Today I woke up quite late for my standards and had a headache from the drinks I had yesterday. I spent some time to clean and pack my gear. I left Marbella to head North through Madrid. On the way I stopped in Malaga at the airport Starbucks and had a great coffee. I took the motorway to eat up the miles. The first part of the Autovia is fabulous and full of hairpins and turns surrounded by olive groves. I had a lot on my mind but I had plenty of time to think everything though and through. I then felt I was missing something but now I know I felt the end of something and I was just very sad. While stopping for fuel I tried to get a ticket for tonight’s El Clasico in Madrid but as tickets cost around 300 EUR I decided to skip.
At my next fuel stop I old guy at the counter tried to play a trick with me and wanted to overcharge a bit. Instead of the 22.77 EUR that I should have paid he wanted to charge the price of 22.77 litres of diesel… After a short discussion (me in Italian, him in Spanish) we agreed that first: my fuel tank cannot hold so much and second: the bike doesn’t run on diesel and I was set to continue accompanied by his apologies.
In the afternoon the wind picked up which made the ride so much more unpleasant. As hotels were pretty expensive in Madrid and I didn’t fancy struggling with the traffic in the heat I searched for something outside and I found a campsite in Aranjuez – some 50 km South of the city. The place was wonderful and very lively. The main street is full of cafes and bikers while the whole city must be very old based on the architecture. The campsite was just great and luckily they had a free spot. The “neighbours” were very kind and we started chatting even before I could get off my bike. The only downside was that I didn’t have the electric adapter used by camper vans so I didn’t have any electricity that night.
I parked the bike on my spot, put up the tent and unpacked before heading to the communal shower area to refresh. I went to the store to buy some items and cooked a small dinner (I haven’t eaten a thing the whole day since breakfast) before heading to the bar to watch the game (and get my phone charged). The atmosphere was fantastic even though most of the people were supporting Real Madrid – not surprisingly J It was a draw at the end so no one was too tense while for me it was a wonderful experience to spend a couple of hours with these agitated and emotional people.
I headed back to my tent shortly after the game for a rest I’ve been waiting for…
Daily data
Total mileage: 568.7 km
Total time on bike: 5h 04m
Average moving speed: 112 km/h
Max speed of the day: 163 km/h