Valdenoceda to Pesquera de Ebro

My tracks for the day:

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

Another wonderful walk — how is it possible?! The morning started off with a couple of good omens— first, that I was able to figure out how to use mapy.com to get me reunited with the Camino without going back on the highway as I had come. Immediately after rejoining the Camino, poof, there in front of me was another beautiful Romanesque church. I would love to get inside a couple of these places, but this one just had late afternoon visiting hours.

After the town of El Alminé came the Calzada medieval, an old trade route that brought sheep and other livestock from the Meseta to the coastal towns. With its ascent of about 300 m, the grade was quite good, 13%, the historical authenticity unsurpassed. But it was murder on my feet.

Some of it was really spectacular though, because you could see how the builders had raised the level of the road in certain spots by as much as 18 or 20 feet to avoid dips. When I got to the top, there was a church of mish-mash styles emerging from the mist. Very nice.

The next 10 or so kilometers were mainly along roads —no traffic, no scenery, no cars. The one great diversion was a detour off the Camino to see the Dolmen de Cotarrita. Adding another 1.5 km to a day’s walk is not something to be undertaken lately, but I had heard good things about this site and thought that my day was in pretty good shape.

Estimates are that the dolmen is 5500 years old. The information plaque told me that they had found 15 bodies buried there, some of them with little pieces of pottery or amulets carved from bones. I took a good shoes-off break there and am sad to report that I got no great answers to life’s big questions. I did reflect, though, on the fact that I had been really silly to worry that the GPS tracks I had followed were too “old” — from 2012 — while this dolmen hadn’t moved in 5500 years.

I’m in a little hotel in the town with more coats of arms on its houses than any other town in Castilla and León. Some are quite impressive and one dates from the 13th century. In my experience, that’s very unusual — typically 16th and 17th century.

After lunch, I walked out to the mirador/viewpoint of the Cañón del Ebro. I will be walking along the river tomorrow, but I will be down at river level, and this viewpoint was from up high.

I can’t believe how great the weather has been. Some clouds, but always sun, temps no higher than the mid 70s. I know this area is still in a terrible drought, so I wouldn’t be upset with a rainy day or two.Read more