Banjul Challenge – Madrid – 1/13/2023
Jan 16th, 2023 by rallyadmin
1/14/2023, Salamanca – I’m still asleep at 9:30 when I get a call from Clemo. The car has started. There’s also a change of route plans: gthey want to pick me up in Salamanca rather than Madrid and, not surprisingly, there’s a bus from Madrid to Salamanca. “That work for you?” “Sure. C’ya in Salamanca.”
After bit more chatter, I open open the laptop and start looking for bus tickets to Salamanca. It turns out there’s not much available that doesn’t get in after 10PM. Ugh. I don’t want to spend another day wasting time in Madrid and then having to travel. I’d much rather travel now and waste time later in Salamanca.
I find that I can hire a car and driver for about €300. I don’t think that I’m that desperate. Yet. I check trains. There’s an express train, about 21/2 hours. That leaves at 11:1o and arrives near 2PM and this web page will conveniently make the booking, take my PayPal and give me a mobile ticket. Works for me.
Next problem: finding the train station. The ticket is, of course, in Spanish and my Spanish is limited to “mas cervesa, por favor”. Fortunately, the woman at the hotel desk helps me and tries to send me by metro. I don’t think that I have enough of time to fool with getting lost on the metro. I take a taxi.
Out to the street. Quickly flag down a taxi. I gtell him, in English, that I need to get to the train station for a train to Salamanca. We go back and forth for a bit until he finally guesses “train to Salmanca”. (When am I going to remember to use Google Translate?).
Off to the Principe Pio station (I got that much, it says so on the ticket), pay the driver and descend into the station which turns out to be the metro station. Oops. I stop a man and ask for directions gto the trains and he points me in the right direction in quite serviceable English. Thx and off to the trains.
After a few wrong turns and some more helpful directions, I get to the train platform with plenty of time to spare. Scan the qrcode to enter the platform. Scan again to check the ticket. Told in Spanish (that I don’t understand) which car and seat.
Board the train, take a seat, realize that there are reserved seats. Check the ticket again. Find the carriage number (I’m in the right carriage) and the seat number (I’m not in the right seat.) Grab my gear and start thje search. Find the right seat. Stow my gear, fire up the laptop and get comfy with 15 minutes to spare.
Just as the train starts to leave, a man sits across from me and starts yelling At me that I don’t have a mask on. I haven’t seen anything on the web, in the station or on the train that masks are required. He’s quite agitated especially when I tell him that I don’t have a mask but he’s all worked up and continues yelling at me in Spanish.
I woman across the aisle starts giving him an argument, about what I don’t know, but she becomes his target and he stops yelling at me and really gets going on her. Things get quite heated between the two. She gives as good as she gets. Go sister!
I do have masks (I had forgotten) but they are in my luggage, the train is already moving and others are not wearing masks. Just as I’m about to get up and go to my luggage to get a mask, a very kind older woman sitting across from me, hands me a mask. I put it on. The man who started the kerfuffle calms down and then apologizes to me. International incident resolved without weapon assistance from other NATO member countries.
The train picks up speed and we soon leave the urban congestion of Madrid and start rolling through the beautiful but rugged central countryside of Spain. The country side is beautiful in a stark way and the terrain changes rapidly from rocky hill country to rolling pastures. The train is a highspeed train the type that is found through Europe and is nowhere in the US.
In a bit under 3 hours, I arrive in Salamanca to wait for Clemo. Some lunch. And some waiting. Finally a call from Clemo.
They’re having some trouble with the Freeloader. It seems that it doesn’t like to restart after it has run until the engine heats up. It seems to start fine when the engine is cold but not so when hot. They have gotten it restarted but we’re already on the lookout for a shop to figure this out. Fortunately, the boys gthat Clemo has been traveling with have stayed with us to lend assistance if needed.
They’re having some trouble with the Freeloader. It seems that it doesn’t like to restart after it has run until the engine heats up. It seems to start fine when the engine is cold but not so when hot. They have gotten it restarted but we’re already on the lookout for a shop to figure this out. Fortunately, the boys that Clemo has been traveling with have stayed with us to lend assistance if needed.
We drive a few kms to the outskirts of Salamanca and find a good hotel, the Hotel Bardo Recoletos Colo. It’s got everything we need: secure parking, a downhill exit (if we need to bump start the Freeloader), an in house restaurant and a bar. We check in and quickly meet up in the car with our traveling buds, Gavin and Nigel.
Dinner after we’ve had a few beers and then back to the room by 10:30’ish. We’ll deal with the car tomorrow.
Obi
