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Cami català or Camino de Madrid?

eamann

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2024 Le Puy - Cahors + Saint-Jean - León
Hello!

In mid-September I plan to walk a Camino for between two and three weeks. I am hesitating between the Camino de Madrid (CdM) and the Cami catala (CC) via Huesca and finishing in Somport. I would welcome the comments of those of you who have already walked both.

The arguments I see in favour of the Camino de Madrid are:
- not too long
- path well signposted and mostly off-road
- no major problem as regards eating and sleeping
- nice mix of scenery and interesting towns
- not crowded but not solitary, chance of meeting other pilgrims/walkers

My main argument against this Camino concern the start and finish. I like these to be symbolical and clear-cut. That would mean my starting in the centre of Madrid and spending two days walking out of the city, which does not attract me. Also, I would have no clear-cut finishing point. I fear my walk would just peter out.

The Cami catala seems to have much the same advantages as the CdM but with the following additional benefits:
- Montserrat and Somport would provide satisfying start and finishing points
- the scenery would be much nicer than on the CdM
- more interesting towns than the CdM
- possibilities of eating and sleeping seem better than on the CdM

The only downsides I see to the CC compared to the CdM are:
- perhaps more rain in the Pyrenees
- less chance of meeting other pilgrims

I am more attracted to the CC but I could still be persuaded to do the CdM.

If I opt for the CC, an additional question is would it be better to start in Somport or Montserrat? The advantage of starting in Somport as I see it would be that I would be walking towards the sun and warmth, whereas if I start in Montserrat I would be heading towards the cold and clouds as autumn settles down on the Pyrenees. Any comments?

(I’ll post this text also on the CdM forum.)
 
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My main argument against this Camino concern the start and finish. I like these to be symbolical and clear-cut. That would mean my starting in the centre of Madrid and spending two days walking out of the city, which does not attract me. Also, I would have no clear-cut finishing point. I fear my walk would just peter out.

@eamann Just a point of information to throw into the mix.
I would agree with all your positives about CM (though so far I have only got from Madrid to Valladolid - I hope to finish later in the year).
But it does not take "2 days" to walk out of the city. I started at church of Santiago and John the Baptist, in May, at 1pm, and it took me about 5.5 hours to walk to Tres Cantos. About 3 hours to get out of the city and another 2.5 to get to Tres Cantos, "cross country".
I gave an account here. It is a pleasant mix of city and country, if you like cities. And well signposted.
 
Hi, Eamann, I have walked both, so I'll offer some thoughts in response to your post.

CDM -- It does have a clear ending point in Sahagún where it joins with the Francés. If you start at the Church of Santiago and San Juan Bautista in central Old Madrid, you can walk the first day to Tres Cantos, pretty doable for most I think. The walk is quite nice through central Madrid, up the leafy Paseo de la Castellana, past the Bernabeu stadium, though some tony residential areas. At the Plaza de Castilla, the arrows begin. It is NOT an industrial route out of the city by any means, in fact it is one of the most pleasant routes out of a big city that I've had on any camino. (Think going out of Burgos rather than going into Burgos). As soon as you cross under the M-30 (or maybe 40, my memory is not clear) you are out of the city, and start walking through open land. Infrastructure is great, pilgrims VERY VERY few. I don't think either of these routes has much prospect of company for you, but you may be lucky and find someone.

Cami Catalá from Montserrat. The part up to Huesca is, IMO, not terribly interesting or attractive, though I did have a great time because I was walking with LTfit. We met a few others after Huesca, and that's when the scenery really gets nice. The Catalá actually merges with the Aragonés at Santa Cilia de Jaca, not at Somport, but LT and I hitched a ride back up to Somport so we could walk the Aragonés from the border to Puente la Reina. I love the Aragonés. Starting in Somoport and walking "backwards" from the turnoff at Santa Cilia to Montserrat would be hard, IMO, unless you have a GPS.

You can see my blogs if you click on the links in my signature below for the places you are interested in.

I also have posts on both of these routes with more in the way of practical info-- distances, lodging, etc.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...catalán-from-montserrat-through-huesca.36443/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/my-leisurely-stages-on-the-camino-de-madrid.11148/

Other forum members also have long detailed posts on the CdM, but I have mine bookmarked so I don't have to search. If you go to the subforums and scroll through, you´ll find a lot! Buen camino, Laurie

p.s. I'm going to merge the two threads, because having two identical posts going always just confuses people. What I would suggest is that we could leave it here in Camino de Madrid for a while, and then after some time we could move it to Camino de Madrid, but I honestly think that most people will see this no matter which forum it is posted in.
 
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Hi, Eamann, I have walked both, so I'll offer some thoughts in response to your post.

CDM -- It does have a clear ending point in Sahagún where it joins with the Francés. If you start at the Church of Santiago and San Juan Bautista in central Old Madrid, you can walk the first day to Tres Cantos, pretty doable for most I think. The walk is quite nice through central Madrid, up the leafy Paseo de la Castellana, past the Bernabeu stadium, though some tony residential areas. At the Plaza de Castilla, the arrows begin. It is NOT an industrial route out of the city by any means, in fact it is one of the most pleasant routes out of a big city that I've had on any camino. (Think going out of Burgos rather than going into Burgos). As soon as you cross under the M-30 (or maybe 40, my memory is not clear) you are out of the city, and start walking through open land. Infrastructure is great, pilgrims VERY VERY few. I don't think either of these routes has much prospect of company for you, but you may be lucky and find someone.
I am in total agreement with Laurie on the above. (Not surprisingly;):p)
 
CC by far..... Lol i love the cdm. Hope it stays quiet.
 
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The CdM has Segovia, and San Ildefeonso if you stop there, but the Cami Catalan has San Juan de la Pena, that is a real must, but I would not see Somport as being the end of the Catalan, probably Jaca! For me the Catalan was the camino of 3 monasteries, that was because I started at the coast and did San Pere de Rodes as well.
If you do the Catalan just don't go to Montserrat at the weekend, it's worse than a theme park.
Whatever you chose, buen camino!
 
Thank you all for your helpful comments, in particular Peregrina for her accounts of the CdM and the CC which I have read with much interest. I have also spent several hours browsing through the CdM and CC forums.

All of which has given me much food for thought…

The CdM has become more attractive. I note that everyone who has walked it speaks very highly of it.

I have been several times to Montserrat and last year I walked from Igualada to Santo Domingo de Silos. If I decide to do the CC, I would start in Tarrega and I would prolong the Pyrenees part by continuing from Somport to Oloron and return home from Toulouse. It is the prospect of walking across the Pyrenees that attracts me to the CC in the first place.

Tonight I cannot choose. I will let decant for a few days all the information I have read and hopefully I will then be able to sense what my heart really wants to do.

Thank you all again for your help!
 
Thank you all for your helpful comments. I have decided to do the Camino de Madrid after all. I will arrive in Madrid on Sunday 10 September.
To avoid the uninteresting stretch at the end and the cultural shock of arriving on the Camino francés, I will stop at Wamba, backtrack to Simancas, follow the Duero trail (thank you Castillian!) to Tordesillas, then walk to Medina del Campo and from there follow the Vía de la Plata to Zamora via Toro. That will give me several interesting towns to visit. Then bus or train back to Barajas airport in Madrid.
 
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Thank you all for your helpful comments. I have decided to do the Camino de Madrid after all. I will arrive in Madrid on Sunday 10 September.
To avoid the uninteresting stretch at the end and the cultural shock of arriving on the Camino francés, I will stop at Wamba, backtrack to Simancas, follow the Duero trail (thank you Castillian!) to Tordesillas, then walk to Medina del Campo and from there follow the Vía de la Plata to Zamora via Toro. That will give me several interesting towns to visit. Then bus or train back to Barajas airport in Madrid.

Hi, eamann, Sounds like a plan! I have never been on the Duero trail, but some of my other caminos have coincided with a different "camino natural." All of them have the same red markings on wooden posts. If the one along the Duero is like the one along the Ebro, the signage can be spotty. I don't know if you walk with a GPS, but unless you're a wizard with maps, you might have some trouble on those stages. But I guess it is just a couple of stages and you won't be too far from civilization at any point.

And on the Sanabres from Toro to Zamora, you will get to experience the lovely cottonwood forest mystery and hopefully not get as badly lost as I did!

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/pilgr-on-the-levante.46041/page-2#post-490164

Buen camino, Laurie
 
Don't remember the name of the member but he has done that two years ago I think. Try to search in either Madrid or Levante/Sureste section.

Anyway Buen Camino!
 
Thank you Laurie for warning me about that deceptive turn on the way to Zamora! I always travel with a GPS. My solution is my iPhone plus a free GPS app called Viewranger into which I feed tracks downloaded from Wikilocs or similar. Viewranger has a feature which I consider invaluable - if you wander by more than x metres from the path (you decide the distance yourself) it sounds an alarm. That has saved me going astray many times on my last walks.
 
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