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LIVE from the Camino A truncated camino

alansykes

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Except the Francés
I got my first sello this evening after mass at Santiago y San Juan Bautista, with its curious altarpiece of Santiago matamoros on what looked like a fine lusitano horse, in Madrid. I'd spent the morning ambling out to Montecarmelo, through unlovely suburbs, and then took the metro back into town, ready for a "proper" start with rucksack etc tomorrow. I've only got 17 days, so not sure how to spend them. At the moment the plan is to stay on the Camino del Madrid until Santa Maria la Real de Nieva, then hope over to join the Levante at Arevalo, on to Zamora and then decide whether the pull of the apostle makes me take the train to Sanabria to ensure I get my third compostela or just carry on, perhaps to Astorga, and not get all the way to Santiago.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Why not keeping on the the Camino de Madrid till Sahagun ?
 
Enjoy Navacerrada on the way. As you get to the fountain in front of the bar "EL Norte" take the road to the left just beyond the fountain to go into the main square and street. Only some 50 metres detour but then you will have a wider choice of bars/restaurants.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Why not keeping on the the Camino de Madrid till Sahagun ?
I certainly could, and might, just carry on to Sahagún, but I was partly inspired by Laurie's description of the glories of Arévalo to want to cut over and join the Levante there. Also I'm descended, like very many others, from Isabella la Católica and I quite fancied seeing some of the towns her funeral cortège passed through after her death in Medina del Campo (especially having yesterday seen in the Prado the wonderfully bad Rosales Gaillina picture of her dictating her will). And l really love Zamora and want to spend another day there.
 
Enjoy Navacerrada on the way. As you get to the fountain in front of the bar "EL Norte" take the road to the left just beyond the fountain to go into the main square and street. Only some 50 metres detour but then you will have a wider choice of bars/restaurants.
Thank for that. I'll try to stop there but will probably be having lunch in Manzanares el Real. Had a nice stroll out from Montecarmelo to Colmenar el Viejo. Colmenar is one of those (many) hillside Spanish pueblos that trick you about their distance - at first sight, near Tres Cantos, it looked quite close, then for over 2 hours appeared to be exactly the same distance away, until you finally struggled in. I think Cañaveral is the worst - you first see it only an hour or so from Casar de Cáceres, and it's still, if my memory serves, the best part of 5 hours away.
 
The shades of night were falling fast, and Venus was up in the east when I finally made it into Cercedilla last night. Starting off a bit late and getting hopelessly lost and misdirected meant I only got clear of Colmenar after 9.30, and dawdling at Manzanares and in the lovely countryside meant I was later still. But what a great day if was. I liked Manzanares el Real very much, and had a pleasant pause near the hermitage of San Isidro, where there was a water trough and although there was an inch of ice in the trough, the water was still running - I had run very low on water. Nearby was a plaque from the Madrid communidad commemorating the 25th anniversary of the asociación de amigos de los Caminos de Santiago de Madrid and thanking them for all their work. And so say all of us.

I liked Navacerrada and would probably stay there if I ever pass this way again - thanks for the tip about the main square, Al. When I eventually got to Cercedilla, I thought I'd better ring the youth hostel to check if I needed to bring my own food or if there was a café there. After a bit of a pause, the person who answered the phone told me they were completo. Which was a surprise. So I stayed in a slightly Bates Motel-like hostal - except that I seem to remember that Norman Bates at least kept the shower well cleaned, and this one wasn't. Hey ho.
 
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One advantage of staying somewhere scuzzy is that there is absolutely no temptation to linger in the morning, so I was in station bar having coffee and a croissant while Mercury was still clear to the east, on the calzada romana by the snow line at 9am and had my first view of Segovia through the pines from the Puerto de la Fuenfría at 10. There was much thicker snow on the north side of the sierra, ankle deep mostly, and even the tracks of a pair of skis. The snow lasted all the way to the edge of the forest, where you get the first good view of the cathedral rising over the meseta.

It's good to see your destination so clearly in the distance, but it does remind you that lunch is still a long way off.

Yet again I was given a demonstration of the generosity of the camino: 10km out of Segovia I was very short of water in burning sun. There, in the middle of a vast field where the sierra meets the meseta, was a low stone fountain dribbling out delicious water, with a fading paint sign saying "fuente de San Pedro 1985". gracias
 
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Hi, Alan,
Enjoying your posts very much. Being descended from Isabel la Católica gives you a pretty strong Castilian pedigree! I can´t even imagine the work it must have taken to reconstruct that geneology.

I think I´ve been in the same scuzzy pensión in Cercedilla, but its real advantage was being a stone´s throw from the station café. Too bad about the albergue, though, because the one time I stayed there it was very nice -- crisp clean white sheets, the albergue gold standard!

Hope you enjoy Arévalo. On your way into town, keep an eye out on the left, across the river, for what looks like a beautiful mudejar church. I was told it is privately owned and not generally open to the public but that it is sometimes possible to get in. Its name, I think, is Iglesia de la Lugareja, http://www.arteguias.com/iglesia/lalugareja.htm

But even if you can´t get into that one, there are plenty of mudejar churches in town and a castle -- maybe 15c???

Arevalo1.jpg Arevalo2.jpg

The walk from Arévalo to Medina is a bit tedious, but mainly off road on ag tracks, with only one possible stopping point on the way, Ataquines. The highway hotel in Ataquines serves a pretty decent café and tostada though.
 
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I liked my first view of Segovia from 23km away from high in the sierra, and I liked it very much when I eventually sat down to a late lunch in a bar not far from the aqueduct. In fact I liked it so much that I managed to suppress my inner puritan (who was telling me that it is ridiculous to have a rest after only 3 days) and convince myself that it would be daft to leave, quite probably never to return, without seeing something of the place.

And what a place it is, and how full of marvels. I've spent the day just wandering about and occasionally getting mildly lost in the narrow streets of the old quarter - getting lost in a place like this is a real pleasure, as there's a new delight round every corner. In the morning the local Academia de Artillería regiment celebrated St Barbara's day with marching band and procession to the Plaza Mayor - St Barbara is, I discovered, the patron saint of gunners. The colonel was giving a lengthy speech when I escaped into the cathedral to get my sello and sign the pilgrim's book - apparently I'm the first from Madrid in a fortnight, but I suspect most pilgrims don't sign. It's a great cathedral, beautifully light and airy and with a glorious cloister. I liked the 1591 retablo in the capilla of Santiago, with near life-size statues of him both as pilgrim and on horseback busy matamoros, and a smaller relief of his body being carried into Compostela by 2 no longer fierce bulls.

In the rest of the city the romanesque predominates. In fact it could probably give Zamora a run for its money in the sheer volume of romanesque churches per street. I especially liked San Esteban with its fine tower and funny weathervane, San Martín and San Juan de los Caballeros, apparently visigothic in origin. It was a real disappointment that so few were open - I went to San Esteban 3 times in the hope that such an important place must open at some point. But the exteriors were exquisite, and some of the finest capitals I've seen anywhere - and sometimes the interior of a magnificent romanesque church can disappoint, if baroque etc excretions are over-agressive.

Out by the puerta de Santiago, past the circular Vera Cruz and on to the meseta tomorrow. Thanks for the tips about Arévalo, Laurie, will certainly keep an eye out for La Lugareja when I pass there on Friday - looks as if the exterior's some treat even if I can't get to peek inside. The highly efficient junta tourist office has given me brochures on both Arévalo and Medina del Campo, which was helpful.
 
Hi, Alan,
Enjoying your posts very much. Being descended from Isabel la Católica gives you a pretty strong Castilian pedigree! I can´t even imagine the work it must have taken to reconstruct that geneology.

I think I´ve been in the same scuzzy pensión in Cercedilla, but its real advantage was being a stone´s throw from the station café. Too bad about the albergue, though, because the one time I stayed there it was very nice -- crisp clean white sheets, the albergue gold standard!

Hope you enjoy Arévalo. On your way into town, keep an eye out on the left, across the river, for what looks like a beautiful mudejar church. I was told it is privately owned and not generally open to the public but that it is sometimes possible to get in. Its name, I think, is Iglesia de la Lugareja, http://www.arteguias.com/iglesia/lalugareja.htm

But even if you can´t get into that one, there are plenty of mudejar churches in town and a castle -- maybe 15c???

View attachment 7140 View attachment 7141

The walk from Arévalo to Medina is a bit tedious, but mainly off road on ag tracks, with only one possible stopping point on the way, Ataquines. The highway hotel in Ataquines serves a pretty decent café and tostada though.

that highway hotel in Ataquines is NOT recommended for staying in. The food downstairs is good, but the beds upstairs date back to the Inquisition.
 
that highway hotel in Ataquines is NOT recommended for staying in. The food downstairs is good, but the beds upstairs date back to the Inquisition.

Poor Rebekah -- you seem to have found all the bad places to stay on the Levante! I walked from Arevalo to Medina, so Ataquines was just a coffee stop. But this is one of those stages where you have to bite the bullet and choose between a 34 km walk and splitting it up in Ataquines with the sole option being this highway hotel. Maybe a good albergue opportunity.....

Good luck with the Palencia trash pick up days! Laurie
 
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In fact I liked it so much that I managed to suppress my inner puritan (who was telling me that it is ridiculous to have a rest after only 3 days) and convince myself that it would be daft to leave, quite probably never to return, without seeing something of the place.

And what a place it is, and how full of marvels. I've spent the day just wandering about and occasionally getting mildly lost in the narrow streets of the old quarter - getting lost in a place like this is a real pleasure, as there's a new delight round every corner. In the morning the local Academia de Artillería regiment celebrated St Barbara's day with marching band and procession to the Plaza Mayor - St Barbara is, I discovered, the patron saint of gunners. The colonel was giving a lengthy speech when I escaped into the cathedral to get my sello and sign the pilgrim's book - apparently I'm the first from Madrid in a fortnight, but I suspect most pilgrims don't sign. It's a great cathedral, beautifully light and airy and with a glorious cloister. I liked the 1591 retablo in the capilla of Santiago, with near life-size statues of him both as pilgrim and on horseback busy matamoros, and a smaller relief of his body being carried into Compostela by 2 no longer fierce bulls.

Hi, Alan, I agree with you on the marvels of Segovia. I think that the aqueduct and the Alcázar frequently steal the tourist show, and all those romanesque churches just languish with their doors locked. Don´t know why they haven´t done what Zamora did and rotate the days on which the churches are open so that there´s always a good chunk open to the visitor.

Good luck with your long slog to Santa Maria. Are you planning to walk from there to Arévalo alongside that little road I see on the map? (CL-605). Another trailblazing day for you, it seems! Buen camino, Laurie
 
Segovia to Santa Maria la Real de Nieva was an excellent day. A bit depressing that los Segovianos get up late so no cafés were open when I left, but the sight of the sun hitting the cathedral tower from a few miles north was worth the empty stomach. And I eventually got my coffee in Valseca, and by the time I got to Los Huertos it was time to take off the gloves and hat and slap on sun block and dark glasses. Sadly the bar at Añe was closed so no lunch, but the day's walk was great - a good mix of sun and some nice shade by the Eresma. And some nice touches - I liked the surreal sight of a station's platform and waiting room in the middle of nowhere, with the railway line long gone.

The albergue in Santa Maria la Real de Nieva is very good. I see I was roughly the 400th person in it this year and the owners, who, as they made very clear, get no support from the ayuntamiento, the junta, the state or the church, must be subsidising it out of their own pockets.

The church looked lovely from the outside, with tantalising pictures of its cloisters, but all was cerrado.
 
Yesterday was a day without arrows, as I hopped from the camino de Madrid to pick up the Levante at Arévalo. I was woken by cocks crowing and filled my bottle at the fuente sacra behind the ermita near the albergue. Set off slightly late as I spent 30 minutes watching tributes to Nelson Mandela in the bar over my coffee. Fairly dull day following CL-605, although much of the way was on parallel farm tracks or woodland paths. I detoured slightly to Codorniz, partly because I loved the name, and partly for a bite (sadly not of quail).

Arévalo is magnificent, and I'm so glad I made it. The mudéjar churches are superb, the castle where greatx12-grannie Isabel spent 7 years as a child is impressive and the Plaza de la Villa amazing - and, almost uniquely, completely uncluttered by commerce, not even a bar.

The atmosphere in town was very pleasant too, as everybody enjoyed the fiesta nacional in the many bars and restaurants. I stayed in the hostal del Campo, which was fine (€25).
 
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For the first time in my life, I'm fairly sure, I got me to a nunnery, that of los Carmelitas Descalzos in Medina del Campo. Have to say I've seen no nuns, shod or barefoot, but it's a great albergue, one of the best.

Left Arévalo in freezing fog at dawn, with a pretty hoar frost on all the trees, and fairly soon on my torso as well (thank goodness for the miracle of merino). Roughly this time last year I got mild frostbite on my hands in similar fog leaving el Cubo but fortunately I still have the nice woolly gloves I bought in Zamora then. The sun burned off the fog for a few km, and I could briefly see Guaradamma's snowcapped mountains fringing the southern sky.

Medina del C is really great. The last many km into town are a slog, but worth it in the end, with the forbidding mass of La Mota, which Cesare Borgia escaped from, appearing out of the cloud. Amongst many other delights, I really enjoyed the royal butchers, which claims to be the oldest continuously operating market in the world, although I suspect the dreadful musak wasn't installed by Philip II.
 
Hi, Alan,
I guess you're off to Sieteiglesias. Hope you have my good fortune and can figure out how to stay in the albergue in the Ayuntamiento, and NOT Rebekah's bad luck in the rundown Bates Motel look-alike.

Since it's Sunday, I will keep my fingers crossed for you. We had one bad Sunday experience on the Levante, when the only place in La Gineta was a public albergue in the polideportivo and everything was closed. No one could be found to open it. So we had to hop a train for short 20 k, not the end of the world.

Would love to hear if you get lost like we did on the way into Zamora from Toro (If you've not been to Toro, you are going to love the church and its inner portico). The day started out on a lot of asphalt, and then after Villalazan, 2-3 kms on the side of the road, and after a cement factory, the arrow takes you off road. Nice walking along a canal and then along the river. We are not sure how this happened, but at some point we were lost in a cottonwood forest. No arrows, no sense of direction, with the river looping all around us. After trying to backtrack for a while, we decided to just try to follow the river – after all, Zamora is on the Duero. A few minutes later, amazing, a man on a tractor appeared (the first human we had seen since the cement plant) and he told us we had to go in the opposite direction to get to Villaralbo, which we did, and we found our way from there along the road into Zamora. I would love to know where we went wrong, because we just couldn't figure it out. So let me know your experience!!!

Buen camino, Laurie
 
I had been planning to go on to Castronuño from Medina del Campo, giving me more time to enjoy Toro tomorrow, but got lost in freezing fog in the meseta, and spent too long in lovely Nave del Rey as well, so I am in the excellent ayuntamiento albergue, where I saw your name. I'm about the 200th person this year, the first in 5 weeks, and the first Englishman in the 2 years of the guestbook.

There was a light dusting of snow when I left Medina, and thick freezing fog, so it was a relief to get to Nava del Rey for the first coffee of the day, and a warming bowl of caldo. The magnificent chuch was open and full of people ready to celebrate the subida of the statue of the Virgen de Los Pegotes. The church, mostly by the same architect as the new cathedral in Salamanca, has columns almost the same size as Durham cathedral's, and glorious high vaults. Definitely worth a pause.

Seite Iglesias, other than its albergue, has little to delight, at least in 50 m visibility. And the sight of a triumphalist falange war memorial on San Pelayo lowered the spirits - it celebrated the loathsome José Antonio Primo de Rivera and the locals who had died por Dios y por España. There was a similar one in Codorniz 2 days ago, and the plaques' "postscript" ¡presentes! left a nasty taste in my mouth. Somebody had thrown red paint on one in Segovia - unfairly, as some of the dead were probably conscripted into the rebel army. So it had been a relief in Segovia, near the public library, to find a modest corten steel in memory of those who defended the 2nd Republic y la libertad.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
"the first Englishman in the 2 years of the guestbook."

I can guarantee that though you may (?) be the first pilgrim from England, you're not the first British pilgrim in 2 years.

It's a lovely route isnt it? Your post has made me restless! Enjoy the rest of your walk....
 
"the first Englishman in the 2 years of the guestbook."

I can guarantee that though you may (?) be the first pilgrim from England, you're not the first British pilgrim in 2 years.

It's a lovely route isnt it? Your post has made me restless! Enjoy the rest of your walk....

I'm sure you're right, but I am the first Brit to have signed the current (almost 2 year old) guest book in the albergue in Seite Iglesias. The 130th pilgrim there so far this year, having recounted the book last night. And sadly I can't comment on the scenery as I've been in more and less thick freezing fog, with a 2 hour break on Saturday, since late last Thursday night. The hoar frost on the trees and grasses has been very pretty. For, I think, the first time ever, the water in my bottle froze up.

I assume normally there's a magnificent view from Toro back over the camino, and I plan to leave after dawn in the morning in the hope of seeing it. Despite being close to it for much of the day, it was only a mile out of Toro that I first saw the Duero, effectively the front line of the reconquista for decades, if not centuries.

Toro looks like a great place and it was a relief to get here and have a delicious menú del día in the plaza mayor - the bars in Castronuño and Villafranca having been closed, my stomach was complaining by then. The wine in some of the bars later on was nice too - much better than the Toro I've drunk in England: perhaps they keep the best for themselves and export the junk?

It was also good to see the excellent local paper La Opinión de Zamora. One of the (many) things that I love about the camino is the way your progress is marked by passing on to new regional papers on the zinc in the local bars. So this year I've gone from the Adelantando de Segovia, the Norte de Castilla, the Diario de Ávila and La Voz de Medina del Campo y Comarca, to the Opinión, and hope to see Galicia's Voz before the end.
 
Hi, Alan,

I hope you have enjoyed Toro and its lovely church. It seems like it gets a lot of tourists, and I remember that a group of madrilenos insisted on buying me a few glasses of the local vino. Two had walked the camino but knew nothing of the Levante. Did you know that an albergue just recently opened in Castronuno? It received a grant from the American Pilgrims group and I just read about it in the online version of one of the local papers you enjoy so much. The town was closed up tight when we walked through but it seemed like a nice little place, perched high over the illusive Duero, I believe.

Hope you made it to Zamora without mishap, I am enjoying reading your reports. Have you decided what to do from Zamora onwards? (after a proper visit to Santiago de los Caballeros, of course! :))

Buen camino, Laurie
 
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I too am enjoying these reports. I´ve been marching round the Castilian plains myself these frosty mornings, and I thought of you out there, Mr. Sykes.

So good to see the Levante in use, and in such a time of year... but the frozen water bottle, yikes! You´re a better man than I am!
 
Well, it's still frosty but now glorious sunshine on lovely Zamora.

I'm afraid I can't help on the mystery of the camino between Toro and Zamora. I stayed in Toro until after daylight in the hope the fog would lift but it was not to be. At least I got a good look at the fabulous portico of Santa Maria. My guide and the arrows took me along the quietly flowing Duero for 10km, then dumped me on a minor road to Villalazán, where I had an excellent and welcome warm sopa. I then somehow missed the arrows and my guide's path and spent another 8km on road, all the way to Villaralbo. From there I couldn't find arrows again, but did rejoin a grande randonée senda del Duero which I took, ignoring my guide which wanted me to go on a very busy narrow minor road. And before long I was going under the N630, so familiar to all friends of the VdlP.

And then over the puente, with the cathedral tower just visible in the murk, and into the bright and warm albergue, so welcoming after a long, cold, foggy day. And there we had a very convivial evening: a Brit, a Hungarian, two Belgians, the charming Austrian hospitalera and a Spanish former hospitalero and his partner. Good food, good wine and good company, in a warm place, what more can one ask for?

Zamora is as wonderful as ever. Just outside Villalbarbo, however, had been a vivid demonstration of la crisis: a field on the edge of the village with a dozen or more grafitti-covered half-built houses, and a faded sign, doubtless dating from c2008, boasting that you could buy a house here for the price of a piso in Zamora.
 
Still undecided until yesterday about how to use my last few days but the pull of the apostle and horror stories about the AVE works made me decide to take the train from Ourense and carry on from here. Sad seeing 10 days walking pass by in 3 hours, but some lovely views as well - the sudden sight of Lubián station brought back memories of a nervous time there 3 years ago when I'd decided to go back to Puebla de Sanabra by train, and everybody in the town had assured me insistently that there was no train, despite what I'd seen seen online. So it had been a great relief when a train pulled out of the darkness to pick me up - the station is c4km out of town, so if the renfe website had been wrong and the village right, I'd have had an uncomfortable hour or so. The AVE works are astonishing - they'll leave a scar on the landscape that could take years to heal.

The morning in Zamora was a delight as usual. Sadly Santiago de los Caballeros is closed until Friday, but Santiago del Burgo was open and several others, and it was good to see daylight again. The ayuntamiento had made a little brochure on modernista architecture in Zamora as well, which included some great stuff I'd never noticed in my 3 visits.
 
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Last night for the first time I stayed at Oseira. It was a wonderful experience.

I left Ourense soon after 8 and was filling up my bottle at the Reloj by 1, having only been briefly detained by an importunate peregrino-phile who insisted on dragging me into his smoky kitchen for coffee. Which was kind. Don't know how I got so badly lost last year, it all seemed very obvious this time.

So after a bit of pulpo in the pulpería, where l was greeted by the familiar moustache and beret of Cea's hospitalero, I went on my way to the monastery.

Vespers there was unforgettable. Having got my sello from the delightful friar who runs the shop, and put my stuff in the huge albergue - presumably once the monastery's tithe barn - it was almost dark. I was met by another monk who took me round dark corridors, up and down stone stairs, past three courtyards - all slightly Gormenghast - and paused briefly, as I'd aske him, to show me the rooms Graham Greene's often stayed in. A small bedroom with shower, and a nice sitting room with a writing desk and French windows giving onto a high balcony looking out over the Galician highlands. I can't think of a better retreat for a writer.

Anyway, after another couple of corridors he left me alone at the back of a small gothic chapel, lit by a single candle. At least I thought I was alone, until an indistinct form near the altar coughed and I realised it was the kneeling cowled figure of a monk. The rest of the monks arrived one by one, and lit some more candles and a little electricity, and then the 10 (almost the monastery's total complement of 13, in this huge place) of them sang or chanted vespers, and they and their predecessors have done for centuries.

At the end the nice monk from the shop showed me out with the help of a torch, and, after a bit of chat, very kindly gave me a lovely little gouache on board icon of Christ he had painted.

As I say, unforgettable.
 
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The altos are diminishing by the hour. After leaving Oseira at dawn yesterday it was straight up a brisk 840m hill, but by the alto of San Domingo near Castro Dozón it only was only 700 at the top, and this afternoon, near the wolf queen's lair, the O Outeiro albergue is under 500m up. I was reminded of my grandmother, who used to like playing a Burl Ives record after Mass on Sunday, when I was a child. If Father Connor was coming to breakfast she had to be careful not to play the side with the line "now I'm a bachelor, I live with my son" , as he was worried it would corrupt my morals, but it was safe to play the one that went "from here on up, the hills don't get any higher, but the hollows get deeper and deeper". In drizzle yesterday, I tried to translate that into Spanish to go in time with my sticks, but couldn't come up with a good word for hollows - los valles doesn't seem quite right.
 
I have been enjoying your posts Alan, thanks for reporting along the way.
It is indeed a stiff climb out of Ourense and Oseira but well worth the effort. Staying at the monestary was special, I was also given a painting during my visit this summer. Vespers were cancelled and a special service given as I arrived on July 25th.

Keep warm and safe and look forward to hearing more.
 
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A fantastic finale to my camino. Two days when I could say bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, to be on camino was very heaven. This morning, leaving O Outeiro, there was quite thick fog down in the valley but we were just above it as the sun rose, very Caspar David Friedrich. The fog was long gone by the time we got to Santiago. The one sad moment was crossing the railway line and seeing the memorials to the dead from the crash, including flowers, children's toys and several scallop shells.

And then on to the Praza, in brilliant sunshine, with Antonio, the fast-walking peregrino from Seville, whom I met in A Laxe - the first time I've walked into town with a companion. We had a copa together and then he carried on to Finisterra, and I dropped my rucksack off in the Seminario Mayor. I would be lying if I said it was as luxurious as the Hostal de los Reyes next door, but at €23 b&b it's a lot cheaper and just as central.
 
Enhorabuena Alan! Will miss your musings.
I know what you mean about the railway tracks. We passed the spot several days after the accident and weren't allowed to follow the Camino as the area was still under investigation.
Enjoy Santiago!
 
[...] I tried to translate that into Spanish to go in time with my sticks, but couldn't come up with a good word for hollows - los valles doesn't seem quite right.
In Costa Rica that might be "huecos", holes in Spanish.Our roads have so many that we have many "holy" roads!.
PS I like your signature: A vingt ans, c'est une promenade, à soixante ans c'est un pèlerinage. I might add "après soixante-quinze ans on est pardonné" for however we do the Camino..:D
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Sadly only had 26 hours in Santiago this time. The new pilgrim office looks very efficient and ready to cope with anything, but it didn't need to be as there was just me and one nice young volunteer when I picked up my third compostela. And so to the pilgrim mass in the evening, where the dean mentioned uno de Inghlaterra, desde Madrid. A beautiful young British civil servant sang "Amazing Grace" amazingly beautifully. At the end John, who was accompanying the service, slightly mischievously played "to be a pilgrim" which simultaneously brought a smile to the lips and a lump to the throat - my son plans to have it at my funeral. Afterwards l went with the singers, John, Stephen and some friends of theirs to a nice bar for snacks and a copa or two. And then back to the seminario with the rising almost full moon. A perfect end to a memorable day and camino.
 
What a treat to read!
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
Alan, I live in Madrid and I am a mountaneer I have walked from Las Dehesas to Puerto de la Fuenfria and to Valsain many many times. There are not yellow shells? are there?.

Thank you.
 
Hi, Pelegrin,
The shells and arrows go from Cercedilla up to the Puerto de la Fuenfría, then down to Segovia. So you wouldn´t see any markings up to the pass, but you should see them from Fuenfría down. I also believe there is some indication for a turnoff to Valsain for those who don´t want to go the whole way to Segovia.
 
"but couldn't come up with a good word for hollows - los valles doesn't seem quite right."
Alansykes, there is a word which could be right: Umbría, or Umbrías. It describes the deepest part of a valley, where the Sun never shines. It is more or less linked to the word Umbra, in Italian, and possibly Latin, meaning shadow.
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
Thank you Laurie.
It's been a long time since i have not walked the Calzada Romana and Fuenfria down. There are other nicer ways to go from Cercedilla - Las Dehesas to P. Fuenfria to avoid this usually crowded way in weekends.
Next time I'll be looking for Camino marks.

Saludos
 

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