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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.Why not keeping on the the Camino de Madrid till Sahagun ?
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.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.
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???
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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.
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.
"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....
In Costa Rica that might be "huecos", holes in Spanish.Our roads have so many that we have many "holy" roads!.[...] 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.
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