Once Upon a Snowy Highway
The road from Galicia to Madrid is called the A-6. It is a newish highway that has taken the place of the old road, the N-VI. It's the fastest and most direct way to get there from here. Taking advantage of its relative speed, and the ease of crossing the Guadarrama mountains through its tunnel, it becomes a tollway from Adanero, about twenty kilometers before the tunnel. It ain't cheap. If I remember correctly from the last time I travelled along it, it costs about eleven or twelve euros from Adanero to the emergence from the tunnel on the other side of the mountains. Last Saturday was Epiphany, a national holiday here, and almost the end of Christmas vacation. Many decided to travel home that day, instead of Sunday. The forecast was for snow in the mountains, but the Dirección General de Tráfico, charged with keeping traffic moving fluidly, announced on its web page that all roads were passable. They announced this well into the afternoon, when that was no longer the case...