Happy trekking

 Our journey so far:

Madrid to Tres Cantos, Tres Cantos to Colmenar Veijo, Colmenar Veijo to Manzanares el Real to Mataelpino and today stopping in Navacerrada. 

This morning we we left Hostal la Pedriza which was an experience to say the least. Not sure if it was a grungy bar with a sideline running hostel rooms or a cover for something a bit more edgy. As it was the only gig in town we stayed there in a four-bed bunk room. Our bunk roomies were a young French couple, very nice. However just not sure we're up for bunk rooms anymore at our age. The bar downstairs was active until about 11:00 p.m. and then all the clumping up and down the stairs as jolly Spaniard's called buenes noches to each other - need I say more?

 Nice walking today, hugging the valley floor of a high Sierra pass. Stream crossings and cattle with big bells around the necks roaming loose. More rapido Kamikaze mountain bikers - great to see so many making the most of the weekend and getting into nature. Lovely to be hiking along talking to mum and dad by WhatsApp in NZ.

Today's towns of Mataelpino and Navacerrada are little alpine villages. In the winter season they are covered in snow. 

Mataelpino looked more a working class or service village and it had some lovely public sculptures.

Navacerrada, where we are staying tonight, is a very chic winter resort town that doubles as a spring getaway for Madridliano's escaping the heat. Sunday is where the beautiful people promenade and have long lazy lunches in very expensive restaurants, how the other half live! As we walked into town in our daggy hiking gear it felt like we were walking into a Pedro Almodovar film set with groovy people in a chocolate box setting.

Not sure how they enforce the poop scoop law.

I'm fascinated by the storks. They are so elegant flying and then they look so big and clunky as they jostle  about in their nests.Their nests are incredible and always perched on the highest tree branch or the roofline or the church tower.

Have I mentioned the pigeons? Day  one in Madrid I spied the hotel swimming pool and as it was stinking hot I went to check it out and found a very wet pigeon fluffing its feathers by the side of the pool - no swimming that day. The next day I was shat  on in Plaza Mayor. Then the very next day after that as we started out on the trail we came across a pigeon on the ground flapping,  the poor creature had either flown into electricity wires or being hit and it was struggling. We gave it a wide berth to let nature take its course, poor thing. Then yesterday at Hostal la Padriza  the windows in our little four bed bunk room had ledges with bleeding pigeons on - pooping and gurgling and googly-eyeballing us. Not satisfied with that, they got me again as I stepped out of  for a promenade and I quickly learned to walk at the road edge of the pavement. 

So from the outhouse of Hostel la Padriza  to the penthouse of Hotel Nava Real,  a lovely casa rural  with bags of charm and a Michelin star restaurant to boot. Lucky the washing I was drying on the balcony didn't get blown down to the outdoor restaurant below :)

This Camino is very different from the other Camino that we have walked. We loved the original Camino Frances which was very pleasant walking between small villages with lots of variety. We loved Camino Portuguese where we did the coastal route with little seaside villages hugging the coast, beautiful. The Camino del Norte again a beautiful coastal walk. Camino Inglese was different again with a blend of coastal and small village walking and now we are on the Camino de Madrid. This Camino has very few services between the villages and very few peregrinos walking the trails which is good but equally it has its challenges. It is just interesting to compare and contrast the differences between the various paths and what we enjoy along the coastal route versus the inland routes. After the mountain pass and Segovia, this Camino has a lot of flat walking across wide open plains with little shelter - depending on the weather it could be brutal, it's not supposed to be this hot in May 😊The hotel owner said they are getting the June heat already in May! We may revisit our plans but are just taking it one day at a time. 

Hasta luego amigos 👍