Hi, everybody! Arrived in Madrid from Addis Ababa day before yesterday, and was relieved of my wallet before I got to the bicycle shop. Fortunately, between the taxi driver (who didn't want to be paid), the bike shop owner (who took a lot of his time taking me to the police and allowing me to make calls) and my wonderful wife (who took my call at 5 am her time and canceled all cards before any money could be spent and then wired me money), I'm inconvenienced but my tour is still on.

After chasing all across Madrid to two non-existent Western Union offices, I finally found one near the Plaza de Argentina by accident and got my money. I was heading onto a freeway headed to Corunna when I saw 5 mountain bikers flying towards me. Stopped them, and they said "Follow us" in non-existent English, and flew off breaking every traffic law known to man, but I stuck with them. So ended up at a full-up Youth Hostel in the huge park (Casa de Campo) on the way to Avila, instead. They gave us the address of another Youth Hostel 15 km away in south Madrid, but by this time I had developed A. Fib. as a result of inadequate sleep on the plane, emotional upset from the theft, no food since 5 am, and very little in the way of fluids, so I had real trouble keeping up with young Robert C. as he led me along a river that flows over a now buried freeway to an address I never would have been able to find without his help. Got to the Hostel at 6.30pm, so I didn't have to look for a place to stay in the dark on a bike with no lights. Thank God for Angels on Mountain Bikes!

This Y.H. is a great place, and I stayed here the whole day yesterday to finish up some work and let the A.Fib. go away. But my plans have changed - no more heading for Salamanca and then south to Gibraltar - that would mean going through Madrid again: it's straight for Toledo and the south now, although I have no idea how to get through the last bit of Madrid - it's a virtual freeway.

Keep those cranks a-turnin'

JohnB