Soto del Real 8 October 2022

Soto del Real Sloana

Tres Cantos to Manzanares el Real 27km

This morning it was a supermarket ham and cheese roll and orange juice for breakfast and on the road in the dark at 8:00. This was not a big issue due to street lighting.

Tres Cantos was an uninteresting town built in the 70's. It was all brick with no character whatsoever, although well laid our with wide street and parkland.

The path through to Colmenar Viejo was pleasant mostly following a dry creek bed. The surrounding land was a used for farming with numerous cows, horses and some water buffaloes. On arriving in Colmenar I visited the church which was open (usually they are locked, although I think that there was an event scheduled) and had my credential stamped.

The church had red carpet on the steps up to the alter and I watched an elderly woman touching up the worn patches with a red texta pen. This appears to be a great idea for getting a few extra miles from that worn out floor covering.

After a cup of coffee I headed for Manzanares el Real to meet up with Stuart. It was a hot 15km,

Mostly on rough tracks that are exactly was a mountain bike rider wants. I also discovered that either mountain bikes do not have bells or that the Spanish riders have no idea what they are for.

I arrived in Manzanares el Real about 3:00 and had lunch with Stuart which was the usual Spanish fare of eggs, pork and potatoes after which I tried to find accommodation for the night. As there was nothing available in Manzanares I eventually found a place in Soto del Real which was 7km away. Getting to the town on the bus was the easy part. I managed to book the only place on Booking.com without a proper address, just a street name and property name. Unfortunately the name was not displayed on the property and it took several phone calls to find the correct address. It is too far away from the town to be bothered walking back so it is peanuts and water for my evening meal. The other downside of this misadventure is the fact that I have to walk 7km back to Manzanares tomorrow morning before commencing the 19km walk to Cercedilla (buses don't start on a Sunday morning until 10:00am).