Virtual walk on the Camino de Madrid - Detailed planning

[David Tallan]

The yellow ones I made myself using OSMand, and sadly didn't save them. But I can happily do it again if you like, David.

The turquoise lines are downloaded from the Dutch co-fraternity.

The yellow track from Penaflor to Uruena seems pretty straightforward, along a road. It's the one from Uruena to Medina de Rioseco that is a bit more mysterious. Perhaps it is following roads or tracks that aren't visible until you zoom in more.

 

[VNwalking]

The yellow track from Penaflor to Uruena seems pretty straightforward, along a road. It's the one from Uruena to Medina de Rioseco that is a bit more mysterious. Perhaps it is following roads or tracks that aren't visible until you zoom in more.

I can't download the track, sorry.
But it's on small roads/tracks. Looks pretty easy!

 

[David Tallan]

I seem to be enjoying detours. Sorry.
But please bear with me because this is a really good one.

From Peñaflor, instead of forging ahead to Castromonte, we can take a left - either from the village proper or about halfway to Castromonte - and walk via La Santa Espina to Urueña, 20.9km.

A walled town with 189 residents, but 5 Bookstores and 12 museums. Not to mention walls, history back to Roman times, and the Romanesque Ermita Nuestra Señora de la Anunciada, a beautiful example of Lombard Romanesque.

It inspires poetry.

Accommodation:

Hotel en Urueña, al lado del castillo, en la villa del libro.

Hotel enfrente del castillo de Urueña, la villa del libro, con maravillosos paisajes y atardeceres.

www.pozolico.com

Casa Rural Villa de Urueña

Página web de la Casa Rural Villa de Urueña

www.villadeuruena.es

Food:
A bunch of restaurants. No shortage of choice.

Wow. Let's go!

URUEÑA | Web oficial del Ayuntamiento de Urueña. Uno de los pueblos más bonitos de España

www.xn--uruea-rta.es

Urueña. Pueblos con encanto. Los Pueblos más Bonitos de España

Urueña en Valladolid (Castilla y León). Pueblos con encanto. Descubre los pueblos y lugares con más encanto del país.

www.lospueblosmasbonitosdeespana.org

Museo de Campanas | URUEÑA

www.xn--uruea-rta.es

Museo de la Música. Colección Luis Delgado | URUEÑA

www.xn--uruea-rta.es

The next day, we can find our way back to the camino via either Castromonte (17.5km) or going direct to Medina de Rioseco (24.2km).

Here's a map (yellow tracks; turquoise is the Dutch camino track):
View attachment 113077

Edit. La Santa Espina is a trippy place in its own right. Much of the town was a postwar Francoist project.

From:

La Santa Espina - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.m.wikipedia.org

There is an old Cistercian monastery, too:

La Santa Espina - La Santa Espina

La Santa Espina

www.lasantaespina.es

The monastery has a dark recent past, being used in the civil war as a concentration camp for 4300 Republican political prisoners.

I was seriously considering this detour to Urueña. It sounds amazing! But Gronze lists the albergue in Santa Espina as temporarily closed and the hotel seems to have booked up all of the double rooms for the date I'm likely to be there (and I'm not ready to spring for a triple myself). I'll check again in a couple of weeks when I am closer, but at the moment it is looking pretty difficult.

 

[VNwalking]

I was seriously considering this detour to Urueña. It sounds amazing! But Gronze lists the albergue in Santa Espina as temporarily closed and the hotel seems to have booked up all of the double rooms for the date I'm likely to be there (and I'm not ready to spring for a triple myself). I'll check again in a couple of weeks when I am closer, but at the moment it is looking pretty difficult.

If you do manage please let us know how it was.
Buen camino, David!

 

[David Tallan]

If you do manage please let us know how it was.
Buen camino, David!

According to Ray, Gronze is out of date and the Santa Espina albergue is open again. So this may be back on!

 

[Bachibouzouk]

I took the side trip on the Madrid to visit Valladolid, and was glad I had. I remember in a relatively small area there are several buildings with some of the most beautiful facades I've seen, including the National Sculpture Museum and the Church of San Pablo. I visited the sculpture museum with its wonderful collection of polychrome wood works - worth visiting the city for that alone imo, and also the cathedral museum. There was a really good organist who happened to be practising when I was there, always a treat, joined by a choir a bit later.

The Plaza Major is lovely, a great place to sit and watch the world go by (I did) and there are some terrific restaurants in the side streets. I stayed overnight and felt it was worth it.

Things that interested me in Valladolid: Cervantes' House, the palace where Philip II was born, the Columbus museum (a modern interactive place - only in Spanish?), searching for the location of Columbus' last abode - from memory there's a marker in Plaza Mayor outside one of the fast food outlets. And, I think I recall, a beach in the middle of town!

Edit: you can also locate the setting for The Dialogue Of The Dogs (El Coloquio De Los Perros) from Cervantes Exemplary Novels.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Things that interested me in Valladolid: Cervantes' House, the palace where Philip II was born, the Columbus museum (a modern interactive place - only in Spanish?), searching for the location of Columbus' last abode - from memory there's a marker in Plaza Mayor outside one of the fast food outlets. And, I think I recall, a beach in the middle of town!

Edit: you can also locate the setting for The Dialogue Of The Dogs (El Coloquio De Los Perros) from Cervantes Exemplary Novels.

Did you visit the Rugby bar?

RUGBY BAR THE CENTRAL · Valladolid, Valladolid

maps.app.goo.gl

Lots of Kiwiana



The main office of Rugby Spain is above the bar and Valladolid is the home of Rugby in Spain.

 

[Bachibouzouk]

Did you visit the Rugby bar?

The main office of Rugby Spain is above the bar and Valladolid is the home of Rugby in Spain.

Wasn't aware of that. Assumed that the Basque country would be the heartland of Spanish rugby. I do remember Spain qualifying for a World Cup some years ago.