- Time of past OR future Camino
- Francés2005, Portugués, Madrid, Plata, etc; hospi
My husband and I had a nice, if somewhat lonely walk this Easter. We had some wonderful meetings with locals, including the parish priest who had us stand up during Mass to introduce us to all his parishioners and the lady who had heard there were pilgrims passing by and came running to stamp our credenciales while we were standing in line to buy bread and cheese.
We were the only strangers at several Easter processions and other celebrations, and had plenty of opportunities to practice our Spanish. (This is NOT the walk for people who speak no Spanish, but if you know at least a little, you will know a lot more after a week on this camino!)
On the other hand, we met ONE pilgrim (a guy on a bike who knocked on our window at the albergue at 10 PM so we'd let him in) - the rest of the time, we were on our own or with locals.
We knew there was a pilgrim a day or two in front of us because we saw his Korean signature in the guest book in one place, heard about him from a hospitalera in another place and washed the dirty dishes he'd left in a third albergue, but this is NOT the walk where you meet a lot of pilgrims!
For the first couple of days, there weren't any albergues, and nobody understood why we wanted them to stamp our credenciales. I ended up giving a lecture about the Camino de Madrid in a bar to three interested locals in one place.
After leaving Segovia, the albergues were lovely and mostly free. (We left donativos anyway, when we could). People were interested, there were large signs welcoming pilgrims, and we felt very welcome.
Food was a bit tricky, in that bars generally are closed at least one day a week, and in a couple of places there weren't any bars or shops. But we were prepared, and improvised meals in albergues, whether they had kitchens or not, and gratefully accepted the fresh eggs laid by the hens of the man who took care of one of the tiny albergues. (He was planting tomatoes, onions and snow peas for the pilgrims he expected later in the season.)
Would we do it again? YES. We're starting in Valdestillas next Easter.
We were the only strangers at several Easter processions and other celebrations, and had plenty of opportunities to practice our Spanish. (This is NOT the walk for people who speak no Spanish, but if you know at least a little, you will know a lot more after a week on this camino!)
On the other hand, we met ONE pilgrim (a guy on a bike who knocked on our window at the albergue at 10 PM so we'd let him in) - the rest of the time, we were on our own or with locals.
We knew there was a pilgrim a day or two in front of us because we saw his Korean signature in the guest book in one place, heard about him from a hospitalera in another place and washed the dirty dishes he'd left in a third albergue, but this is NOT the walk where you meet a lot of pilgrims!
For the first couple of days, there weren't any albergues, and nobody understood why we wanted them to stamp our credenciales. I ended up giving a lecture about the Camino de Madrid in a bar to three interested locals in one place.
After leaving Segovia, the albergues were lovely and mostly free. (We left donativos anyway, when we could). People were interested, there were large signs welcoming pilgrims, and we felt very welcome.
Food was a bit tricky, in that bars generally are closed at least one day a week, and in a couple of places there weren't any bars or shops. But we were prepared, and improvised meals in albergues, whether they had kitchens or not, and gratefully accepted the fresh eggs laid by the hens of the man who took care of one of the tiny albergues. (He was planting tomatoes, onions and snow peas for the pilgrims he expected later in the season.)
Would we do it again? YES. We're starting in Valdestillas next Easter.
So glad you've enjoyed it!
