Devastated

Everything about Madrid has been fabulous. Atocha station even has its own jungle! Boarding the bullet train to Barcelona was more like boarding a plane, having to go through security checks, just performed with much greater efficiency. These double-decker trains are superbly well designed. It took just under three hours for the 500km journey, including a few stops. Everything, of course, was spotlessly clean and perfectly on time.

It wasn't long before we were on the local train to Montserrat, finishing up taking the amazing rack railway to the monastery village, hoping to take a late afternoon walk into the mountains beyond. We popped into the information centre to get a map, only to be told that the trails had all just been closed (today) due to extreme fire risk. They would be closed again tomorrow. We were told that they might be open again on Monday, the morning we leave. I came here to get my mountain fix for the holiday and can't quite believe the timing. It must have been a very dry winter here, but even so. They even had security stationed at the trail heads to stop people. What's it going to be like come the summer?

I was devastated and got pretty grumpy. There is only one thing worse for me than being on holiday and not getting into the mountains and that's being in the mountains and not being able to climb them. I made up for it by doing lots of plotting and writing for the novel.