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Widespread festive cosplaying and the gridded sister settlements

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  Welcome to Valdeolmos, evil twin of Alalpardo - or vice versa. The Historical Dictionary says this of the place in 1845: VALDEOLMOS: village with town hall in the province and territorial court of Madrid (6 leagues).... Situated on the slope of a small hill; it is most frequently exposed to north and south winds, and its climate is prone to intermittent fevers. It has 38 houses of inferior construction, including the town hall; a jail in poor condition, and a parish church (La Concepción).... Two small streams cross it, whose waters are used by the residents. The land is of medium quality. Roads: those leading to the neighboring towns are in fair condition. Mail is received in the district capital. Production : wheat and barley; it maintains coarse sheep and raises game such as hares and partridges. Population : 26 households, 155 inhabitant   Spanish wiki is quite fulsome on the wildlife.  ‘ In Valdeolmos-Alalpardo, you can spot different species of mammals, fo...
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Mother love and good hygiene

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  Yesterday a thing happened.  The photos disappeared. I had to redo them and did, mostly, the places referred to in the text. From the start I have tried to show where we are walking; to get the feel on endless straight roads or uniform flats as much as we have exciting castles. I have decided to change the way I do things. I am going to write the thing first, then do the pictures and hope to balance the two strings of this, rather limited, bow. Into Algete we go.  It is another place where cars have done wonders. In 1842 1944 people lived here. By 1960 it was 1181.  The population quadrupled by 1981 and did so again by 2011. Today 21,144 call it home.  Recent elections saw the PP beat the PSOE by 152 votes. Vox came third - with 13.57% of the votes. Do we need a tattoo to honour our visit. Amor de Madre will give us one and they are LGBTQ+ friendly. https://amordemadreclassictattoo.com/   4.9 stars from 393 reviews tells you a lot.  Last week Patrici...
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There is a different part of a valley in Spain called Jarama

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  The M-100 is one of those useful roads which get you from A to B without bothering too much about the bits in between. We will pop in to the woman owned padel club, that is Ciudad Deportiva Jarama.  https://cdjarama.es/   Within a week we get two contrasting reviews. Jose 1 star The new courts are terrible. There's so much sand, it's like a beach. The glass walls and the sun's glare make it hard to see the ball. If you book, you're better off booking one of the wall courts or indoor courts 17 and 18.  Fernando 5 stars Excellent facilities. They're currently renovating the padel courts. Clean and spacious changing rooms. Very good bar/restaurant. Let us to the nearest MacDonalds, which will always have someone to complain about it and its on a budget feed and so you can know what you are getting.  This one opens at 9am and closes at 12 midnight Sunday to Wednesday, 1am other days - which tells you when the Spanish round here dine. I am going to list what Googl...
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The salmon was scarce

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We are basically heading out of town but the town we are walking out of is San Sebastian de los Reyes. San Seb was founded in 1492 after 32 people fled Alcobendas and their feudal lord, Juan Arias de Avila.  They settled in huts on land owned by the Council of Madrid. The place was put under royal protection, hence ‘de los Reyes.’  Even Spanish wiki has little to say till the 19th century.  During the Napoleonic Wars a company of French Infantry were stationed here and the locals had to provide wheat, barley, straw, wine, legumes, oil, meat, coal, and firewood—and leave at the Frenchmen’s service eighty-one mules and thirty-five donkeys   Our favourite GSH Dictionary reported ‘ : a town with a town hall in the province and territorial court of Madrid (3 leagues).   Situated on the southern slope of a small hill; it is exposed to north and northwest winds; the climate is cold, and its most common illnesses are intermittent. It has 250 houses ; the town hall; a...
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