A final note that along much of the route between Madrid & Elvas (Pt), you can either see the track bed or tracks laid for a new high speed route (the new HS line on to Lisbon branches just before Elvas & goes to Evora on the Portuguese side) www.railin.net/en/news/madr...

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Four stops on the metro and I have done Leicester (Oadby) to the hotel in Lisbon by public transport in 40 hrs, including an overnight hotel in Barcelona. 1 bus, 8 trains, 1 metro.

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Final leg was supposed to be the 2139 intercity to Lisboa Santa Apolonia but that was delayed by an hour so a quick visit to the ticket office (you can only buy interrail reservations in Portugal in person) & the helpful staff changed it to the 2145.

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And I have just boarded the 19:41 to Entroncamento. It's a single diesel car that will stop fairly frequently over the 2hr 40min journey. This and the UK train are the only ones I don't have to pay a interrail reservation fee for.

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A short wait at Merida for the 40 minute journey to Badajoz. There I had faint hopes of cutting several hours off my journey by taking a Flixbus to Evora but the times didn't work out so it's a 3 & a half hour layover in Badajoz. There are only a couple of trains between Spain & Portugal each day

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