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Is anyone planning to hike the Camino de Madrid this May?

Lily Sutherland

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino de Madrid & Camino Frances
Hi! I'm thinking of hiking the Camino de Madrid to Sahagun, where I will connect with the Camino Frances and continue to Santiago... But I have never hiked the Camino before and I don't speak Spanish. Is anyone else planning to take this route in May? Would anyone highly recommend I not take this route?

Since I'll be flying in to Madrid, my other option would be to take a train/bus from Madrid and begin at St. Jean Pied de Port, but I somehow feel that taking the Madrid route would make the experience more authentic. Please share any thoughts you may have, I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Hi! I'm thinking of hiking the Camino de Madrid to Sahagun, where I will connect with the Camino Frances and continue to Santiago... But I have never hiked the Camino before and I don't speak Spanish. Is anyone else planning to take this route in May? Would anyone highly recommend I not take this route?

Since I'll be flying in to Madrid, my other option would be to take a train/bus from Madrid and begin at St. Jean Pied de Port, but I somehow feel that taking the Madrid route would make the experience more authentic. Please share any thoughts you may have, I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks!
Hi, Lily,

Welcome to the forum :)

First of all maybe you should ask yourself why you want to walk any Camino. Then you might find the answer withing yourself.
But you can check some posts in this sub forum and in Calendar section. I remember a few will start in the spring but can't remember exactly who.

First main difference between CdM and CF that comes to my mind is that Madrid is much much more solitary than Frances and when you hit CF at Sahagun is a real shock.
Secondly, In Sahagun you will hit already formed "Camino families" which can be a bit of a shock also especially for an introverted persons.
Madrid also required a lot more Spanish to get by than Frances.
Number four. There are enough albergues and other accommodation options on CdM but there are hundred times more on CF if that's of any concern. Same goes for opened shops, bars, restaurants etc.
CdM is mostly flat apart from one stretch but so is the Meseta (roughly) between Burgos and Leon, so there wouldn't be any major difference in walking on CF or CdM. But on the CF you have this first day with crossing Pyrenees.

And maybe most important of all - how much time you have?

Anyway, happy planning because that's almost half of the fun ;)
 
Hi @Lily Sutherland and welcome to the forum. The Camino de Madrid is very solitary, with few, if any, other pilgrims. I have been told that on it you are unlikely to meet anyone else walking, which is why I rejected it when considering it for our little group this year. If you have never walked the Camino before, and you don't speak Spanish, then it may not be the best choice.
 
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Hi! I'm thinking of hiking the Camino de Madrid to Sahagun, where I will connect with the Camino Frances and continue to Santiago... But I have never hiked the Camino before and I don't speak Spanish. Is anyone else planning to take this route in May? Would anyone highly recommend I not take this route?

Since I'll be flying in to Madrid, my other option would be to take a train/bus from Madrid and begin at St. Jean Pied de Port, but I somehow feel that taking the Madrid route would make the experience more authentic. Please share any thoughts you may have, I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks!


Lily:

The CdM is a very nice Camino.

It has a full range of topography (mountains, woods and farmland (meseta). With the exception of the Cercedilla to Segovia section (31 km's), it can be broken down into more manageable segments. There is adequate accommodation.

I walked in April and the weather was pretty temperate.

This is a solitary walk, especially if you do not speak Spanish. I only met two other Pilgrims during my CdM.

I would recommend as a first Camino you consider walking the Camino Frances. You do not have to start in SJPdP. You can start in Pamplona (much easier to get to) or Roncesvalles.

Ultreya,
Joe
 
Camino de Madrid is lovely, but without Spanish it will be fairly complicated. A lot of the lovely little villages are populated by elderly people (their kids and grandkids are working in Madrid), and they don't speak English.

However, this is the Camino with the largest proportion of helpful, friendly and interested people of all the ones we have tried. The barkeeper who phoned his friends so I could tell them about this camino, the priest who introduced his whole congregation to us (and ordered us to stand up in church after Mass so they would recognize us and be sure to take good care of us), the lady who ran after us in her slippers into the grocery store because she had heard there were pilgrims in town and wanted to be certain we got HER stamp in our credenciales, though we weren't even planning to sleep in the town, the widowed hospitalero who introduced us to his donkey and showed us where he was growing vegetables for the pilgrims to pick because there wasn't any place to buy food in town and then had a simple meal I cooked in the albergue with us - those were all on the Camino de Madrid.

If you choose this one, just get through the first two boring days, and you will be overwhelmed with hospitality and friendliness. But start learning Spanish NOW.

(I'd still recommend Francés for the first Camino, but if you're fine walking alone all the time, go for it.)
 
but I somehow feel that taking the Madrid route would make the experience more authentic
I'm not sure why you think that the Madrid route is more "authentic". It's actually a more modern route than the Frances, or the Primitivo, which I understand is the oldest route.

Here's some information on the Madrid route: http://www.csj.org.uk/planning-your...ntiago/routes-in-spain/the-route-from-madrid/

And the Primitivo: http://www.csj.org.uk/planning-your...santiago/routes-in-spain/the-primitive-route/
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
If you search these forums, there are plenty of day-by-day blogs, including my own:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...aily-updates-from-the-camino-de-madrid.33626/

Also, search YouTube. The CdM was my first Camino two years ago. It was great fun, very quiet, no problems of any kind (except sore feet) and fabulous scenery all the way. It was blue sky and warm every day except one or two, although a bit nippy early in the mornings - I started in May as well. I speak no Spanish but never struggled - I had an A4 sheet of choice phrases like 'Where is the albergue, please' and 'One more beer, please'. My language skills have been hopeless all my life. Everyone I met was great and helpful. It's wonderfully quiet and you won't meet more than a handful of other people each day, if you are lucky - the real shocker is when you get to the very busy CdF! Many nights, I was the only one in the albergue and some of the albergues doubled as places for schoolchildren to stay on trips so were massive buildings. The yellow arrows were excellent everywhere but it's worth learning how to download and use gpx tracks that others have done on your smartphone, or get yourself a cheap GPS unit. They are helpful and reassuring, especially if you set off when it's still dark and can't see the arrows.

My advice is to stop worrying and just get on with the planning. Try very very very very very hard to keep your pack under 7Kg in total (you'll add a few extra with water and snacks).

The Madrid was brilliant, so brilliant in fact that I'm doing it again this May: Camino de Madrid, CdF, Camino del Salvador, Camino de Primitivo, CdF then Finisterre. Perhaps we will meet! I will go probably sometime in the first half of May, once my current work contract ends.
 
Hi! I'm thinking of hiking the Camino de Madrid to Sahagun, where I will connect with the Camino Frances and continue to Santiago... But I have never hiked the Camino before and I don't speak Spanish. Is anyone else planning to take this route in May? Would anyone highly recommend I not take this route?

Since I'll be flying in to Madrid, my other option would be to take a train/bus from Madrid and begin at St. Jean Pied de Port, but I somehow feel that taking the Madrid route would make the experience more authentic. Please share any thoughts you may have, I would really appreciate the advice! Thanks!
Hi,
All being well, I intend to walk the Camino Madrid - again - this May, starting from Madrid on 17th or 18th. It is a lovely walk, but both times I have walked this route, I have only seen four other pilgrims and both times two of them were walking the route in the opposite direction. Although there are few walkers, it is becoming increasingly popular with mountain bikers, so there are a good few of them. The route is well marked and the accommodation is not a problem. It is best to have a bit of Spanish and you have time to get a few basic phrases learnt, this together with a phrase book will get you by. If you do the Camino Frances in May you will find each day it becomes, for many a race for a bed.
Regards
HenryMorgan
 
Camino de Madrid was delightful last week, but often disgustingly hot. All the locals were complaining about the unseasonably hot weather, and we assured them that we hadn't brought it with us from Norway...

...where there was frost on the ground when I walked to work this morning.
 
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