We savoured our first real opportunity for a lie in today, it was our second rest day. When we arrive at every campsite we put in some serious consideration for the route that the sun will take from its rise to set over the period of the day so that in the morning the sun is blocked by the surrounding trees for as long as possible! This was particularly important given last night was Fred's birthday and a couple of well earned beers in Madrid was our means of celebration.
Thankfully we all felt relatively fresh and so we lazed around the site for the morning. One job was cleaning out the van which included sweeping the collection of twigs, sand and even wooden stakes that had been collected by Greg along the way. We think his experience of the interesting Spanish towns had led him to collect any means of protection along the way. Our skills on the boule court have improved no end since we have been away and today was a great chance for Fred and Rob to continue their fierce rivalry!
Today saw the arrival of Team 3 - Deb and Julian Price! I don't think any of us can quite get our head around how quickly this has all gone...we are now in to our third and final week with the end, a mere 600km in sight. It was Rob and Laurie who opted to collect the Prices from Madrid airport. Lufthansa should take a leaf out of the extensive Ryan Air Customer Service booklet, as their plane was delayed by an hour. To everyone's surprise this delay was not caused by the Price family time keeping skills, for which they are so well known. Laurie and Rob who both suffer from chronic 'hanger' disease found themselves, after skipping lunch in the hope of a swift operation, staring avidly at the arrivals gate surrounded by families greeting their loved ones. They were thankful however that Julian was ever so slightly easier to spot amongst the hordes of tanned, short and dark featured Spaniards which just kept coming and coming and coming! Finally they appeared and so on to the campsite it was!
After some meeting, greeting, initial instructions and a ceremonial cup of tea from the boys for Team 3; Rob, Marcus and Fred head in to Madrid for a couple of hours to see some famous sights whilst Laurie stayed with his parents to catch up, set up tents and brief them over the coming weeks plans. First stop on the whirlwind tour of Madrid was the second largest bullring in the world - Las Ventas. Fred and Marcus seized the opportunity to jump in to the ring but with an important fight in a couple of days, they were soon chucked off the hallowed turf. Next was the food market - San Miguel, where they could snack on authentic tapas and olives the size of apples. Finished off nicely with a wander around the famous Plaza Major and Sol, the impressive centre of this city.
A BBQ awaited the lads as they returned to the camp and so after a late night last night we had a chilled evening and early nights sleep to recover!
- @Access2a
- www.access2africa.co.uk
Location:Madrid, Spain
No comments:
Post a Comment