A dodgey fan belt won´t stop Lucy from making a date

Monday morning saw Lucy and I driving through fog, cloud and rain as we climbed the foothills above Bilbao. The rain dettered us from exploring the Atlantic coast and the Picos Europa and the call of Madrid 400 km to the sunny south was too much to resist.

The first three hours or so went without a hitch - beautiful vistas opened up across dry sweeping plains and we passed through several mountain tunnels and a mountain gorge. It was only after filling up with petrol about two hours from Madrid did a routine engine inspection reveal an almost snapped fan belt.

With Haynes manual in hand and Dad´s tool kit beside me I dived into replacing the belt - driving away I felt rather proud of myself and headed on into the heats of the plain. For those of you that are not familiar with VW camper engines it´s useful for you to know that the fan belt is especially important. The engine is air cooled and needs all the air it can get to be blown over it - especially in the sun of Spain and Morocco. After about 10Km I pulled over to check the belt to find it far too slack. So out came the tools and fortunately for me along came Juan. Juan was on his motorbike and out for a day´s ride and thought the chap peering into the engine bay of his camper might need a hand. Juan was a former mechanic and together we fixed the problem (well Juan really) not only did he help me fix the an but he also invited me to join him and his friends for lunch! What a wonderful welcome to Spain.

I declined his offer as it turned out some friends of mine (Hi R and J and M) were in Madrid and expecting me to join them for a drink and possibly to see the bull fight.

It´s now Wednesday night and I´m needing to hop back to the campsite, because not only have I been having beers with the Andersons of Bog House and visiting Museums for two days I´ve also caught up with Caroline - the girl who grew up across the road from me until about 1978 and who´s father played a big part in introducing me to mountains. She lives with her husband and daughter in Madrid and joined me for a beer last night and is picking me up for dinner later - I do love this out on your open, solo adventuring!

In case your interested the sun has shone out of a blue sky, the temperatures have been beautiful and all is well with the world. Who knows when I´ll leave Madrid or where I´ll go next ....

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