Bike logistics

I am in Santiago de Compostela.
The next destination of my journey is supposed to be Madrid, where my cousin lives with her family.
To get there I would have to drive right into the heart of Spain: over the hilly Sierra de Léon, then hundreds of kilometres through relatively flat, presumably steppe country and finally over the Sierra de Guadarrama, whose mountain peaks are up to 2 430m high.
Since my further travel plan then takes me from north to south through Portugal, I would have to drive almost the same distance back again after the visit. 😮‍💨
There are the following alternatives:
a) Take the bike on the train or bus
b) Store the bike safely and travel on to Madrid on my own.

I would prefer to have everything with me., but soon it turns out that this is not easy:
- Busses only transport bikes with the front wheel removed. 😕
- Regional trains with bike transport only run from Ourense, about 80km away. ☹️
- High-speed trains transport bikes packed in a cardboard box but my expedition bike will never ever fit into the allowed shoe boxes. 😖

So removing the front wheel is the least of the evils. As luck would have it, I also lose my special front wheel dismounting tool on this very day.
Now I can't remove my front wheel and a flat tire will paralyse my journey until I have organised a replacement for the special tool.
Bravo, Til! Great job! 👏 🥳

In the end, all I can hope for is to get to Ourense without a breakdown and to catch a regional train there that will accept my bike - as it is - and take it to Madrid. 🤞
So off to Ourense!

Once I am there I find out that bicycles are not transported on trains from here. Except in the direction of Santiago, I could happily go there! 🤪
I need another solution.

The easiest thing to do now would be to store my bike safely and continue traveling alone, because right now the bike is just a millstone on my leg. And although it's a bit strange at first to leave my most important item to strangers, that's exactly what I'll do.
The very first hostel where I present my plan supports me and takes care of the bike for a whole week. After so many difficulties, I hadn't imagined it would be so easy.Read more