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Camino de los Peregrinos
Introduction
From Villasana to Cadagua and bordered by fields, hedgerow vegetation, beech, holm oak, chestnut and hazelnut trees, runs an ancient path used since the twelfth century by pilgrims who, having reached the Cantabrian ports, decided to continue their journey to Santiago de Compostela through Mena and other municipalities of the Merindades county until rejoining the main, or French, route in La Meseta.
The clearest evidence of the use of this secondary path is found in the two Romanesque churches, San Lorenzo de Vallejo and Santa Maria de Siones both of which show scallop shells in their iconographic representations. In San Lorenzo pilgrims with full Jacobean features are also depicted, and it is here that the Hospitable Order of St John of Jerusalem, protector of pilgrim routes, established one of the forty-two dedicated chapels that made up its Great Priory in Castilla.
Today this path is part of the GR-85, a footpath around Merindades county that is clearly indicated with distinctive painted red and white markers.
Technical Specifications
- Linear Route:
On foot and by mountain bike. - Departure Point: Villasana.
- Arrival Point: Cadagua.
- Distance: 8,6 km.
- Duration: 2 horas.
- Incline: 129 m.
- Difficulty: Low.
- Time of year: All seasons.
A description of the route
Leave from the Plaza San Antonio in Villasana, where there is an information panel showing the route that the GR-85 takes through the valley.
From here go along the Calle del Medio, until reaching the asphalt road that leads to Vallejo and after only a few metres take a dirt path that leads off to the right and that can be recognised by the principal marker of the GR-85.
Continue on this path which comes out on the road through a housing estate. After crossing the estate roundabout you will see the GR-85 signpost, red and white stripes, marking a small grassy footpath leading off to the right and running parallel to the river.
After only a few metres on this path you meet and go under, via a bridge, the new Villasana by-pass before continuing on the same path to the right, frequently signposted with the GR-85 markers.
Continue on this path until you arrive at the entrance to the village of Vallejo, near the shrine of St Theresa. From this point the route follows the road through Vallejo until just after the last house when it turns off to the left on to a small grassy footpath indicated by the red and white markers. Go straight along this path, not taking any turnings, all the way to the village of Siones.
Once again the path picks up the asphalt road, this time heading towards Vallejuelo. In Vallejuelo follow the path that leads uphill to the church and then to the right towards the cemetery.
Shortly before the cemetery, take a dirt path that branches off to the right and follow it until reaching a three-way fork, where a drain appears. Take the middle path until the next manhole and fork in the path, this time following the path that leads straight on.
A little further on, now in the village of Sopeñano, the path turns to the left to follow a concrete street towards the cemetery, and on reaching which continues straight ahead on a gravel path heading towards the village of Cadagua. Once in Cadagua, the path comes out onto another, wider one that leads up to the village train station – go the other way, down into the village square.
Topographical Map
Other points of interest
In Vallejo: -The Romanesque church ‘San Lorenzo de Vallejo’, built at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries. There are representations of pilgrims in the west porch and shells in the south porch and interior.
In Siones: -The Romanesque church ‘Santa Maria de Siones’, of similar age to the former and also with shells depicted on the exterior and interior.
In Vallejuelo: -A Gothic tower dating from the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries built from rough stone masonry with worked stone reinforcement at the corners and openings. Several arrow slots are still visible in spite of numerous renovations that have inevitably altered the original structure.
In Cadagua: -An ‘Indiano Palace’ from the beginning of the twentieth century that has been converted into tourist accommodation, categorised as rural inn.
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Patrocinadores:
OFICINA DE TURISMO VALLE DE MENA
- C/ Eladio Bustamente, s/n.
09580 Villasana de Mena - Tlf y fax:
947 141 341