Segovia 20 September

My guidebook warned me that today's mountainous walk of 20 miles was the most difficult walk of this Camino. There were no places to stop for the night from the time I left Cercadilla until I arrived in Segovia. It's too bad that it came on only the second day of my walk as I am not in proper walking condition yet, despite the fact that I have been doing a lot of walking at home. Sore legs, sore toes, and sore shoulders. It will toughen me up, though, I guess, for the rest of the Camino.

Today's walk was also the most scenic of this Camino taking me above 5000 feet elevation at the Puerta Fuenfria pass. Most of the way on today's walk was on the Calzada Romana, the road the Romans built to Segovia. A lot of the old Roman road has turned to rubble, though, and it was tough walking especially the first third of the walk which was a steep ascent to the pass. Still it was in a pine forest of the Sierra Guadarrama mountains, very beautiful, and the rest of the walk was a mostly gentle descent into Segovia. 

I arrived in Segovia after 7 1/2 hours of walking. Segovia is a beautiful old Spanish city, famous for its  Roman aqueduct. Only problem is  a lot of tourists here. Kathy and I spent some time here in 2009 and I'll revisit some of the spots that we saw then, especially the Cathedral.  Tomorrow I will take it easy and do my sightseeing, then a short day of walking to the next albergue. By the way,I did sleep on a wrestling mat in the Polideportivo last night, the only pilgrim there. Since I knew today's walk would end up being tough on my old body, I am treating myself to a nice hotel room again. It is located between the aqueduct and the cathedral in the old part of the city. 

The Polideportivo

The Roman road

Marker at the pass

More markers

The pine forests

My welcoming committee

Almost out of the forest

What a change as you descend

Interesting contrast between new farm machinery and the old cathedral 4km outside of Segovia