STAGE ONE: MADRID-COLMENAR VIEJO. 25 of June. 35 KMS.
So I arrived late at my hostal in Madrid the 24th. I only slept four hours until it was time to wake up, at 06:00, to start my Camino de Madrid.
I had chosen a hostal that was close to the Iglesia de Santiago, in the center of Madrid, so it would be easy to find it and start there in the morning. I'm sure it was no more than a few hundred meters away... And guess what... I didn't feel like running around searching for it so I started my pilgrimage at the door of the hostal instead. A very secular starting-point, ha ha ha. I didn't care... I just wanted to get started!
There are two ways out of Madrid according to the guidebook of the Asociación. I took the one that goes through Puerta del Sol, Cibeles, Plaza de Colón, before reaching Plaza Castilla. Just to do some sightseeing. These two alternatives are not marked at all as the first arrow appears at Plaza Castilla. So some map of the city is requierd here.
From the Plaza de Castilla there are arrows, and they are amazingly visible for being such a large city as Madrid. They take you to Fuencarral, in the outskirts, where I immediately got lost and had to backtrack half a kilometer. But that was my own fault because I wasn't observing a sharp turn to the left (wish I had pictures, but anyway). Stay focused on the arrows and you will be allright!
Madrid ends rather abruptly, and before you know it you are out in the countryside. The scenery reminded me of Vía de la Plata, somewhere just after Sevilla. And to compare with another Camino: On the Levante (Valencia), you have to walk on a large amount of asphalt and make aquaintance with a sprinkle of suburbs during the first or even second stage - nothing of that here. Plain countryside. A lot of cyclists rushing back and forth around me but certainly no pilgrim outfit.
As I had only slept four hours, I had decided to stay in Tres Cantos, at some 20 kms from Madrid. I would try to prepare a build-up, as usual, so I wouldn't get exhausted by the first stages and also to get accostumed to the climate. Now, this was the 25 of June and it was Saturday. Any pilgrim with a normal IQ would know that this is fiesta-time (San Juan and fin de semana) and that a lot of Madrileños will leave for the cities and villages outside Madrid for the week-end. Unfortunately I'm not Anyone. So when I got to Tres Cantos, I learned that the Ayuntamiento with the provisional albergue was closed. People in bars advised me what to do but I tried everything (knocking, calling, praying, crying...) but no-one opened the albergue. And: all other hotels were either full, or horribly expensive (70 euros? I don't think so). So I phoned a lady in Colmenar Viejo that had a pension for 25 euros, and prepared to do an additional 12 kms to get there... This was not what I had planned and I wondered how this would affect my poor feet.
Ok, so I walked and walked and after a bit of struggling I found the Hostal Chabeli in Colmenar Viejo. Price is unknown according to the Max Long guidebook, but now I know it's 25 euros. The lady was really unfriendly, possibly the worst welcome on the whole Camino of Madrid. The thing is: she tried to guide me by phone and I did my best to find the location of the hostel, but I think it's normal to find that tricky when you are in a place for the first time, right? But according to her, it was the easiest thing in the world to find her hostal and she had obviously gotten irritated by waiting for me to arrive. At my arrival, she scoulded me several times and said she couldn't understand how anyone could miss the hostel, and she continued to do so although I tried, more or less gracefully, to change the topic of conversation. I had to bite my tongue really hard with this woman but I never answered back or said anything aggressive to her. I just said Yes, Yes, I know, Yes, You're right, and so on. This was probably spineless of me, but I just didn't want to start a fight at the first stage of my Camino... And I'm not saying "don't ever go there!" because this was just a personal thing between me and her because I couldn't find my way, ok? The standard of the hostel was ok and definitely worth the price.
Then a crazy lady was screaming about someone having stolen her mobile phone in the middle of the night, so no sleep this night either. And I mean right outside my window. After an hour or so some neighbours took care of her, to which she resisted another good while. I don't know if she was drunk or if someone had really attacked her, it was all so strange.
In Colmenar there was a kind of medieval festival with music, handicraft, food and other festivities so there was some entertainment in the evening. This medieval theme was repeated in the villages and stages to come, so I guess it's someting that people do in all the villages around Madrid during this week of the year. Good to know if you go the same time as I did. The village is beautiful with a small but well-kept medieval center. Supermercado, banks, all the facilities.
I hadn't done any planning of where to stop each day, so I wondered how long I would be able to go the next day with already two days of lack of sleep...
Stay tuned!
/BP