Day 16 To La Granja de San Idefanso

What a beautiful day. Up over the highest point on this Camino. And yes there was plenty of snow. It was old snow, so we could mostly walk on top of it, with just a few post holes up to our knees.

It seemed like there might not be any snow at all as we were within 30 minutes of the top before a few small patches appeared in the shade. Then larger patches and at the top we were able to step over the closed gate while standing on two feet of the white stuff. The trail then leads to a north slope with even deeper drifts. We saw two local hikers and no pilgrims.

The temperature was perfect, in the 40s and 50s all day, with mostly sunny skies.

We choose the right turns on the north side, leading to Valsain and San Ildefonso, having made reservations in the later. It's a resorty type town with high prices. The left fork, directly to Segovia might be equally good.

We hope to complete the Camino Madrid in the morning and take a train to Ourense, the 100+ kilometers point on the Sanabres/Via de la Plata route.

It's been a wonderful route, I'll try to summarize my thoughts about it in tomorrows post.

Several pictures:

 Leaving Cercedilla at dawn.

 A Roman road for a while.

 Only a few yellow arrows, just keep going up.

 Probably 3 or 4 kilometers of walking on snow.

 Selfie in the snow.

 Some logging going on just below the snow line. Many trees were marked with red, white, or green dots, which signify different trails. Just keep going up to the pass and follow the main road down the north side. It is a very long trail with no resources, bring plenty of food and water.