Farewell to Valladolid

On Monday morning I started looking at the Road to Morrocco.
Currency controls. Hmmmm.
But what about a map? 49GBP! But no need to worry about that price. TomTom’s useless Dutch programmers, who gave us a GPS device that cannot give a gps co-ordinate, have also managed to create a map of Morocco that will not run on my Rider 400. This TomTom device is only 6mths old. Hard to believe that the Dutch used to rule the seas. Had worldwide trading empires. And in the 70’s had a football team. Now they cannot design their own maps to run on their own devices. Useless Dutch programmers!

Luckily I had to meet Amelia for lunch. So that stopped me ranting any further.

We met at the usual cafe, where the waitress has my cafe solo and aqua minerale con gaz ready as I walk through the door.

A chat then onto lunch just off Paza Mayor.

After lunch Amelia found a MailboxEtc who were able to package and mail my Pinguino award to Toronto.

A final coffee, then walk Amelia to her bus. We said our farewells.

It was only 18:30hrs so i walked back to my bike and gave Joaquin a call. To me it sounded as if he would be back in a second. I waited but the receptionist hung up. Looking at the location of the hotel, I reasoned that I may as well ride over. Once there I called the hotel to find that he was not there, and they hung up. I checked the bar we had been in, but only one chap in there. So I left a card on Joaquin’s MotoGuzzi and went home.

A light supper then bed.

Tuesday morning saw me up and check the bike. Then pack.
Breakfast and then off.

Lord but it is good to be riding again. Heading straight to Avila, as Segovia showed wet and forecast of snow.
At least on the TV. AccuWeather (surely an oxymoron) gave a sunny forecast. By the way, I have tried all the free weather apps, and none are any good.

Have been to Avila before, but only as a ride around.
So this time decided to stop.

Found a VERY reasonable hotel, that turned out to be NICE. Unloaded a few items, then parked the bike and rendered TLC.

Took a stroll along the walls.
Here is a picture of the gate that I came through…..

Back to the hotel to unpack properly and a cafe solo.

Another stroll in the evening gave these scenes……

A couple of buns from the main square shop and back to the hotel. With the sun going down, it was sure to be really cold soon.
Am still amazed how bundled-up everyone is.

Ah well. Time for some tapas.

See you tomorrow.
G’nite all.