Today we left Sahagún and headed to El Burgo Ranero

As has been usual for the last few days, it was pretty chilly (it looks warm but it wasn’t!) as we left our hotel but did start to warm up once the sun had risen a bit further. Sahagún gets it name from the place where the remains of Saints Facundo and Primitivo were buried in AD304. They were two brothers who were exposed as Christians at the time of the persecution of Christians under Roman rule. They were martyred, beheaded, and their remains thrown into the Cea River. The place later became frequented by Christians because it had a reputation for frequent miracles. A temple was built over the burial place which appeared in documents such as “Sanctus Facundus”, “Sanct Fagunt” and “Sant Fagun”, which, in time derived to the town’s current name.

As we left Sahagún we crossed the Cea River by way of the Puente Canto – originally this was a Roman built bridge but was replaced in the 18th century using the ashlars (finely dressed stone) from an unfinished chapel. We continued along a tree lined path for a while until emerging back into the open countryside as the path continued alongside the road (a feature for most of today).

We walked for a while and then came across the charming Ermita de la Virgen de Perales It is a simple brick building with a belfry that was attached to the Hospital in the 12th century. Every last Sunday in April, the residents of Bercianos go on a pilgrimage here to collect the carving of the Virgin, popularly known as ‘La Perala’, and transport it in procession to the hermitage of San Roque in the town, where it remains during the month of April and May.

Then we did the remainder of our walk today, passing through Bercianos with a view to the town cemetery in the distance and a unique style of bell tower which is a replacement for the original tower of the Iglesia de San Salvador. A long stretch of (relatively uninspiring) road led us into El Burgos Ranero and a finish to our walk for the day.

One item of note, though, was the Laguna de Valdematas, which seemed to be a wetland nature reserve. The noise from the resident frogs and birds was enough to drown out the busy close by main road. Volume up in the video above to hear it.

Today we got as far as El Burgo Ranero and then had a transfer back to Sahagún and tomorrow we get the transfer back to El Burgo Ranero and then walk 37km to León.

Today we left Calzadilla de la Cueza and headed to Sahagún.

Possibly the worst breakfast ever meant that we decided to hit the road earlier than normal and stop for a coffee / pastry along the way. Very little to say about Calzadilla de la Cueza as it is such a small hamlet. The name Calzadilla comes from a diminutive of road (from the Latin calciata which means road) in reference to the Roman road that runs through it and, possibly, de la Cueza due to the River Cueza passing through.

It was a crisp (aka very cold) but sunny morning as we set off and much of the early walking was beside fields that were either just plowed or full of wheat as usual – there was even a resumption of distant mountains on the horizon. The path took us through the small villages of Ledigos and Terradillos de los Templarios.

We spent a few minutes admiring the wildlife before heading down the path again and into the village of Moratinos for the belated breakfast coffee but also to celebrate reaching half distance for El Camino and halfway for today. The “houses” in the hill are not hobbit homes but are “bodegas” used in the past for food storage and wine-making – Moratinos is one of several hillside bodega groups visible along the Camino trail, part of a wine culture that dates back 2,000 years to the Romans.

Not a lot to report about on the final walk into Sahagún as the path pretty much ran along the main road the whole way. Eventually we saw Sahagún in the distance – it certainly looked a lot bigger than Calzadilla de la Cueza! Of course we saw more Storks occupying high spots and then arrived at our hotel – Hostal Domus Viatoris.

After some lunch we had a bit of a wander round town and saw the Arco de San Benito, built in 1662, showing the royal coat of arms and two sculptures of Alfonso III and Alfonso VI, two of Sahagún’s main benefactors. We passed by the Iglesia de San Tirso, which is no longer a place of worship, built in the  12th century and is among the most representative of Castilian-Leonese Mudejar architecture. Finally we saw the remains of the Monastery of San Benito and Clock Tower – built in the 12th century in honour of the Holy Martyrs Facundo and Primitivo who were beheaded by the Romans.

We walked up to the Santuario de la Peregrina to collect our “half-way” certificates. The first stone of this was laid in 1260 and in 1358, when building was still ongoing, Pope Innocent VI granted indulgences to all worshippers who made a financial contribution to the building. In 1835, after the war of independence, the convent was abandoned.

Tomorrow we head to El Burgo Ranero

Today we left Frómista and headed to Calzadilla de la Cueza. This was a “double shift” as we combined two days of a “normal” itinerary into one longer day.

Regarding the title of this post – 3 were good and 1 was bad. At breakfast there was a man who was so “ripe”, and his hair looked like it hadn’t been washed for days, that he caused a gag reflex. Then he went to cut a slice of cake – he grabbed hold of the whole cake with his hand as he cut his slice – that was cake off the menu for me!

The background to the picture above is the Church of San Martin de Tours. Dated from the 11th century, it is one of the most complete Romanesque temples in Europe.

Frómista itself was born as a settlement near a Roman villa called Frumesta vacceos, a name derived from the word frumentum (Latin for wheat) due to the abundance of wheat that existed in their fields. During the Middle Ages this settlement became a city of splendour and around the year 1066 the Monastery of San Martín was built, ordered by Doña Mayor, widow of King Sancho Garcés III of Navarre.

We walked through a couple of small villages on the way out of Frómista – Población de Campos and Revenga de Campos before we got to Villalcázar de Sirga. There we stopped to take a look round the Iglesia de Santa Maria La Blanca, built by the Order of the Templars at the end of the 12th century, in the transition period from Romanesque to Gothic and finished in the 14th century. King Alfonso X the Wise composed the Cantigas de Santa María (a set of 427 compositions in honor of the Virgin Mary) inspired by one of the images that are kept in the church. This was where we had the second of our “smells” today – the freshly cut grass bizarrely smelt like emulsion paint!

The road was very straight and flat (easy to walk on but monotonous) as we walked into Carrión de Los Condes. On the normal itinerary this would have been our stop point for the day. But this was only halfway – as the rain was starting we decided that a stop for coffee and pain at chocolate was necessary. On the way out of Carrión, we crossed over the Puente Mayor – a rebuilt representation of the old bridge over which the locals passed hundreds of years ago with carts and horses. It currently has a total of 7 large arches and, unlike the old bridge, it does not have fortified doors at each end.

From Carrión to Calzadilla is a pretty straight flat path with no towns in between. The rain did materialize (it was very cold) so out came the raincoats for the first time. Thankfully this wasn’t a long, or very heavy, downpour, and the rain was soon replaced by the sun. This was the time for the third “smell” – the air smells so fresh after some rain dampens down all of the dust. There looked to be some heavy downpours around but thankfully they avoided us.

The final stretch also provided our final “smell” – that of wild rosemary. It was enough to make me hungry for some cooked lamb! We then walked into town, with a view of the town cemetery in a field to our right, and then to our hotel. There were less poppies in the fields today but there were a lot of blueish flowers in a few fields to give a different look. The manager said he had no record of our reservation even though our bags had been transported and were in front of him. Anyway after some back and forth he gave us our rooms – if some walkers had arrived before us and taken the available rooms then it could have become interesting.

Tomorrow we head to Sahagun.

Today we left Castrojeriz and headed to Fromista

It was pretty chilly as we left this morning but we knew there was an imminent hill that would warm us up! Castrojeriz is a unique stop on the Camino, which crosses the town for more than 1,500 meters, making it the longest urban journey on the entire Jacobean route. In terms of notable people, Constance, second daughter of Pedro I the Cruel, King of Castile, and Maria de Padilla was born in Castrojeriz in 1354 and married to John of Gaunt , Duke of Lancaster and third son of King Edward III of England.

Walking out of Castrojeriz, we could see the Alto de Mostelares waiting for us. The ascent was 130m over 1.26km and pretty steep in places. It was good to power up the hill and get the heart going so early in the morning! From the top we had great views back to Castrojeriz.

We then walked across the valley with wonderful colours of flowers all round us, even the edge of the path was teeming with colour. We could see the church of Itero del Castillo in the near distance, but we wouldn’t be heading that way today.

More walking through crop fields and flowery paths and we came across the Ermita de San Nicolás. This is an Albergue (hostel) now in the old church of the pilgrims’ hospital from the 12th century, and run by volunteers – it seems to get rave reviews, we also added another stamp to our pilgrim’s passport. We then crossed the Puente de Itero, over the River Pisuerga, which is one of the longest bridges on the Camino with eleven arches.

We passed (briefly) through Itero de La Vega and then back into farmland where there was plenty of irrigation happening. Some of this presumably came from the Canal de Pisuerga that we crossed en route to Boadilla del Camino.

As we passed through the village (we think this was a stopping point for today as the crowd thinned considerably afterwards), the most noticeable thing was the number of storks nesting on buildings. We counted 4 nesting pairs on the roof of the church and a further nest on the (water?) tower as we left the village.

Our final stretch of the day, before getting to Fromista, was alongside the Canal de Castilla. This was constructed between the last half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century and runs 207 km through the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Valladolid in Castile and León. Its width ranges between 11 m and 22m and depth is between 1.8m and 3m. It is protected by a heritage listing now – parts of it are still in use, although there are only limited possibilities for navigation: it also irrigates 48 municipalities.

As we walked into Fromista there was plenty more evidence that the storks have occupied this area – they especially seem to like churches!

Tomorrow is a longer day, 38km, as we combine two legs of the itinerary and head to Calzadilla de la Cueza. This means that we will now be a day head of all the people we have been passing daily – it has been fun recognizing people, saying hello and having a quick chat where they seem receptive. So for the second half of our journey we will just have to pass and recognize new people 🙂

Today we left Hornillos del Camino / Isar and headed to Castrojeriz

We walked to Hornillos yesterday and then got picked up and taken to our hotel in Isar so this morning we were picked up at our hotel and taken back into Hornillos to start our days walk.

Isar is a small community very much based on agriculture, and named from the word Yessar meaning abundant land in gypsum ore. The doors / windows in the second picture look like hobbit houses and were possibly (my view only) for the gypsum miners.

The first time that Hornillos appears in documentary writings is in the 9th century, because a defensive line formed of primitive Castilian fortress towers passed through it. At that time it was known as Forniellos, which means small ovens, in which tiles were fired. As we walked through, the landscape became much greener and we started to see a reoccurrence of the poppies that were so prevalent earlier in the walk.

Nearing the halfway point today, we looked down on, and then came to the pilgrim village of Hontanas. As we had left Isar so early, and were in danger of getting to Castrojeriz before noon, we broke our usual habit and stopped for a drink and a cake/pastry. We had a look round the Church of La Inmaculada Concepción,  which was originally built in the Gothic style, in the  14th century , although it was neoclassically reformed over time. The large baroque altarpiece is the work of the mountaineer Fernando de la Peña.

As we walked further, past the ruins of an old windmill, there seemed to be more and more poppy fields, really quite stunning in their beauty (of course the camera doesn’t do them justice). We then came to the ruins of the Monastery of San Antón. This was governed by the Antonians, a congregation of monks whose purpose was to care for patients with the disease called “San Antón’s Fire” and for those who came along the Camino de Santiago. The Monastery (or Convent) was the headquarters of the Order of St. Anthony in the different kingdoms of the Crown of Castile and Portugal.

Then Castrojeriz came into view, under the watchful gaze of the Castillo de Castrojeriz. Dated from approximately the 8th century, and reputedly founded by Julius Caesar, it was a significant defensive asset against troops from Northern Europe, Africa and the Hispanic territories. When the husband of the Queen of Aragon, Dõna Lenor, died in 1336 she went to the territory of Castilla y León with her children, for fear that her nephew Pedro IV would kill her. A few years later she was captured and imprisoned in the castle of Castrojeriz and was beheaded in the year 1358.

We stopped and had a look round the Church of Our Lady of Manzano – totally stunning altar pieces. The current building began to be built in the year 1214, as ordered by Queen Berenguela of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VIII if Castilla and mother of Ferdinand III the Saint.

We then arrived at our hotel La Posada de Castrojeriz – still early as this was a relatively short day – but the weather was nice enough for some lunch and a stroll around town.

Tomorrow we head to Fomista.

Today we left the city delights of Burgos and headed to Isar (via Hornillos del Camino)

Burgos was founded in 884 by the second Count of Castile, Diego Rodríguez Porcelos and soon became the leading city of the embryonic County of Castille.  The 11th century chieftain Rodrigo Diáz de Vivar (El CID) had connections with the city: born near Burgos, he was raised and educated there and is buried in Burgos Cathedral. After a long-lasting decline starting in the 17th century, Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist quasi-state (1936-1939) following the start of the  Spanish Civil War.

We walked out of town past the Burgos University complex – a mix of very old and modern buildings – a very impressive campus. The “fluff” on the ground in the first photo is known as poplar fluff, the billowy pale drifts are seeds from female poplar trees. We first noticed this in Logroño where it was like walking in a snow storm at times.

It was a not particularly scenic walk at this time as we walked out of Burgos and into the countryside. We could see the Centro Penitenciario de Burgos (State Prison) on the right – built in 1932 it has 209 cells. On the left hand side we could hear lots of gunfire, google maps revealed that this was from a shooting range – Campo de Tiro de Burgos (some interesting reviews of the current instructor!). The last picture is a Hermitage or chapel that belonged to the old Juan Mathé pilgrims hospital that was attached to it.

Back to the more usual fields of crops, we crossed the Rio Arianzón, passed a few fields full of poppies and walked through the small village of Tardajos.

We walked through Rabé de Las Calzadas and stopped at the Ermita de la Virgen de Monasterio for a visit. This is a delightful little chapel with an attendant nun who was happy to welcome us, give us a blessing (presumably as didn’t understand a word), stamp our pilgrim’s passport and give us a medallion.

Up to the top of a hill surrounded by fields of crops and then at the top we could see Hornillos del Camino below us in the near distance. We could also see the heavy rain clouds coming our way so it was a bit of a race to see could we get to the cafe (for our taxi pickup) before the rain hit. Re the title of today’s post we passed a significant number of solo walkers, all with heads down looking at their feet instead of the surroundings – they reminded us of zombies! The last picture is of the church in Hornillos, in the rain, from the door of the cafe. We are starting tonight in Isar and will get a taxi back to Hornillos in the morning.

Tomorrow we head to Castrojeriz.

Todays blog entry will be mainly pictorial.

We had a bit of a wander around the old town this morning – these pictures are from Iglesia De San Cosme Y San Damián, which is on the walk from our hotel into the old town.

Just a few of the fabulous buildings and statues in old Burgos. Then it was lunch time (and ice cream of course) before we headed into Burgos Cathedral itself.

An incredible place, I could have taken many more photos. The 20th photo is the grave of the famous El Cid. Rather than try and explain every photo, there is an app “Visit – Burgos Cathedral” which can explain all rooms and artifacts – we used it for the the audio explanation also.

Tomorrow we resume our walk and head to Hornillos.

Today we left Villafranca Montes de Oca / San Juan de Ortega and headed to Burgos

Our taxi picked us up after breakfast from our Hotel San Antón Abad and dropped us back to San Juan de Ortega where we would resume our walk. The hotel is in Villafranca Montes de Oca which was founded as Auca by the Romans, a little further south of its current position, and was semi-destroyed by the Muslim invasion in the  8th century . As reconstruction progressed, by the Middle Ages the town center had moved to the north, in the heart of the Oca valley.

In San Juan de Ortega, on June 2nd, is the festival celebrating its namesake, bringing together 26 towns in the region, who come with their town banners. Cultural associations associated with the Camino de Santiago and the College of Surveyors, whose patron saint is San Juan de Ortega, also participate.

The first picture is the start of the sunrise from my bedroom window. The sun was still rising as we resumed our walk, which took us into a wooded area with a fairly wide path, before we emerged back into wide open green pastures.

We passed through the villages of Arlanzón and Atapuerca, passing many familiar faces who had gone on further last night and were now getting ready to start off.

We then encountered our only climb of the day, up Matagrande (1082m). As we were already at a reasonable altitude, this climb was a short sharp 121m of climb. This gave some lovely views back over Atapuerca and, passing the peak of the climb, we saw Burgos for the first time (so near and yet so far). Matagrande and local archaeological sites are located on military land, the Matagrande Shooting Range and Manoeuvres, which has contributed to the good conservation of both forestry and fauna of the land.

It was now downhill all the way to Burgos. We passed through a few villages before we then took the advice of our taxi driver. Apparently the normal pilgrim route into Burgos is a long walk on concrete paths through industrial areas. At Orbaneja Riopico we made a sharp move to the left and headed for a village called Castaneńes whereby we would then take a much greener path into Burgos.

We crossed the Rio Arlanzón, where a couple of fishermen were trying their luck, and then spent the next few kilometres walking though the Parque de Fuentes Blancas alongside the river. As it was midday Sunday, the park was filled with families, couples, runners and cyclists out enjoying the weekend weather.

No Sunday afternoon in the sun would be complete without an ice cream, so after lunch in Burgos old town, we enjoyed an ice cream in the Plaza Mayor.

Tomorrow is a rest day.

Today we left Belorado hand headed towards San Juan de Ortega

Today promised to be a much better day, with limited walking alongside roads. There would be a mountain to navigate mid-walk that looked like quite a slog uphill. The streets of Belorado old town are narrow with typical passageways that hint to the large population that once lived within its walls. In the 10th century, it was notable as the Cid’s stronghold and later in the same century the first independent Castilian count, in gratitude for Belorado freeing him from the irons with which the King of Navarre held him prisoner (as the poem by Fernán González says), granted the town the privilege of holding a market on Mondays, a custom that still enlivens Plaza Mayor to this day.

On the way out of Belorado, we crossed the Puente Romano “El Canto” which it is believed was rebuilt by Santo Domingo, helped by San Juan de Ortega in the time of Alfonso VI. Across the valley we could also see the Ermita De La Virgen De La Peña, a cave (hermitage) built into the hill, that was the local parish church until the village church was built. There is a festival, every September, dedicated to the Virgin.

As we walked, the road was gently climbing, but not in a serious way, and we passed through a couple of small villages – Villambistia, Espinosa del Camino – before getting to Villafranca Montes de Oca, where we would be spending the night. However our day was not done as we had only walked halfway – due to the Camino’s popularity this year everywhere is fully booked – so we would get to our destination and then take a taxi back to the hotel. Then the fun began as we had about 3km of constant climb up to the top of Valbuena (1168m). At the top, we passed the monument placed to commemorate the c300 people who were shot by those who supported the coup d’etat of General Francisco Franco against the Second Republic, which gave rise to the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939. They were assassinated in the first months of the Civil War for their political ideals and for defending freedom. 

We then had a pleasant few kilometers walking downhill through the forest, on a wide (dusty) track before emerging into more wheat fields and the (very) small town of San Juan de Ortega. This is where the bar was that we would wait for our taxi back to our Hotel Restaurante San Antón Abad.

While we waited for our taxi, we took a look in the Monasterio de San Juan de Ortega. During his life he devoted himself to the task of helping pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago with the construction of roads and bridges, but his great work was set in the Montes de Oca (where the town of San Juan de Ortega is). He built a chapel and a small monastery and a hostel for the pilgrims who passed through there. 

Tomorrow we head to Burgos and our first rest day.

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