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LIVE from the Camino @futurefjp on the Camino de Madrid

futurefjp

Camino enthusiast.
Time of past OR future Camino
2013
The 1% won. Here I am in a Manolo Bakes contemplating the day ahead towards Tres Cantos with a barely sufficient nights kip surrounded by snoring and the sounds of Madrid revelry on early Saturday morning. Let's see how far towards the Camino Frances I get before I run out of funds and the rail strikes in the UK come into view...PXL_20221202_090657677.PORTRAIT.jpg
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Sierra de Guadarrama - It is among the three most beautiful days on my Caminos.
Even so, if I hadn't booked a place to stay, I would have probably slept 3km before Segovia 😂 , under the railway overpass😱. Seriously (68 years old, overweight, 32km, ascent and descent and on your back everything you need for that day, because there is no food, drink,...).
And I'm still "attracted like a magnet"😍
Fantastic video! I'll be walking this route in May 2023...
 
The 1st of December arrives and I've checked in for the shortish flight to Madrid this afternoon (1715) from Manchester so will begin the journey there around noon from Leeds Station. Not getting to T3 the suggested 3 hours prior to departure Ryanair are suggesting - 2 hours has to be sufficient? As usual I will take the longer route: Northern Rail via Hebden Bridge to Manchester Victoria then on the Tram from the interchange in Victoria to the airport (around £12).

Leaving the flat for a short trip to collect a free hot chocolate from Caffé Nero on Albion Street and onto the 10:12 to Manchester Victoria to begin the long day hauling to Chueca, Madrid for the first of two nights in that other area I stumbled upon over Christmas in 2019, before the phantom of COVID became a reality in February 2020.

An afternoon in Manchester before the 13:55 from Oxford Road to get to the airport. It's a good city. I walked around it before eating in a Wagamamas on St Peter's Square and found the Bundobust here. The owner provided me with a free Nut Brown Ale as he was genuinely happy to see me over this side of the Pennines...

Arrived at Hostel007 and was a little apprehensive about the cluster of folks coming and going in the foyer, but the two people from Honduras, attached at the hip in a single bed all night, were quiet and I slept well considering the vagrants chanting songs in the early hours. Spanish walls and windows don't always block out the nocturnal pursuits, especially in Chueca which is Madrid's gay area...

This morning I walked to the Church at the start of the Camino de Santiago, got my credential stamped - like a good peregrino - for setting off towards the mountains on Saturday. I should reach Cercedilla by Monday and then see if the mountain pass is viable on Tuesday - the. Temperature up there is below zero at night...

***

That was a long night of snoring, street noises and, finally, a mental marching alarm so I got up, dressed, defecated and left to get something inside me and a semblance of normality... I just can't do dormitories in backpackers now. Luckily I slept well at the start of the evening before any of the other occupants had crawled into their beds!

***

From sunrise until 2 I walked all the way to Tres Cantos and the Hostal Tres Cantos*** for a night alone in a large bed where no one can break my slumber but myself.

It took me around two and a half hours to reach the end of Madrid as the mountains three days away became the obvious horizon distractions, away from the high-rise business district in the north of Madrid - and the four collosal towers which looking back on the city, once I was in ploughed fields, stood like giants watching my retreat from Chueca along the main thoroughfare passing Santiago Bernabéu and Chamartin carrying my lance over my shoulder!

Now I sit with a glass of Albariño and polish off a chapter from Roads To Santiago while the locals enjoy their Saturday feast on the other side of the cordon. But they don't take card payments so I feel bad. Free soup and three glass of wine and I am exhausted. I think they can take card, but dissuade the usage. But very few Spanish bank ATMs don't add a charge for usage which I really don't appreciate. Now I wait patiently to pay and then go and sleep: breakfast is at 8am.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Day two dawns and I am awake around 7, but slept soundly and unbroken throughout the evening, after people around me in Hostal Tres Cantos*** had stopped running water... the sound of which carried along the corridor and between the wall and my space.

Yesterday I had a great shower after two nights in Madrid when I didn't bother. This morning is fresh clothing too. It was trying to rain last night as I walked along the boulevard to see what the 'features' were of this planned satellite of Madrid (a Spanish Milton Keynes) but nothing really was reaching the pavement - it was a rain illusion and a warning against complacency. The main feature was the width of the central square/rectangular tree lined avenue and it's distance away from the train station and town hall where the Camino de Madrid carried on without coming into the town. Yesterday I thought to keep going as 25 kilometres isn't so long, but the sleep deprivation was getting to me so much better a quiet night away from any 'historic' town - of which they will be plenty ahead?

PXL_20221204_080517510.jpg
 
Yes, some gorgeous ones. And wow! The very unexpected castle.
 
Heading up above 1000 metres and need to gain sustenance... They always put these towns perched on top of the hill looking south, back to Madrid. An old folks kitchen, but they let me eat a couple of tapes of eggs and potatoes! Centro de Mayores... Which was wonder fuel!

***

Here I am. Started joyful, because eggs and chips are skill, but then bored on the saddle before a switchback - looking forward to the turn in the monotony - and into Manzanares el Real. Into the Hostel Pedriza, sopa(not a patch on yesterday's white bean and pork wonder), but I am enjoying the Godello vino until I heave towards the dormitory: all of Madrid's day trippers are hanging on to the edges of the Massif rising dominating above the town.

Tomorrow I turn my attention west before I have to go over this thing?

Final vino. Looked at the castle here which is definitely a folly or remade and just a made-up thing on top of an original thing. It's a pile of organised stones which looks like a castle: but are there garderobes in it?

Looking at Wikipedia it's not new, although it's called the new/nuevo, but I can't see it! If it was built in the late 1500s where is the wind or rain weathering... It must've had work done since the 16th century to keep it looking nuevo?
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Heading up above 1000 metres and need to gain sustenance... They always put these towns perched on top of the hill looking south, back to Madrid. An old folks kitchen, but they let me eat a couple of tapes of eggs and potatoes! Centro de Mayores... Which was wonder fuel!

***

Here I am. Started joyful, because eggs and chips are skill, but then bored on the saddle before a switchback - looking forward to the turn in the monotony - and into Manzanares el Real. Into the Hostel Pedriza, sopa(not a patch on yesterday's white bean and pork wonder), but I am enjoying the Godello vino until I heave towards the dormitory: all of Madrid's day trippers are hanging on to the edges of the Massif rising dominating above the town.

Tomorrow I turn my attention west before I have to go over this thing?

Final vino. Looked at the castle here which is definitely a folly or remade and just a made-up thing on top of an original thing. It's a pile of organised stones which looks like a castle: but are there garderobes in it?

Looking at Wikipedia it's not new, although it's called the new/nuevo, but I can't see it! If it was built in the late 1500s where is the wind or rain weathering... It must've had work done since the 16th century to keep it looking nuevo?
Your commentary is really good, please do keep it going. I did the majority of the CdM a few years ago and you’re refreshing my memory.

Your most impressive feat so far, alas, was managing to travel by train in the north of England.
 
When I depart I drink coffee and when I arrive I drink wine, but in between I sweat gloriously!

Turned in after a second Chorizo in Cider and bread. Found the bed a little too short for my length and the curtains even shorter - they don't exactly keep out the street lights, but it was silent until a couple of cars disappeared along the road, towards Madrid no doubt, just now.

Breakfast isn't available in the Hostel until 8:30am, but I am awake around 7am... If I can drift back into sleep then I will?

A helpful host in the Hostel said that today would be more interesting than yesterday's last leg - it was interesting after Colmenar Video before going under a road viaduct...

There was a serrated edge of some peaks which would've been more interesting to cross, but the route went around them after crossing a medieval bridge - the Camino walked along the base of these bare mountains, because perhaps there was no accessible path, slowly increasing in altitude. This area reminded me of the route in Northern Mallorca, which I crossed last year east to west from Pollença...
 
Monday morning cradling a café largo after tostados con tomate from the sullen faced proprietor of Hostel La Pedriza, who speaks no English. It's a day tripper town and I guess on a Monday morning he's worn out from being polite to his clients over the weekend? But it's OK. It's raining outside: not heavy, so I put on my waterproofs prior to the grand depart for Cercedilla on day three - already day three. By day four Madrid will be over the Sierras and beyond me. I've either another 7 or 10 days from today as those are the windows of opportunity through the rail strikes next week across England.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
cradling a café largo after tostados con tomate from the sullen faced proprietor of Hostel La Pedriza, who speaks no English. It's a day tripper town and I guess on a Monday morning he's worn out from being polite to his clients over the weekend? But it's OK
Not sure what's happened here. This is my experience:
HLP is run by a couple. Mariano speaks really good English from his time studying in the UK. Teresa doesn't speak English but was extremely kind and helpful when I stayed in October, despite it being manically busy on the national day holiday. Both looked after me when I stayed an extra day to try and recover from a bad fall. In fact, completely unsolicited, they're still assisting me in trying to retrieve missing stuff that I posted home from the local Correos at the time.
 
Day two dawns and I am awake around 7, but slept soundly and unbroken throughout the evening, after people around me in Hostal Tres Cantos*** had stopped running water... the sound of which carried along the corridor and between the wall and my space.

Yesterday I had a great shower after two nights in Madrid when I didn't bother. This morning is fresh clothing too. It was trying to rain last night as I walked along the boulevard to see what the 'features' were of this planned satellite of Madrid (a Spanish Milton Keynes) but nothing really was reaching the pavement - it was a rain illusion and a warning against complacency. The main feature was the width of the central square/rectangular tree lined avenue and it's distance away from the train station and town hall where the Camino de Madrid carried on without coming into the town. Yesterday I thought to keep going as 25 kilometres isn't so long, but the sleep deprivation was getting to me so much better a quiet night away from any 'historic' town - of which they will be plenty ahead?

View attachment 137739route oute
I'm not long back after I walked this route , it was a wonderful journey
 
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At 1500 I am in room 19 @ Hostal La Maya after a very, very wet day. Luckily I stopped for a lovely sopa in Navacerrada served with the warm afternoon glow by the proprietor, cook and chica from Venezuela. She made me smile, they made me smile and the bean soup made me walk into the pulsating rain as the path took me up behind the town - I wasn't expecting that! Meson Jarvis, he was my English teacher back before university and the chica made walking in a sulking weightbound morning, with only suggestions of mountains, and me gathering rain enough to sink a ship, worthwhile. I'd looked into a posh establishment once prior to it and felt cold stares - colder than the rain I'd gathered in several hours. Actually I sat down but the frowning cold shoulder of the people who welcomed' me into Nava Real made me decide to trudge on in the downpour - they really couldn't care that I was soaking - they were more concerned I was dripping wet on the carpet. They almost failed to realise I came for their hospitality... I decided it would be better to put on my wet attire and trudge onwards: I was rewarded with judiones de la granja which helps in the fight with all natural throws my way?
 
Not sure what's happened here. This is my experience:
HLP is run by a couple. Mariano speaks really good English from his time studying in the UK. Teresa doesn't speak English but was extremely kind and helpful when I stayed in October, despite it being manically busy on the national day holiday. Both looked after me when I stayed an extra day to try and recover from a bad fall. In fact, completely unsolicited, they're still assisting me in trying to retrieve missing stuff that I posted home from the local Correos at the time.
I think I met him, he was very helpful in the afternoon/early evening, but it wasn't him this morning at breakfast - it was another person - the toast I had was barely warmed...
 
Pondering tomorrows ordeal: bought energy wayfarer fayre: higo secco (la alpujarra granel) 500 grams and turrón de Jijona de Alicante 300 grams. Plenty of energy and more weight to carry up those mountain paths in the blessful rain?

At the Hostal I discovered a bath to ease the tiredness I felt from the day behind me. It wasn't so far, but I walked as fast as I was capable in the rain. My coat resisted the majority of the rain, but, as it always does with Páramo, it finds routes through the coat (usually on the shoulders and cuffs). Lunch was copious and I don't know if I can eat another solid meal, but can't set off tomorrow morning with an 'English' breakfast... in Spain? But this is a tourist town so somewhere may offer it? The final place ahead before I leave all hope behind is Casa Cirilo and it's a bed and breakfast so it may offer me a copious breakfast - I should call them to inquire?

1% says eat pasta 99% says go to bed and eat breakfast in the morning with a larger portion... But that might not be possible. Definitely don't drink though... Just a solitary copa vino Blanco, honestly!

***

Sitting at the bar of La Maya , with the Brasil game playing in the corner - it was 4-0 before I retired at half time - on another adventure Brazil were being heavily beaten 7-1 crossing in to Honduras and the gentleman serving me tapes with the glasses of wine, after a large piece of Tortilla, works the bar: I wasn't sure about the tripe tapes, but it was free food so wolved it down without tasting it ...

Up in the room I slept soundly, eventually, as the couple next door were 'tickling' each other with massive tickling sticks... Then a heavy downpour woke me, but it passed and I have a full dose of rest ready for seeking breakfast as the streets were being cleaned below.

***

La Taberna de Minerva at the start of Calle Mayor out of the damp, fog which clings against the gutters and streetlights ominously like a pretend friend. And I am a little apprehensive about today: but nothing that tostados con tomate and café largo cannot remedy?
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Buen camino, and may you sail over that mountain today. There is always San Ildefanso if it gets late, yes? There must be someplace to stay there in addition to the parador.
Edit. Of course, it's off route. But possible in a pinch. Also La Pradera de Navalhorno, a bit farther from Segovia has Hostal El Torreon and Hospedaje La Chata.
 
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Clambering up to the pass was kind of fun, and the turróns definitely kept me stepping, but the long come down to the ruin near to the road has put a great of pressure on the old war wound on the left foot. Not much further to go until the abysmal lameness sets in. Luckily no rain, just heavy mist going up. Afterwards a few breaks in the cloud and I could see the Meseta ahead. My pace now is trudging...
 
My abiding memory is of seeing Segovia in the distance and it remaining in the distance for an awfully long time! It was tough in the heat, but probably much worse in the cold and rain. Keep on trudging!
 
My abiding memory is of seeing Segovia in the distance and it remaining in the distance for an awfully long time!
And add to that the fact that it was a relentlessly straight line with no visual distractions for 12 (?) kilometers?!

I agree that a rainy cold day will really test your mettle, @futurefjp! But the reward of being in Segovia is absolutely worth it! Warmth! Good food! The spectacular aqueduct lit up at night!

Keep on trudging, we’re routing for you.
 
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€46,-
My abiding memory is of seeing Segovia in the distance and it remaining in the distance for an awfully long time! It was tough in the heat, but probably much worse in the cold and rain. Keep on trudging!
My abiding memory will be there being no room in the inns ... Hostal Jaime €50... But the hostess was warm and it's got breakfast... All the Albergues are closed? Why...
 
My abiding memory will be there being no room in the inns ... Hostal Jaime €50... But the hostess was warm and it's got breakfast... All the Albergues are closed? Why...
Segovia doesn’t have a pilgrim’s albergue, at least not that I know about. The closest one is Zamarramala, about 3 kms further on, but according to Gronze it’s closed from mid-November.

Enjoy being in the lap of luxury — I hope the room is warm in addition to the hospitality!
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
The last few kilometres(10ish) was absolutely brutal on my foot, but now I am sat drinking Albariño and eating tapes pork tail, burnt paella which I specifically asked for (the rice which gets stuck on the pan - lush) and dinky pork sausages - and watching the locals cheer on Spain against Morocco (0-0) and I am ravenous.

But looking at the route today it looks quite some distance and I don't know if there is an Albergue open - the symbols on Gronze suggest not - and suddenly I am worried that the cost of accommodation is too much for much longer for me when I can't self cater either.

Day five already...

PXL_20221207_073134985.jpg
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
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tempImagepgNXY3.png

And one from 2019, just after Segovia.

Good that you're 'up up and away', metaphorically speaking. I hope you find some suitable and reasonably-priced accommodation.
 
My left foot is bad. And I am stopping before the suggested etapa/pause which is a little further up ahead after Añe. The bar is open and so is the Albergue. Really i need a 'half' day so at 2pm that's all this day: twenty three kilometres to a bowl of lentils, pork tenderloin etc... And at now filled up, unlike yesterday's day without respite. Different kind of relentlessness: Meseta... Am about to head for a well earned siesta. It was so warm on the plains I had to change into shorts on a crossroads, but I saw no devils awaiting!
 
And I am stopping before the suggested etapa/pause which is a little further up ahead after Añe. The bar is open and so is the Albergue.
Good thing you stopped there because I believe the albergue in Santa María remains closed. Sorry to hear about your foot problem, and hoping that the rest will be all it needs to continue propelling you forward in comfort.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
First true Albergue of this outting and what a relief. Away from condescending bar staff who often fleece me at every opportunity - pig tails indeed - it's 99% bone and 1 percent skin, sure Lola would wolf it down, but then she's related to one (and I am sure she carries just one too many rat genes as she goes noising around).

Back in the early 1980s what I recall was my first Chinese take-away experience included lots of bones, in batter, deep fried and called sweet and sour - inedible!

Truly I love those people who cater to every possible need in their positions, but I am completely on my own with the usual surroundings of an Albergue. Simple and comfortable, and next door to the bar where the hostesses were very hospitable - I had no money, as I rarely draw any out these days because all the ATMs add a arbitrary charge, and they don't take bank cards but the younger señorita suggested I send them the cost of their excellent Menu del Dia and the evenings accommodation via my on line banking (IBAN) - she was super surprised when it arrived in seconds. True, the Albergue is chilly, but I've just brewed up a pot of tea after a long, essential and restorative siesta cleansed my body of the after effects of Segovia, Spain's exit from the Copa Mundial and too many exceptional artisanal biscuits so close to bed time, on top of a couple of well earned vino blancos... They said supper is around 19:30pm, but I won't need such a large feed as at lunch?
 
Good thing you stopped there because I believe the albergue in Santa María remains closed. Sorry to hear about your foot problem, and hoping that the rest will be all it needs to continue propelling you forward in comfort.
Thanks for the support, but this is something that, although it comes and goes, is getting progressively worse the more I walk - dog walking, leisure walking or Camino and I really need it seen to so I can get back to full Camino form.
 
Enforced hermitage isn't a bad thing. Here's me well rested, after deep dream filled sleep with no disturbances, of my own construction or exterior, but I am not 100% sure on my left foot. I am going to hobble the 10 kilometres to Santa María la Real de Nieva, get breakfast and then decide on what I should do: I will be on my way just prior to sunrise, around 8am.

As the bar was locked up at seven thirty I turned in. My stomach rumbled a little without supper but a little enforced sobriety and fasting can only be a good thing to help cleanse the body which may help the foot pain ease?

It was pretty chilly in Añe last night with clear skies above so I slept in the Longjohns I packed just incase I needed them coming through the Sistema Central: they are not my preferred pair (merino) which I couldn't locate while packing, but they're aimed at skiiers so they kept me blissfully unaware of the cold part of the Albergue: oh and the radiator works too and that, with a thick woollen blanket, put me into dreams which were vivid indeed.

If it gets cold in the Albergue I often compare it to the one in San Clemente, La Mancha, which was incredibly frigid those two nights I spent back in November 2019 on the Camino del Sureste: where I escaped the monotony of La Mancha for just a little time...

The forecast looks bad with thunderstorms predicted in the Segovia region, but that is somewhat closer to the mountains so I may escape a thorough soaking on a poorly foot? Finger's are crossed as I get prepared to venture onwards, but that makes packing a little complicated!
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I have had to booooook my return flight on Monday: English rail strikes and getting back to Leeds... So tomorrow I will walk as much as I capable then hitch to Valladolid and then stop there until Sunday when I return to Madrid... It's a feast day in Spain so again I failed to find a place to stay? No no no I am in the football ground in Nava de la Asunción...
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
The path is the destination? No matter how much I look forward to the end of these physical difficulties I am sure that it is just 'the moment' which exists and I am just in this moment at the crossroads? It's like the Power of Now...

Today I left the Albergue at 8 walked for around half an hour before I missed my turn so had to walk straight over planted, ploughed and fallow to join the Camino for an hour: but does it really matter where I am going or where I came from when I am just here without any conception of my true reality? It just rained torrentially all morning.

It is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this Thursday, thank you Spain, but my maths suggests that Jesus must've been born in August or he was literally like a sack of wind ready to blow in less than three weeks ... Logic says that the Roman feast/Christmas is just a superposition, but in a quantum universe no one knows where any two pintxos transects so perhaps this son of God is outside of physics and pinchos? And as one of the faithful anything is possible when it has its origins in Donostia...
 
I have had to booooook my return flight on Monday: English rail strikes and getting back to Leeds... So tomorrow I will walk as much as I capable then hitch to Valladolid and then stop there until Sunday when I return to Madrid... It's a feast day in Spain so again I failed to find a place to stay? No no no I am in the football ground in Nava de la Asunción...
It had to happen?
 
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Three and a quarter hours until here: Nava de la Asunción. And at least an hour after Santa Maria la Real de Nieva in another absolute drench to find all the stuff at the bottom of the backpack is drenched! And I don't know other than it's got zero waterproofing on the base... Which is extremely unhelpful? The rain cover works I think, but appears to be wetter underneath the outside! So I've a damp sleeping bag which I definitely need this evening next to the football ground behind the bull ring... Otherwise I am happy. The people here were/are helpful and chatty and friendly... I've constructed a layer beneath two heavy duty blankets and I've put on last night's atire hopefully I will be as tranquil? They have a heater, which acts at a light, which will dry everything prior to breakfast and to leave the €5 for the Albergue with Santos @ Punto de Encuentro who seemed to know everybody and said it was gratis here tonight...
 
Three and a quarter hours until here: Nava de la Asunción.
I am glad you found a place other than the hotel in Nava de la Asunción, @futurefjp, it sounds like the town has found a place for pilgrims to stay. There was a nice little privately owned albergue, whose owner was a truck driver in the region, but that has been closed for all of 2022.

next to the football ground behind the bull ring..

This sounds like it could be the polideportivo? Gronze does not list anything besides the hotel and the private albergue, so it’d be helpful to notify them of where you are staying. I’m happy to do that, if you just put some details here to explain.

Sounds like you are toasty warm, notwithstanding your backpack’s bigtime fail!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
I am glad you found a place other than the hotel in Nava de la Asunción, @futurefjp, it sounds like the town has found a place for pilgrims to stay. There was a nice little privately owned albergue, whose owner was a truck driver in the region, but that has been closed for all of 2022.



This sounds like it could be the polideportivo? Gronze does not list anything besides the hotel and the private albergue, so it’d be helpful to notify them of where you are staying. I’m happy to do that, if you just put some details here to explain.

Sounds like you are toasty warm, notwithstanding your backpack’s bigtime fail!
I am enjoying your reports which bring back happy memories.
Is that a room (with four beds) in the polideportivo opposite a smart-looking but immensely friendly hotel called Fray Sebastian? I stayed in the accommodation in 2017 and had the impression it was new then and replaced something by the bullring.
 
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Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Steady on there. With the exception of the rail sector - which still has a regional monopoly - the private sector’s too busy trying to survive to go on strike.
Nurses, airport workers, postal workers and rail workers...
 
Steady on there. With the exception of the rail sector - which still has a regional monopoly - the private sector’s too busy trying to survive to go on strike.
And BT just reached a pay settlement to prevent its staff taking strike action...
 
I am enjoying your reports which bring back happy memories.
Is that a room (with four beds) in the polidepoetivo opposite a smart-looking but immensely friendly hotel called Fray Sebastian? I stayed in the accommodation in 2017 and had the impression it was new then and replaced something by the bullring.
Yes that's the one. It's a bit damp: my smalls were a little damp before I got ready for this final day of 2022?
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
In me is one more day? Should do because 7 days isn't so bad with the challenges since the mountains? Booked two nights in Valladolid anyway to be a tourist in the rain... Slept pretty well after the fridge stopped leaking water: I turned it off due to the continual vibrations. The room was a little damp but not particularly cold. Now I am across the park having a cortido after tostados con tomate pondering my day forward as rain is forecast in the very region I am walking through and on the seventh day I am quite tired, but surely it is a day of rest not test?
 
Last 5 kilometres passing over ancient bridge: Alcazarén up ahead? And then public transport to Valladolid - not bad going for 7 days with no rest days. Two nights in Valladolid then back to Chueca for a final hurrah! Covered some Camino mileage since I set off from Paris back in spring in the snow... Will carry on somewhere in spring 2023?
 

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Last 5 kilometres passing over ancient bridge: Alcazarén up ahead? And then public transport to Valladolid - not bad going for 7 days with no rest days. Two nights in Valladolid then back to Chueca for a final hurrah! Covered some Camino mileage since I set off from Paris back in spring in the snow... Will carry on somewhere in spring 2023?
Well done on those seven days and thanks for sharing the ups and downs with us. I've enjoyed following your posts and remembering the delights of my (summer!) Camino de Madrid.

I hope you've a stress-free journey home and some recovery time when you get there.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
In me is one more day? Should do because 7 days isn't so bad with the physical challenges since the mountains (weather and body)? Booked two nights in Valladolid anyway to be a tourist in the rain... Slept pretty well after the fridge stopped leaking water: I turned it off due to the continual vibrations but it decided to defrost... The room was a little damp but not particularly cold. Now I am across the park having a cortido after tostados con tomate pondering my day forward as rain is forecast in the very region I am walking through and on the seventh day I am quite tired, surely the seventh day was a restday?

***

On the final leg of today's suggest Etapa and completely bored of pine forests/plantations: this area reminds me of Les Landes in Gascony, but perhaps not quite as relentlessly uninspiring? Left foot is playing up once more, but so nearly at the end of the walk so I'll manage - 5 hours straight, almost, with one village since Coca, which I tried to hitch all along the road between it and Asunción almost failing, walking most of the way, before a kind worker returned and brought me the short distance to begin the Etapa properly at the suggested starting point.

***

Nursing a slight hangover at the same bar/café which is attached to The Book Factory Hostel. The room got full around 3 am with revelers using it as a place to kip: and I hate that! It shouldn't be allowed really, because they're not traveling! Snoring too. But it's what it is: coffee solves everything! Argentina won on penalties and Brazil didn't. And that was never a penalty: how soft has football become? It's a contact sport for over paid prima donna's!

***

Seven days on the Camino de Madrid - the final pilgrimage of 2022. One whole day in Valladolid to 'sight see' oh the humanity of it... The façade of San Paolo iglesia looks an achievement of creativity I've never seen on any other church (well Wells in Somerset has a fine façade too). I think Valladolid is the second university founded in Spain after Salamanca...

***

In Alcazarén I tried to withdraw some funds from an ATM to pay for the bus journey, but the machine rumbled without providing any funds, good job really as I didn't want to pay the €4 commission, so I hitched to Valladolid a little along the main road to the motorway and he dropped me outside the central park after giving me a little potted history of Renault in the town!
 
As I sit waiting in Gate B20 waiting for a call for the return to Manchester I am reflecting back on the 7 days of the Camino de Madrid and whether it did what I need from the Camino Experience and I think it did? Really I wanted to reach Valladolid on foot if I could in time, but the pressure on my foot seemed to be saying enough, as it came and went during most of the monotony that the Meseta was offering... I know the Meseta (the south area from the Camino del Sureste) is genuinely barren without the distraction of woods, rivers or hills of the likes leading up to the Sistema Central... so can cope with it. But the ongoing issue with my left foot is becoming more than an irritation. As I am on the usual NHS waiting list for a clinical assessment of the problem I guess next year I will restrict the distances I cover per day?
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
The last few kilometres(10ish) was absolutely brutal on my foot, but now I am sat drinking Albariño and eating tapes pork tail, burnt paella which I specifically asked for (the rice which gets stuck on the pan - lush) and dinky pork sausages - and watching the locals cheer on Spain against Morocco (0-0) and I am ravenous.

But looking at the route today it looks quite some distance and I don't know if there is an Albergue open - the symbols on Gronze suggest not - and suddenly I am worried that the cost of accommodation is too much for much longer for me when I can't self cater either.

Day five already...

View attachment 137887
Keep going Buen Camino
 
I always called this the bleeding forest. Resin collection for adhesive making?
In the past I've eaten bits of resin - in Croatia for instance - but don't ever try those in these plantations! Talk about sticky! It got everywhere!
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms

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