STAGE 2: COLMENAR VIEJO - CERCEDILLA. 26 of June. 34 KMS
I woke up at 07:00, which is quite late for me. But I had to rest from yesterday's accumulation of kilometers. So I could have breakfast at a café that's just a few meters away from the hostal. Leaving Colmenar Viejo was easy and soon I was out in a Vía de la Plata-esque countryside again. It reminded me of stage 2 from Sevilla: between Guillena and Castilblanco. Mostly because of the rocks and the holes in the road that made you jump from side to side to avoid them. I don't know how the cyclists could go through on this road, but there was a lot of them coming from both directions in high speed. In front of me I could see the Guadarrama Mountains that I would eventually pass.
There are 15 kms to Manzanares el Real so one should bring something to eat and some water. But a few kms before Manzanares, where the Camino makes a sharp turn to the right, there's a fuente: a large one. It was almost the size of a bath tub and, since it was so hot, I was dreaming about sinking my whole body down there!
I should mention something about the water on this route. From Colmenar Viejo until Segovia, I was surprised to see so many fuentes on the way. It was like some sections of the Camino Francés and it was a very long time since I had done a Camino with this kind of service. Now, of course you should bring your own water because fuentes don't pop up when you wish for them. But personally I could manage until Segovia, just by stopping and drinking from them, without fishing out my own bottle. This amount of water is there obviously because you are walking on stretches that are made for leisure walking and cycling for those madrileños that have their vacation in this area. I should also say that almost no fuente had any sign about agua potable or no potable. On any other camino, this absence of information would make me think twice before drinking from one. But: as they are located along the road, more or less modern-style, and in the midst of a walking-and-cycling-trail, I drew the conclusion that they were far too inviting just to be for kettle to use. I drank from all of them and never got sick.
Manzanares el Real is located at an embalse (lake) and, once again, very popular for tourists and madrileños on vacation. And it was medieval theme again! Food, candy, strange clothes, flags, bagpipes and drums, horses and donkeys in every corner of the Plaza... And another event: General elections. As no government has been formed in Spain during the last months, from the last elections, they had to vote again... So I pushed through some cues of people lining up for their voting center. One car slowed down and the guy asked me if I knew where to vote. "No, I'm not from here", I replied, "Can't you tell by my clothes...?" He answered: "Well actually no, there are a lot of people here dressed like that". He was right: half of the population seemed to be walkers or cyclists in sports outfit.
Once again I cannot stress enough how much I thought these towns looked like Escalona, Almorox, or San Martín de Valdeiglesias on el Camino de Levante/Sureste. I felt like thrown into the middle of a Camino I had already done, right from the start. And I'm not complaining! I thought the villages and the landscape were really pretty, and the service of having fuentes sprinkled along the way wasn't bad either.
I know there has been comments on the Forum about the lovely albergue in Manzanares. But as I had only done 15 kms this day, there was no way I wanted to stay there. So first I did seven more kilometers to Mataelpino. Flat or slightly upwards, but with rocks and hills (mountains?) on each side. Max Long says Mataelpino has one bar, but there were many to choose from. Although I wonder if the number of bars and other facilities will shrink when tourists and madrileños return to their homes, off-season...
Then seven more kilometers no Navacerrada. Here I should say someting about waymarking. It's a pity I didn't take a picture of it. I can just say that at one point, some kilometer after leaving Mataelpino, there is a yellow arrow that points in the wrong direction, straight along a road, where you should actually turn left: a mojón can be seen if you scan the surroundings. This mojón takes you to a smaller, a bit rocky, path all the way to Navacerrada. I know this doesn't explain much for future pilgrims, but do other pilgrims who have done this part know what I'm talking about...?
After Navacerrada there's a very steep uphill climb for a few hundred meters. I don't like uphill. I was swearing, talking to myself and making all sorts of noise to go with the agony I was experiencing. I hope no one heard me. Then downhill to Cercedilla. Here, there is a yellow arrow that wants you to leave the road and the red-and-white GR-sign that wants you to follow the road on asphalt, which almost certainly also descends to Cercedilla. The two signs had appeared together all the way utnil now, so this split confused me. It took a while for me to learn that, in case of confusion, always go for the arrows, not for the GR-signs. I know this is obvious as GR is another thing, I know, but anyway... In my mind they were linked together.
In Cercedilla I went for the hostal close to the train station, Hostal Aribel. This is located at the end of Cercedilla, so it ment I had to backtrack half a kilometer when I wanted to visit the town's center or buy food in the evening. I think I saw the sign for Hostal La Maya in the center - I should have stayed there instead, since I value staying in the center of towns. At least, the cafetería opens early in the train station so if staying at Aribel there's a possibility for leaving early with breakfast the next day. And by already being at the end of Cercedilla, you save a few steps on the next stage: the dreaded uphill between Cercedilla and Segovia that was coming up next. And the albergue? It seems to be in the Polideportivo, and I'm sure it's nice, but as you will see, I always went for a hostal if I could.. Sorry, no good Pilgrim...
Oh this is so boring, I know that others have written about the camino de Madrid in the same way as I do...! So there are basically no news. Well, if anyone has experienced the same doubts as me concerning the yellow arrow after Mataelpino, there's somehing to discuss, at least...
More to come!!
BP