Once I had spent a relaxing night in Santiago de Compostella I boarded a train to the town of Monforte de Lemos which is near to the village where my good friend stays. I had purchased a ticket online (in Spanish) the previous evening and on boarding the train I found that my Spanish was not as good as I had hoped.
As the ticket price was 24 Euros for the 70 odd mile journey I had assumed that it was a standard fare but when I took my numbered seat I was quickly ejected from it by an elderly Spanish woman who thrust her ticket under my nose whilst at the same time shouting loudly and pointing at me. Surely the train company had not issued two tickets for the same seat?
The old lady’s ticket was the same seat number as mine but on checking my own ticket more closely, I discovered that my seat was in a different carriage. Twat!
Thinking I was now to be seated with the peasants and their goats, I made my way to the appropriate carriage only to discover that I was in first class!
Now I might be wrong but I don’t think that you can buy a first class ticket the night before a journey for anywhere near to this sum of money in the UK. Not only that but the waiter from the buffet car actually took my order and returned with it without me having to leave my seat. No toe crushing trolleys selling Walkers shortbread and Coca Cola blocking the passageway on this train. All things considered the train journey was excellent value for money and very scenic to boot.
On my arrival at Monforte De lemos I was met by my friend at the train station and I then spent another two weeks decompressing further, including playing electronic darts for the first time ever in an online competition at this restaurant along with Eddie Rock. Apparently we were playing against two guys who were somewhere in Malaysia. Surreal or what?
During the following weeks, in between decompressing further with friends at the local bars, I spent a few days getting my bike ready for my trip back to the city of Reus where I would live for the next two years. Then I took it for a test ride to make sure it was all working correctly
For me working on bikes is almost as satisfying as riding them…….almost!
Eventually it was time for me to leave so reluctantly I packed up, said my farewells to my friend and others that I have gotten to know in the village and headed East. My journey across Northern Spain was completely different to the one that I undertook in December of last year. It was now early April and the temperature was in the mid 60’s Fahrenheit by 10 o’clock in the morning. The 600 odd mile journey was completed without me seeing one cloud that day, clear blue skies all the way. I stopped at a couple of motorway services en route and apart from them being of a far higher standard of cleanliness and food quality than those in the UK, I could because of the good weather, enjoy my coffee outside. It was during one such moment as I was sipping my coffee and looking at my bike, I truly came to understand the significance of the fact that every single thing that I now owned was either on me or on my bike.
Now I understand that this is not everyone’s idea of heaven but it is mine. I have found that to be so free from responsibilities to anyone other than myself has been remarkably uplifting. Sipping my coffee I began to imagine how a slave would feel when his chains were cut and he was set free, now I know that there is absolutely no direct comparison with the life I previously had and a life of actual slavery, but metaphorically for me that is how I now feel, unshackled.
I may have used this phrase before and I am certain I shall use again and again in this blog so no apologies for it but for me at that point in time it felt like life did not get better than that!