Today we left Santa Domingo de la Cazada and headed towards Belorado.
The itinerary did warn us today that we would spend most of the day walking along the busy N-120 and A-12 roads and that was exactly what we did! Santa Domingo de la Cazada is named after its founder, Dominic de la Cazada, who built a bridge, hospital, and hotel here for pilgrims on the Camino Frances. He also began construction of the town’s Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Cazada that is dedicated to him and where he is buried.
We crossed the (almost dried up) River Oja through the Puente del Santo (Saint’s Bridge) that Saint Dominic built centuries ago. This bridge has 16 arches and is 148 meters long.
We passed through some fairly flat countryside, until we came alongside Cerro Grañón (805m). Given its height over the surrounding landscape gave it a strategic importance, a fortress was built on it in the 9th century to contain the Muslim invasion. The castle of Grañón, as it is also on the border between the kingdoms of Castile and Navarra, played a role in territorial disputes until a treaty in 1176 put an end to them.
We passed through the village of Grañón which is the last village in La Rioja on the Camino Frances. The village grew around the Monastery of San Juan which is now the parish church.
We then crossed the border between La Rioja and Castile y Leon, unfortunately the sign was subject to graffiti but it does give a good indication of where we are headed. The path for most of the day was a dusty track as we walked through the villages of Redecilla del Camino, Castildelgado and Viloria de Rioja where, as usual there were churches far larger than the village size would indicate. The walk was also a long uphill incline until we started our downward march into Belorado.
We checked in to our Hotel Jacobeo, had some lunch in the town square and then took a look inside the Iglesia de Santa Maria built in the 16th century.
Tomorrow we head to San Juan de Ortega