I started from Madrid on April 7, and four days later walked into Segovia. There, fate intervened in the form of an e-mail from my real estate agent in Virginia informing me that a very well-qualified buyer had been found for a flat I needed to sell. It had been on market nine months. It appeared St. Joseph was not listening to my pleas for intervention (it's an old urban myth about selling a home). But the buyer was being very strict about settlement dates.
So, needs must, the next morning, I hopped a train at Segovia (excellent AVE service by the way) to Leon and continued the second-half of my planned route on the C/F in the rain... This allowed me to recover from the interruption, reach Santiago, and return home in time for the sale of my home.
In fact, I am in Virginia now. The sale is four days. Had I continued as originally planned, I would have reached Santiago yesterday, and returned home to South Florida on Monday. So, it all worked out...
However, those four days out of Madrid convinced me that the Madrid route is not bad, just "different" from other routes, especially more popular routes like the Frances and Portuguese routes. The fortuitous e-mail that caused me to truncate my planned Camino turned out to have been well-timed, and almost like good karma in it's effect.
In four-days walking I met exactly one other pilgrim who was not a day hiker, or a mountain biker on a local ride. And she, a young woman from Germany on her first-ever Camino, soon realized she had made an error by choosing this route for her first Camino.
Based on my advice, she too jumped ahead to Leon to walk the second half of the Camino Ftances. When I later met her again, after she arrived at Santiago, she was thrilled at her achievement. She was also thankful for the advice to do the Frances for her first Camino. Mission accomplished!
For my part, in each of the towns I walked into: Tres Cantos, Navarcerrada, Cercedilla, and Segovia, there was a near total absence of anything "Camino" related. There were even fewer "flechas amarilla" markings. They are there, but you need to pay closer attention than you might on the
Camino Frances or Portuguese routes. It easier to make a wrong turn.
I was always careful, when stopping at my lodgings, to ask for a town map, and to be shown the Camino route out of town. God bless Google Maps for in-town and urban navigation. Like I said, the arrows are fewer and farther between...
I came away with the distinct impression that the "Madrilanos" may believe they are too urbane and cool for something so plebeian as the
Camino de Santiago. Oh well, to each his own...
In Navarcerrada, I even met a policeman who, when I asked where the
Camino de Santiago route was to leave town, replied with a shrug "no se... (I do not know...)" SERIOUSLY?!
At Cercedilla, while attending a Saturday evening Vigil Mass to meet my Sunday obligation, I was approached, and touched lightly on the arm, by two or three elderly women, who asked me in Spanish: "Was it true that I was a pilgrim...?" And, "Is it true that you are going to Santiago?" I replied as best I could in my limited Spanish that, yes this was all true.
It was SURREAL! The overall effect on me was that these people evidently did not see many pilgrims, and the presence of one, so brightly attired pilgrim (my livery is often neon colored for safety) in their midst was akin to my just alighting from my spacecraft, having arrived on Earth from whatever planet I was from. The attention from these very nice people was genuine. I was very respectful. But it still left me with an unsettled feeling. It was just weird.
The other aspect of at least the first four days of the Madrid route is that the scenery is beautiful. However, it is so remote. There are NO services or cafes between towns. There are far more cattle on the ranches adjacent to the country road, or senda you follow. The sole saving aspects that cellular / mobile phone signal strength was very good, and you are still within the Communidad of Madrid until you reach Segovia.
So, the Camino de Madrid is different from other routes. The relative good or bad should be assessed by each pilgrim who undertakes it. For me, it was a bit too desolate and devoid of others. It was physically challenging at times. Yet the scenery is beautiful.
In particular, the "climb" out of Navarcerrada is a "doozie!" I put in a par with the first day out of St. Jean Pied de Port on the Frances.
But, to tell the absolute truth, after the first three days, God and I had nothing more to say to each other. Trust me, I was listening, but there was no one on the other end of the conversation at that point. I was fresh out of meditation, prayers, and miscellaneous mind teasers that pilgrims use to occupy their grey cells while walking. Listening to music is out of the question for me while on Camino, both for reasons of safety and just on principle.
So, when the karma-like intervention dropped into my lap via e-mail at Segovia, maybe it WAS the Boss telling me to "fuggedaboutit!" Who am I to judge? I just rolled with the facts and reality. It and life, in general, will all work out...
I hope this helps.