of about 800 km with some up and downs: Madrid to Lisbon. This is the plan: