About Navarra & La Rioja

The camino heads through Navarra and into La Rioja through lovely towns little-changed since mediaeval times and stuffed full of glorious Romanesque churches. You’ll also eat and drink like royalty. Rioja wine is smooth, gorgeous and dirt cheap, and the region’s Lodosa peppers, white asparagus and veal are known throughout the country.

Walking

Geography

The rolling hills of Navarra soon give way to the fertile Ebro valley. The Río Ebro dominates the landscape, draining an area of more than 85,000 square kilometres. The river is coveted as a source of water for irrigation, with 35 major dams along its length, and the average flow is reduced by a staggering 29% from that of a century ago.

Every inch of Rioja’s blood-red soil seems to be covered with vines. The soil needs to be turned frequently, so that any rain that does fall will water the shallow-rooted vines rather than run straight off the dry, hard earth. Concrete drainage channels and aqueducts divert precious water to vines and other crops, and La Rioja’s environmental problems are likely to get worse as water-guzzling golf courses become more commonplace

As pilgrims head towards Burgos they follow a wide natural corridor that separates the magnificent Sierra de la Demanda to the south from the smaller Sierra de Cantabria to the north; these peaks are often covered in snow well into April. Just before the flat meseta begins at Burgos, the camino climbs up and over the Montes de Oca, a rugged range covered in heather and pine.

Trails

The camino is well marked and is mainly made up of broad gravel or dirt tracks through vineyards and farmland, though there are times when you’ll yearn to move away from the N120/N111, which you shadow on and off from Logroño to Burgos. Highlights of the route include the section of well-preserved Roman road between Cirauqui and Lorca and the red tracks that bring you up close and personal to Rioja’s unfenced vineyards.

When to go

There’s nothing to stop you walking this section year-round. Spring is particularly lovely and it’s not too cold, even though the surrounding mountains are still shrouded in snow. In June or July you can catch one of Navarra’s lively festivals, and the best time to visit La Rioja is during the autumn grape harvest.

Flora & Fauna

You’ll be accompanied throughout the region by the slow, stately flight of the white stork. In spring, the storks nest on almost every church spire and tower along the route and you’ll hear loud clack-clack-clacking as the youngsters demand food. It’s less common to see them on the ground, but when you do, they’ll be pecking chicken-like at the dirt.

At dawn and dusk, look for the eagle owl, a large, buzzard-sized bird with distinctive ear tufts that’s strong enough to take on prey the size of a hare. The best way to locate the owl is by its hoot, a continuous oooohu-oooohu-oooohu that can be heard up to 4km away on a still night.

Bonelli’s eagles are a lot easier to spot, and the population along this stretch is resident year-round. The birds often hunt in pairs, one bird hovering above while the partner chases a flock of birds, separating and choosing a weak flier, which the hovering bird then swoops down to catch. Both birds share the benefit of their labour. Bonelli’s eagles are still hunted here, as their taste for rough-legged partridges irritates local hunters who want the game bird for themselves.

People & Culture

Even Picaud, the French camino chronicler who wasn’t a big fan of Spain, liked this part of the world:

“This is a country full of treasures, of gold and silver, fortunate in producing fodder and sturdy horses and with an abundance of bread, wine, meat, fish, milk and honey.” But it was a qualified approval: “It is, however, lacking in trees, and the people are wicked and vicious.”

Western Navarra parties hard, preserving celebrations that date back to before the Roman invasion. Carnaval, a pre-Lent celebration with pre-Christian roots, has resurfaced in the last few decades after being banned under Franco, partly because of the distinctly un-Catholic activities involved and partly because Franco’s police found it impossible to identify the masked participants. The masquerades usually portray the persecution and killing of something external and dangerous, such as a wolf or a bandit.

The most famous festival is Pamplona’s San Fermín in July, a week of celebration centred around the lively and controversial encierro, when red-scarfed men run through the narrow streets pursued by bulls. The day before the encierro, colourful processions of gigantes (plaster giants), cabezudos (big heads) and kilikis (Napoleon-like figures who whack children with foam bats) lollop and dance their way through the city.

Dancing is an essential part of all fiestas, and it’s said that Navarra has more traditional dances than any other region in Europe. Men and women jive to the sounds of the Basque txistu (flute), trikitrixa (accordion) and tamboril (drum). The best-known dance, the jota, is a traditional winemakers’ dance in honour of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, whereas other dances evoke grazing, war or honour the Basque flag. El Baile de la Era is a combination of all the traditional dances of the Basque region. Although a relatively recent invention, it’s treated as a traditional dance in many festivals in Navarra, particularly in Estella, where composer-choreographer, bagpiper and local boy Julián Romano lives. It’s danced as the finale to Estella’s San Fermín, which is slightly tamer than Pamplona’s version and generously allows women to run with the bulls.

Some traditional and bizarre Basque sports survive in Navarra, including spade races in Puente la Reina and hoe hurling farther south. You can watch professional games of pelota in Pamplona and Estella.

Food & Drink

Wine lovers are in for a treat. Rioja is a smooth, gentle, vanilla-scented wine that’s available everywhere at about a third of the price you’d pay outside the country. You’ll find a great bottle for around €5, and even €2 will get you a fresh and fruity glugger. Wine’s been made here since Roman times but (whisper it softly) Rioja was vastly improved when French winemakers fled south to escape the phylloxera that wiped out their own vineyards, helping to make Spanish vines resistant to the disease and improving the native grape varieties.

Traditionally, local farmers simply planted vines in the ground, hacked the plant back to a mere stump in winter and picked the grapes by hand. You’ll still see fields planted like this, but modern farmers string the vines along wire fences a tractor’s width apart. This makes the vine easier to care for and allows more grapes to survive to maturity. Each vine takes three years to reach productivity and can be harvested for about 50 years.

The longer Rioja spends maturing, the smoother it becomes. Crianza spends a year in oak barrels and a year in bottles, Reserva stays in oak for a year followed by three in the bottle, and Gran Reserva matures for at least two years in barrels and another four years in the bottle.

It might be gorgeous, but a glass of Rioja won’t do much to fill that gaping hole in your stomach. South of Estella, Lodosa is famous for pimientas del piquillo, horn-shaped red peppers that are dried outdoors or roasted by hand and then preserved in oil. They’re delicious on their own, well-salted with slivers of garlic, but can also be stuffed with almost anything; lamb, olive and pine nuts are a particularly good combination.

In spring, you’ll see fields of white asparagus along the camino, particularly between Pamplona and Puente la Reina. As the asparagus grows under black, light-blocking plastic, soil is gradually piled up around the stems. The government has designated the Valle del Ebro in Navarra, around Logroño, as the denominación (official region) for espárrago de Navarra. Cooked asparagus is most often seen pickled in jars and is frequently served in restaurants as an anaemic-looking starter, smothered in mayonnaise.

The people of Navarra and Rioja eat a lot of meat. Veal from Navarra is known throughout the country, and Pamplonan chorizo is also very good. Fiestas are a great excuse to spit-roast pig, kid or lamb, while more economical dishes like patatas con chorizo (potato with chorizo stew) and los caparrones (red bean stew with chorizo and scrag ends of meat) help to eke out the meat a little longer.

Tourist Information

Accommodation

Albergues are well maintained and tend to be fully equipped with kitchens, ideal for cooking the local chorizo and pimientas del piquillo and sampling a glass or two of Rioja. If you fancy a break from the roncadores (snorers), splurge at the parador in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, a splendidly opulent hotel just across the square from the cathedral.

Events & Festivals

The people of Nájera take to the streets for the Fiestas de San Juan y San Pedro at the end of June, singing and dancing to catchy, militaristic music said to have originated with soldiers in the Carlist wars. Pamplona’s famous San Fermín explodes into action on July 6, and Estella’s marginally calmer version takes place on the first Friday in August. At the end of September, Logroño livens up for the week-long Fiesta de San Mateo, worth visiting for the grape-crushing ceremonies in the Paséo del Espolón.

Rest Days & Detours

Just south of Nájera, a trip into the Sierra de la Demanda to visit the two monasteries of San Millán de Cogolla, designated as unesco World Heritage Sites, will add about 23km or so to your route towards Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Since it’s difficult to find somewhere to stay along the way, it may be easier to visit on a day trip from Nájera or Santo Domingo. Call ahead to reserve a tour.

The serene monastery at Suso, just above the village, was established in the seventh century and incorporates the hermit caves of San Millán and Santa Oria. Expanded in the tenth century to a pre-Romanesque church, the monastery was rebuilt in the eleventh century in a mix of Mozarabic, Romanesque and Gothic styles.

The cloister-like front porch holds the gruesome, headless remains of the seven Infantes de Lara, princes betrayed by their uncle to the Muslims, who decapitated the Infantes and brought their heads to their father for identification. Inside, the central cave contains San Millán’s lovely twelfth-century tomb.

Lower down, the village is dominated by San Millán de Yuso, a sixteenth-century Renaissance monastery. The statue on the façade might look like Santiago Matamoros but is in fact San Millán, complete with horse and sword. Plaques in the Salon de los Reyes record the first written use of Castellano (Spanish) and Basque in the tenth century.

If it’s wine you’re after, head to Haro, 40km northwest of Logroño, particularly in the last week of June during the festivals of San Juan, San Felices and San Pedro, when the bodegas fill the plaza with free samples and bottles at knock-down prices. On June 29, the wine flows even more freely when villagers drench each other with Rioja’s finest in the batalla del vino (wine battle).

About 20km south of Logroño is Clavijo, the eighth-century scene of Santiago Matamoros’ first appearance in battle, resplendent on his white charger. Apart from the ruined castle above the hamlet, there’s not much to see here. Further southwest, and a few thousand years earlier, dinosaurs roamed the mud around Arnedillo, leaving massive prints when the mud hardened to stone. In the Middle Ages, the footprints were said to be those of giant chickens that lived during the times of the Moors, or the hoof marks of Santiago’s horse. If you want to learn more, nearby Enciso has a Centro Paleontológico; once you’ve finished, you can relax at Arnedillo’s spa.

About 10km northwest of Los Arcos, the church in the village of Sorlada holds the sacred bones of San Gregório, a bishop who rid the surrounding area of a plague of locusts in the eleventh century. On May 9 each year, the anniversary of his death, church officials pour water over his saintly bones, and villagers collect this blessed water to use on their fields.

About the Navarra and La Rioja

Camino de Santiago
Navarra and La Rioja

The camino through Pamplona takes you along narrow streets and arrives at the park that surrounds Pamplona’s ciudadela (citadel), a star-shaped fort surrounded by lovely gardens. From here, pass through the university district, about a kilometre out of town. On the hills up ahead, you can see a line of modern windmills on the Alto de Perdón, which provide some of the region’s electricity; you’ll pass these later on the camino. Head towards Cizur Menor, a couple of kilometres away, along a broad sidewalk that’s popular with promenaders in the evenings and on weekends.

From Cizur Menor, it’s a steep climb with stunning views to the windmill-topped Alto de Perdón. Leave the village on the main road, then turn right in 300m at a frontón, where there’s a fountain, and walk through a housing estate. Follow a gravel track though fields, turn right at a tarmac road, then turn left a few hundred metres later on to another gravel track. This stretch of the walk marks a transition from the green, rolling hills of the Pyrenean foothills to the wider, more arid wine-growing regions of Navarra and La Rioja.

The camino continues through farmland, bypassing the small hamlet of Galar. Look out for linnets, greenfinches and other songbirds here. In a kilometre or two, you’ll pass the dilapidated hamlet of Guenduláin on your right, which once housed a pilgrim hospice but is now abandoned.

You’re still heading up towards the line of windmills on the Alto de Perdón and the new houses of Zariquiegui, and there are great views of Pamplona behind you. At the top of a short climb, and about 2km after Guenduláin, you arrive at Zariquiegui. This village was decimated in the fourteenth century by an outbreak of bubonic plague, and most of the buildings date from a century or two later although a new housing estate has encroached on the character. The impressive crests on a few of the older houses are worth a look, as are their carved doors. Zariquiegui’s Romanesque church of San Andrés is on your right as you enter the village, and there’s a fountain here too.

About 500m from the last house in the village, the path curves to the left and becomes narrower and steeper as it heads up to the Alto de Perdón. The low, eerie whoosh that you can hear is from the regimental line of windmills, built to catch the strong winds at the top of the ridge.

Just before the summit, you pass the Fuente Reniega (fountain of denial). Legend tells of a parched and tired pilgrim who was offered water by the Devil, disguised as a fellow pilgrim, if he renounced his faith. The pilgrim refused, and Santiago appeared to reveal a spring, quenching the pilgrim’s thirst from his handy scallop shell.

Almost immediately after the fountain, you arrive at the Alto de Perdón ridge, home to a pilgrim hospice until the early nineteenth century and now decorated with a cast-iron pilgrim silhouette statue. Cross a minor road at the top of the ridge and follow the stony track on the other side. From here you can see your next destinations: Uterga, Muruzábal and Obanos are clearly visible ahead, and Puente la Reina is just in view to the west of the ridge behind Obanos. At the southeast end of the ridge, there’s a circle of pine trees, which hides the octagonal church of Eunate.

The route downhill is stony and steep, and can be slippery in wet weather. In spring, the path is lined with wild hyacinth and orchids. In just under a kilometre, pass through a gate scrawled with ¡Ultreia! (a word of encouragement amongst pilgrims, which roughly translates as “Onward!”). The trail becomes broader from here on and flattens considerably. The landscape is much greener and more fertile here too. In spring, there are long, low tunnels of black plastic in many of the surrounding fields; these are used to grow white asparagus, a regional delicacy that requires careful cultivation to halt photosynthesis.

In a couple of kilometres, and after climbing a slight rise, the lovely stone village of Uterga ( ) comes into view. Here, you can stay at the basic albergue municipal ( 4 a open all year) or at the Albergue Camino del Perdón ( , also $$ ). Turn right just after the village square, home to a couple of impressive mansions, to visit the church of La Asunción, the village fountain and the albergue municipal, but otherwise, carry straight on, passing the Albergue Camino del Perdón.

It’s another 2km to Muruzábal ( ), following a small ridge lined with wildflowers and almond groves, an ideal place to see hovering kites and kestrels. As you enter Muruzábal, the almond grove on your right is a glorious mass of orchids in spring. Pass a frontón and the large, high-walled church of San Esteban, which has an impressive, colourful sixteenth-century retablo. Near the church, a sign points towards Eunate, a unique Romanesque church with a tiny albergue next door, well worth the 4km round-trip detour.

Detour to Eunate

Eunate ( ) is an incongruously located church (usually closed Mondays and for December), surrounded on all its eight sides by dusty fields. It’s also one of the most stunning churches you’ll see on the camino. Eunate’s origins are unknown. Its shape suggests a link with the Knights Templar, one of the earliest Christian military orders, who often built octagonal churches in the style of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It could also be a major funerary chapel on the camino de Santiago, as graves containing scallop shells, presumably those of pilgrims, have been discovered between the church and the outside walls.

Inside, the church is breathtakingly serene. Marble windows let in a gentle light and floor-to-ceiling pillars buttress each octagonal angle, stretching upwards to support an eight-angled roof. Although the simple interior is spartan, you can spend hours outside looking at the gargoyles and faces carved on the church façade and on the arcaded wall that surrounds it. Binoculars will bring ornately carved monsters and musicians, as well as stonemasons’ marks into focus, and let you puzzle over capitals carved with men whose beards twist around their ears like ram’s horns.

Next to the church is a tiny albergue ( 7 beds (mattresses) open all year ), as Eunate lies on the camino aragonés that leads from Sangüesa to Puente la Reina. From Eunate, continue on the camino aragonés along the Río Robo into Puente la Reina via Obanos.

If you decide not to visit Eunate, take the right-hand track at a metal cross at the end of Muruzábal. Follow this shady track to the outskirts of Obanos and soon reach the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista and the albergue, which is opposite the children’s playground.

In Obanos, walk through the arch next to the roundabout, pass the town frontón and fountain, then leave town along a concrete path. Soon after passing the Ermita de San Salvador on the left, the road becomes a dirt track. Cross the main road, then turn left about 1km after Obanos at the Hotel Jakue, which is both a hotel and an albergue. There’s also a modern statue of Santiago Peregrino here, marking the meeting point of the camino francés and the camino aragonés. Look out for nesting storks on top of the brick chimney to your left, then in about 300m, turn left down Carretera Pamplona just as you reach Puente la Reina. The town’s main albergue is the first building on the left (on the corner), opposite the Iglesia del Crucifijo.

Leave Puente la Reina via its namesake mediaeval bridge. Turn left at the end of the bridge, then cross the main road 30m later. This section can be steep and muddy, and cyclists should stick to the road.

Pass a convent, then follow a broad, flat track alongside the river, filled with fish, lined with poppies in season and home to vivid kingfishers and dragonflies. After almost 2km, pass to the left of a factory. The camino soon leaves the Río Arga, a river you’ve followed and criss-crossed since Zubiri. Climb uphill on a track that can be treacherously muddy after rain, looking out for griffon vultures, then wind through fields until you reach Mañeru. Just past a roundabout, keep left at the fountain, following the yellow arrows into the village over a small bridge.

Mañeru ( ) is a maze of narrow, angular streets graced with grand houses, stone balconies and imposing stone crests. Turn right to visit the neoclassical Iglesia de San Pedro, otherwise keep straight on to continue along the camino, turning left at the village’s Casa Consistorial, then immediately right to leave the village on a narrow tarmac road.

It’s a pretty stretch along a flower-lined track through olive groves and vineyards to Cirauqui. Look out for Iberian wall lizards on the stretch flanked by stone walls. Up ahead, you can see the pale grey limestone cliffs of the Sierra de Urbasa in the distance: these have been visible since the Alto de Perdón. The camino enters Cirauqui via a Gothic arch in the town walls; the albergue is at the top of a steep climb up the village’s cobbled streets, by the church.

Built on a distinctive rocky hill, Cirauqui ( ) is a beautiful mediaeval village that’s a great place to linger over a café con leche. The village’s name means “nest of vipers,” but it’s unclear whether the snakes in question were the slithering kind or the ever-present pesky bandits.

Narrow, cobbled streets lead you uphill to the oldest part of the village, where you’ll be struck by the Iglesia de San Román, a twelfth-century Romanesque church with impressive capitals and a portal resembling the one at the Iglesia de Santiago in Puente la Reina. Next door is a Civil War monument: like all those built during Franco’s reign, it lists only Nationalist casualties. You can stay at Albergue Maralotx on Calle Román 30 ( 28 beds mar–oct).

To leave Cirauqui, the camino peculiarly passes through a building, where there’s a self-serve sello for your credencial. The route soon heads across a dilapidated Roman bridge then crosses the A12 road. You’re now walking over rolling, arid hills, and traces of the Roman road disappear and reappear beneath a wide farm track. Look closely, as the section of Roman road from Cirauqui to Lorca is one of the best preserved of the entire camino.

Walk downhill for about 1km to a mediaeval bridge. At the top of a short uphill stretch, keep straight on as the farm track curves to the right. Make sure you take the right-hand of two parallel tracks here, as this is the best remaining example of Roman road. You can clearly see the road’s central divide and the drainage channels that slice across it every 50m or so. The camino, still on a Roman road, heads down to parallel the A12 then crosses under the road twice.

Pass under a sky-high aqueduct, the Canal de Alloz, then turn left to cross a restored mediaeval bridge across the Río Salado. The river is noisy with frogs in spring, and the undergrowth alongside the water hides grey Cetti’s warblers, although you’re more likely to hear a loud, brief burst of song than to see the birds. This spot is also the setting for one of Aymeric Picaud’s more distressing camino experiences. The twelfth-century guidebook writer warned:

At a place called Lorca, to the east, there flows a stream known as the Salt River. Beware of drinking from it or of watering your horse in it, for this river brings death. On its banks, while we were going to St James, we found two Navarrese sitting there sharpening their knives; for they are accustomed to flay pilgrims’ horses which die after drinking the water. In answer to our question they lied, saying that the water was good and drinkable. Accordingly we watered our horses in the river, and at once two of them died and were forthwith skinned by the two men.

Pass under the A12 once more before arriving at Lorca ( ), where there’s a pleasant square with a fountain, and two albergues.

Head to Villatuerta, a few kilometres away, along a narrow path that winds through fields next to the N1110 (A12). Pass under a tunnel, walk through the town’s dull outskirts, then cross an arched, Romanesque bridge over the Río Iranzu into Villatuerta ( ). The twelfth-century Iglesia de la Asuncíon, reached at the top of calle Rúa Nueva is a shady spot for a rest; there’s a statue of San Veremundo at the front of the church and drinkable water (agua potable) in a fountain just to the left of the gate.

The route out of Villatuerta soon passes near the Ermita de San Miguel. Cross a busy road at a picnic area, where there’s a memorial to Mary Kimpton, a Canadian pilgrim knocked down by a car while she rested here in 2002. Follow a well-marked path on the other side, then curve around a field and cross a stream over a modern wooden footbridge. There are glorious flowers at this spot in spring — the fields near the river are full of irises and poppies. Up ahead, turn right next to a factory on to a tarmac road. If you want to stay at Camping Lizarra, turn left here. Walk past the Iglesia del Santo Sepulcro, keep straight on under a road bridge, and the albergue municipal is on your left, just after the Puente de los Peregrinos.

Keep straight on along the lovely, antique shop–lined cobbled road in Estella. Walk across the Plaza San Martín, passing the Palacio de los Reyes on your right. At the end of the cobbled lane, leave the old part of town via the Puerta de Castilla decorated with a carved representation of the Crucifixion.

Walk through suburban Estella, past the turning to the Oncineda albergue, then climb uphill to Ayegui, ( Calle Polideportivo, 90 beds open all year ). Turn left just before a playground to head towards the Monasterio de Irache. In a few hundred metres, reach the Fuente del Vino, a tap of free wine provided by the Bodegas de Irache to fortify thirsty pilgrims on the way to Santiago. From here, you can wave to technophile friends back home via a webcam (www.irache.com). Next door, the imposing, twelfth-century Monasterio de Irache contains a simple Romanesque church and Plateresque cloister; its pilgrims’ hospital was founded in 1050, making it older than the hospitals at Estella and Roncesvalles.

Follow a gravel road lined with vines to Irache ( ). The new houses you pass come as a bit of a jolt after the uniformly quaint villages of the rest of the camino, where even newer houses were sympathetically designed to fit in with the existing local architecture. You can stay, eat, drink and shop at the vast Camping Iratxe or the Hotel Irache ( $$$$,).

Up ahead, perched high on a hill, you can see the Ermita de San Esteban, which was built from the stones of Monjardín castle. Walk alongside fields and through woodland on dirt tracks and narrow roads. Some 3km from Irache, pass through the village of Azqueta, where there’s a fountain in the square, then head uphill towards Villamayor de Monjardín, the first glimpse of which is the church tower you can see poking above the ridge.

At the top of the climb 1.5km later, and just before the village, you reach the Fuente de Moros, an interesting Gothic cistern, recently restored and thought to date back to Islamic Spain. Pass the Castillo de Monjardín winery, and enter Villamayor de Monjardín along the well-signposted street.

The camino to Los Arcos follows a wide valley along red-dirt farm tracks beside the A12. Along this part of the camino there are information signs (in Spanish) describing former pilgrim hospitals. Watch out for vultures circling high above you looking for food, a disturbing sight when you’re on your last legs on a hot day.

As you near Los Arcos, there are good views of the Basilica de San Gregorio a few kilometres away to the right, and of the windmills on the distant hills straight ahead. Eventually, follow a gravel road over a rise and see Los Arcos in front of you. There’s a fountain at the edge of town for thirsty pilgrims; take the left-hand fork soon afterwards, and follow Calle Mayor into Los Arcos.

In Los Arcos, walk past the church, through the archway and across the Río Odrón. Aymeric Picaud, the mediaeval pilgrim who seems to have had something against rivers, said, “through the town known as Los Arcos there flows a deadly river.” Assuming you make it across in one piece, the route to Torres del Río is a pleasant one, through farmland and vineyards. If you’re lucky, you may see a hovering red kite or kestrel or hear musical bursts of song from a solitary skylark or woodlark.

You can see Sansol ( ), about 7km away, long before you reach it. The village has some lovely Baroque architecture, including grand houses decorated with coats of arms, and the simple Iglesia de San Zoilo, from which there are marvellous views to Torres del Río below. It’s less than a kilometre from Sansol to Torres del Río; cross the busy N1110 to get there, then walk downhill under a bridge and back uphill past the church to the albergue.

Heading out of Torres del Río, you pass a graveyard on your left as the road becomes a dirt track. You’ll follow this track on-and-off until you reach Viana, criss-crossing the N1110 bedss you do so. There are fabulous views of the route from Los Arcos, and of the surrounding mountains. As you continue, Logroño comes into view up ahead, and the Sierra de la Demanda appear dramatically in the distance. Pass through farmland and scrubland, where water has eroded deep ravines in the arid landscape. Just past the road sign for Viana, cross the N1110 to enter the town, passing an abstract mural of the camino painted in splendidly garish colours on the side of a building. Follow the camino uphill through town, taking Calle Algorrada through an arch in Viana’s town walls, then walk up Rúa de Santa María.

Leave Viana under the Portal de San Felices. Turn left down Calle la Rueda, then first right on Calle Fuente Vieja. Keep heading downhill out of town, following the yellow arrows past a school. For the next couple of kilometres the camino passes through fields and beside houses, criss-crossing roads.

About 2.5km after Viana, the camino reaches the Ermita de las Cuevas, a former hermitage that’s now a shady spot for a picnic with a fountain. At the end of the picnic area, follow a track for 2km to the artificial Laguna de las Cañas. The lake is an important birdwatching area that’s home to breeding pairs of purple herons, night herons and bitterns. There’s an observatory with telescopes, should you want a closer look.

Turn right at the lake to take a track to the Papelera del Ebro factory, where you pass unceremoniously into the province of La Rioja. Although you’ll be hard-pressed to notice any difference, mediaeval pilgrims were suddenly confronted with an entirely different culture, people and currency. Follow a red paved cycle track through a couple of underpasses daubed with pilgrim graffiti and around the flat-topped hill up ahead. The hill contains prehistoric, Roman and mediaeval ruins, and it’s just a short detour off the camino to explore the thick walls.

As you head downhill, pass Casa El Chozo, where the owner sells snacks and drinks, and will stamp your credencial. Turn right 1km later when you join the road at the cemetery, then turn left to cross the Puente de Piedra over the Río Ebro. The bridge dates from the late eleventh century; repairs were made by both Santo Domingo and San Juan de Ortega (see pages 76 and 83 for more about these builder saints). At the end of the bridge, take the second right at a small roundabout to walk down Rúa Vieja. Logroño’s albergue municipal is about 100m down this road.

Walk through Logroño along the Rúa Vieja, passing the Iglesia de Santiago. In front of this grand church is the sixteenth-century Fuente de los Peregrinos, and on the ground is a large painted mosaic, the Juego de la Oca. This version of a popular, snakes-and-ladders-like board game is full of camino motifs: the board represents the pilgrimage, the squares are the different places and people met along the way, and passing pilgrims are, of course, counters to be moved from square to square.

Pass through an arch in Logroño’s town walls. Keep left here, following the road signs to Burgos at the roundabout on Calle del Marquez de Murrieta. After a little over a kilometre, turn left on Calle Portillejo, then 300m later turn right to follow a pedestrian path to a park.

For the next few kilometres, you’ll walk through parkland along a path popular with promenaders and joggers, which takes you to the Pantano de la Grajera ( ). This reservoir is an ideal spot for birdwatching, particularly in the early morning. Look for herons, rails, ducks and grebes in the water, and woodpeckers, flycatchers, larks and goldfinches in the trees nearby. Follow a wide gravel track that curves around the water, passing shady picnic areas, a café, a fountain, and a birdwatching hide (blind) on your left. As the track moves away from the reservoir, there’s a fountain and a covered park bench.

The camino heads uphill on a narrow road, then follows a paved path high above and parallel to the main road. This is a dull stretch, enlivened by a large metal sculpture of a bull in a nearby field and the rustic wooden crosses stuck by pilgrims in the wire fence to the right of the track. At the end of the fence, cross a road, then follow a winding farm track; fields of vines stretch towards the horizon in all directions.

In a kilometre or so, cross the motorway via a pedestrian bridge and arrive almost immediately at the ruined Hospital de San Juan de Acre. Founded in the late twelfth century, the church and hospice of Hospital de San Juan de Acre served pilgrims for four centuries. The site has been recently excavated, and although some of the restoration work is clumsy, there’s a clear picture of how the hospice was set up. There’s also a fountain here. In less than a kilometre, climb some steps to cross a road and enter Navarrete.

In Navarrete, turn right up Calle La Cruz to reach the Iglesia de la Asunción. Turn left at the church down Calle Mayor Alta, then keep straight on past some fountains. Make sure you fill up with water, as it’s a long, fountain-less stretch between here and Nájera.

Leave town along the road, reaching the town cemetery in about 300m. Although the cemetery was built fairly recently, its stately façade is thirteenth-century Romanesque, brought here from the Hospital de San Juan de Acre on the other side of Navarrete. The marvellous capitals depict great battles, such as Roland’s defeat of the giant Ferragut and St George killing the dragon, but also portray gentle, mundane scenes of camino life such as pilgrims eating a meal together and washing each other’s hai

The camino between here and Nájera winds through vineyards and the occasional olive grove, veering right and left to walk around fields lined with cornflowers and poppies in spring, but always staying close to the road. Take a look at the huge pots made in the ceramic factory across the road: Navarrete’s potters are renowned for their great use of the region’s distinctive red clay soil.

In another 3km cross the road at the Vitivincola de Soto building. From here, you can turn left to detour to the Bodegas Fernando J Rodrgiuez ( 18 a may–oct) in Sotes ( ). Otherwise, turn left in 200m to walk beside the main road on a gravel track. After 3km, the camino veers away from the road towards the hamlet of Ventosa ( ), where you can stay at the Albergue de San Saturníno ( 42 a open all year). You can also bypass the village by continuing straight ahead.

Soon after Ventosa, the camino leaves the roadside for a while, heading uphill on a grass farm track. Pass hundreds of precarious piles of shepherd stones left by pilgrims, then keep heading uphill as the path narrows towards the Alto de San Antón. From the top of the hill there are views of Nájera, its urban sprawl splayed out to meet nearby villages, and to the right, the ruins of the monastery and pilgrim hospice of San Antón.

Go under the N120, then follow a level, red-dirt track through vineyards. A few kilometres after crossing the main road, the track leads to the right of a flat hillock topped with radio masts, known as the Poyo de Roldán. According to one legend, the region around Nájera was the home of Ferragut, a giant who was descended from Goliath. Charlemagne sent many brave knights to defeat Ferragut, but all were unsuccessful. Roland reputedly hurled a huge rock at Ferragut, knocking him dead. It’s said that the Poyo de Roldán itself is the rock that Roland threw.

The romance surrounding the legend is quickly stifled by the route through semi-industrial Nájera. To relieve the industrial monotony, look left towards the Sierra de la Demanda, a dramatic line of mountains rising to more than 2000m. Up ahead, the vegetation on the slopes of the conical, cross-topped Pico de Nájera has been trimmed to form a dove of peace. Soon after the Poyo de Roldán, pass a rest area, walk around a gravel plant, then cross a pedestrian bridge, walk under the N120 bedsnd through a picnic area.

In a couple of kilometres reach the outskirts of Nájera, and follow the signs to Centro Urbano. The tall, nondescript buildings of modern Nájera soon give way to the grimier yet far more attractive old town. The sidewalks here are so narrow that you may have to leap into traffic if you meet an oncoming pedestrian. Turn right to cross a bridge over the Río Najerilla, then turn left at the end of the bridge down the road along the river, following the yellow arrow to the albergue municipal on Plaza de Santiago.

From the Plaza de Santiago it is possible to detour along a marked trail to visit the monasteries of Suso and Yuso at San Millán de Cogolla. See page 54 for details of these beautiful churches.

The regular camino from Nájera continues along the dirt farm tracks and through the vineyards and vivid red soil so characteristic of the camino in La Rioja. In a few kilometres, you’ll see Azofra. As you approach the village, look out for intricately engineered, gravity-powered water channels, which pass under the road and around fields and vineyards. Since the region is dry and grapevine roots are very shallow, getting water to the plants in this way is an essential part of local farming.

In Azofra ( ), look for the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, which includes a carving of Santiago Peregrino. The village has two municipal albergues: the new albergue municipal has single beds, 2 to a room ( 60 beds easter–oct 6 ), and another next to the church is used as overflow when the new albergue is full ( 16 a open all year). For a splurge, try the Real Casona de las Amas ( $$$$ Calle Mayor ).

At the far side of the village, there’s a small park with a modern shrine to the Virgen de Valvanera and the Fuente de los Romeros, a pilgrims’ fountain. Turn right at the road here, then left 50m later to walk up a gravel track past small farms. On the right is a stone pillar, a weathered mediaeval road sign that marked the boundary between the villages of Azofra and Alesanco. Even though you’re next to the main road, the walking is made pleasant by a small stream that attracts warblers and other birds.

Climb up to a plateau. At the Rioja Alta Golf Club, there are two routes. Yellow arrows direct you straight on through a housing development to pass close to Cirueña ( ), where you can stay at Casa Victoria ( $$ ). The other route heads right to the tiny village of Ciriñuela ( ), where you can stay at Albergue San Millán ( 8 a easter–oct ). The two routes meet up at a minor road. Follow this road and more farm tracks to Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

The farm track passes behind a factory where you join the main road. The outskirts of town are a bit drab and run down. At a roundabout take the right-hand road, cross the road at the modern pilgrim statue and enter the compact old town. Walk down Calle Mayor, which leads to both the albergues and the cathedral.

In Santo Domingo, walk down Calle Mayor, following metal arrows embedded in the road. You’ll soon leave the old town, crossing the Río Oja over Santo Domingo’s original bridge, now largely hidden by concrete additions. Follow farm tracks through mostly flat countryside. Shortly after the track changes to tarmac, you have a choice of routes at a T-junction. If you’re in a rush, turn right to walk along the road, entering Grañon by the church and albergue. It’s much more pleasant to turn left here and continue walking through rolling farmland. The conical hill to your right was an important strategic location, and Celtiberian burials have been discovered there. Pass the cemetery, then at a small ermita, keep straight on for the camino or follow arrows to the right to the albergue in the church tower. Whichever option you chose, you’ll enter Grañon in a few kilometres.

At one time, Grañon ( ) boasted two monasteries and a mediaeval pilgrims’ hospice, and in the Middle Ages, it was a walled town with an important castle. Nowadays, its only monument is the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, built over a former monastery and with a gorgeous sixteenth-century Baroque retablo. The old church bell tower houses the Hospital de Peregrinos ( 30 beds (mattresses) open all year ), and its communal meals and beautiful surroundings make it a wonderful, relaxing place to stay.

Just over a kilometre from Grañon, at the top of a rise, a huge map marks the border of La Rioja and Castilla y León. In another 3km, you’ll reach Redecilla del Camino.

Redecilla del Camino ( ) is yet another one-street village that grew up with the camino in the eleventh century. Its Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Calle contains a massive Romanesque baptismal font, the most impressive of the whole camino. A serpent circles the font’s base, and the solid bowl is decorated with a city of tall, multi-storeyed buildings, probably a representation of celestial Jerusalem. Albergue San Lázaro Calle Mayor 32 ( 40 beds open all year) stands on the site of the Hospital de San Lázaro, the town’s old pilgrim hospice. There’s information on the camino here or at the tiny turismo at the entrance to town.

To leave Redecilla, walk down the aptly named Camino de Santiago. You’ll arrive at Castildelgado ( ) in a couple of kilometres. Although the village contained a monastery and hospice at one time, there’s little to detain you nowadays apart from a bar-restaurant, a panadería and the Hostal El Chocolatero ( $$ ).

It’s just another 2km to Viloria de Rioja ( ), the inauspicious birthplace of Santo Domingo. Pass a dilapidated church on the left, which still contains the Romanesque font in which Domingo was baptized, although the house where he was born has recently been demolished. Viloria’s Albergue Acacio y Orietta is on Calle Nueva 6 ( 12 beds apr–oct ). The route to Belorado mostly follows a wide dirt track that’s beginning to feel like a pilgrim treadmill as it parallels the main road.

In another 4km, you’ll reach Villamayor del Río ( ). Turn right just before the village for San Luis de Francia ( 50 beds apr–oct ). The bar/restaurant on the main road discourages backpacks and walking sticks. There’s little to distract you on the barren 5km stretch to Belorado, although there are still glimpses of the Sierra de la Demanda to your left. About 1km before Belorado, cross the N120 bedst a rest area. In 200m arrive at the first of the four albergues in Belorado. Once in town, turn left at the Iglesia de Santa María, then take the first street on the right, and then the next left.

The walk from Belorado is a pleasant one, heading towards Villafranca Montes de Oca along grass and stone tracks through undulating farmland. Look out for effortlessly circling griffon vultures above you.

As you leave town, pass the Convento de Santa Clara, said to be built on the site of an ermita (hermitage) destroyed by the Moors. Cross the N120 then follow a pedestrian bridge over the Rio Tirón.

A few kilometres out of Belorado, the camino passes along the top of the hamlet of Tosantos ( ( ). You’ll need to veer off the route to the right to visit the village café-bar and the San Francisco de Asis, Calle Santa Marina (30 beds (mattresses) open all year ). Just before Tosantos peters out, turn left along a dirt farm track, clearly signed. As you climb slightly, look out for the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Pena to your right, built directly into the hill and looking as if it’s organically part of the landscape.

In just 2km, the camino passes through the hamlet of Villambistia ( ), where there’s a fountain and a modern church built from large stone blocks.

Walk through Espinosa del Camino ( ), less than 2km from Villambistia, where there’s a bar, a fountain and Albergue La Campaña ( 10 beds feb–dec ).

Walk through rolling, green countryside to the top of a rise, from where you can see Villafranca Montes de Oca ahead. Descend a little, then pass the ruined Monasterío San Felices on your right. Although only a single arch remains of this once-important ninth-century Mozarabic monastery, it’s an interesting place to poke around in. The ruins hold the bones of Diego Porcelos, who founded Burgos after recapturing it from the Moors.

In another half a kilometre, the track curves left to meet the main road. Turn right to walk alongside the road and enter Villafranca Montes de Oca.

In Villafranca, turn right off the main road to walk past a fountain and the church. Make sure to fill up with water here as there are few fountains on this stretch. From here to San Juan de Ortega, it’s a steep initial climb followed by a lovely ridge walk through swathes of heather. In spring, there are primroses and songbirds here, but your eye is inevitably drawn to the endless, spectacular stretches of pink and purple heather.

If you’re here early in the morning, you may be lucky enough to see fox, wild boar or roe deer. In autumn, when fog often descends, look out for mushrooms, which in seventeenth-century pilgrim Domenico Laffi’s words were “of unbelievable size, as big as a straw hat.” Luckily for Laffi, who got lost here, they were also plentiful. The route was also a struggle in mediaeval times, when the Montes de Oca’s steep, rugged terrain, dense forest, wolves, thieves and murderers made it one of the most treacherous stretches of the camino.

After 1km pass a rest area with untreated mountain water. In a few more kilometres, the track heads past the Monumento de los Caidos, a memorial to Spanish civil war victims. From here, it’s a long 7km stretch to San Juan de Ortega, following broad, pine-edged tracks through scrub and heather.

Finally, the track starts to descend and soon emerges from the trees at a pastoral countryside setting with the monastery of San Juan de Ortega in the distance. The deciduous trees, fields and flowers are a jolt to the senses after all that pine, and the scene is so pastoral and old-fashioned that it seems straight out of an English hymn. Cross a stream and enter the tiny hamlet of San Juan de Ortega.

Walk down the road out of San Juan de Ortega. At a bend in the road after 200m, take the well-signposted right-hand track through a pine wood. Reach a flat-topped pasture, criss-crossed by many paths, then head downhill into the village of Agés ( ). The remains of García de Nájera, who was killed near here by his brother Fernando I of Castilla, were originally entombed at the Iglesia de Santa Eulalia before they were moved to Nájera’s Panteón Real. The village has two small albergues: San Rafael Calle Medio Paralela 19 ( 36 beds open all year) and El Pajar de Agés Calle Medio Paralela 12 ( 38 a open all year 6 (before 6pm)).

Keep straight on through the village, walking on a narrow paved road that will take you to Atapuerca, a couple of kilometres away. Look out for standing stones on either side of the road — these are modern but were raised using prehistoric means by archaeologists and villagers of nearby Atapuerca. Walk into Atapuerca along the road, passing a water pump to the left of the road.

Turn left at the end of Atapuerca, where there’s a fountain, to follow narrow tracks over the Sierra de Atapuerca. In spring, look out for wild hyacinths and other flowers as you climb. Head towards a cross on the flat-topped summit, from where you get views of Burgos and of the immense, flat meseta that stretches west from the city. Head to the left of the radio towers towards a clump of trees paralleling a barbed wire fence, then walk downhill along a grassy track, passing a quarry on the right.

Just past the edge of the quarry, at the bottom of a hill, the camino splits.

Turn left to ignore the arrows and follow the slightly longer route through pretty villages along narrow, quiet roads, or turn right to follow the yellow arrows on a shorter, duller route, mostly on tracks through stony pasture dotted with wildflowers. The left-hand route passes through Villalval (where you can pick up the key for the albergue in Cardeñuela from Teresa in the house to the left of the church), and Cardeñuela Riopico ( ), where there’s a small albergue (20 beds open all year), before meeting up with the alternative route at Orbaneja ( ). At the end of Orbaneja, cross the busy A1 via a bridge. From here, you have two options to get to the centre of Burgos.

By far the nicest way to reach Burgos is via a riverside path. To get there, turn left just past the bridge over the highway after Orbaneja to follow a red earth track around a housing develpment. Walk through wheat fields for just over a kilometre, then arrive at the fence around Burgos airport. Skirt the airport, and follow the road that parallels the fence to Castañares ( ), which you’ll reach in a little over 3km ( $$$ Versus ).

From Castañares, you can follow the well-marked pathway alongside the N120 into Burgos, but it’s much more pleasant to ignore the yellow arrows and head for the riverside path. To do this, cross the busy main road to the Camino Santa María Sendero, then pass a paved park on the left and walk through a brick housing estate. Cross a bridge, turn right at the Saiz cement plant, then pass the Campo del Futbol el Molinar. Cross the Río Arlanzón via a blue metal footbridge, then turn right and walk on a paved path alongside the A1. After 500m, turn left to walk under the A1 and follow a path alongside the Río Arlanzón through the Parque Fuentes Blancas. This path, popular with joggers and afternoon strollers, leads you right into the centre of Burgos via the Puente Gasset. Burgos’ campground is alongside a paved cycle/pedestrian path that parallels the riverside path; this is also the best option if you want to detour to visit the Cartuja de Miraflores

From Orbaneja, a quicker but less pleasant option is to keep straight on, following a minor road through Burgos’ sprawling suburbs. In a couple of kilometres, cross a railway bridge into Villafría ( ), an ugly town straddling the main road into Burgos. There are a couple of hotels in Villafría, and you’re about 8km from the centre of Burgos, but it’s better to continue the camino, either on foot or by catching the #8 bus, rather than staying here. Pass a map of the camino after about 4km as the route becomes less industrial, then veer right 1km later, immediately after a military building. Turn left in a few hundred metres at the Centro Comercial Camino de la Plata, then follow Calle Las Calzadas into Burgos.

Camino de Santiago About the Navarra and La Rioja