Returning from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid

We should try to book this before we go so we are sure to get back to Madrid on May 13th, in time for our flight home on the 14th.  RailEurope.com doesn't let you book trips in Spain more than 60 days in advance.  RyanAir quotes us a price of 25.29 euros and has flights at 8:15 and 22:20, neither times the best, although the 8:15 am flight is cheaper at 22.61 euros, paid with a debit card or 23.11 with a credit card.  It says that the fare is 10.99€ and the Spanish airport taxes are 11.62€.  Iberia charges $174 so it's not in the running.

I'd actually prefer the train or bus so I could see the countryside and have the time to decompress before flying over what we walked in 2 seconds.  However, I was looking at the bus schedule at ALSA and all the trips take 8-10 hours!!  It goes up to Coruna and has 20 stops so scratch that!  But there are 7 buses a day so in case another form of transportation gets cancelled hopefully we could still take the bus.

There are three trains to Madrid from Santiago, one at 9:05am, one at 5:05pm and then an overnight trenhotel that leaves at 10:33 pm and gets into Madrid at 8:02.  The day trains take about 6 hours so we'd take the earlier one at 9:05am and arrive at 2:56pm.  At 54.20 € it's more than RyanAir but we'd get to see the countryside.  It looks like we will have to think about this.

Train to Pamplona

This week I posted to the gocamino listserv my question about how to get from Madrid to Pamplona. The only flights were at about 8 pm at night and afterour experience at Gatwick in 1999, I don't want to spend a whole day in the airport waiting for a flight. So our other options are a 5 hour bus ride or a 3.5 hour train trip. The other pilgrims on the gocamino list serve seemed to like the train better than the bus. There are 3 trains a day and we are hoping that we don't need reservations. Afterall we don't know if our plane will arive on time with us on it.
http://www.continental-auto.es/
http://www.renfe.es/

If we can't get a train or bus on sunday, we can stay overnight and catch one the following day.

This past week they have been having snow in the Pyrenees and rain in Pamplona. A british pilgrim died of hyperthermia after he got lost on the trail from St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles.
http://www.diariodenavarra.es/
The Camino (Ruta de Napoleon) does not parallel the highway in that area and there are many tales of pilgrims becoming lost in that region. The Refugio at Roncesvalles would ring a bell in the night to guide pilgrims who were lost to the Church.

I also read an account of a barefoot pilgrim who left on April 29th and said that it was quite cold. So I will take that lightweight fleece shirt afterall.

Ultreia!