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My Camino de Madrid - Sahagún. June-July 2016.

Bad Pilgrim

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Yes
Hi everyone,

I'm back form the Camino de Madrid so I promised I would write something about it. This will be much shorter than the writings I did on the Camino de Sureste, because there are others who have written so much about the Madrid. I do this just for my own personal debriefing, and also to point out where there are errors or confusion regarding the guidebooks.

I used the Asociación de Amigos de los Caminos de Santiago de Madrid (spanish, available if you order it from Spain), along with the guidebook written by Max Long from 2013 (english), available here on the Forum. So my focus will be on commenting these guides in order to help future pilgrims!

Let's go!

/Bad Pilgrim
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
First of all some general observations, if people are not interested in reading all the posts to come...

- My time on the Camino: 25 of June to 4 of July (ten days). This was a bit exaggerated and I think 12-14 stages would be a more comfortable choice. I got sick at one point because I did a stage that was far too long for me. Idiot!!

- Other pilgrims: very few but at some occasions I met others in the albergues. When I was walking I would meet nobody. It is still a solitary route for those who prefer this!

- Weather: Hot (30-35 degrees C) but no official heatwave (40 C) as reported from the media. Very little shade, especially towards Sahagún (the last part). If there WOULD be a heatwave this route would be hell, but I guess that's true for any Camino.... So in summer the usual causion has to be made: sun protection, water, sunglasses, a hat and so on.

-Waymarking: in my opinion the best one after the Camino Francés. But during the last stages something happened and the arrows started to fade away, although still visible. I actually got in some trouble near Sahagún.

- Loose and aggressive dogs: ONE that barked and followed me in the usual menacing way. There were a few others that were loose but they were uninterested in me or being playful, very cute!! I have never walked a Camino that has been this doggy-free. The difference from, say, Camino de Invierno is total. For me dogs are not a problem, but I'm writing this for all the doggyphobes on the Forum. Camino de Madrid is your obvious choice!

- Albergues: very good infrastructure here. Even in the smaller villages with just a few hundred inhabitants, albergues are rather big, clean, modern and it's easy to get hold of keys and entering.

- Terrain: Almost no asphalt. One guidebook said the total amount of asphalt was no more than 3 %, that is 42 kms, of the total 321 kms from Madrid to Sahagún. The longest stretch on asphalt is leaving the center of Madrid, 11 kms, which can be avoided by taking bus or subway to the outskirts of the city. There is some hardships involved in the stages in and around the mountains that separate Madrid from Segovia, otherwise it is flat.

- Guidebooks: both the spanish one from the Asociación and the one in English by Max Long can be recommended. Even though the waymarks are so good, I enjoyed using both of them as complements.

More to come!/BP
 
Thanks, BP, great thread.

I walked this camino years ago, but I too got messed up going into Sahagun. I remember that it happened leaving Grajal de Campos. When you cross the river, there was a marked trail going right, so I took it, even though a little voice was telling me -- that's not a yellow arrow! Sure enough, it was wrong. Turns out, I think, that you're supposed to keep going straight a little further and will then see the yellow arrow turning right. I made it into Sahagun fine, with a little help from people on tractors, but it did involve a fair amount of road walking and I think the Camino would have been much more pleasant. Is this the spot where you got mixed up?
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
No, it was between Arenillas de Valderaduey and Grajal de Campos. I don't know if I missed an arrow that would have set me off right. On the maps of the Asociación, the Camino takes a turn to the right, after Arenillas, and takes some roads in the fields to enter Grajal from the right. I was not looking at the maps at this point, arhrhrhrgh!! So I stayed close to the arroyo that leaves Arenillas and went straight. The path became more and more overgrown until it was impossible to continue. I could see Grajal in front of me so I just walked across a field, hoping I would end up on an open road, which I finally did.

The thing is this: I don't know if that overgrown road is the Camino. I think K1 wrote that he took this road in 2014 and then peacefully ended up in Grajal. Well, as of 2016 I can say that this alternative close to the arroyo is NOT possible to do. I got exhausted by pushing through those bushes, my feet hurt because I was walking ON the vegetation instead of on the surface of the road, and the branches cut into my legs. That's why I had no other choice than to walk straight through a field to find something else. Although I was perhaps close to reaching an open road at the point I gave up? I don't know. Being so close to Sahagún and then loosing my way made me even more irritated.............! And there were no other problems during the whole Camino de Madrdid.....!

/BP
 
So, maybe the route has changed, because according to an earlier post of mine, I just walked from Arenillas to Grajal all along the canal, no problem at all. I had a problem getting into Arenillas, though. Here's the post:

Leaving Melgar de Arriba, you want to find the dirt track through the fields to Arenillas. These are the notes I took at the time. All you need to find is the church and the cemetery:

In Melgar de Arriba, leave town, cross the bridge going out of town, the church will be in front of you, turn R and go past a few houses. Take a left and go past the cemetery, and then KSO when the road ends and turns into a nice dirt track. This path takes you straight to Arenillas. Right before the town of Arenillas, there's an unmarked fork. Go to the right, it will take you into the village. A left turn takes you up to the modern square building connected with the concrete canal, and you then will have to make a big detour to get across the canal.

Once in Arenillas, arrows take you to the canal, and you walk next to the canal all the way into Grajal de Campos.

Sounds like you didn't follow the canal, because you came into Grajal from the right. I came into Grajal from the left, and had to leave the camino to enter town.

More here: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/getting-lost-on-camino-de-madrid.15038/
 
Well, by looking at the maps I was wrong in saying "to the right..." I mean that the Camino on the map is going more to the right than staying (really) close to the canal. And it enters Grajal from the south so forget what I said about entering from the "right"...

Still, I wonder if you could explain your walking "close to the Canal"... I was walking on a road/path that was only a few meters away from the Canal (which couldn't even be seen because of the vegetation). On the maps, the Camino also follows the direction of the Canal, but with a larger distance to it and surely on an open road. Were you really walking on the overgrown path really close-close to the Canal??

I know that my use of "overgrown" and "impossible" are subjective terms... What is impossible for one may not be it for another... But... Really... I would be amazed if someone insisted on pushing through that overgrown road all the way to Grajal without noticing the vegetation!

It would be easier for me to explain if I showed you the map of the Ascociación (it is very detailed with roads, paths, all the terrain & everything), but I don't have the technical device to scan it!

BP
 
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Well, since this was four years ago, I may be totally fuzzy on this, but my memory seems very clear to me. I remember leaving Arenillas and walking along on the left hand side of the canal, all the way. No overgrowth, no problem. When I got to Grajal, the camino turned left without going into town, but I turned right and went into town to get a Fanta and see what was going on. Then leaving Grajal, I backtracked, went over the canal, and turned right immediately after crossing the bridge, which was my mistake.

Were you on the left side of the canal from Arenillas to Grajal? It is very possible that these paths cycle in and out of "overgrowth" depending on who's interested in keeping them clear.
 
Thanks, BP, great thread.

I walked this camino years ago, but I too got messed up going into Sahagun. I remember that it happened leaving Grajal de Campos. When you cross the river, there was a marked trail going right, so I took it, even though a little voice was telling me -- that's not a yellow arrow! Sure enough, it was wrong. Turns out, I think, that you're supposed to keep going straight a little further and will then see the yellow arrow turning right. I made it into Sahagun fine, with a little help from people on tractors, but it did involve a fair amount of road walking and I think the Camino would have been much more pleasant. Is this the spot where you got mixed up?

Hm,

There are two ways out of Grajal: One to San Pedro de las Dueñas and one that goes directly to Sahagún. Both alternatives cross the river. I went directly to Sahagún: then you have to turn left just after you cross the river. You CAN go straight from the river - on the motorway which is a straight line into Sahagún.

Were you heading for San Pedro when you left Grajal?
 
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Were you on the left side of the canal from Arenillas to Grajal? It is very possible that these paths cycle in and out of "overgrowth" depending on who's interested in keeping them clear.

Oh no, I was on the right side of the Canal! That explains it. Okay, I can see a road to the left of the canal, on the map, that you talk about. It is marked as a normal road indeed, not as a faint path that mine was, yuck. I can see now that you had to backtrack to get into Grajal etc.

Now, your road is NOT marked as the Camino by the Asociación's guidebook. It is all marked on the right side of the canal according to the maps.

Max Long only mentions a path "parallell to the river" and doesn't offer any help on going left or right of it... It even says "a pleasant path along the river..." You can understand that I was furious when I got trapped in that jungle path and then had to read that!!! :O) I didn't know what "pleasant" part he was talking about!!

So waymarking has to improve on this part of the stage!

/BP
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Thanks for posting. I am currently planning for levante, but if I can't get enough time off I am considering the Madrid. While I do most of my training alone, I wonder if this would-be the better choice to see if I really like solitary caminos. So many wonderful caminos to chose from......
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
@peregrina2000 & @Bad Pilgrim :D

Mysteries solved I guess ;)
I came to Arenillas directly from Santervas and don't really remember/know where detour from Melgar rejoin the Camino. But after Arenillas (there's fuente by the last house before the canal which is actually Rio Valderaduey) I do remember arrow and map sent me over the canal and immediately to the left. It was OK in the beginning but later it was heavily overgrown and I was also thinking to cut through the field. In the end I came to the same road (Le-7705) I think Laurie entered Grajal. And a bit later turned left through the arch and on Calle Mayor came to the plaza? Well that was my route.

I was told that after Grajal anf after crossing the canal I will see the arrows to the left but I didn't. So I just took CL-613 and later Ctra.Palencia to enter Sahagun. Official Camino runs lefthand side of LC-613 and enter Sahagun somewhere close to Peregrina.
 
When you cross the river, there was a marked trail going right, so I took it, even though a little voice was telling me -- that's not a yellow arrow! Sure enough, it was wrong. Turns out, I think, that you're supposed to keep going straight a little further and will then see the yellow arrow turning right.


Nice thread, thanks BP – I have just spent a half hour reminiscing while reviewing photos and notes from last year. My experience was much the same as Kinky’s. I walked direct from Santervas to Arenillas, then just followed the arrows which took me to walking with the canal on my left all the way to the bridge at Grajal. My photos tell me the path was excellent most of the way, but grasses were knee high towards the end. No problem with trees though as encountered by BP. By the sound of it the path has become rather overgrown. Insufficient pilgrim traffic! Beats me why this camino is so off the radar (I met no one in 15 days) it has so much to recommend it.

You are correct Laurie, my photo shows a road to the right immediately after the bridge at Grajal. I don’t recall why, but I ignored it, continued along the road for another 100 metres or so and found an arrow and a marked agricultural path off to the right, which I followed all the way to Sahagun. It had stone markers all the way. Highpoint on entering Sahagun was the beautiful, recently restored Convento de San Francisco/Iglesia de la Peregrina on the left as you enter the town. Not many of these places are open and I thought this one a gem.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
How was the Madrid route, scenery-wise? Was it varied? Or is there somewhere else I should look for this info?

Hi JillGat,

My impression is that the part between Madrid and Segovia ( first 3-4 stages) are very beautiful: more or less hilly, but no real obstacles, pretty little villages that look like San Martín de Valdeiglesias (Cam de Levante) or Escalona (Cam del Levante-Sureste) if you know them. They are popular holiday villages for madrileños and have all facilites and very "medievally" beautiful. When I was walking this I said to myself: good lord, I do understand why a lot of people like this route because it's really nice!!! Even after Segovia there is a variation between open fields and pine forests, but the enchantment of the first stages are gone. The last third of the Camino is on the meseta, which I disliked quite a lot because of the monotony and because the villages shrank and they became more and more uninteresting. There were no large village before Sahagún. There are albergues all the way though.

For more info you can read former threads about this Camino here on the Forum, and there's a lot of info on Mundicamino website and a lot of personal blogs out on the Internet... Search for it!

Sorry all Madrid-lovers out there, but I can't just praise this Camino and say that this was sooooo wonderful aaaaall they way and so on... I didn't think so... But if I would do it again? Yes, I would. It's just that I wasn't particularly fond of the last part of it...

BP
 
Nice thread, thanks BP – I have just spent a half hour reminiscing while reviewing photos and notes from last year. My experience was much the same as Kinky’s. I walked direct from Santervas to Arenillas, then just followed the arrows which took me to walking with the canal on my left all the way to the bridge at Grajal. My photos tell me the path was excellent most of the way, but grasses were knee high towards the end. No problem with trees though as encountered by BP. By the sound of it the path has become rather overgrown. Insufficient pilgrim traffic! Beats me why this camino is so off the radar (I met no one in 15 days) it has so much to recommend it.

You are correct Laurie, my photo shows a road to the right immediately after the bridge at Grajal. I don’t recall why, but I ignored it, continued along the road for another 100 metres or so and found an arrow and a marked agricultural path off to the right, which I followed all the way to Sahagun. It had stone markers all the way. Highpoint on entering Sahagun was the beautiful, recently restored Convento de San Francisco/Iglesia de la Peregrina on the left as you enter the town. Not many of these places are open and I thought this one a gem.

Wow, perhaps I'm one meak pilgrim that can't push through a dense vegetation... It seems unlikely that the overgrowth would have increased so much just from one year to another?! Ok, perhaps I was close to coming out on a road when I decided to leave that jungle.

The thing is: take note: according to the maps of the Asociación, the Camino is NOT going right next to the canal. It takes some turns to the right, away from the Canal, and is not clutched to it but follows more open roads in the fields. (Still in the same direction as the Canal, but further away from it.) What I do not know is if there are arrows that point in this way, more to the right. Perhaps not, as a lot of people have stayed close to the canal. Strange.

BP
 
Thanks for posting. I am currently planning for levante, but if I can't get enough time off I am considering the Madrid. While I do most of my training alone, I wonder if this would-be the better choice to see if I really like solitary caminos. So many wonderful caminos to chose from......

Hi,

If you search for a solitary route I would choose the Sureste or the Levante before the Madrid. On the Sureste AND another year on the Levante it took me about three weeks before I shared an albergue with another pilgrim!

If you have enough time: well, the Madrid-Santiago is shorter than Alicante/Valenica - Santiago, so if you are short of time you should consider the Madrid!

/BP
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
For me it was "wonderful" because of how it challenged me emotionally for 15 days, and only then after some time passed. Everyone I met was lovely and helpful. I felt like I needed much help too. It was not easy for me getting the keys for the small village albergues, as the keyholder was always in Segovia! I had no cell phone service for most of it (the coverage I had the year before on the CF was nonexistent, that was my poor planning) and I often felt lost as the arrows were so spread apart and I would second guess myself. I did not really get lost however, just the feeling of being lost. This was also due to absolutely no one else on the trail for 15 days to help remind me I was going in the right direction. I don't speak Spanish either, so there is that. All in all, it was very, very good for me on a personal level, and of course, Segovia was magnificent!
Thanks for the posts Bad Pilgrim.
 
Hi JillGat,

Sorry all Madrid-lovers out there, but I can't just praise this Camino and say that this was sooooo wonderful aaaaall they way and so on... I didn't think so... But if I would do it again? Yes, I would. It's just that I wasn't particularly fond of the last part of it...

BP

No need to apologize for an opinion, BP, and it's great to have a balance out there. I think there were two differences between my and your Camino de Madrid, which may account for some of the difference in opinion. One -- I walked with two others for a big chunk (the only two I encountered along the way), and two -- I walked when the fields were green (you must have had brown, no?). Seas and seas of green, with bright red poppies interspersed, creates a very different feeling than seas of brown. I had the brown fields last year on my Cami Catalan before Huesca and they just don't give the uplifting exhilarating feeling that you get when you see those green fields waving and blowing in the wind.

But there are also many others who didn't find the Camino de Madrid to be their cup of tea, so I'm sure there are other aspects that come into play.
 
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 scolded 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 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
 
Last edited:
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
For me it was "wonderful" because of how it challenged me emotionally for 15 days, and only then after some time passed. Everyone I met was lovely and helpful. I felt like I needed much help too. It was not easy for me getting the keys for the small village albergues, as the keyholder was always in Segovia! I had no cell phone service for most of it (the coverage I had the year before on the CF was nonexistent, that was my poor planning) and I often felt lost as the arrows were so spread apart and I would second guess myself. I did not really get lost however, just the feeling of being lost. This was also due to absolutely no one else on the trail for 15 days to help remind me I was going in the right direction. I don't speak Spanish either, so there is that. All in all, it was very, very good for me on a personal level, and of course, Segovia was magnificent!
Thanks for the posts Bad Pilgrim.

Oh, that reminds me that yes, in one village - not out in the fields, strangely enough - I had no cell phone service! This was actually the first time this happened to me. I remember it was in Ciguñuela. It started to function again as soon as I left the city and was out in the "nothing" of the meseta....! Perhaps good to know for future pilgrims. I had no other problems with my phone though.

I must also recognize that yes, sometimes I "felt" lost but, just as you say, the arrows reappeared in one way or the other.

So you had trouble getting the keys for the albergues? But when did you do your Camino - was it several years ago?

Thanks

BP
 
No need to apologize for an opinion, BP, and it's great to have a balance out there. I think there were two differences between my and your Camino de Madrid, which may account for some of the difference in opinion. One -- I walked with two others for a big chunk (the only two I encountered along the way), and two -- I walked when the fields were green (you must have had brown, no?). Seas and seas of green, with bright red poppies interspersed, creates a very different feeling than seas of brown. I had the brown fields last year on my Cami Catalan before Huesca and they just don't give the uplifting exhilarating feeling that you get when you see those green fields waving and blowing in the wind.

But there are also many others who didn't find the Camino de Madrid to be their cup of tea, so I'm sure there are other aspects that come into play.

That's right. I work as a teacher so I always have the same "window" of vacation when I must do the Camino: June-July, June-July... sigh. But actually, I was surprised to see some colours on this Camino. I think that's because there hadn't been a real heatwave still. The fields were quite green and there were the red poppies!! I had never seen those fields with flowers before because, just as you say, everything is usually dust and burned when I do my Caminos...!
 
The last third of the Camino is on the meseta

I disagree. From Segovia onwards, it's all meseta. In fact, the mountain system between Cercedilla and Segovia is said to separate the North (sub) Meseta from the South (sub) Meseta, so there could be who said the Camino includes even more meseta than the stretch from Segovia to Sahagún.

There were no large village before Sahagún.

I guess it depends on what you mean by large and by before. Medina de Rioseco is before Sahagún and bigger than Sahagún. Villalón de Campos isn't as big as Sahagún but it might be considered large too... depending on what's large for you.

a lot of people have stayed close to the canal.

Maybe, that's due to the info provided at: www.demadridalcamino.org/caminomadrid/recorrido/medina-de-rioseco-sahagun
 
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€46,-
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
:D Nice start!
It reminds me of my last three Camino holidays when there almost wasn't a day that went by without some kind of a "situation". Be it because of me, others, weather, bed bugs, wrong marker etc. etc. :eek:;)

Nice reading, BP! I'm tuned.
 
Oh no, I was on the right side of the Canal!

and they just don't give the uplifting exhilarating feeling that you get when you see those green fields waving and blowing in the wind.

In May last year, using the CSJ guide, we found ourselves on the right side of the Rio Valderaduey too after leaving Arenillas: see photo below for the state of the track that day and one of the green fields bordering it :)


IMG_1331.JPG IMG_1333.JPG

Take care, be safe.

S.
 
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Thanks, BP, great thread.

I walked this camino years ago, but I too got messed up going into Sahagun. I remember that it happened leaving Grajal de Campos. When you cross the river, there was a marked trail going right, so I took it, even though a little voice was telling me -- that's not a yellow arrow! Sure enough, it was wrong. Turns out, I think, that you're supposed to keep going straight a little further and will then see the yellow arrow turning right. I made it into Sahagun fine, with a little help from people on tractors, but it did involve a fair amount of road walking and I think the Camino would have been much more pleasant. Is this the spot where you got mixed up?
 
Yeah not many dogs , I developed a touch of dog phobia from walking some Italian sections of the Via francigena
 
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In May last year, using the CSJ guide, we found ourselves on the right side of the Rio Valderaduey too after leaving Arenillas: see photo below for the state of the track that day and one of the green fields bordering it :)


View attachment 27951 View attachment 27952

Take care, be safe.

S.

Hi,

Yes, it looks like the Canal (the vegetation of the canal), to the left of the photo, where I walked as well. Well, the road does not look like that anymore...!

BP
 
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
 
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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Yeah not many dogs , I developed a touch of dog phobia from walking some Italian sections of the Via francigena

Oh, I'd really like to do that route. I have learned how to deal with dogs so it's not a problem for me. My main concern is that I don't speak italian and I would like to do that in order not to feel "isolated" from people/culture along the way...

Yeah, worst doggy-camino is Camino de Invierno. I thought it was ridiculous to see loose dogs in almost each and every village and, if not scared, I got really irritated with them. It was so repetitive...

BP
 
Just had a look on Google maps at the route out of Arenillas: see below:-

Way out of Arenillas

So it is clear that the arrows/mojones take you over the canal to walk on the right side now. And is this the way that gets overgrown at the end right before Grajal? If the right side is hard to navigate, is there any reason not to stay on the left side (which is the way I went, so I'm assuming that it's where the arrows sent me in 2012. I'm not one to ignore arrows)?
 
So it is clear that the arrows/mojones take you over the canal to walk on the right side now. And is this the way that gets overgrown at the end right before Grajal? If the right side is hard to navigate, is there any reason not to stay on the left side (which is the way I went, so I'm assuming that it's where the arrows sent me in 2012. I'm not one to ignore arrows)?

"Yes" to all your questions above. Arrows or not, I would also try to keep to the left, next time, to avoid the jungleroad!
 
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...
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...?...

Maybe I know what you mean but in my memory that point is much more than 1km after Mataelpino. Soon after Mataelpino Camino veers right from the road and runs on that side until approx.1km before Navacerrada where it crosses the same road. Mojon is pointing left slightly downhill into the bush/forrest and arrow is pointing straight on. I took the road and soon came to the road that takes you left into Navacerrada.

I remember we discussed that once with @Al the optimist and he said the path goes down and then up to the center while the road is just a bit elevated but you come to the same spot eventually.
 
Maybe I know what you mean but in my memory that point is much more than 1km after Mataelpino. Soon after Mataelpino Camino veers right from the road and runs on that side until approx.1km before Navacerrada where it crosses the same road. Mojon is pointing left slightly downhill into the bush/forrest and arrow is pointing straight on. I took the road and soon came to the road that takes you left into Navacerrada.

I remember we discussed that once with @Al the optimist and he said the path goes down and then up to the center while the road is just a bit elevated but you come to the same spot eventually.

OK,

Not sure. I will try to find what Al wrote about it, and see if I recognize it.

Thanks
 
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



Maybe I know what you mean but in my memory that point is much more than 1km after Mataelpino. Soon after Mataelpino Camino veers right from the road and runs on that side until approx.1km before Navacerrada where it crosses the same road. Mojon is pointing left slightly downhill into the bush/forrest and arrow is pointing straight on. I took the road and soon came to the road that takes you left into Navacerrada.

We also encountered some difficulties after Mataelpino. I recall we passed a works depot of some sort and were directed down towards an arroya: we were unsure but went anyway and eventually came back up to a fairly busy roundabout where we spotted a small mojon across the carriage way (The roundabout). We followed the footpath alongside the road a short distance and found a path (marked by a larger mojon) which took us up onto the mountainside and on to Navacerrada.


So it is clear that the arrows/mojones take you over the canal to walk on the right side now. And is this the way that gets overgrown at the end right before Grajal? If the right side is hard to navigate, is there any reason not to stay on the left side (which is the way I went, so I'm assuming that it's where the arrows sent me in 2012. I'm not one to ignore arrows)?

Lawrie, the path on the right was passable that day but I do recall it was getting narrower as we approached its end: from the maps, I would say the left side is the best option as it seems to be a more substantial path and goes for exactly the same distance to the same point.

Take care, be safe.

S.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
We also encountered some difficulties after Mataelpino. I recall we passed a works depot of some sort and were directed down towards an arroya: we were unsure but went anyway and eventually came back up to a fairly busy roundabout where we spotted a small mojon across the carriage way (The roundabout). We followed the footpath alongside the road a short distance and found a path (marked by a larger mojon) which took us up onto the mountainside and on to Navacerrada.




Lawrie, the path on the right was passable that day but I do recall it was getting narrower as we approached its end: from the maps, I would say the left side is the best option as it seems to be a more substantial path and goes for exactly the same distance to the same point.

Take care, be safe.

S.

That's right, the overgrown road got worse and worse. From the start it wasn't that bad, that's why I kept going!

BP
 
In May last year, using the CSJ guide, we found ourselves on the right side of the Rio Valderaduey too after leaving Arenillas: see photo below for the state of the track that day and one of the green fields bordering it :)

.....and, also in May last year, this is what the path looked like about 2km before the Grajal bridge. I don't recollect the path getting any more overgrown than this.

Madidi, while I met no other pilgrim there was a quartet, one of whom was Irish, a day or so ahead of me all the way from Madrid. You perhaps? I arrived Sahagun on 22 May.
Donovan
 

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.....and, also in May last year, this is what the path looked like about 2km before the Grajal bridge. I don't recollect the path getting any more overgrown than this.

Madidi, while I met no other pilgrim there was a quartet, one of whom was Irish, a day or so ahead of me all the way from Madrid. You perhaps? I arrived Sahagun on 22 May.
Donovan

Uh oh, that looks familiar to me as the ground can't be seen on your picture. It's certainly the same road. And if that was May last year, I can tell you that in 14 months it has gotten much worse. The ground is now heavily overgrown and the vegetation is reaching your waist.

BP
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
STAGE THREE: CERCEDILLA - SEGOVIA. 27 of June. 31 KMS

Right from the start it's uphill for about 8 kms. The first kms are on asphalt, then the camino goes through the woods on rocky paths. Felt and looked like uphill to Alberguería on the Camino Sanabrés, but muuuch longer. Other walking trails are merging with the camino so only follow the yellow arrows (not yellow dots, nor any other colour). I could say a lot about how beautiful the scenery is... and that I couldn't enjoy it, because I was chased by a swarm of flies all the way from Cercedilla to the top at Fuenfría. I don't stop and meditate about the beauty of the surroundings in these conditions. I had to keep moving. Sure, flies don't chew you up like mosquitos, but they are irritating enough and I just wanted to outrun them. I remember at least two fuentes on the way up to Fuenfría, but as it's 8 kms uphill you should also bring your own water. And food. There is nothing, except water, until Segovia. (There's a detour to a village called Valsaín but I don't know anything about it.)

A large part of the first 8 kms is on the calzada romana. At one point a few kms from the top, there is a split, where the path veers heavily to the left, almost 180 degrees. One is the calzada romana, one is the calzada borbónica. I didn't know where to go. A yellow arrow points kind of in between the two alternatives. Thanks very much. I had to fish out the Max Long guide but that didn't help either. Well, Max Long says both the Borbónica and the Romana gets you to Fuenfría but I would like to know which one is the shortest/easiest since the uphill path was killing me. I took the Romana, wich is the left one if you are standing in front of the split. The right one is the calzada Borbónica, according to an information panel at the spot. Now this Romana alternative was devoid of arrows and really hard for the last 100 meters, which consisted more of climbing than walking. But it emerged right at the top of Fuenfría, which is the highest point of the day, and of the entire Madrid route. A week later, another peregrino would assure me that I had done the right choice and that the Romana is the "easier" one, but I'm not sure he understood what part of the stretch I was talking about. I somehow suspect that the Borbónica might be easier.

I was sad to see that there was no fuente right at the top, because I was really thirsty after the torture of the first 8 kms. I just thought some nice person would have installed one there, along with a mosquito net. There were other monuments and panels and stuff but no water. But after just a few hundred meters I ran into a fuente, a big one with cold water right from the mountains. I could kneel and sink my whole head down in it! From here there would be a sprinkle of similar fuentes. I finally stopped counting them because there were so many. I would say there are no more than a few kms between them. Max Long says there's at least one fuente after the top at Fuenfría - what??? I wonder when people wrote that guide, must have been the Middle Ages.

Then a walk through the woods for several kms. Very nice. There are information panels along the way about what mountain is within reach or about how people used to live here in ancient times. Downhill to a meadow which must be really muddy in rain. The last fuente is when leaving the meadow and its horses behind. Then a real slog into Segovia and its suburbs. It was hot and, although this was my shortest day so far, I went slower... and slower... and I was exhausted when entering the city. I went for the first bar I saw to calm down and to prepare where to stay for the night. I knew someting about an albergue outside Segovia, but I needed yet another hostel after these hardships. I found Hostal Segovia on a small street just a few meters away from the Acueducto. 35 euros, so much more expensive than the albergue, but I couldn't resist. There was AC in the room, aaaaaah! Finally!

So the rest of the day: sight-seeing in Segovia, the Acueducto and yadda-yadda. Can't tell everything here or you will get (even more) bored with me. Segovia has a lot of history and monuments so many pilgrims even take rest days here. But I wanted to keep on moving...

To be continued

BP
 
Obviously someone has done a lot of work putting up all those info panels after Fuenfria because two years ago there were none.
I guess you had nice and even hot weather if you were so happy coming to first fuente :) I was walking in rain all the way up to the pass and in the fog down to Valsain but I'm also almost sure I'll walk CdM again no matter how much other Caminos there are.
 
Obviously someone has done a lot of work putting up all those info panels after Fuenfria because two years ago there were none.
I guess you had nice and even hot weather if you were so happy coming to first fuente :) I was walking in rain all the way up to the pass and in the fog down to Valsain but I'm also almost sure I'll walk CdM again no matter how much other Caminos there are.

Yes... Not one drop of rain... Nor a real heatwave... I never checked the temperature but I guess it was 30-35 degrees C the whole way...
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Madidi, while I met no other pilgrim there was a quartet, one of whom was Irish, a day or so ahead of me all the way from Madrid. You perhaps? I arrived Sahagun on 22 May.
Donovan

Hi Donovan,

We arrived in Sahagun on 18th May. We were variously two, three, four and five in number over the thirteen days we walked. The biggest number we encountered was on the evening of day four when there were eight pilgrims staying in the new alburgue in Zamarramala. Some were cyclists who we never met again. There may have been another group behind us and in front of you.

Take care, be safe,

S.
 
.....and, also in May last year, this is what the path looked like about 2km before the Grajal bridge. I don't recollect the path getting any more overgrown than this.

Hi again Donovan,

Just had a look at some other pics I had taken on the camino and found these two from the path: same church in the distance and I can see now that the path was starting to grow over.

Certainly better weather than you are experiencing back home now ( I have a daughter living just outside Melbourne).

Take care, be safe.

Church near Arenillas.JPG Near Arenillas.JPG
 
STAGE FOUR: SEGOVIA - SANTA MARÍA LA REAL DE NIEVA. 28 of June. 32 KMS

Sightseeing was not over because the arrows took me to the Church of Segovia, which was mesmerizing in the morning light, and then down to a nice view of the castle. While leaving Segovia I heard huffing and puffing, a strange noise... But no human being or animal around me. Then I saw a hot air balloon close over the castle! The sound was coming from above. I took some nice pictures of the skyline of Segovia with the colourful balloon hovering above it, but as I'm a technical savage I don't know how to put pictures here...

Just a few kms outside Segovia is Zamarramala. The village looked really uninteresting to me, like a one-horse town. I did a few turns to try to find a cafetería, but I guess it was too early. Now, I don't know how many times I heard the name of Zamarramala from pilgrims and non-pilgrims during the rest of the journey. (Oh, by the way, did you stay in ZAMARRAMALA????!!!!) It seems to be mandatory to stay there. Or the Guardia Civil will come and drive you back if you try to escape, by judging from the look on people's faces. Max Long's guidebook talks about a very basic accomodation (i.e. no water or electricity), so I guess there have been some improvements, or people wouldn't be so bewildered about it. Posts here on the Forum that I rapidly read through seem to point to this. Ok, I get it. It's just that... Why would anyone stay in Zamarramala when you can stay in Segovia?! I understand that there's no albergue in Segovia and that you can spend the whole day there, then to reach Zamarramala in the evening to spend the night there. Well that town didn't look like much to me so I'm glad I stayed in a hostel in Segovia instead. Of course it's a matter of money as well, as accomodation in Segovia is more expensive. I'm no rich guy, but I do prefer hostals whenever possible...

Then on to Valseca and Los Huertos. I think I found the first bar of the day in Valseca so I could have breakfast, yum yum. Another guy entered soon after me. Pilgrim outfit. I'm just too shy to throw myself in front of him and ask "Are YOU a PILGRIM?". So I hid behind my café con leche and figured that we would eventually meet later if he was one.

After Los Huertos you pass a beautiful but somewhat stern Ermita that apparently contains a shelter for pilgrims in need, but I never investigated. The Camino then follows a disused railway (the rails can't be seen anymore). A cyclist, an ex-pilgrim, stopped and we chatted a bit about the Camino. He gave me some advice for the next stages (along with a paternalistic sermon that the albergue in ZAMARRAMALA is NOT TO BE MISSED.) Then leaving the railway for a bridge. Here the Max Long guide is right: you get off the bridge, to the right, as soon as you've passed it. Arrows are there. The guidebook of the Asociación says you should continue further on the road after the bridge and turn right a bit later. But the difference could be no more than a few hundred meters.

This is the meseta and no shade whatsoever. Just some streches of pine forest which will be the trademark of the stages to come. In the tiny town of Añe, there's an albergue, but Max Long says it's in bad state. Later a bicigrino would second this: he had stayed there and had nothing good to say about it. Can other peregrinos confirm...? Anyway, next stop: in Pinilla-Ambroz there are no facilities, but three fuentes. I drank from each and every one of them although they were no more than 50 mtrs apart: I was so thirsty. I guess about 35 degrees C.

I arrived in Santa María la Real de Nieva. I wanted to stay in its albergue which is private but donativo, a rare mix. I thought I would be alone as I had seen no-one, except the man in Valseca, on the way. But no: half an hour after my arrival there was a couple, then the one I had seen in Valseca, and late at night yet another pilgrim on bike. So there were five of us all of a sudden. Albergue etiquette: one guy wanted to open the window and I shouted "No!!! Don't let the flies in!" Gee, how many times before they learn. Later in the evening another pilgrim would leave the door wide open while I was outside, so I lost the battle. In fact, he would leave the door wide open even after having left himself, when the albergue was empty. So the couple were mightily upset with him in the evening because they feared someone could have entered and stolen their belongings.

Shower flooded, pilgrim couple singing on the bench outside with a guitarr, other pilgrim telling you the story of his Successful Life Without a Cell-Phone, cross-examination about why you didn't stay in ZAMARRAMALA, pilgrims arguing over closed door/open door, me trying to sleep with 1000 flies around me that some pilgrim had invited, noisy bicigrino arriving after bedtime to upset everyone... I was already dreaming of finding a hostal on my next stop...

Oh I'm so mean. I really liked the couple, though. It was just too much people all of a sudden, sorry...

Back soon!

BP
 
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I stayed one night in a lovely hotel in Segovia, a renovated monastery, then my second night in Zamarramala only a short walk outside the city. This gave me a whole second day to explore Segovia. The albergue in Zamarramala is brand new and was opened for me by a lovely guy who has a bar in the village. Once again, I was alone there.
 
STAGE FOUR: SEGOVIA - SANTA MARÍA LA REAL DE NIEVA. 27 of June. 32 KMS

Sightseeing was not over because the arrows took me to the Church of Segovia, which was mesmerizing in the morning light, and then down to a nice view of the castle. While leaving Segovia I heard huffing and puffing, a strange noise... But no human being or animal around me. Then I saw a hot air balloon close over the castle! The sound was coming from above. I took some nice pictures of the skyline of Segovia with the colourful balloon hovering above it, but as I'm a technical savage I don't know how to put pictures here...

Just a few kms outside Segovia is Zamarramala. The village looked really uninteresting to me, like a one-horse town. I did a few turns to try to find a cafetería, but I guess it was too early. Now, I don't know how many times I heard the name of Zamarramala from pilgrims and non-pilgrims during the rest of the journey. (Oh, by the way, did you stay in ZAMARRAMALA????!!!!) It seems to be mandatory to stay there. Or the Guardia Civil will come and drive you back if you try to escape, by judging from the look on people's faces. Max Long's guidebook talks about a very basic accomodation (i.e. no water or electricity), so I guess there have been some improvements, or people wouldn't be so bewildered about it. Posts here on the Forum that I rapidly read through seem to point to this. Ok, I get it. It's just that... Why would anyone stay in Zamarramala when you can stay in Segovia?! I understand that there's no albergue in Segovia and that you can spend the whole day there, then to reach Zamarramala in the evening to spend the night there. Well that town didn't look like much to me so I'm glad I stayed in a hostel in Segovia instead. Of course it's a matter of money as well, as accomodation in Segovia is more expensive. I'm no rich guy, but I do prefer hostals whenever possible...

Then on to Valseca and Los Huertos. I think I found the first bar of the day in Valseca so I could have breakfast, yum yum. Another guy entered soon after me. Pilgrim outfit. I'm just too shy to throw myself in front of him and ask "Are YOU a PILGRIM?". So I hid behind my café con leche and figured that we would eventually meet later if he was one.

After Los Huertos you pass a beautiful but somewhat stern Ermita that apparently contains a shelter for pilgrims in need, but I never investigated. The Camino then follows a disused railway (the rails can't be seen anymore). A cyclist, an ex-pilgrim, stopped and we chatted a bit about the Camino. He gave me some advice for the next stages (along with a paternalistic sermon that the albergue in ZAMARRAMALA is NOT TO BE MISSED.) Then leaving the railway for a bridge. Here the Max Long guide is right: you get off the bridge, to the right, as soon as you've passed it. Arrows are there. The guidebook of the Asociación says you should continue further on the road after the bridge and turn right a bit later. But the difference could be no more than a few hundred meters.

This is the meseta and no shade whatsoever. Just some streches of pine forest which will be the trademark of the stages to come. In the tiny town of Añe, there's an albergue, but Max Long says it's in bad state. Later a bicigrino would second this: he had stayed there and had nothing good to say about it. Can other peregrinos confirm...? Anyway, next stop: in Pinilla-Ambroz there are no facilities, but three fuentes. I drank from each and every one of them although they were no more than 50 mtrs apart: I was so thirsty. I guess about 35 degrees C.

I arrived in Santa María la Real de Nieva. I wanted to stay in its albergue which is private but donativo, a rare mix. I thought I would be alone as I had seen no-one, except the man in Valseca, on the way. But no: half an hour after my arrival there was a couple, then the one I had seen in Valseca, and late at night yet another pilgrim on bike. So there were five of us all of a sudden. Albergue etiquette: one guy wanted to open the window and I shouted "No!!! Don't let the flies in!" Gee, how many times before they learn. Later in the evening another pilgrim would leave the door wide open while I was outside, so I lost the battle. In fact, he would leave the door wide open even after having left himself, when the albergue was empty. So the couple were mightily upset with him in the evening because they feared someone could have entered and stolen their belongings.

Shower flooded, pilgrim couple singing on the bench outside with a guitarr, other pilgrim telling you the story of his Successful Life Without a Cell-Phone, cross-examination about why you didn't stay in ZAMARRAMALA, pilgrims arguing over closed door/open door, me trying to sleep with 1000 flies around me that some pilgrim had invited, noisy bicigrino arriving after bedtime to upset everyone... I was already dreaming of finding a hostal on my next stop...

Oh I'm so mean. I really liked the couple, though. It was just too much people all of a sudden, sorry...

Back soon!

BP
Why would anyone stay in Zamarramala instead of Segovia? Because after 30 odd kms. from Cercidilla to Segovia, Madidi and I found that there was a festival in town and that there was NO accommodation to be found anywhere. So the only bed was another few kms. along the road to Zamarramala. The new and free albergue there was extremely comfortable, the bar had pilgrim meals for 8.50,, and the beer I had in the bar saved my life.

Be brave. Life is joyous.

Alan
 
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Why would anyone stay in Zamarramala instead of Segovia? Because after 30 odd kms. from Cercidilla to Segovia, Madidi and I found that there was a festival in town and that there was NO accommodation to be found anywhere. So the only bed was another few kms. along the road to Zamarramala. The new and free albergue there was extremely comfortable, the bar had pilgrim meals for 8.50,, and the beer I had in the bar saved my life.

Alan

So, Alan, not to derail the thread, but I'm wondering -- was the Camino de Madrid in addition to or instead of the Camino de Invierno?
 
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So, Alan, not to derail the thread, but I'm wondering -- was the Camino de Madrid in addition to or instead of the Camino de Invierno?
Nice to hear from you. The Camino de Madrid was last year and the Invierno was meant to happen this year. But my boots split while I was working as a hospitalero in Rabanal, so rather than try to break in new boots on the camino, I bused back to Santiago and volunteered for 2 weeks in the pilgrim office.

Be brave. Life is joyous.

Alan
 
We were variously two, three, four and five in number over the thirteen days we walked. The biggest number we encountered was on the evening of day four when there were eight pilgrims staying in the new alburgue in Zamarramala.

Hi Madidi,
Oh the unpredictability of the less travelled caminos. I shared accommodation with a cyclist on two occasions, otherwise I was on my own, while it seems you had a constantly shifting number. I really enjoyed the solitude, (also the flat terrain). I came to the CdM direct from the Lycian Way, so to have only one mountain day was a welcome change. You’re right, it’s cold and wet here at the moment, but we’ll be patient and it will get better! Actually it's good weather for preparing for the Camino del Norte that I'm walking with my daughter from late September.
Donovan
 
You’re right, it’s cold and wet here at the moment, but we’ll be patient and it will get better! Actually it's good weather for preparing for the Camino del Norte that I'm walking with my daughter from late September.
Donovan

Hi Donovan,
Seems like it's going to be 'so near but yet so far again': I am due to walk Camino Del Salvador and the Primitivo late August/early September, so I will be just up the road ahead of you again. Maybe next year we can time it better :)

Take care, be safe,

Seán.
 
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STAGE FIVE: SANTA MARÍA LA REAL DE NIEVA – ALCAZARÉN. 29 of June. 47 KMS

From Santa María La Real de Nieva to the smaller town of Nieva it’s only 2 kms. Still I lost a few minutes at the bull ring outside Santa María. I scanned the surroundings and finally saw an indication. Nothing escapes a hardy pilgrim’s eyes! So do not pass the bullring, but turn somewhat to the left instead. Max Long guide says good things about Nieva, in terms of architecture and what’s-to-see, but the Camino never really enters it. Perhaps it’s beautiful for those who take time to explore.

Then it was time to face my Camino nemesis: the Dreaded Pine Forest. After all I was in the same area as the stage between Gotarrendura and Arévalo, on the Camino de Sureste, so no wonder it felt familiar. With one big difference: walking in the pine forest on the Camino de Madrid is much more difficult. The surface is not firm. The sand is loose and your feet sink. Logically I tried to walk by the side, on the grass, to avoid the sandy path. This proved even worse. Beside the path you’re already stepping into the pine forest itself and the vegetation is burned by the sun. This meant that burned grass, stiff hay, thorns and spines were entering my shoes and socks. Later that evening when I removed shoes and socks, they looked like hedgehogs with spines sticking out everywhere. And they are really tricky to get out, one by one…

The forest seemed to go on for ever, several kilometers by judging of the map. I was getting exasperated because I didn’t know where to put my feet, still I had to push on… Now, I think this is a subjective matter: some pilgrims will have no problem doing these stages. It could be that you have better shoes to walk in sand, or a different time of year when the terrain is different? Or that you’re not a cowdy custard… I just hope you won’t experience the same difficulties as I did.

So after almost 10 kms sliding around in the sand I reached Nava de la Asunción, a quite large town with all the facilities. I had breakfast in a modern bar and watched the news, full of analyses of the election result which was interesting. When I'm writing this they still haven’t formed a government…

There would be 10 more kms to the town of Coca. Outside Nava de la Asunción there’s a split with the mojón pointing in two different ways. Both alternatives are marked in the guidebook of the Asociación. Max Long says they are marked with A and B on the mojón, but to be pecky I must clarify that it only says A (to the right), and only an arrow to the left (which is supposedly B then.) Max Long says that little is known about the A option and that B is safer. So I took B. B is also shorter according to the maps of the Asociación. Later the same day, a pilgrim with knowledge of the Camino confirmed that B is the better option. According to him, the sandy pine forest is about as bad whatever option you take, it’s just that A is longer and passes an ermita of some sort. (I didn’t see any ermita on the map though). So I would advise future pilgrim to continue choosing B.

Anyway, until Coca there were more stretches of pine forest so I had to slow down again and the road seemed never to end… Staying in Coca would be wise for many a pilgrim since there’s history to catch up on and a castle and churches to explore. I knew that there was accomodation, but there were also only 7 kms to Villeguillo, so why not continue? The landscape was very beautiful and the road was now much more transitable. This was not just the meseta, but a more ondulating landscape. It reminded me of the scenery after Siete Iglesias or Mota del Marqués on the Camino de Sureste/Levante. There were flowers that surprisingly enough hadn’t died from the summer heat so there was even some colour to it.

In Villeguillo there was an albergue. But I thought: it’s 18 kms more to Alcazarén... I didn’t even count how long a stage this would make for the day. I thought my feet were ok and that it wasn’t very hot, so why not try it? At that point, in Villeguillo, I felt so strong I was sure I would make another 18 kms. Only afterwards I would see that it was actually 47 kms since Santa María la Real de Nieva…

Several kms through another pine forest but it was easy walking. When you reach the road C-112 there’s another split. Cross the road straight and walk amongst the fields, or turn to the right and follow the C-112 about one km before turning left through a pine forest. Max Long suggests that pilgrims take the option straight through the fields, in order to avoid the sandy forest. So I went straight as well, although this is clearly longer. The same evening a pilgrim would tell me that the alternative which eventually goes through the pine forest is perfectly transitable: he said that vehicles have run through enough to make the path firm.

As for me and my feet, I was ok until the C-112. Then I officially hit the wall. About 7 or 8 kms before reaching Alcazarén I started to feel that adding 18 kms to the day had been a very, very bad idea. I had been out in the sun the whole day and was beginning to feel sick. My legs were dead. Still, 7 kms to go… What can I say? After 458 caminos, I’m still an idiot.

There’s a bar-hostal, El Puente, on the left side of the autovía 601, just where the Camino leaves the 601 to the right. I should have stayed there for the night and saved the last two kms to Alcazarén, because when I got there I was really ill. Max Long says the albergue is on the way into the village. This is not true. It’s at the end of it! But I knew where to go for the keys, so I asked people who send me quickly to the bar Real and then to the albergue itself. It’s donativo. Kitchen, 10 beds, clean. (Until I walked in bringing half the pine forest with me. I had to clean the floor before I left.) Max Long says the albergue is opposite the bar Durán. Well, ”opposite” must be in the eyes of the beholder. It’s about hundred meters further down the road. I would never have known which house it was if I hadn’t asked people.

Another pilgrim was already there. It turned out to be one of the authors of the guidebook of the Asociación! What a coincidence. He had made the Camino de Madrid several times and was now doing one part of it again: Cercedilla to Puente Duero. He’s the one that gave me advice on the different alternatives in this post. He also said he took the road (SG-341) on asphalt between Nieva and Nava de la Asunción to avoid the pine forest there. It's just slightly shorter. If I was to repeat this Camino, I would seriously consider this. Pine Forest, I despise you! I prepare physically for my Caminos in many ways, but walking in sand is not one of them...

I felt better while talking to him and I even had appetite for dinner in the bar Real later in the evening. But during night I slept bad. I could feel I had a fever. I had to run to the bathroom several times so I knew, rather unsurprisingly, that my effort had got me sick. Those were the same symptoms as last time I got ill on a camino and, that time, it did not end well. I decided to wake up at 07:00 the next day, to see if I could repair the damage by sleeping as much as possible...

More to come!

BP
 
Hi again Donovan,

Just had a look at some other pics I had taken on the camino and found these two from the path: same church in the distance and I can see now that the path was starting to grow over.

Certainly better weather than you are experiencing back home now ( I have a daughter living just outside Melbourne).

Take care, be safe.

View attachment 28014 View attachment 28015

Aaahhrgh, there's the road!! And that's just the beginning of it. I swear, I'll bring my lawn mower next time.
 
STAGE FIVE: SANTA MARÍA LA REAL DE NIEVA – ALCAZARÉN. 29 of June. 47 KMS

That was a huge days walking BP: very impressive. I can concur with your views on the pine forests, they were very difficult to walk in but beautiful too. We took a more leisurely approach to the camino as we were planning to go on to Santiago via the Frances: ultimately Alan did so on our timeline while I bailed out in Sahagun :)

i am really enjoying your writing on your camino and it is bringing back a lot of great memories.

Take care, be safe.

Seán.
 
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That was a huge days walking BP: very impressive. I can concur with your views on the pine forests, they were very difficult to walk in but beautiful too. We took a more leisurely approach to the camino as we were planning to go on to Santiago via the Frances: ultimately Alan did so on our timeline while I bailed out in Sahagun :)

i am really enjoying your writing on your camino and it is bringing back a lot of great memories.

Take care, be safe.

Seán.

Hi Madidi,

Leisurely approach: yes, that's how it should be! I don't know what it is that pushes me forward all the time. It's not something I am proud of as my body obviously can't handle it (see my next post...). I wish I would be walking with a friend who could hold me back sometimes!!

BP
 
I don't know what it is that pushes me forward all the time.

Probably, lack of interest on what you find along the route. You arrive to some place (e.g.: Coca), you don't feel attracted by it and you think: What am I go to make here the rest of the day? Nothing positive/of your interest comes to your mind and you wonder: Why don't I go to the next one (Villeguillo)? You arrive to the next one... and same story. Till there's a point where you feel enough is enough and you consider that you have to stop not (so much) because you arrived to a place of your interest but because you just are too tired to walk more.

If you were interested, for example, on all/some/any of the art/history Coca (or any other place along the route) had to offer, you would have stopped there and you would have tried to visit all the opened sights that were of your interest. If you were interested, for example, on the flora and fauna of the route, you would take your time to stop and/or slow down your pace to appreciate it, to look for small animals you might miss if you just push through the route, to hear the birds... If you were interested on... but when nothing of what the route has to offer is of your interest, then you don't feel any need to stop, to see, to enjoy, to discover... and you just keep pushing. And the more you push, the less aware you are of all what you are missing.
 
Well, since this was four years ago, I may be totally fuzzy on this, but my memory seems very clear to me. I remember leaving Arenillas and walking along on the left hand side of the canal, all the way. No overgrowth, no problem. When I got to Grajal, the camino turned left without going into town, but I turned right and went into town to get a Fanta and see what was going on. Then leaving Grajal, I backtracked, went over the canal, and turned right immediately after crossing the bridge, which was my mistake.

Were you on the left side of the canal from Arenillas to Grajal? It is very possible that these paths cycle in and out of "overgrowth" depending on who's interested in keeping them clear.

What you have written is in my opinion very accurate. However, what BP has described is also accurate. I walked this part of the camino in May last year, I reached the canal fairly early in the morning and for the first hundred metres or so alongside the canal all was fine, but then the path slowly became overgrown, maybe due to the lack of farm vehicles using the track. Well as mentioned it was May and early morning, there had been a heavy dew and I soon became soaked up to my waist, but I did manage to make it to the end. Spent the afternoon in Palencia drying my boots and socks prior to boarding the train to Madrid.

Finally a few words concerning the waymarking. This is the second time I have walked from Madrid to Sahagun. This last time was much easier with regard to the navigation due to some kind person or persons painting new and adding a few more yellow arrows to the camino.
 
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I wish I would be walking with a friend who could hold me back sometimes!!

I do think that you are correct here BP: when I walk on my own, I tend to forge on and I have done some very long days too. I prefer company and conversation when I walk these days as my old body doesn't always agree with what my brain thinks it can deal with.

Anyway, can't wait to read your next post :)
 
What you have written is in my opinion very accurate. However, what BP has described is also accurate. I walked this part of the camino in May last year, I reached the canal fairly early in the morning and for the first hundred metres or so alongside the canal all was fine, but then the path slowly became overgrown, maybe due to the lack of farm vehicles using the track. Well as mentioned it was May and early morning, there had been a heavy dew and I soon became soaked up to my waist, but I did manage to make it to the end. Spent the afternoon in Palencia drying my boots and socks prior to boarding the train to Madrid.

Finally a few words concerning the waymarking. This is the second time I have walked from Madrid to Sahagun. This last time was much easier with regard to the navigation due to some kind person or persons painting new and adding a few more yellow arrows to the camino.

I agree, it's a Camino that's been very well taken care of. Actually, the pilgrim from the Asociación I wrote about in my post above, said he was one of the persons responsible of painting arrows along the way! But I think the arrows faded away during the last stages so I think he and his friends have got some work to do there...
 
I do think that you are correct here BP: when I walk on my own, I tend to forge on and I have done some very long days too. I prefer company and conversation when I walk these days as my old body doesn't always agree with what my brain thinks it can deal with.

Anyway, can't wait to read your next post :)

I'm working on it... Just eliminating some typos, insults, occasional blasphemy... It should be ready by tomorrow...

/BP
 
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What you have written is in my opinion very accurate. However, what BP has described is also accurate. I walked this part of the camino in May last year, I reached the canal fairly early in the morning and for the first hundred metres or so alongside the canal all was fine, but then the path slowly became overgrown, maybe due to the lack of farm vehicles using the track. Well as mentioned it was May and early morning, there had been a heavy dew and I soon became soaked up to my waist, but I did manage to make it to the end. Spent the afternoon in Palencia drying my boots and socks prior to boarding the train to Madrid.

Finally a few words concerning the waymarking. This is the second time I have walked from Madrid to Sahagun. This last time was much easier with regard to the navigation due to some kind person or persons painting new and adding a few more yellow arrows to the camino.

Thanks,

Because what was haunting me was if that road had an end at all. I thought I had gone the wrong way. At least next time, I can prepare myself mentally to push through. It was the thought of being trapped in Nowhere that made me abandon it and cut through the fields...

BP
 
STAGE SIX: ALCAZARÉN – PUENTE DUERO. 30 of June. 25 KMS

You know you’ve had too much sun when opening the door in the morning and, the sun hitting your face, you feel like you want to throw up. This must be what it feels to be a vampire. I shut the door with a gasp and immediately hid in the shadows of the kitchen. I ate a bit of breakfast and tried to prepare myself mentally to step out over the threshold. I thought I’d make it at least to Puente Duero, where I had heard about a luxurious albergue that I wanted to explore.

There are 14 kms to Valdestillas. It is mainly a walk in the woods, flat, with pine trees that look different from the day before and other trees and bushes thrown in as well. It should have been easy walking, but I threaded slowly in order not to get any worse. You know, once you’re up and running you feel a bit better, like forgetting that you’re ill… So I started to feel comfortable.

Already 5 kms from Alcazarén is the midway point between Madrid and Sahagún. This is marked by a statue of a pilgrim, but no matter how much I looked for it I never saw it. Now I have seen pictures of it so I know it’s there. I just don’t know how I could have missed it. Must have been too dizzy.

When you get to the road VA-404, about 8 kms before Valdestillas, you should turn left, cross the Eresma river and then turn right. Arrows are there so no problem. It’s just that the guidebook of the Asociación has an alternative: not to turn left, but continue straight on. If I’m not mistaken the pilgrim from the Asociación told me that this alternative is no good: it’s equal in lenght but not as transitable. I think he said it was through a pine forest or something. This route never enters Valdestillas so you have to backtrack if you want to visit. Actually, from yesterday’s stage and during the rest of the journey there would be several alternatives, sometimes more than two, emerging from certain points on the map.

I chose the way over the Eresma river which is also the only one that Max Long mentions. About 5 kms before Valdestillas there’s a rest area close to an ermita so I stayed for a while and ate something. In Valdestillas I had the impression of having been there before: it looked like a replica of the town of Tiñosillos on the stage Gotarrendura – Arévalo on the Camino del Sureste. The same aspect of the buildings, the main road running through with the houses and shops lined up on both sides. Oh, the horrible calvary, eternal question for pilgrims since ancient times: Which bar shall I choose…? Yes, only a Camino can teach you the true meaning of mental suffering. I finally settled for one where I had a nice breakfast, followed by tortilla de patata and ice cream, nom nom.

I thought I felt ok and that I would soon reach Puente Duero, another 9 kms. Well, the Camino goes by the side of a road with heavy traffic all the way into Puento Duero. It was hotter than the day before and mid-day approached quickly. To sum up I felt really ill again when I entered Puente Duero. I just wanted to crawl into the shadows and sleep for the rest of the day. I knew I had a heat stroke. I entered the first bar I saw and tried to calm down. Max Long’s guidebook assured me that salvation was near. The albergue is located before crossing the bridge that leads into the center, and I was already in a bar close to that point. I even phoned the albergue before leaving the bar, just to be sure it was open. I had no time to do any additional walking that day.

After a few hundred meters I was there. With all year round hospitaleros, 7 beds, beautiful wooden house with garden. It was really pretty. The pilgrim from the Asociación was already there and showed me great concern when I arrived as he knew I was ill from the day before. It felt nice to see a somewhat familiar face. There was also a hospitalera, soon-to-be-pilgrim since it was her last day in the albergue, and the new hospitalero waiting to take over. The hospitalera was going to do the Salvador and the Primitivo just like me. Interesting. But I was sure my illness would prevent me from keeping up with her during the next days so I couldn’t plan on joining her. I did my Camino chores as fast as I could and excused myself to my new friends, saying I had to sleep for the rest of the day in order to to cure. I did what I had learned from last time I had a heat stroke: draw the curtains and stay in the dark, drink water, and rest. Still I had to run some errands later in the evening but I almost wasn’t capable. During night I had a fever that made me sweat heavily and my skin continued to burn even in the dark.

That evening, in my dizziness, I overheard a heated discussion between two persons who I identified as one of my new friends and a representative from the Asociación (though not the pilgrim I was talking about). Because this representative also visited us that evening. He was quite aggressive and was using ”arguments” like ”I’m from the Asocación so I know this… You listen… You don’t know how it works because you’re not from the Asociación…” Well that’s mature. I was rooting for the other guy but unfortunately my fever prevented me from leaving my room and join the discussion. It was something about the price of staying in an albergue: what’s too expensive, too cheap and what donativo is all about. Anyway, one thing that was mentioned caught my attention: that there had been about 50 people staying in this albergue during a month (last month?) and that the average donativo was 2 euros! How is that possible?! I don’t think I’ve ever given less than 5 euros in any place, not even in the horrible garage-turned-albergue in Villanueva de Bogas on the Camino del Sureste. Perhaps some pilgrims still think that donativo means ”free” and then take the opportunity not to pay anything. A few others then pay a more reasonable price, but it eventually sums up to 2 euros/person. Or am I the only one who gets upset by this?! The albergue in Puente Duero is really great and deserves more than that…! As do other albergues.

More outbursts to come!

/BP
 
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Already 5 kms from Alcazarén is the midway point between Madrid and Sahagún. This is marked by a statue of a pilgrim, but no matter how much I looked for it I never saw it. Now I have seen pictures of it so I know it’s there. I just don’t know how I could have missed it. Must have been too dizzy.

I remember that. OK, I can't remember the statue because I haven't see any but I remember the mention of it in the guidebook. Strangely I could have been dizzy too but from the beer I drank previous evening in Bar Real while watching a World Championship football (soccer) match ;)

2€ average per pilgrim??? That's a shame... I guess I'm GoodPilgrim on that matter. As I know hospitalero(a)s in Puente Duero usually prepare dinner too and if not for the bed the average should have been higher for the food. I really don't want to go into that but last year on Levante a Spanish pilgrim told me that donativo for him is "free". Why so, I asked and he replied that he already pay taxes in Spain and is entitled to use donativo facilities for free. I was speachless...

Thanks for the posts BP!
 
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I remember that. OK, I can't remember the statue because I haven't see any but I remember the mention of it in the guidebook. Strangely I could have been dizzy too but from the beer I drank previous evening in Bar Real while watching a World Championship football (soccer) match ;)

2€ average per pilgrim??? That's a shame... I guess I'm GoodPilgrim on that matter. As I know hospitalero(a)s in Puente Duero usually prepare dinner too and if not for the bed the average should have been higher for the food. I really don't want to go into that but last year on Levante a Spanish pilgrim told me that donativo for him is "free". Why so, I asked and he replied that he already pay taxes in Spain and is entitled to use donativo facilities for free. I was speachless...

Thanks for the posts BP!

Speechless, yes, that's the word. I wonder if he had made that up himself or if it is a common argument. I could get away with a lot of things in my own country with that excuse.

The statue is supposed to be close to the farm (the farm's name is Brazuelas). Perhaps it blends into the fence that surrounds the farm, or the vegetation. I hope it isn't made out of pine tree!! :O)

/BP
 
As I know hospitalero(a)s in Puente Duero usually prepare dinner too and if not for the bed the average should have been higher for the food.

Thanks for the posts BP!

Oh by the way, yes: the hospitalera made a tortilla de patata in the evening (though I couldn't eat it because I was ill). And full breakfast in the morning. Is this a touchy subject...? Sorry to all the Forum members out there for being "judgemental", but if anyone think that's 2 euros...............

Kinky1, I have some comments on your 2014 report from the Camino in my next chapter! Stay tuned! :O)

/BP
 
I remember that. OK, I can't remember the statue because I haven't see any but I remember the mention of it in the guidebook. Strangely I could have been dizzy too but from the beer I drank previous evening in Bar Real while watching a World Championship football (soccer) match ;)

The statue is supposed to be close to the farm (the farm's name is Brazuelas). Perhaps it blends into the fence that surrounds the farm, or the vegetation.

I think the statue is next or close to a cruceiro, as I think both of you read Spanish, take a look at what's said about the cruceiro at: http://alcazaren.com/node/730 and you might undertand some things.
 
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Yep, now I understand.
What I don't understand is that this isn't mentioned in Max Long's guide book (it happened in 2003)...
 
Yep, now I understand.
What I don't understand is that this isn't mentioned in Max Long's guide book (it happened in 2003)...

I noticed the year as well, that's odd.

I have the guidebook of the Asociación, from 2014, with a picture of the statue. It's close to the wall of the finca. This is what the book says:

"Junto a la puerta de entrada al caserío se encuentra un típico crucero con imágen de Santiago peregrino, eregido en torno a 1990 por quien entonces era propietario del caserío (...)".

And no mention of the Camino being changed. It sounds as if one would stumble upon it when passing Brazuelas. I guess that those who really want to see it just have to follow the wall and they will eventually find it... The entrance of the caserío can't be far away...

/BP
 
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I guess that those who really want to see it just have to follow the wall and they will eventually find it... The entrance of the caserío can't be far away...

Nowadays, the caserío and its surrounding land is fenced so you would need to ask the property if they let you in to (properly) see it.
 
STAGE SEVEN: PUENTE DUERO – CIGUÑUELA. 1 of July. 12 KMS

A fellow pilgrim on this forum, Kinky1, said he crossed the center of Puente Duero in 2014 and that the Camino exits the Plaza on the upper left side. But now (2016) there are arrows right after the bridge before you enter the center. So you turn left right away, without entering the elongated center of Puente Duero. You then have the Río Duero on your left side for a few kms. These arrows are new and bright and should steal the attention of future pilgrims.

On the map you can see that you can cross the center of Puente Duero and that this is marked as a Camino as well, according to the Asociación! It’s the part of the Camino that goes straight to the (very large) city of Valladolid. Although this is only for the pilgrims who wish to end their Camino in Valladolid: the city is a dead end along the Camino de Madrid. So in order to avoid ending up in Valladolid, at the end of Puente Duero (if not before) you have to turn left and join the busy road that eventually joins the Camino that follows the Río Duero. It’s a detour, but it shouldn’t be more than a few hundred meters.

The way into Simancas is a road with heavy traffic and you should take the cykle track by the side of it. I could see a sort of path to the left, but it ran close to the pine trees and looked like one of those paths that would made my socks look like hedgehogs (see my previous posts).

Just before Simancas I caught up with the hospitalera-turned-peregrina so we entered the town together. The bridge is stunning, and even more so from the distance on the hilltop where the old center of Simancas is located. I noticed that no bars were open at 09:30. And this was Friday! We were both taking some touristy pictures, when a woman emerged from her doorway to wish us good luck on the Camino and to tell us to hurry up so the heat wouldn’t catch us. Well, I had decided to do only 6 kms this day and to stay in Simancas, in order to cure the remains of my sun poisoning. So I wandered back and forth to find a place to stay. I saw a hostal that Max Long didn’t mention in his book, Las Tercias, but the owners were on vacation from late June to early July. By the way, now it was almost 10:00 and still no bars open! Outrage.

A couple of minutes later I ran into the same woman who had wished us good luck, returning home from her errand. She asked me if I was looking for something. I told her about my heat stroke and that I needed to find somewhere to stay. She immediately decided to accompany me across town to help me. This was a spectacular walk, not because of the beauty of Simancas but because this woman seemed to know everyone in town, at least the women, and I felt like I had been thrown into a Spanish movie depicting Everyday Life of Spanish Housewives. She stayed and chatted, or shouted across the square, to everyone she met. About the price of tomatoes, the hardships of work, the whereabouts of children and grandchildren or what her friends should prepare for dinner. Most of them asked her if she had begun a pilgrimage to Santiago, given that I was there trotting behind her in my pilgrim costume. Very funny! And she had the ability of catching up on the town’s latest gossip and focusing on her mission to find me a place to stay at the same time.

We visited every accomodation but they were either full or the owner was on vacation. One of her friends worked at the tourist office so we went there to look for every possibility. Finally there were only a few hotels outside town left for me to consider and I worried they would be too expensive for me. I decided that the best thing to do was to carry on to Ciguñuela, another 6 kms, where there would be an albergue. I figured that one couldn’t be full. No-one from Puente Duero would be there because it would be too soon to stay, and no-one from Alcazarén would be there because it would be a stage too long. The hospitalera-turned-peregrina was already way ahead of me and the Spanish pilgrim from the Asocación had returned to Valladolid so I was on my own again.

From Simancas it’s all meseta. More or less all the way to Sahagún. Nice things to see were the silhouettes of a pilgrim couple, reminiscent of the sculptures at the top of Monte del Perdón on the Camino Francés. They would pop up here and there the following days. There was only one difficulty before Ciguñuela according to the tourist office in Simancas: the road splits in four at one point. But it’s the road most to the left, and I believe this was rather well indicated.

At Ciguñuela my cell phone stopped functioning. This had never happened to me on a Camino so I didn’t know if it was poor coverage or the phone itself. What if I would turn really ill during night and have to use my phone to call for help? I mean you never know. And I was alone in the albergue: no pilgrim, no bicigrino, no nothing.

The woman with the keys lives in nr 24 on the street that crosses town right on the Camino. Phone her (if your phone works) or ring the bell. I couldn’t get hold of her so I went to the Ayuntamiento and they got her for me. The albergue is just a few meters further up the street. The door handle is kind of creepy, in the form of a wooden hand, but the decoration on the wall is magnificent. I noticed that the smaller the towns, the more the albergues are visible. Often with big signs or panels shouting ALBERGUE DE PEREGRINOS so you just can’t miss them. This albergue is where the former teacher used to live. These homes or school buildings often serve as albergues in towns on the meseta.

The albergue in Ciguñuela is spacious (but only 4 beds) and clean, nothing to complain about, 3 euros is a good price for this kind of standard. There’s a store a few meters down the street, on the other side, but you have to ring the bell for the owner to come and open it for you. At least that was my case. There are also at least two bars, of which one serves dinner in the evening.

The girl in the bar was chatty and told me everything there was to know about Ciguñuela. We talked about the Camino and the pilgrims who visited this little village and how they revived it. Then she told me that two guys from town would have an exposition the same evening so there would be some entertainment! Their thing was to buy old cars from the 50 s and the 60s, mainly form Germany and the United States, and restore the cars themselves. So there was a gathering at the Plaza at 8:00 and we were all invited to come and see their masterpieces. When I felt better in the evening I went to have a look. I don’t know anything about cars but the sole project of this in a small town like Ciguñuela was interesting enough to me. The guys even drove back and forth in an American police car, sirens on and everything, on the main street for a while! It sounded like the center of New York in an action movie – but on the meseta in a village of a few hundred inhabitants.

During the afternoon I was starting to feel well again and I regained my appetite. I still had no idea how far I would go the next day. But I sure was satisfied with my stay in Ciguñuela!

To be continued!

BP
 
Last edited:
STAGE SEVEN: PUENTE DUERO – CIGUÑUELA. 1 of July. 12 KMS

A fellow pilgrim on this forum, Kinky1, said he crossed the center of Puente Duero in 2014 and that the Camino exits the Plaza on the upper left side. But now (2016) there are arrows right after the bridge before you enter the center. So you turn left right away, without entering the elongated center of Puente Duero. You then have the Río Duero on your left side for a few kms. These arrows are new and bright and should steal the attention of future pilgrims.

I'm sure that's much nicer entry to Simancas than walking alongside the National although on soft sandy path.



A couple of minutes later I ran into the same woman who had wished us good luck, returning home from her errand. She asked me if I was looking for something. I told her about my heat stroke and that I needed to find somewhere to stay. She immediately decided to accompany me across town to help me. This was a spectacular walk, not because of the beauty of Simancas but because this woman seemed to know everyone in town, at least the women, and I felt like I had been thrown into a Spanish movie depicting Everyday Life of Spanish Housewives. She stayed and chatted, or shouted across the square, to everyone she met. About the price of tomatoes, the hardships of work, the whereabouts of children and grandchildren or what her friends should prepare for dinner. Most of them asked her if she had begun a pilgrimage to Santiago, given that I was there trotting behind her in my pilgrim costume. Very funny! And she had the ability of catching up on the town’s latest gossip and focusing on her mission to find me a place to stay at the same time.

That's hilarious :D:D:D



This albergue is in a former school building, which would often be the case in towns on the meseta. Sorry to learn that there are no kids to teach anymore, but it’s a good thing they can use the buildings for a good purpose.

The albergue in Ciguñuela is spacious (but only 4 beds) and clean, nothing to complain about, 3 euros is a good price for this kind of standard. There’s a store a few meters down the street, on the other side, but you have to ring the bell for the owner to come and open it for you. At least that was my case. There are also at least two bars, of which one serves dinner in the evening.

The house where albergue is it's called Casa del Maestro. @Castilian or someone else could contribute here but I believe that wasn't a school, merely the house where the teacher had lived.
I also saw only a room (with windows to the street) with two bunks which makes 4 beds but otherwise have an info that there are 16 beds altogether. Which I haven't see though...

Keep on, BP, I'm tuned in ;)
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
It’s the part of the Camino that goes straight to the (very large) city of Valladolid. Although this is only for the pilgrims who wish to end their Camino in Valladolid: the city is a dead end along the Camino de Madrid.

Yes and no. The story, if I'm not wrong, is more or less as follows:

The Camino de Madrid should pass through downtown Valladolid (let's recall Puente Duero is in the municipality of Valladolid). The camino was marked by the Asociación de Amigos de los Caminos de Santiago de Madrid and they decided to bypass downtown Valladolid. If they had marked the camino through downtown Valladolid, they would have needed to put arrows (and/or shells) for more than 8 kms within the city and that's more than the distance they marked within the city of Madrid... That might explain (in part) why they decided to bypass it although that's just a guess so I could be wrong and they could have had other reasons to bypass downtown Valladolid.

Later, AJOVA (Asociación Jacobea Vallisoletana) decided to mark with shells and mojones the route from Santiago church in downtown Valladolid to Puente Duero where it joins the Camino de Madrid so pilgrims making the Camino de Madrid could detour to downtown Valladolid (backtracking their steps to Puente Duero once they visited the downtown) and locals could start the camino in downtown Valladolid and follow the signs all the way to Santiago (although -most- locals don't need signs to walk from downtown Valladolid to Puente Duero). They could have marked a full variant through Valladolid that would join with the current route at Ciguñuela or at Wamba but either they didn't think about it or they didn't have enough money for it or they thought that was too much hassle for them.

So you can see downtown Valladolid as a dead end of the camino, you can see it a very short starting branch of a camino, you can see it as detour implying backtracking over your steps or you can see it as variant of the route that is just marked till downtown Valladolid and isn't marked from there onwards.

this woman seemed to know everyone in town

In towns with the population of downtown Simacas everyone knows everyone. And there's usually people that also want to know the life of everyone...

Sorry to learn that there are no kids to teach anymore

You didn't get it right. There are still kids in Ciguñuela. In fact, there are still enough kids (under 12 y.o.) as to be teached in Ciguñuela and not be bused to a nearby town so the school in town is still in use. The albergue is located not at the school but at the house that the town council had for the teacher. Nowadays, teachers own (or rent) their own house and those teaching in small towns like Ciguñuela usually/many times don't live in town but commute from a nearby bigger town (or city).
 
The house where albergue is it's called Casa del Maestro. @Castilian or someone else could contribute here but I believe that wasn't a school, merely the house where the teacher had lived.
I also saw only a room (with windows to the street) with two bunks which makes 4 beds but otherwise have an info that there are 16 beds altogether. Which I haven't see though...

Hi K1
There is at least one other room, with 3 or 4 bunk beds and an adjacent, excellent bathroom. It is on the right at the top of the stairs. Also an industrial size kitchen – I think Laure talked about it in an earlier post.

I really liked Cigueñela – good albergue, friendly village and I had an enjoyable evening and meal at the La Mielga bar.

I had wanted to visit the Monasterio de Santa Maria in Wamba, but it is only a short walk from Cigueñela so I arrived well before opening time.
 
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Hi K1
There is at least one other room, with 3 or 4 bunk beds and an adjacent, excellent bathroom. It is on the right at the top of the stairs. Also an industrial size kitchen – I think Laure talked about it in an earlier post.

I really liked Cigueñela – good albergue, friendly village and I had an enjoyable evening and meal at the La Mielga bar.

I had wanted to visit the Monasterio de Santa Maria in Wamba, but it is only a short walk from Cigueñela so I arrived well before opening time.

Yes I reckoned, because there was the other door at the right which was closed and locked, but seemed to be another bedroom. Max Long says 4 beds, so I assumed this was maximum capacity. But I guess they open the other bedroom to the right in case of a massive number of pilgrims (groups or school kids perhaps)?

BP
 
Your walk across town with the local woman and the attendance at the car show in the evening both sound like the type of event that makes travel (especially on foot) so fascinating! Thanks for the description!

Yes and it was very kind of her. Echoing another thread: on these lesser travelled routes, pilgrims are still looked upon with curiousity and well recieved. Lots of people took great interest in me/us as we passed!

BP
 
I'm sure that's much nicer entry to Simancas than walking alongside the National although on soft sandy path.





That's hilarious :D:D:D





The house where albergue is it's called Casa del Maestro. @Castilian or someone else could contribute here but I believe that wasn't a school, merely the house where the teacher had lived.
I also saw only a room (with windows to the street) with two bunks which makes 4 beds but otherwise have an info that there are 16 beds altogether. Which I haven't see though...

Keep on, BP, I'm tuned in ;)

I made some changes to my post above, thanks!

BP
 
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STAGE EIGHT: CIGUÑUELA – CASTROMONTE. 2 of July. 24 KMS

When I left the albergue in Ciguñuela that creepy door handle scared the wits out of me. The second I opened the door I thought someone on the outside was reaching for me to grab my arm. A much more pleasant surprise was that my cell phone started functioning again as soon as I left the village and entered the meseta.

There are 7 kms to Wamba: the only town in Spain that starts with the letter W (also known as Bamba). It’s true that the church is a jewel, both my guidebooks couldn’t stress this enough. But the village itself is very small so no breakfast in sight.

Before Peñaflor de Hornija there are two ravines to conquer. Max Long warns about both, but I must say I didn’t find the first one so hard. The second one is a whole other story. First a winding path downhill, then up again towards Peñaflor de Hornija which is located on a hilltop. This time it remembered me of the painful hike up to the city of Toro on the Camino de Levante if you’re familiar with that. At the end of a longer stage this must be really hard. I had only done 14 kms since Ciguñuela so I shouldn’t complain…

The albergue is right on the Camino in the center of town so there’s no risk of missing it. I continued to the bar. It was still early so I wondered if it would be open. Fortunately it was and I could finally have my café con leche. There were about 15 older males inside, some of them smoking heavily, going through the newspapers and shouting instead of talking to each other. Why do I always end up in man caves? But then there were some cyclists, apparently non-pilgrim, both young and old who came by to catch something to drink. And a group of young women suddenly appeared with an armada of babies (the men lit up and we all started to coochie-coochie-coo). There were dogs running loose, even in and out of the bar, but totally cute and non-aggressive! I wanted to adopt them all (the dogs, not the babies).

There was a fruit store close to the bar where I could buy one or two things. Then the Camino went down from the hilltop and continued on the meseta for 10 kms. Nothing to report concerning landscape. Entering Castromonte the albergue is on your left. You must be blind to miss it. It’s a large building that stands alone and says ”Grupo escolar Valverde – Montes 1930”.

A young man next to the entrance was painting something that looked like an enormous parchment in black, yellow and orange. He said he was a local from town, studying art in Madrid, and that he would paint a parchment, the silhouette of a walking pilgrim and write ”albergue” over it (but my memory is a bit fuzzy). He started this when I arrived and he would finish it the same day. I took a picture of him when he was almost done with the contours of the pilgrim. But it was such a bad photo. And I didn’t want to tramp around like a tourist taking more pictures like I was documenting his work or something. Perhaps it would disturb him. Anyway, future pilgrims can now admire the result! But I was there the day it happened, ok?!

I let him continue and entered the albergue. I phoned every number in my guidebooks along with the ones that were written at the table where I registered. No-one answered. Neither was there a mention about ”hospitalero will come by at six o’clock…” or anything. The guy who was painting didn’t know. Still I wanted to stay there so I went to the dormitory to catch a bed. The inside was fantastic. Spotlessly clean. 20 beds (Max Long says 30! Shame on you!). Sparkling white sheets and blankets. A large kitchen, clean, with all the equipment needed. Stove, refrigerator, microwave, wooden table, wooden chairs and mosquito nets in the windows to protect from unwanted visitors.

After some investigation though, my excitement cooled down a bit. Max Long had advertised a washing machine, but it was broken. I had looked forward to thoroughly wash my clothes in a machine instead of doing it by hand. By hand is just so tiresome and my hedgehog socks needed something stronger this day.

After washing my clothes in the sink I noticed there was no clothes line. I searched everywhere. The painting guy didn’t know either. So I tried to find a spot where my clothes would dry but… I couldn’t find any. I know it sounds strange. What about outside? Well you know, some places say ”don’t hang your clothes on the fence or in the window…” and this is stuck with me. The guy told me I could use the kitchen chairs: put them outside behind the building and hang the clothes to dry. I thought that would leave wet marks on the chairs, but he said there would be no problem. So he helped me to carry them outside (heavy ones and there was no short-cut to the other side).

Then there was no hot water in the shower. I tried to force myself to get under the spray but it was impossible. I can’t shower in cold water. I wondered if there would be a button somewhere to push in order to heat the water for a few minutes like in the albergue of Santa María Real de la Nieva. The guy didn’t know. I say, if you see any irregularities or spelling mistakes in the painting on this albergue, it’s because of me when I ran back and forth to distract the author from his work. Bad pilgrim! I’m sure it says ”Albregue de Peregrions” or something.

There’s at least one bar in Castromonte but they don’t serve dinner. There’s one shop (a Carnicería). But it doesn’t say, it looks like one of the houses, so you have to ask people where it is. Unfortunately it was closed when I arrived. There are things to nibble on in the bar but if you stay in Castromonte I advise you to bring your own food. Don’t forget to take a stroll to the Plaza with its church and some beautiful, well-preserved houses!

I was alone for the most of the day. In the afternoon a bicigrino arrived. We talked about this and that. He reported he had seen very few peregrinos since Madrid, fewer than I had. Talking about albergues he said that the one in Añe, a few stages back, is in really bad state (Max Long warns about this as well).

Painting guy appeared and told us that he knew the whereabouts of the hospitalero who was also the mayor of the town. He took me there. It was a building that looked like an old (industrial) barn, just a hundred meters away. Inside people were painting as well: youngsters who knew the painting guy but also people of all ages. The mayor told me they would turn this into a place for fiestas, and they would actually have one tonight. Unfortunately this would be far too late in the evening for me to participate. The mayor accompanied us back, I could pay and fill in the forms. I was stupid enough to forget to mention the broken washing machine, the missing clothes line and to ask about the cold water! Later he would come over with food from the fiesta for me and the bicigrino. I have to say that it was all smiles and laughter in this village!

Back soon!

BP
 
STAGE EIGHT: CIGUÑUELA – CASTROMONTE. 2 of July. 24 KMS

Hi BP.

Myself and one other of our group stayed in Castromonte too and shared many of your experiences: no washing machine, no clothes line, no food (we didn't find the Carnicería) :) we did though find the hospitalero in the bar where we had gone for a beer when we couldn't get anyone to answer a telephone!! He was in the bar drinking coffee: he appeared quite abrupt at first but he was really very kind and helpful and very proud of the Castromonte alburgue. He did turn on a water heater for the showers and gave us keys for the alburgue. Eventually, the young lady working in the bar took pity on us and provided us with cheese and chorizo from her own supply as we couldn't find food anywhere in the town. For all of that, Castromonte was a highlight of my camino :):) but if you intend staying there, bring food!!

As always, your musing is of the highest order and I am hoping your next stop is in Medina de Rioseco!!

Take care, be safe,

Seán.
 
Hi BP.

Myself and one other of our group stayed in Castromonte too and shared many of your experiences: no washing machine, no clothes line, no food (we didn't find the Carnicería) :) we did though find the hospitalero in the bar where we had gone for a beer when we couldn't get anyone to answer a telephone!! He was in the bar drinking coffee: he appeared quite abrupt at first but he was really very kind and helpful and very proud of the Castromonte alburgue. He did turn on a water heater for the showers and gave us keys for the alburgue. Eventually, the young lady working in the bar took pity on us and provided us with cheese and chorizo from her own supply as we couldn't find food anywhere in the town. For all of that, Castromonte was a highlight of my camino :):) but if you intend staying there, bring food!!

As always, your musing is of the highest order and I am hoping your next stop is in Medina de Rioseco!!

Take care, be safe,

Seán.
Really, no washing machine? I would have sworn there was one, but maybe that's the dishwasher I'm remembering? Is it possible it was in a closet somewhere?

I didn't find the shop either but I was lucky when a fruit and veggie truck rolled into town in late afternoon. It had an amazing amount of very high quality food.
 
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Really, no washing machine?

Sorry Lawrie, There was one but we couldn't get it to work (but then my good lady might say, I don't have much luck with the one at home either!! ;)).

Take care, be safe.

Seán.
 
Really, no washing machine? I would have sworn there was one, but maybe that's the dishwasher I'm remembering? Is it possible it was in a closet somewhere?

I didn't find the shop either but I was lucky when a fruit and veggie truck rolled into town in late afternoon. It had an amazing amount of very high quality food.

Hi! As Maididi said: there was a washing mashine, but it was "open". I mean you couldn't close it (the glass where you can see your clothes tumble around was missing). Can't believe I forgot to tell the hospitalero, I mean, I want to help future pilgrims. I hope they've fixed it by now.

BP
 
He did turn on a water heater for the showers

Aaaah so there WAS a water heater!! Should have asked him and not Painting Guy!! Do you remember where? It sounds nerdy, I know, but what if more pilgrims come around and can't find it (or find the hospitalero...) Showering in cold water is a crime against Humanity!!

Missing Hospitalero: I thought it was because it was Sunday (if I'm not mistaken) that it was difficult to find the hospitalero so I didn't think much about that, but now it seems it could be a pattern... :O)

Thanks for comments!

BP
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Aaaah so there WAS a water heater!! Should have asked him and not Painting Guy!! Do you remember where? It sounds nerdy, I know, but what if more pilgrims come around and can't find it (or find the hospitalero...) Showering in cold water is a crime against Humanity!!

The mayor told me they would turn this into a place for fiestas, and they would actually have one tonight.

Hi BP.

Yes, when we entered the alburgue, the hospitalero went off to put on the heater while we picked our beds: I don't recall exactly where the controls where. He did say to wait a few minutes before using the showers. His name was Ivan (see attached photo of the notice on the alburgue door) and he lived in the next house to the alburgue on the same side of the street as you entered Castromonte.

They must have a lot of fiestas in Castromonte, they were letting off fireworks that evening we were there too :) We had gone looking for food and were into the bar on the plaza opposite the church when local residents released a fusillade of rockets :eek: There was no food available at the bar but the elderly couple running it were very friendly and we spent a pleasant hour looking at their collection of old photos.

Take care, be safe.

Seán.
Castromonte alburgue.jpg
 
Hi BP.

Yes, when we entered the alburgue, the hospitalero went off to put on the heater while we picked our beds: I don't recall exactly where the controls where. He did say to wait a few minutes before using the showers. His name was Ivan (see attached photo of the notice on the alburgue door) and he lived in the next house to the alburgue on the same side of the street as you entered Castromonte.

They must have a lot of fiestas in Castromonte, they were letting off fireworks that evening we were there too :) We had gone looking for food and were into the bar on the plaza opposite the church when local residents released a fusillade of rockets :eek: There was no food available at the bar but the elderly couple running it were very friendly and we spent a pleasant hour looking at their collection of old photos.

Take care, be safe.

Seán.
View attachment 28359
In 2014 Ivan was hospitalero when I was there. A younger guy, couldn't be a major of a town I guess. But things might change.
I was lucky to meet the elderly couple in the bar on the church square. Now I'm sorry there wasn't any fiesta when I was there. All very quiet :)
 
Are there more bars at Castromonte? I only saw (and visited) one, on the way towards the Plaza and not really at the Plaza itself. Owners were not an older couple! I must have missed them.

/BP
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Are there more bars at Castromonte? I only saw (and visited) one, on the way towards the Plaza and not really at the Plaza itself. Owners were not an older couple! I must have missed them.

/BP
There are two bars. First one on the right hand side on the way from albergue to the Plaza and an older one across the Plaza from the church. I think the name is Karibu or something like that. Owned by elderly couple, situated in big house where they also live.
 
In 2014 Ivan was hospitalero when I was there. A younger guy, couldn't be a major of a town I guess. But things might change.

A quick search for mayors' names told me the mayor in 2014 wasn't called Iván. However, looking at the names of all the members of the town council, I saw there was someone called Iván that was the teniente de alcalde (i.e.: the second most important political authority of the town and the person that replaces the mayor when the mayor can't act as a mayor -e.g.: due to illness- ).

I think the name is Karibu or something like that.

Caribe.

Owned by elderly couple,

That's exactly why, IMHO, there's no guarantee the bar remains opened. It would have been interesting if Bad Pilgrim had known about the bar beforehand and had reported if it remained opened although a report of the bar being still opened on some date doesn't guarantee it'll be still opened on a later date. The bar could close (or change owners/managers) at any moment. OTOH, I wish the bar remains open and I wish too the elderly couple have great health.
 
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There are two bars. First one on the right hand side on the way from albergue to the Plaza and an older one across the Plaza from the church. I think the name is Karibu or something like that. Owned by elderly couple, situated in big house where they also live.

Ok!

/BP
 
Wishing the owners of the Bar Caribe continued good health. My pics from 2011, when they made me a meal with eggs from their chickens, some chorizo in their kitchen, and salad from their garden. They certainly seem to have had long lives well lived, as the man told me many stories of his days as a bartender (starting at age 14) in Vallodolid.

View attachment 28401 View attachment 28402

Grrrr, I should have seen it. I crossed the Plaza several times when I ran around like a decapitated chicken looking for the carnicería in the evening. Usually the bar is the first thing I see...! But perhaps it was closed by then, I don't know.

Thanks for the pics! Cute couple! That's why I'm sad I didn't meet them!

BP
 
STAGE NINE: CASTROMONTE – VILLALÓN DE CAMPOS. 3 of July. 38 KMS

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 left.

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 (rollo) 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
 
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Thanks for all the info, BP. I was in "leisure mode" when I walked this route, and stopped in Medina de Rioseco. It was a great place for an afternoon,but I know that some people just don't like 14 km stages! ;)

I thought the canal route from Medina was the official one. Even if it isn't, I agree it's the one to take.

I know several people who left Tamariz and wound up in Moral. I think that some older French guides actually recommend that, but it's not really the best option, IMO. My memory is getting a bit fuzzy about this stage but I do remember that there are places to stop in Cuenca and that the walk into Villalón from there is on a popular walking trail. (Is that the RR tracks you were referring to, BP?)

Albergue in Villalón is quite nice, I had it all to myself with a very lovely hospitalero who walked with me the next day for about 8 - 10kms. Enjoyed it quite a bit. It was First Communion season, so I was able to enjoy watching lots of great family celebrations.

I think we've gotten a preview of the last chapter, with all the mess going into Grajal, but I will be sorry to see these nice reports come to an end! Buen camino, Laurie
 

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