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A shorter stage from Cercedilla

peregrina2000

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I decided to post this separately from the "taking a tent on the Camino de Madrid" thread so that maybe it will be seen by others in the same situation as johnjosiah1.

The stage from Cercedilla to Segovia is a long 31 or 32. The first 15 or so are elite status beautiful, but once you're over the pass at Fuenfria and have descended off the long ridge walk, the terrain changes dramatically and there's a lot of scrub, no trees, mountain bike trails, and then still more, a long 8 km or so slog into Segovia on a flat no-nonsense wide trail.

If the stage is too long, there is an option I've learned from my friends on a Spanish language forum. There is a turn-off from the Camino that takes you to the town of Valsain. From there to Segovia there are very frequent buses, or of course it would be simple to get a taxi. I can see it on google maps, and I remember seeing it down below as I was walking to Segovia. The directions I got are rather vague, here's a translation:

Before arriving at the "Shephard's Fountain" (Fuente del Pastor, a great place for wonderful water), there's a split -- the branch to the right is on asphalt and used by bikes. Take it. Two or three kms further on, you come to another intersection. Take the path on the right, which takes you downhill and into Valsain.

I know that's not terribly specific. Maybe you can get a better idea with some of the maps that Peter Robbins has. But from Valsain, it's 12-14 kms into Segovia, so it will have cut off the most tedious part of that stage.

The man who posted the answer lives in Segovia, and offered to give you some personal assistance, so johnjosiah1, if you plan to do this, let me know a bit ahead of time and I'll contact this camino angel.

Hope this makes this stage do-able for you and others who might be dissuaded by the long distance, because this is a not to be missed section of the Camino de Madrid!

Buen camino, Laurie
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Laurie,
Good information ''por fin''.
What your friend describes is exactly what I had planned to do.
One can see the way to Valsain on Google map.
There's accommodation in Valsain(casa rural and hostal) and that's where I'll spend the night come May.
Cheers,
Jean-Marc
 
Again thanks to Laurie , the angel of CdM,
am pretty sure will use this info to split this long etapa...
Should be there around end of april
Giorgio and Elisa
 
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.
Will do it, John
Ciao
G & E
 
John,

I'll back up Giorgio on that one.
Two heads are better than one.
Cheers,
Jean-Marc
 
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.
That sounds great, definitely send it in to me or John and we'll include it in the new guide!

Max
 
Hi ! that wouldnt be the turn off from Cruz de la Gallega by any chance? That was one of the options I was keeping in mind as there is a road clearly marked down into Valsain from where i thought I could either rest up or get transport into Segovia :D From what everyone is saying it would be a pity to miss the views early in the day at the start. I am an early bird anyway so a slow slog up hopefully wont kill me! I HAVE done the high route to Roncevalles but spread it over 2 days courtesy of the albergue at Orisson. I will just have to keep telling the tootsies "Ya kin do it, so stop whining!!".
I will most certainly keep in touch as soon as I take a deep breath, lassoo the credit card and book the flight to Madrid! Just have to check with my lung consultant who will just smile and look at the ceiling and my eye consultant (Wed 20th March!) Wouldnt be a spare donkey rental down there by any chance?
Much thanks for your kind help and that goes to all who have chipped in on the subject!

gracias y adios

sean aka johnjosiah1
 
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Just wondering if anyone has actually checked out the Valsain option and seen how to get there from the Camino. This would be great information for those who dread the 31 kms into Segovia from Cercedilla.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Thanks, lostpilgrim.

So, here's what I think the options are if you want to cut the stage from Cercedilla into two days to avoid a 31 km walk to Segovia:

When you get to the Camino 591 km marker, turn R and stay on asphalt to go to Valsain. The next day you can walk back to the Camino (which would give you 20 into Segovia), walk on road from Valsain (15 knto Segovia), or take a non-road route part of the way to save 3 kms into Segovia from Valsain (google maps shows this, but I'm sure people with better map skills will see this more clearly)

But having looked at the maps, since Valsain is a stone's throw from La Granja (the 18th century summer palace, which is a knock-off of Versaille and the gardens are wonderful), wouldn't it make sense to just continue on to La Granja? I am virtually certain I've seen somewhere that there is now an albergue for piligrims in La Granja, and if so, that would be an added bonus. I'll check around some more.

Any feedback on places to stay in Valsain? Someone mentioned there was a casa rural and a hostal.
 
peregrina2000 said:
Any feedback on places to stay in Valsain? Someone mentioned there was a casa rural and a hostal.

I did! Here is the info:

http://www.laquerenciadevalsain.es/como-llegar/?lang=en

The option of going further to La Granja is an excellent idea.

I walked it last May with the intention of staying overnight in Valsain. After a rest at Km 591 and considering the profile and condition of the terrain, I headed for Segovia.

Cheers,
Jean-Marc
 
I wish I had seen this thread before I started this week. This stage was unbearable today. The long uphill slog on rough roman roads should have tipped me off but the final 8 kilometers on a dusty trail always seeing Segovia but painfully and slowly making progress was torture.
 
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Ah yes, I remember this well! Such a fabulous, hideously long section, and then had to walk out of Sogovia to the albergue 3kms on the other side, which just about did me in. I stayed in a hotel in Segovia to recover for a night after this, and it was needed. I would split this in two if I did this again. The walking from Segovia onwards though was really nice, though, and flat.
 
I decided to post this separately from the "taking a tent on the Camino de Madrid" thread so that maybe it will be seen by others in the same situation as johnjosiah1.

The stage from Cercedilla to Segovia is a long 31 or 32. The first 15 or so are elite status beautiful, but once you're over the pass at Fuenfria and have descended off the long ridge walk, the terrain changes dramatically and there's a lot of scrub, no trees, mountain bike trails, and then still more, a long 8 km or so slog into Segovia on a flat no-nonsense wide trail.

If the stage is too long, there is an option I've learned from my friends on a Spanish language forum. There is a turn-off from the Camino that takes you to the town of Valsain. From there to Segovia there are very frequent buses, or of course it would be simple to get a taxi. I can see it on google maps, and I remember seeing it down below as I was walking to Segovia. The directions I got are rather vague, here's a translation:

Before arriving at the "Shephard's Fountain" (Fuente del Pastor, a great place for wonderful water), there's a split -- the branch to the right is on asphalt and used by bikes. Take it. Two or three kms further on, you come to another intersection. Take the path on the right, which takes you downhill and into Valsain.

I know that's not terribly specific. Maybe you can get a better idea with some of the maps that Peter Robbins has. But from Valsain, it's 12-14 kms into Segovia, so it will have cut off the most tedious part of that stage.

The man who posted the answer lives in Segovia, and offered to give you some personal assistance, so johnjosiah1, if you plan to do this, let me know a bit ahead of time and I'll contact this camino angel.

Hope this makes this stage do-able for you and others who might be dissuaded by the long distance, because this is a not to be missed section of the Camino de Madrid!

Buen camino, Laurie
I decided to post this separately from the "taking a tent on the Camino de Madrid" thread so that maybe it will be seen by others in the same situation as johnjosiah1.

The stage from Cercedilla to Segovia is a long 31 or 32. The first 15 or so are elite status beautiful, but once you're over the pass at Fuenfria and have descended off the long ridge walk, the terrain changes dramatically and there's a lot of scrub, no trees, mountain bike trails, and then still more, a long 8 km or so slog into Segovia on a flat no-nonsense wide trail.

If the stage is too long, there is an option I've learned from my friends on a Spanish language forum. There is a turn-off from the Camino that takes you to the town of Valsain. From there to Segovia there are very frequent buses, or of course it would be simple to get a taxi. I can see it on google maps, and I remember seeing it down below as I was walking to Segovia. The directions I got are rather vague, here's a translation:

Before arriving at the "Shephard's Fountain" (Fuente del Pastor, a great place for wonderful water), there's a split -- the branch to the right is on asphalt and used by bikes. Take it. Two or three kms further on, you come to another intersection. Take the path on the right, which takes you downhill and into Valsain.

I know that's not terribly specific. Maybe you can get a better idea with some of the maps that Peter Robbins has. But from Valsain, it's 12-14 kms into Segovia, so it will have cut off the most tedious part of that stage.

The man who posted the answer lives in Segovia, and offered to give you some personal assistance, so johnjosiah1, if you plan to do this, let me know a bit ahead of time and I'll contact this camino angel.

Hope this makes this stage do-able for you and others who might be dissuaded by the long distance, because this is a not to be missed section of the Camino de Madrid!

Buen camino, Laurie
 
There is a casa rural in Valsain, although nobody answered when we phoned the number that was posted on the door. It looked fine from the outside - but since we couldn't get in and there was a bus to Segivia just coming around the corner, we ran to get on it.
 
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.
Just wondering if anyone has taken a further detour to La Granja, because that's a very nice place to visit. Not sure how the next day from La Granja to Segovia would be, but having a short day into Segovia would give more time to spend there in case people don't want to take a full rest day. Buen camino, Laurie
 
Just wondering if anyone has taken a further detour to La Granja, because that's a very nice place to visit. Not sure how the next day from La Granja to Segovia would be, but having a short day into Segovia would give more time to spend there in case people don't want to take a full rest day. Buen camino, Laurie
I did it last year although I've slept in Valsain. It's all in my journal ;)
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/finally-my-camino-de-madrid-june-2014.25354/
post #71
 
Last edited:
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I decided to post this separately from the "taking a tent on the Camino de Madrid" thread so that maybe it will be seen by others in the same situation as johnjosiah1.

The stage from Cercedilla to Segovia is a long 31 or 32. The first 15 or so are elite status beautiful, but once you're over the pass at Fuenfria and have descended off the long ridge walk, the terrain changes dramatically and there's a lot of scrub, no trees, mountain bike trails, and then still more, a long 8 km or so slog into Segovia on a flat no-nonsense wide trail.

If the stage is too long, there is an option I've learned from my friends on a Spanish language forum. There is a turn-off from the Camino that takes you to the town of Valsain. From there to Segovia there are very frequent buses, or of course it would be simple to get a taxi. I can see it on google maps, and I remember seeing it down below as I was walking to Segovia. The directions I got are rather vague, here's a translation:

Before arriving at the "Shephard's Fountain" (Fuente del Pastor, a great place for wonderful water), there's a split -- the branch to the right is on asphalt and used by bikes. Take it. Two or three kms further on, you come to another intersection. Take the path on the right, which takes you downhill and into Valsain.

I know that's not terribly specific. Maybe you can get a better idea with some of the maps that Peter Robbins has. But from Valsain, it's 12-14 kms into Segovia, so it will have cut off the most tedious part of that stage.

The man who posted the answer lives in Segovia, and offered to give you some personal assistance, so johnjosiah1, if you plan to do this, let me know a bit ahead of time and I'll contact this camino angel.

Hope this makes this stage do-able for you and others who might be dissuaded by the long distance, because this is a not to be missed section of the Camino de Madrid!

Buen camino, Laurie
Well I did not found the stretch from Cercedilla to Segovia so difficult, especially because from the top, at the end of the Roman way, you are going down most of the time and then yes a long flat trail with no shadow, nothing interesting. I concur that the first part in Madrid provincia was absolutely beautiful, but the transition from a Canada like landscape to a Marocco like landscape happens in very short time; And it is somewhat depressing to see Segovia in the distance but it takes you 3 hours to get there !
 

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