Originally Posted by JohnBerry

Another thrilling day in Spain: I rode 36 miles for a total of 56 since I arrived, but I am still only 20-odd miles out of Madrid. I got trapped in the suburb of Getafe, which seemed to be totally ringed by freeways except in the direction of Madrid: it also seemed to be one big geriatric ward. After banging my head repeatedly against uncrossable freeways I back-tracked to Villaverde, and got on the Calle de Andalucia, which soon turned into a freeway with no shoulders. After 5 km of that, found myself back in Getafe, but noticed a cyclist (spandex-type) heading West on another freeway, so got on that and soon found myself on a nice cycle track, heading back towards Madrid. After about 2 miles there was a junction, and I found the track heading out of Madrid, into the teeth of a wet 30 mph wind. This is bare country with few windbreaks and long hills. There's nothing that will make you feel like an old guy more than riding a fully-laden mountain bike into a strong headwind!
Got dehydrated again and that triggered A.Fib., but an early and long sleep has cured that. Hallelujah!!