Today, Bro. William travels from Santo Domigo to Belorado. Normally, the traveller would stay the night in this village. Bro. William decided to travel three days in this one day. See his thoughts at the bottom of this page.

The journey takes us through the villages of Granon, Castildelgado, Viloria de la Rioja, Vilamayor del Rio and onto Belorado. The journey is nearly 24 kms, or 15 miles.

Belorado is almost the highest point at 800Ms but there are also three rivers to cross before we arrive there.

Granon Village - this walled town was inspired by the camino and had 2 monasteries and a pilgrim hospice.

Today, we find a quiet village that remains typically Jacobean. Iglesia de San Juan Bautista has a fine high altarpiece, recently restored.

Castella y Leon - the largest autonomous region in Spain with an area of 95,000 km- and with a population of only 2.5 million.

It contains the incomparable meseta, the predominately flat table or plateau region that makes up a third of the Iberian peninsular and lies between 1,000 and 3,000 metres above sea level and follows the line of the Duero river basin.

Cereal crops cerales are grown here, mainly wheat but with oats on the poorer land and some sheep and goats grazing on the hillier parts.

It is a sparsely populated grid region, primarily flat but with gently rolling hill. However, as we travel through them, we notice the seemingly endless horizons are broken up with delightful villages unaffected by the speed of modern life.



Distant mountains also break up the horizon. We start off walking through the Montes de Oca with the Sierra de la Demands to our left.

The Cordillera Cantabrica is to our right with the occasional view - the snow covered Picos de Europa behind them.

The highest peak is Pena (8,500 feet). We then pass through the Montes de Leon which supports one of the enduring symbols of the camino frances, the Iron Cross Cruz de Ferro at the high point of our route 1,505m (4,937 feet).

Beyond this the western arm of the Cordillera Cantabrica, which forms the boundary between Castilla y Leon and Galicia, which we enter through the Puerto d Pedrifita do Cebreiro.

Fernando I established Castile in 1035 and the 1090's saw the legendary figure of El Cid turning the tide from his base in Burgos against the Moors. 200 years after its foundation Castile was united with Leon under Fernando III El Santo.

Castildelgado - a 16th century Church of San Pedro which has fared better than the adjoining ruins of the house of the Counts of Berberana and the pilgrim hospice founded by Alfonso VII that the village once supported.

Hospitality is now limited to El Chocalatero Hs on the main road. The camino goes through the back of the village to pick up the track again parallel to main road before turning off onto country road into the N120.



Belorade - has a delightful `down at heal' atmosphere where the population of 2,000 live their lives at a leisurely pace.

Turismo (947-580 226) is located in the town hall on the spacious plaza Mayor that has an interesting medieval arcade and is lined with shops, bars and restaurants.

Belorado is yet another historic town along the Way created in the steep valley of the rio Tiron.

The 16th century Church of Santa Maria has a fine altarpiece with images of Santiago Matamoros and Peregrino and is built up against the limestone cliffs.




The ancient cave dwellings, once home to hermits, arc still visible behind the Church (as is an enterprising modern conversion!).

The castle ruins also point to the town's defensive past straddling the old border of Castile and it has Roman origins.

The hermitage of Our Lady of Bethlehem Nuestra Seiroru de Belen is on the eastern outskirts and is all that remains of the pilgrim hospital that used to adjoin it.

The two other churches, in the centre of the town, are dedicated to San Nicolas and San Pedro.

Bro. Williams' thoughts of today - This was one of the hardest days. After walking to Belorado I decided to walk on. I walked to St Juan. There was not much there for me. So on I went. I walked to Burgos and phoned the brothers community there. I walked for 13 hours and covered a distance of aver 35 miles. The brothers were very welcoming and having my own room to sleep in was a great luxury. I then had a rest day in Burgos and visited the local sights.