Madrid Area (El Escorial)

On Monday morning nothing was spoken but we both came to a decision to move further south, so we quickly got ready and departed towards Madrid.

At one point we stopped at a motorway cafe and as ever, I was a touch anxious about leaving our car and caravan out of eyesight as one hears such horror stories. We were waiting to order coffee when the little cafe was invaded by around 30 police officers, who were armed but not dangerous. They ate, smoked, drank coffee and San Miguel as I wondered what my old bosses would have made of such apparent indicipline, but at least I though my car etc was safe as it was parked near to 7 police carrier vehicles. As we left, my heart sank as I saw two officers giving my car a great deal of attention, but all was well, as on my approach, one officer declared; "Mazda, beuno, bueno!" I quickly reviewed my original decision and decided that they were ok after all. It is surprising how much attention the car gets wherever we go, and as yet we have not seen another one.

The weather was hot and sunny as can be seen from the photo overlooking the hills of Madrid, and from our high vantage point we could see down into a valley far below and some snow capped mountains. The GPS co-ordinates entered into Tom Tom got us directly to the site reception at El Escorial. It is a massive site with pitces for almost 700 touring caravans and also a camping area and hundreds of statics. The facilities are superb and are shared between about 30 tourists such as us.

On Tuesday we awoke to gentle rain and all around the low hills were coated in a dusting of snow. We set off to visit the walled city of Avila, which can be seen above. Our route took us over two mountain passes and weather which included rain, sleet and snow as we reached the summit at almost 4,500 above sea level. After reading the guide books, we were fortunate to see the magnificent Imperial Eagle soaring on a thermal just above us; what a splendid sight! The city of Avila was amazing and we enjoyed a walk around the complete circuit of wall which surrounds the old town and stretches for just over 1 mile. The books recommend the view from an area known as "The Four Posts", and the result can be seen in the photo, which reminds me to say that if readers of the blog click on the photos, they can be enlarged to view more easily for those who are visually challenged! Our return was via the same route but in better conditions and seem to take half the time. The weather remains cold but the overnight rain on Tuesday/Wednesday has now abated. We intend a leisurely morning and then a trip to Segovia to visit the Roman Aquaduct there.

We hear the cuckoo on occasions, which should signify warmer conditions, but tomorrow we move towards Cordoba and hopefully towards higher temperatures.

Buenos Dias.