Avant.

Back the way I came from Saturday - renfe Avant high speed train linking Valladolid, Segovia and Madrid Chamartín in one hour. Wearing a mask is still obligatory on public transport it seems?

As my flight back to Manchester is scheduled for 8:15am I feel it would be best to stay close to the airport, not in central Madrid so I don't have to get up at stupid o'clock (5am) the airport is close to Barajas - the first bus in the morning is around 6 and drops at terminal one around 6:15 which should be sufficient so after we arrive in Chamartín I am heading directly to Barajas on metro 8.

I left my walking boots to dry for two days, since I arrived in The Book Factory Hostel, but they are still pretty damp from all those puddles along the Camino tracks through the pine plantations between Coca and Alcazarén.

Last night the room I was in stayed pretty quiet - the two other occupants weren't long after me climbing into their beds. Two other individuals I guess upgraded as they quickly vanished in the mid afternoon check ins? Both of them seemed odd - very isolated from a hostel, but they weren't all that old - they felt like university students or something similar here for something - they were very remote: that was my only negative feeling with the Hostel - no common room as such... A palatial self catering kitchen and dining area, but it looked unused and felt cold. Mainly I wasn't in the Hostel however as I walked around the three bridges, all the churches and by the original university structures prior to the final to Quarter finals in which England lost once more and didn't take their several chances? It's only football ... They did what they did to entertain, but I really don't know who half of the players on the field are...

Friday night was not a good experience with a heavy snorer and I finally used the ear plugs, which were pretty useless. Moving into another room, a smaller room, seemed to do the trick?