Madrid - Tres Cantos. Back on track

First I had decided to walk the part that I skipped in June, when I merely wanted to see if this walking business was at all possible for a couch potato like me. In June I also wanted to get out into the nature as soon as I could.
Anyway, this time around I wanted to start from central Madrid.
I wanted to get a stamp (sello) from la iglesia de Santiago, but I didn't have patience to wait for the church to open in the morning. I had coffee and churros in the bar next to the church instead ;)


... and then I started to walk!
I got a sello at another church after a few kilometres. I think it was the first one they had stamped! It was quite hot, so I stopped a few times to buy water and coffee in various bars and sandwich shops.
The first part isn't marked with the yellow arrows, but the free maps a certain big warehouse chain publishes covers the streets all the way to Fuencarral. You can find arrows from Paseo de la Castellana. (Plaza Castilla).

I walked to Fuencarral. Waiting for P, the peregrina I met in June, I walked around the town and had a few tapas on the square near the metro station. (If you want to start outside Madrid just take the metro to Fuencarral.)


Tip of the day: Today was hot and sunny, and no shadow - don't forget to bring water and a hat!



Next morning P and el perro Mati followed me a while.

The path from Fuencarral to Tres Cantos had no cafeterias or places to buy water unless you leave the camino, so carry some extra from the start. I was very thirsty when I reached Tres Cantos! (I nicked some figs from a tree by the path, sorry about that.)
In the town hall they told me that the police stamped credencials, and in the police office they said the opposite. But I got the sello from the polite policeman after saying that the ayuntamiento hadn't given me one!

Coca - Villeguillo - Alcazaren. La meseta is...flat.

From Tres Cantos I had a lot of luck with trains and buses, I had a lunch/dinner in Segovia between buses, at a salad bar that was open during siesta hours. You gotta love the fast food chains!
I arrived in Coca late afternoon, and got a room at the guesthouse near the bus stop. Visited the church, and ayuntamiento to get my sello.
Next morning I was only walking to Villeguillou, because I wanted to stay in the brand new albergue there.


Fields, pine trees, more fields. I didn't see many people.
Got to Villeguillou during la siesta ...as usual my timing sucked. But the bar was open, and the owner knew who had the keys to the albergue, so I waited in the bar. It was between lunch and dinner, but the bar owner offered to do something "light" to eat, and I had a wonderful big omelette sandwich. Later in the afternoon I bought some cured ham from one of the market cars that services the castilian small towns without grocery stores. (Like the one in Añe).


The albergue was brand new, very clean and nice. I was the only one there, and the only bad thing was that there were no curtains on the window. I didn't think much of it as there was nothing outside.
But late at night I heard whispering outside, and it turned out to be two kids. I didn't confront them about the rudeness of trying to get a glimpse of the foreign lady (if that was what they were doing), I simply said "hello boys, what's your names" and they ran away after realising that I noticed them.
I had a bit hard to relax after that, even if they were too young to be dangerous, it made me realise that the whole town knew there was a woman on her own in the albergue. I put up my scarf as a curtain.


One of the two new bathrooms.


Fridge, freezer, tv and kitchenette. I had my half filled camelback in the freezer during the night, filled it up with water that was cool during the whole next day.


Villeguillou albergue from the outside. The alcalde (mayor) of the town, has the keys.


Sunrise.


I took the "wrong" old camino by mistake, didn't see where the new detour started, and this is the finca where the owner presumably doesn't want peregrinos to walk through his property. But I sat in the shadow outside one of the houses taking a break, didn't see many people, and those I saw seemed friendly enough. Looked more like a village than a one family farm, even had a (closed) bar.


In Alcazaren you collect the keys at Bar Pepin, and he made me a wonderful three course meal even if it was a bit early, as usual.
I went to the grocery store to get some food for the next day, and picked up some things to clean the albergue. Which had a lovely - but not very clean - bathroom, with a full size tub!

Alcazaren - Puente Duero - Cigunuela