La Pedriza, Senda Maeso, El Yelmo and Manzanares el Real

Today marks a great leap forward in my career as a goat photographer.

Attentive Chorizophiles will surely have noticed that sheep, goats and cows are a recurring theme around here.

Why, you might ask?

Well, because the mountains in Madrid (and possibly everywhere else in Spain) are crawling with them.

Today’s route took in parts of Senda Maeso, El Yelmo and La Pedriza. Starting and ending in Manzanares el Real, which is only about 50 minutes by bus from the new Chorizo Chronicles world headquarters.

Strangely enough, I got lost and almost died on this same mountain many years ago. I was young, stupid, and under the impression that there was a bus stop every 100 meters all across Europe. Well, I was wrong. Very wrong.

Lost in la Pedriza

I ended up walking about 40 kilometers (I would estimate), and around midnight I arrived in Miraflores de la Sierra with no choice but to sleep in the park and get up for the bus at 5:30 AM. It sucked.

The lesson? Respect the mountain.

The universe doesn’t give a shit how young and optimistic you are…

If you do something stupid like going out without a map or water or any idea of what you’re doing, you can die. And it will be entirely your fault. And the world will go on in much the same way as it always has, without you.

It was quite a revelation. Oh well. Anyway, enjoy the goats. Those are Spanish Ibex, in case you’re keeping track.

How to get to La Pedriza

How to arrive: Catch bus #724 to Manzanares el Real in Plaza Castilla. Buses run about every half hour on weekdays, once an hour on weekends. You can probably find the schedule for bus 724 online, here’s the Consorcio de Transportes Interurbanas if you want. The website really sucks. Welcome to Spanish life.

It takes a bit more than 45 minutes to reach Manzanares el Real, you can get off at the castle.

Manzanares el Real is a cute little village with plenty of bars and restaurants. There’s a tourist information place next to the castle that will tell you what’s going on in the village and direct you, otherwise, there are bound to be plenty of people going to La Pedriza, you can follow them. The street you have to take is called Avenida de la Pedriza, it leaves the village to the west.

La Pedriza itself is a couple of kilometers to the northwest of the village, and you want to follow the trail along the river. It’s a bit rocky but easy and not very steep.

There are a couple of bars and restaurants in unexpected places out in the middle of nowhere, and if you know where to look, you can find cows and mountain goats.

A note about cows: It’s the cows that are walking around loose, not the bulls. They do have big sets of horns, but they’re not aggressive. If you leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone.

More here: la Pedriza, Senda Maeso and Manzanares el Real. Or try Escape to Cercedilla or Wandering in Gran Canaria

Update, 2023: I now have a much better article about the Camino de Santiago. Check it out!