Working on the Madrid plans

The Camino Madrid begins right between these two leaning towers!

Today, I continue tying up loose ends for the Best of Both groups

 I'll be accompanying in May.

Also, I am finalizing my plans for walking 

the Madrid to Sahagun route.

A shout out for the Friends of the Camino in Segovia!

My Facebook friend, Luis Cañas Salvador, 

gave me a couple of really great links to help with the planning.

 They are in Spanish, 

but it is a simple task to cut and paste the information into Google Translate 

when I do not understand it.

The first link is to a page for the Asociación Amigos Camino de Santiago in Segovia.

(Friends of the Camino de Santiago in Segovia)

Friends - Segovia

They have put together some very helpful information 

for the pilgrim wanting to walk this route! 

On that page you will find a guide

 for the first four stages from Cercedilla to Villaguillo:

Cercedilla to Villeguillo

Here is a list of albergues from Zamarramala to Villeguillo, 

complete with photos:

Albergue List

Here is a map from Villeguillo to Sahagun:

Map Villeguillo to Sahagun

And here is a link to a wonderful guide, complete with maps, 

that will get you all the way from Madrid to Sahagun!

I plan on putting this on a zip drive

 and taking it to a copy shop to have it printed.

COMPLETE GUIDE

There is also a guide written by Johnnywalker 

and put out by the Confraternity of St. James (CSJ) 

which you can purchase for a donation. 

I suggest €5-€10.  

Here is a link to the download:

CSJ Guide

You may need to join the Camino Santiago Forum 

to access this link.

You can also purchase a hard copy of the guide

 at the Confraternity of St. James website.

About this route, Johnnywalker writes:

The way is excellently waymarked throughout, so detailed walking directions are generally not necessary. Where they are needed Walking Notes have been provided in this Edition. Physically, the route is easy to walk. With the exception of the climb over the Sierra de Guadarrama, there are no hills or gradients of any significance. Graphs of the elevations throughout the route have been included in this edition, although these are to be read with caution as they merely indicate the height difference between towns rather than being an accurate relief graph of the route.

Remarkably for such a direct route - almost a straight line from Madrid to Sahagún - there is virtually no road walking. The route uses footpaths, Vias Pecuarias (VPs), cañadas, farm and forestry tracks and even a short stretch of paved Roman road, and the paths are clear and well maintained. As a consequence, the journey is stress-free and one which lends itself to reflection and contemplation, a true pilgrimage route. But the corollary is that there are fewer towns, villages or pilgrims than on other routes with the exception of parts of the Via de la Plata, which the Madrid route closely resembles.

Alcazaren

The more I read about this route, 

the more happy I am for making this decision.

Stay tuned for more information as I dig it up.

Buen Camino!

Annie