Long day!

Up at 4.30 to get a taxi to the airport, then fly to Madrid, taxi to the train station in time to have lunch. And train to Caceres, in theory !

But they are building a new High speed line between Madrid and Lisbon and so we had to get off in Plasencia and take a bus replacement. At least the buses were there waiting and comfortable and air conditioned, not like the ones they put on the northern line which are never there and leave you cold and waiting in the rain. Then a final taxi from the train station in Caceres to the hotel.

Although the new train is supposed to be from Madrid to Lisbon, it will only go as far as the border at Badajoz as the Portuguese decided they couldn't afford it so their section isn't being built. The cities along the route, like Badajoz, Caceres, Talavera, will all be very familiar to anyone who reads the Sharpe novels of Bernard Cornwell, as they describe the campaigns of Wellington's battles against the French that went along the Tagus valley towards Madrid.Read more