Exploring and Sketching Segovia, Spain and the Camino Madrid

After my visit to Valencia in Spring of 2024, I headed to Segovia in central Spain.

The primary reason for the 2024 trip to Spain was to walk the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago.

Towards that end, I had planned a trial Camino on a lesser-known route. This route is called the Camino Madrid (there are more than a dozen different Camino de Santiago routes in Spain).

The Camino Madrid starts in Madrid. After a couple of weeks of walking, it meets the Camino Frances at its halfway point in Sahaguan, Spain

At the end of March, there are snow-covered mountains for the first couple of days when leaving Madrid. So I took the train to Segovia. A beautiful city about a half an hour by train from Madrid.

I end up spending a few days in Segovia sketching. The big site here is the Alcazar de Segovia.

Legend has it that Walt Disney based the castle in the first Snow White animated film on it.

After being a tourist for a few days, I shipped all my painting gear and extra equipment ahead to Valladolid, which is about a weeks walk north of Segovia. And then I hoisted my backpack up, and I was on my merry way.

Once I started my Camino, as I walked out of Segovia, I stopped at the wonderful Colección de Títeres Francisco Peralta (En: Francisco Peralta Puppet Collection).

Very few people walk this route, and I only ran into 3 other walkers, which apparently is statistically busy!

But on the very first day, just a few hours down the road, I met a pleasant German woman who was also hiking the Camino Madrid. After talking to her and petting her dog, I realized I knew her from Instagram. Her account is @pushbikegirl. I had been following her varied travel adventures, usually on a bicycle.

But now she was on foot, and we bumped into each other often over the next few days. After her Camino Madrid adventures, she walked with a couple of donkeys through the Basque region mountains. Last I heard, she was hiking through Sardinia in Italy. Her website is here.

I chose the Camino Madrid because I wanted a flat route that would help me get in shape before tackling the more difficult and hilly Camino Frances. The last time I had tried to walk that road, I got a leg injury. It stopped me after the first few days. I did finish it, but by bicycle.

And as promised, the route was very flat. Much of the beginning of this route is through pine forests. The trails are very soft from sand and fallen pine needles.

There’s a lot of sap harvesting in these forests, so you’re constantly passing trees with a little buckets attached.

There is an Albergue system for pilgrims along the route, and that’s where I slept. These are like youth hostel dormitories with bunk beds. For the most part, they are almost deserted. Usually I had my own room filled with empty bunks.

While I was walking, I only did some sketching the last day of my trip in Simancas, Spain. The major point of interest there is the Archivo de Simancas. It holds documents from the Spanish royalty during the time of the Spanish empire.

Unfortunately, the problem I had during my hike was related to the timing. It was Semana Santa (holy week), the week before Easter Sunday. Many stores and restaurants were closed or had holiday hours. I felt I couldn’t depend on being able to get food. I decided to stop the Camino Madrid in Valladolid after a week. I spent a couple of nights there before moving on to one of my favorite Spanish cities, Salamanca. And that will be the focus my next post.