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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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Unexpected Bacon

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  We are heading out into the wilderness that surrounds any half way decent airport and then into the leafy suburbs, with equally leafy villas, such as cities develop when they approach middle age. We’ve not done the weather for a while so let's have a muse. It is September, on average the 4th warmest of the year. Expect 21oC, although the mean max is 26.5oC and the mean minimum is 11.1oC.  3.5mm of rain may fall on us, and why not. The average daily temperature begins the year in January with 10oC. It rises a little and by April is 18.9. May sees 23.2oC, June 28.9oC, July 32o.8C and August a mere 32oC.  October falls to 19.7oC, November 13.5oC and December is similar to January. The highest temperature in Madrid is 40.7oC, hit in June, July and August.  The coldest, -10.1oC, was in January. October is the wettest month, with 64mm of rain.  This compares to London’s 65mm - who would have thought.  Mind you London gets 40-60mm every month.  Madrid doesn...
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A mix of things and the need to be seriously hurt at an airport

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  Ends of cities are messy things. We will skirt tidy suburban villas; wander past blocks of economical blocks, take short cuts across forgotten strips of grass and go near huge out of town shopping centres. It makes the airport seem normal. The Visconti is a 3.9 place, with mostly a 4 and 5 star place. Third choice is 1 star.   Three weeks ago Sean was all single starry.  ‘This bar was highly recommended by my accommodation. But as a tourist I was treated like one and felt unwelcome in what is obviously a bar for the local residents. I was not served at my table as were the locals, I had to go inside to order and after 4 weeks in Spain I paid the most here for my favourite drink ‘ Five days ago Felix said in a five star way ‘Visconti is a fantastic place for a drink. We ordered a slice of Spanish omelet that was amazing and a spectacular portion of ham hock, generously served and bursting with flavor. The terrace was packed and everything took a little while, but that's ...
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The democracy of the long distance walker

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  The people have spoken! Well, with a turn out of 5%, a figure even Parish Council By-elections would be ashamed of, the hivemind has delivered its verdict, and split the next area of interest four ways.  Just as Brecht put a happy ending in the Threepenny Opera because, as he noted, we can’t afford to offend the audience and because democracy is giving the people what they want, and giving it to them good and hard, we are going to….. Rome, then Brno, then Berlin and ending up in Oslo. Google suggests we should go to Barcelona and then get a boat. We shall go to Barcelona but we are not shipping it but wandering our way across country - with some wiggling around the borders. So let us begin.  We are going to go out of town. 6.6km has a certain similarity in it, shops at ground level, flats above. Slowly we will wander along the paths; the height of the apartments will go down, the buildings will get newer and eventually we will hit a bit of bland municipal architecture....
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