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Camino Routes
🇪🇸 Routes in Spain
🇪🇸 Camino de MADRID (Madrid - Sahagún)
My Camino de Madrid - Sahagún. June-July 2016.
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[QUOTE="Bad Pilgrim, post: 435506, member: 50859"] [B]STAGE NINE: CASTROMONTE – VILLALÓN DE CAMPOS. 3 of July. 38 KMS[/B] When I left the albergue in Castromonte I forgot to look at the painting at the entrance. I guess I wasn’t fully awake. I had risen early because I wanted to reach Sahagún already the following day. So I sleepwalked across the village and at the end of it I crossed the river. (The name of the river is Bajoz, not Sequillo as Max Long calls it. The river Sequillo runs near Medina del Rioseco.) After the river I turned to the right and followed the instructions in Max Long’s guidebook. They are correct. The only thing that bothered me was a mention to turn left shortly after a specific arrow. “Shortly after” is open to discussion… You have to walk for a good while before going left. I lost some time because I never saw where I should make the turn: Max Long made it sound as if it would be within five minutes or something. I backtracked to the last arrow, sighed, and continued the same way again. And once you get to that famous turn to the left, the arrow is barely visible. This is definitely the part of the Camino where arrows start to fade away, if not the stage before. The deterioration would continue all the way to Sahagún. Now, stop reading if you don’t want to get confused… … because for Camino Nerds, there are a few things to discuss here. At the same point, after the river where Max Long says you should turn right, there are two other options to consider according to the guidebook of the Asociación. You can also continue straight on the C-611 to Valverde de Campos. (This is the shortest option according to their map.) Or you can take a third alternative, an “ancient road” that runs to the left of the carretera. They say this ancient road is poorly marked and I don’t know anything about it. This must be the one that Max Long refers to when he says “a new road means that cyclists can travel 11 kms along a road to Valverde de Campos”. (Ancient road or new road? What?). But if this ancient-new road is 11 kms, I can’t understand how the first option to the right is only 9 kms according to the guidebooks. By looking at the map, the option to the right must be longer than any of the two others. Are you confused yet? Oh, I forgot to tell you that the Asociación shows a different way on the Camino to the right than the one Max Long describes. Their map says that you should continue straight on when Max Long tells you to turn left at a crossroads. This also made me loose some time before I discovered that the Max Long (written) and the Asociación (map) actually differed… Valverde de Campos looked nice and pretty but no-one had prepared my breakfast. So I kept going. 1 km after leaving Valverde de Campos I left the carretera to walk a few hundred meters towards a disused railway. The rails can’t be seen anymore but there’s no question where it was as it’s running upon a distinctive elevation. You do a little climb of a few meters to reach it. (I like uphills that are only a few meters!) But right there I had another problem with Max Long. He says I should “reach an old abandoned house”. Reach? You can see the house on your right when you get to the railway, but once you’re up on the elevation you immediately turn[I] left[/I]. Before Medina del Rioseco I got “lost”. (If you can get lost when you are 1 km from a town that you can see in front of you. But nothing is impossible for me.) If you have the map of the Asociación you’ll understand: I turned to the right at the point marked as “K1” when I should have continued straight on. But I swear I saw no arrows… So I entered Medina del Rioseco on the highway 601 instead. A scandalous detour of at least 200 meters! After this horrible mistake I had to take a lengthy break in a luxurious bar. I took a stroll to admire the churches but I soon got weary and decided to carry on. When leaving Medina del Rioseco there are three options to reach Cuenca de Campos. You can take an older road that runs through Berrueces and Moral de la Reina, or you can follow the disused railway between Medina del Rioseco and Villalón the Campos. The second one is the shortest but the Asociación says it can be difficult in bad weather (rain, snow). I chose a third alternative that runs along a canal where there was some shade thanks to the trees. A very nice walk. In a bar in Tamariz I almost sprayed a group of elderly ladies with mango juice. The barman had already opened the bottle for me, but I never noticed so I went on to shake it with all my might. The juice sprouted in the air and all over the floor a few inches from the ladies. They didn’t notice since they were laughing and talking loudly to each other so for once I was lucky. I admitted my clumsiness, presented my excuses to the barman with my most humble pilgrim-smile and ran away. After Tamariz I looked for the disused railway that would cross the carretera, coming from the left. I thought I could jump on the second option coming from Medina del Rioseco. But I didn’t see any road or path joining me from the left. So I ended up in Moral de la Reina where I thought I could join the first option coming from Berrueces instead. And I could, because there was a continuum of arrows leading me from Tamariz towards and through Moral de la Reina. Then there was a sandy path like in the pine forest (but without pine trees) and I panicked when I thought this quicksand would continue for the next 8 kms in the midday heat to Cuenca de Campos. But the road stabilized after some hundred meters. Then 5 more kms from Cuenca de Campos on the C-611 including turning right for a more peaceful camino that entered Villalón de Campos. I was really tired but at least my sun poisoning was gone. Given the different options in this area I wonder about official distances here as well. As I had stayed in albergues for the last five days I felt I had earned a room of my own. I chose the Hostal Peña right at the Plaza, close to the peculiar sculpture ([I]rollo)[/I] which is the trademark of the town. Regular standard and nothing to complain about. 25 or 30 euros. I needed to buy things but it was too late in the evening: according to the owners, everything except for the bars was closed. I didn’t give up and went out to hunt down some food. A few meters from the hostal I saw a candy shop: that would do to fill up my mochila for the next day. I had dinner in the bar. The restaurant was full of wealthy families. Fancy clothes as far as the eye could see and a bunch of abuelas with bling-bling jewelry. Here was the jet set of Villalón de Campos (or shipped in from surrounding areas) and I was in my shorts and T-shirt. At least I managed not to throw drinks or food at them as in Tamariz. I kindly asked the owners, with my famous humble-pilgrim-smile, when they opened in the morning. Abrupt answer: Not until eight o’clock. As I wanted to leave earlier I was disappointed, but didn’t insist. The tourist demands, the pilgrim… I promise, I can behave. Although, after dinner, the same owners approached me and surprisingly said that they would rise at seven to unlock the door for me. How kind! It’s all thanks to my famous humble-pilgrim-smile! Works like magic. Last chapter coming soon! /BP [/QUOTE]
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