Completed the Camino Manchego last week. It is something of a continuation of the Camino San Juan de la Cruz which starts in Granada and links up with either the Levante or the Sureste in Toledo. Mundicamino has the Manchego as a 5 day walk but I did it in 4 days (see my first post above). There are no albergues on this route, though it may be possible to stay in the Casa de Espiritualidad in Urda - I couldn't get through to them. So unless you are camping, its hotel accommodation all the way, which will set you back between 20 and 30 euros a night - another good reason to do it in four rather than five days.
The route is reasonably well waymarked and often follows one of the Ruta Don Quijote. I did get confused leaving Ciudad Real but that's probably true for me of every major town. Don't expect regular yellow arrows but it is generally obvious which way to go. It's the usual mix of path, graded track and tarmac.
I didn't get much of a Camino feel on this one. The walk starts at the Santiago church in Cuidad Real but without any sort of guidebook and very limited Spanish I wasn't able to encounter much else related to St James. Even the Ruta Don Quijote seemed a bit of a misnomer. Plenty of Cervantes' related statuary and street names but then again so there is almost everywhere else in La Mancha. Cuidad Real does have an excellent Cervantes museum, which is well worth an hour or two of anyone's time though only in Spanish.
The walk at this time of year (May) was particularly good for flora and fauna. Wild flowers of vivid reds, purples, yellows, blues along the wayside and in the fields. Storks, birds of prey, herons, egrets, ducks. I even got to see an otter, not something you get to see too often where I come from. The route in essence heads due North and parallel to the N-401. It takes you around and through various ridges of hills (Los Montes de Toledo?) and is by and large flat with the sole exception of a small climb between Los Yebenes and Orgaz. On the ridge are two fine molinos and a view that stretches for miles. From here you can make out the castle ruins of Almonacid de Toledo in the distance. The walk into Toledo from Cobisa is much more spectacular than the one I had used last time via Las Nieves and the motorway (see my post on the Levante/Sureste/Quijote thread on how not to approach Toledo). Mostly the Camino takes you through agricultural landscapes ringed by distant hills but there were some wetlands too - the river Guadiana, the Embalse de Vicario and around Guadalerzas. There are plenty of places to stop off for coffee, beer and a bocadillo. I reckon the longest stretch without any sort of refreshments would be about 20 kms.
Needless to say I saw no other walkers until I reached Toledo. You certainly need to like sun, solitude and cerveza.
Buen Camino a todos.
AlfĂn del Asfalto
