From Frías to Oña

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/castillo-…

I am back on the official Camino Olvidado. The last few days I have been walking through the “Montes“ of the province of Burgos. Montes are bigger than hills but not big enough to be called “montañas.” In my experience, they are usually in the 700 to 1000 m range (that is about 2 to 3000 feet above sea level). This Camino takes a route that goes up and down and across them rather than around them, meaning that most days there are several multi-hundred meter ascents. The montes are owned by the towns and villages in the area. In the old days, they were a source of firewood for the villagers, sometimes mushrooms. Today they are sometimes used for timbering or recreation like hiking or rock-climbing.

I saw on my tracks that I had three of these ascents today, each one between 250 and 300 m. The walk was gorgeous, nothing spectacular, just one beautiful mountain forest after another. No eucalyptus trees, just oak, pines, and beech trees that were starting to turn yellow.

When I got to the top of my second high point, looking down on my second descent, I noticed that my tracks showed another path. This one looked like it stayed up on the ridge (thanks to Clare for teaching me how to read contour lines) and avoided not only the second descent, but also the third ascent. My Camino friends know how reluctant I am to take shortcuts, and it is true that I started down with the thought that these meters are good for me. But then I came to a sign that said “ No pasar— trabajos forestales.” But it wasn’t until I googled “Saint Martin Church in Penches” and learned that it did not have anything that I would have been likely to ooh and ah over, that I bit the bullet, skipped the descent, and stayed up on the ridge line. That saved me about a kilometer and a half, so I arrived in Oña pretty early.

I’m staying in a cute little hotel in a room that is, shall we say, colorful? The three people working downstairs — one in the bar, one in hotel reception, and one in the restaurant— are most definitely related, since they all have the same surly face and monosyllabic lexicon. But the restaurant gets good reviews, so I will eat here! My first proper meal since I arrived in Spain. And I will visit the monastery after my late lunch —founded in the 11th century, but with few Romanesque vestiges. El Cid has been here, and several Castillian kings are buried here, so it should be an interesting visit.Read more