A Day On A Path
Had a nice four-hour train ride from Santiago to Madrid this morning. Taxi to the hotel, store my bags, find a 2pm breakfast. I was hungry!
Nap. Then a half mile walk to the Plaza Mayor. Dinner on the plaza & flight check in back at the hotel.
From the time I leave the hotel in the morning to the time my plane lands in KC is 21 hours 30 minutes (if all the travel gods align).
Up at 0300 and at the Kansas City airport by 0430 for an 0600 Delta flight to Newark. A four-hour layover and a nice chat with a United Air crew member over my semi-warm $33 piece of chicken. Then the stormy remnants of Hurricane Ida decided to sit on the airport for a few hours.
The airport lost power, the ground floor had twelve inches of flood water rushing under the escalators, and after six hours of delays, the flight to Madrid was cancelled. Then, uncancelled. Happily, we are Madrid- bound. It’s 0340, we’ve had dinner (chicken or pasta microwaved to a scrumptious chewiness). I have a free WiFi connection and a 3-seat row all to myself.
Since I will have missed my $49 Iberia Airline flight to Pamplona by the time we arrive in Madrid at 3pm, I called to change my flight to the next day. The charge to do that: $312. I’ll spend the night in Madrid and decide on alternate transportation to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP). Either an 8+ hour bus ride or the train to Pamplona with a bus to SJPP.
Camino options galore! Now considering the Camino de Madrid which is a camino path from Madrid to Sahagun, where it picks up the Camino Frances which takes you to Santiago de Compostella.
Distance would be approximately:
Madrid to Sahagun – 322 km / 200 miles
Sahagun to Santiago de Compostella – 303 km / 188 miles
Santiago to Finisterre – 84 km / 52 miles
Total: 709 km / 440 miles
HOWEVER! Once at Sahagun, I could train/bus back to some favorite places and walk some stretches of the Camino Frances. Maybe Pamplona? Burgos?Estella? Some points in between those places? Could add up to another 200 km just revisiting favorite places. Then once back in Sahagun, walk to Santiago and on to Finisterre.
