Forum Members virtually on the Lana, Part 2 (Cuenca to Burgos) — GREAT planning guide

[AJGuillaume]

We're back in Covarrubias, to explore the Camino San Olav as an alternative to walking to Burgos.

The forum has a dedicated sub-forum to this Camino, with a wealth of information. @peregrina2000 wrote a great introduction, and documented her walk after that. @peregrina2000 recorded her tracks starting from Santo Domingo de Silos (day 1, day 2, day 3).

@alexwalker wrote a guide for this Camino. You'll find his guide in the resources section of the forum. I'll also be using that to help me, and I have learned to read backwards as I will be walking in the opposite way to which the guide was written.

I am also consulting the Camino de San Olav website, which I assume is an official reference. To assist with distances (which I will keep approximate), I will also use their tracks.

We won't be alone on this Camino. There are a number of veterans, @peregrina2000 , @VNwalking , @alexwalker , @Bad Pilgrim to name a few.

As for previous virtual Caminos, my bias will be to look at stages for slow walkers. So although most pilgrims will walk this Camino in three days, we might take longer.

So here we go...

Day 29a. Covarrubias - Mambrillas de Lara. 14 km

The most recent pilgrim experience I have read is that of @Bad Pilgrim :

From Covarrubias there are 3 kms to reach the ermita, hidden at the feet of the mountain. As Alex Walker says, it leaves no one indifferent. I have read elsewhere that some pilgrims are disappointed when they see it. They think it will be like your usual stone-and-brick ermita from the XIV century... And they get what looks like a rusty container merged with a recycling bin.

Let's not engage in any debate about the style of the chapel here. Some love it, some hate it. The official Camino de San Olav will obviously take you there, as that is the goal of this Camino.

From the chapel, the walk goes up to a ridge, and then down to the village of Mambrillas de Lara. Having looked at the profile of the walk, the slow walkers are happy that this stage is not longer than 14 km.

@Bad Pilgrim bypassed the village, walking further. One comment he made, though, makes me think that this is a Camino for which one might need to have GPS tracks, or a good map with the path drawn on it.

There were no San Olav waymarks but someone had put stones at the borders of the trail, kind of the remnants of a calzada romana, which I followed in every intersection. [...]
This set the tone for the rest of this Camino, with me being afraid I would continue to be confused and finally get lost.

You also need to carry water and food. @alexwalker notes in his guide:

There is nothing on this stretch: No cafe, no village, no nada. But the stretch itself is peaceful and beautiful. Trust the content of your backpack.

In Mambrillas de Lara, there is the Casa Rural El Rincón del Alfoz. Ana, the hostess, is very friendly, and might arrange to take you to LaraSauro, where you can see dinosaur tracks:

Dona Ana will be more than happy (she actually suggested it, thanks) to take you for a 10 mins easy walk to see the dinosaur park, with its more than 140 million years old petrified footsteps of these ancient giants

We have an alternative, in case we can't stay in Mambrillas de Lara, and that is to see if we can get a lift to Hortigüela, just down the road, and stay at the Hostal La Moruga. This was @peregrina2000 's option in 2016:

we moved to Plan B, which involved calling the Taberna Moruga in Hortigüela, which as you can see on that google map is a few kms down the road from Mambrillas de Lara. The owner came to pick us up.

It's a nice place run by a young couple, who opened up in the middle of the crisis and four years later are still there. I wouldn't say business is booming, but they had a respectable turnout and we had a really good dinner at about 9 pm -- cauliflower gratin, veal burger and ice cream. We had a few hours between shower and dinner, so we made the rounds in town and saw there is another bar where we had a drink, and a closed hotel.

The owner dropped us back off the next morning after breakfast

EDIT: going through other threads, I have omitted to add another option concerning accommodation, and this was provided by @VNwalking :

[And long after it was any use to you, Laurie, I finally found the card for the place where I stayed in Villaespasa; it was a lovely pension, and the proprietors were incredibly helpful, picking me up at Mambrillas and taking me back there the next morning:
Casa Julita, C/. San Jose, 10 09650 Villaespasa.
674 69 19 04 and 673 35 75 30]

 

[Deleted member 73526]

Let's not engage in any debate about the style of the chapel here.

OK. De gustibus non disputandum est. There shall be no debate. But we can vote... I created a poll. Click the link below to ensure that your valued opinion is ignored heard. (Poll closes in 7 days).

Love it or hate it? - Capilla de San Olav | Covarrubias, Burgos

 

[AJGuillaume]

OK. De gustibus non disputandum est. There shall be no debate. But we can vote... I created a poll. Click the link below to ensure that your valued opinion is ignored heard. (Poll closes in 7 days).

Love it or hate it? - Capilla de San Olav | Covarrubias, Burgos

I wrote about not having a debate about the chapel with tongue in cheek, and a contrarian purpose. Because I know that those who have been there and are following this virtual Camino would not hesitate to have their views about the chapel heard.
Thank you for the poll, @Raggy

 

[peregrina2000]

My proposal will unintentionally reveal my opinion of the chapel. But it is balanced out by my equally strong opinion of the church at Quintanilla de las Viñas.

If you use GPS, it would be easy to get from Covarrubias to the church at Quintanilla de las Viñas directly. It is about 9.4 kms and will take you up to the ridge, down across the highway, and then to the church. Here is a wikiloc. That removes the chapel from your itinerary.

From the church, you would have two options — head back to Mecerreyes on the Lana (14 km from the church) or continue on the San Olav to Cubillo de César and its casa rural (about 7 km from the church). That could be left with a TBD decision based on availability at the CR.

These options do not take you through Mambrillas de Lara, and I am not certain if they take you past the pretty impressive dinosaur tracks that are out there under a roof with an explanation panel, but I think that’s what I will do if I am ever lucky enough to be back there!

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

These options do not take you through Mambrillas de Lara, and I am not certain if they take you past the pretty impressive dinosaur tracks

After the ascent from Covarrubias, on the ridge, there is a wooden sign where distances & directions to towns in the area are indicated. I decided to skip Mambrillas and go straight towards Quintanilla. I still stumbled upon the dino tracks. They are pretty much on the Camino, if you choose to follow in my footsteps. Anyway it is not a big detour. Pictures below! You can even see the claws/hooves, or whatever you call them when they are attached to those jolly pachyderms. To think that they put their little feet there like 100 million years ago...! (The Mesozoic Era, if I may add.)

From Quintanilla, I went a few hundred meters off camino to see the church from the 7th century, and back again. It was worth it. It might be the oldest church I have ever seen on a Camino. Although I believe that the stones thrown around in the outskirts of Monteagudo de las Salinas are remnants of a super ancient church as well, maybe as old as this one. Rehashed pictures of the church in Quintanilla coming up below!

No bars, nothing, not even in Cubillo del César where I spent the night. It was rainy and windy up on the ridge, and I ended up walking on too much tarmac because I went in the wrong direction and couldn't see where I should leave the road/junctions for the dirt tracks... Except for Norwegian chapel-turned-recycling bin/fracking station, mesozoic dinos and super ancient church, did not like...

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

I wrote about not having a debate about the chapel with tongue in cheek, and a contrarian purpose. Because I know that those who have been there and are following this virtual Camino would not hesitate to have their views about the chapel heard.
Thank you for the poll, @Raggy

The chapel is a work of art!! I approve this sanctuary!

 

[AlanSykes]

I love the visigothic chapel at Quintanilla de las Viñas. The carvings on the outside are glorious, especially in the setting of the nearby Sierra de la Demanda. But the interior is just jaw-dropping, with the oldest representation in Spain of Christ as Pantocrator. Even lovelier was the pairing of the sun and the moon in chariots pulled by angels - the former a barely christianised Sol Invictus and the latter a, to my eye, entirely pagan Selene-Isis-Luna. The village bar does a decent lunch and will look after your rucksack while you go round the church.

 

[peregrina2000]

Which one is a church? Which one is an abandoned mine?

 

[AJGuillaume]

The visigothic chapel at Quintanilla de las Viñas is on our walk today.

Day 30a. Mambrillas de Lara - Cubillo del César or Revilla del Campo. 14 km or 21 km

On the website of the Camino de San Olav, I downloaded a leaflet, which shows the places where one can sleep. This in turn helped me plan, with my darling and slow walkers in mind, where we would stop at the end of today.

Had we not stopped in Mambrillas de Lara, and thus avoided the chapel of San Olav, we would have walked, as @peregrina2000 suggested, 16.4 km to Cubillo del César, including the visigothic chapel at Quintanilla de las Viñas on our journey.

As we have stopped at Mambrillas de Lara for the purpose of this virtual Camino, we have a choice. Stopping in Cubillo del César gives us a short day, and then gives us the option of making it a 4 day camino as suggested by @alexwalker in his guide:

Actually, if the weather is hot (or rainy), it might be a good idea to take a stop here, doing the San Olav in 4 short days in stead of 3.

"Short" is a lovely word for slow walkers

The alternative is to walk just a little further to Revilla del Campo, which is approximately 21 km from Mambrillas de Lara (including the visit to the chapel in Quintanilla de las Viñas). Choosing this alternative would give us a long (by slow walkers standards) day (30 km) to Burgos, or a very short stage (9.9 km) from Revilla del Campo to Modúbar de San Cibrián before continuing to Burgos.

For the fit pilgrim, the 30 km into Burgos would not be an issue, and in fact, I would add that most pilgrims might even walk from Mambrillas de Lara to Modúbar de San Cibrián, covering the 27.6 km in a day.

On this virtual Camino, we'll stop in Cubillo del César.

Leaving Mambrillas de Lara, after about 5.5 km, we will come to the village of Quintanilla de las Viñas. The visigothic ermita is about 700 m away from the village. A visit to the chapel only adds 1.4 km to the day, and after reading more about this I would certainly add it to my journey. Thank you to @alansykes for his photos.

A further 3 km brings us to Cubillejo de Lara, with another 4 km to Cubillo del César.

Then I walked on asphalt to Cubillejo de Lara, which was totally unnecessary as I later saw that there was a trail running by the side of the hill. And from there on asphalt to Cubillos del César, probably unnecessary as well.

Walking in the wrong direction was annoying. The waymarks are placed so pilgrims face them. I had to look over my shoulder, and often I didn't see them at all. I have to walk the San Olav again, in the right direction, and see if it's a better experience.

In Cubillo del César, we can stay at the Casa Rural Roblejimeno, where @Bad Pilgrim stayed. Although the website of the casa rural indicates that a minimum of two nights is required, @Bad Pilgrim 's experience and the comments left by pilgrims on Google show that this is not always the case.
These are the notes in @alexwalker 's guide:

The hostess Carmen Heras is the only person I met on these 3 days of walking who could speak rudimentary English.
This is the only option for an overnight stay other than the two I used, described in this guide, but you have to call and book well on beforehand, because there is no shop (as always) in the village, and Carmen needs to go to Burgos for shopping before you arrive. Carmen speaks basic English; enough to communicate.

 

[peregrina2000]

Just to say that the Casa Rural Roblejimeno has a full list of things to see in the area, both natural and built, and I’m sure when VN gets back online she will want to take a look. I know that the ruins of the monastery at San Pedro de Arlanza have been high on her list. More info here.

VN and I had some discussion about walking to see the monastery from Santo Domingo in early March 2020 when the sinking feeling was starting to set in.

I have learned that all of the renovations and stabilization have been completed, but the site has not yet opened to the public. During the renovation period, they used to take small groups through with hard hats, but I don’t think anyone has gone through since covid.

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Casa Rural Roblejimeno is enourmous for 1 pilgrim only. Luckily I could stay there alone. But I did not get along with the owner, who scolded me repeatedly for showing up too early at the door (although I was in time). I decided to spend as little time as possible with her: I defiantly declined her offer to open up the romanesque church to me. She got back at me by refusing to tell me if there was a bar in town (the answer was "maybe" = ???), but probably also because she wants to sell you stuff herself. She can bring you things, or even cook for you in the evening, which is good to know I suppose.

After a verbal stealth war, we eventually warmed up to each other while we were stamping credentials and chatting about the stage to come. But she was horrified to see that I used a regular credential (the one from Ivar's store) because it was not a "true" credential. So she offered me the San Olav credential, very fancy indeed and for free. But I didn't make much of it because I always use Ivar's credential wherever I go. She told me a large portion of pilgrims coming by were Norwegians, often in groups, as this Camino is especially known to them. I think the credential is this one that I found on google:



Fun fact: there is a rest area with wooden tables and sort of a shelter, on the main street, where there is wifi in case you need it.

 

[peregrina2000]

I don’t have to add anything about how wonderful a visit to the church at Quintanillas is. But I do want to stress that people have to be careful about organizing a visit, because it is closed on both Mondays and Tuesdays and the last weekend of the month. I have seen conflicting opening hours that say it opens at 10 am. That’s what the nice description in the Romanesque Tourism website says. My slightly hazy memory, though, is that the 11:05 am opening (as listed below) is the correct one. I remember Reb and I got there at least a half hour or so before opening, and we were slightly stunned that at exactly 11:02 or :03, a young guy rode up on a motorcycle and had the church opened for us at exactly 11:05. It may have been 10:05, though, but I remember it happened precisely as announced.

The hours listed below come from what looks like an official Arlanza blog site.

QUINTANILLA DE LAS VIÑAS.​

ERMITA DE SANTA MARÍA.
De mayo a septiembre: De miércoles a domingo de 11:05 a 14:00 h y de 16:00 a 19:55 h.
De enero a abril y de octubre a diciembre: De miercoles a domingo, de 09:50 a 17:10 hrs.
Horarios extraordinarios:
Abierto: Del 24 al 27 de marzo. 2 mayo. 31 octubre, 1 noviembre. 5y6 diciembre.
Cerrado: Primer fin de semana de mes, 2 noviembre. 1 y 6 enero. 24, 25 y 31 diciembre
Teléfono del vigilante: 626 496 215

 

[AJGuillaume]

My slightly hazy memory, though, is that the 11:05 am opening (as listed below) is the correct one. I remember Reb and I got there at least a half hour or so before opening, and we were slightly stunned that at exactly 11:02 or :03, a young guy rode up on a motorcycle and had the church opened for us at exactly 11:05. It may have been 10:05, though, but I remember it happened precisely as announced.

I went back to your 2016 notes:

The sign told us that the church's opening time was 10:05, and sure enough, at exactly 10:05, the guy in charge rode in on his motorcycle, ready for a day alone out in Quintanillas.

And in that same thread, you had explained why you went into details in your posts:

Sorry for these minutia laden posts, but on the chance that someone may actually want to walk this route, these details would become very fuzzy for me in a few months, so I wanted to memorialize them now.

Thank goodness for notes and photos: they clear the fuzziness

Day 31a. Cubillo del César - Modubar de San Cibrián. 17 km

The first village we will come to today after about 3 km is Quintanalara. Here are @peregrina2000 's notes:

From Cubillejo de César to Quintanalara, it's a very nice off-road track. We arrived in Quintanalara as they were celebrating the opening of their crowd-funded library, built in an old agricultural building with the horse-shoeing contraption still standing. Very nice vibe in that little town.

@alexwalker mentions that it is multilingual:

In Quintanalara there is a small bar at the far end of the village, Only bottled beer, unfortunately. Very friendly.The village has its own multilingual library (!) with an eager librarian. You can sit there and read. The barkeeper will arrange for access for you. The bar is only marked with a San Olav cross + chairs outside. Also a visigothic church.

The next 4.5 km will take you to the village of Revilla del Campo. That's where you could stop if you wanted to walk further than Cubillo del César. You might be able to find a bed at the Casa Rural Las Cinco Lunas. However, the Casa Rural's website seems to be out of action. Let's hope it's only the website...

Still on tracks, from Quintanalara, we made our way to Revilla de Campos. If you look closely at a map, or my gps tracks for that matter, you will see that it would be easy to avoid going into town by turning left on a farm road that the camino later rejoins after Revilla de Campos. This would have the advantage of avoiding a very muddy overgrown path along the stream. It would also mean that you wouldn't go through Revilla, and we did find a nice shady bench and fountain there, but if you don't need water, consider the shortcut.

Another 6 km, and you'll reach Los Ausines. This is made up of three villages: Quintanilla, San Juan y Sopeña. I believe the 'official' path goes through San Juan. @peregrina2000 went through Sopeña. In both cases, there is a steep hill.

As we came into Ausines, we didn't take the arrow to the left because it just looked like it was going to take us on a long detour. Well, in fact, it would have taken us up the back of the hill that we eventually climbed from Ausines, but we didn't know that then. We climbed up to the church and then saw that our destination was at the top of a pretty steep hill and we were not sure what we would do. But then, out of nowhere came Dona Eugenia, a resident out for her afternoon walk. She took us up to the top of the ridge, accompanied us almost till our destination was in sight, and sent us on our way. There are less strenuous ways to get to the road that took us into Mondúbar de San Ciprian, but they would have involved a loop and also crossing a large herd of sheep with several dogs, not recommended by Dona Eugenia.

And finally, after 3.5 km, we arrive at the first of the “modúbares”: Modúbar de San Cibrián. The word
Modúbar, I am led to believe, originates from the Arabic word mudawwar, which means "round", or from the pre-Roman word for "mounds of earth".

In Modúbar de San Cibrián, we will find a room at the Casa Rural La Cerca de Doña Jimena.

I can't end this day without sharing @peregrina2000 's feeling about this day:

A truly 5***** day! Buen camino, Laurie

And I'll leave you with a video of the library at Quintanalara

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Alan said someone would provide access to the library. But it is unlocked 24/7! At least when I was there. It was the hostess in Cubillo del César who, in a rare moment of benevolence, told me that even if I arrived early in the morning, the door would be open. And she was right. I left Cubillo del César early in the darkness, because I was starving and couldn't sleep any longer, and I arrived at the library at the break of dawn. I moved around in there, stirring up the dust in the faint morning light, and checked out a few books. But my aching stomach prevented me from staying too long.

I remember that some things had changed since Alex wrote his guide. There is now a Vía Verde - a gravel road with them white pebbles that almost blind you in the sunshine - all the way from Revilla del Campo to Los Ausines. So there is no need to walk on tarmac for 6 kms.

I had to go further than Modúbar de San Cibrián because I didn't find anything to eat: all the way to the next Modúbar de la Cuesta...

 

[AJGuillaume]

All good things come to an end...

Day 32a. Modúbar de San Cibrián - Burgos. 19.5 km

Everything is relative :

Short easy day

Before we leave Modúbar de San Cibrián, I'll share some worthwhile information from @peregrina2000 . Hopefully the owner of the Casa Rural La Cerca de Doña Jimena will also offer us to have a look in the church.

Good, filling breakfast, and the owner urged us to take the leftovers in our packs for snacks. She also offered to take us inside the 19th century church. I'm glad Reb said yes, because I would have probably passed on the opportunity, yet there inside was this brightly colored altarpiece that just sparkled. When you add this to the very interesting fountain made with three Roman sarcophagi, it adds up to a nice little stop.

Today is the very last stage of the Lana / San Olav:

The way into Burgos is really very straightforward, most of it on a biking/walking trail, so no need for walking details.

Well, let me just fill you in on the places you will walk through.

First there are the other two “modúbares”: Modúbar de la Cuesta and Modúbar de la Emparedada after respectively 4.5 km and 4 km. Then a further 5 km will take you to Cardeñádijo, after which it is only 6 km to Burgos.

I don't think I have much more to add to this stage. In our real Camino, when we are able to walk again, we will definitely take the San Olav from Covarrubias to Burgos. The distances suit us slow walkers better. An alternative would be to take the bus from Covarrubias to Burgos, then walk the San Olav in its "proper" direction", to ensure we don't miss markers, and then take the bus once more from Covarrubias to Burgos.

So peregrin@s, this concludes the second part of the Ruta de la Lana and the San Olav. I have enjoyed guiding you from Viana de Mondéjar, taking the baton from @VNwalking , to whom my thoughts and prayers go out every day. I hope you stay safe, @VNwalking !

I would like to thank all the veterans and others who have contributed to this thread, in no particular order: @VNwalking for getting us started and keeping us on the right path, @peregrina2000 , @Magwood (thank you for your blog), @alansykes , @Bad Pilgrim (our recidivist on the Lana, thank you for your photos), @Ninja (thank you for your photos), @C clearly , @amancio , @domigee , @LTfit , @JLWV , @islandwalker , @Bernice M , @Raggy , @Flogwail , @Currie , @Pilger Franz , @Undermanager who contributed indirectly as I quoted his many Lana posts on this forum, @Doughnut NZ , @mspath . Apologies if I missed anyone.

Hopefully, one day, we too will be able to share our experience on the Ruta de la Lana and the Camino de San Olav.

Stay safe!

¡Buen Camino!

 

[peregrina2000]

AJ, this has been a great team effort, but you and VN get the gold star. I will go through and edit things to get them in order, remove duplication and banter (just to make it easier for those who come to this thread in the future and use it to plan). But I will leave all of @Ninja’s photographic wizardry!

Sorry to see that this thread has ended! We may have to come back in the future to consider a few of VN’s alternative ideas when it comes to the area around Covarrubias. Unfortunately, though she is well, she is now totally without internet.

Thanks again to all forum members who contributed! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Ninja]

It has been such a treat to walk the La Lana ‘again’ with all of you. A huge thank you to @VNwalking @AJGuillaume and his darling, to @peregrina2000 @Bad Pilgrim @Magwood @C clearly @Raggy @Pilger Franz @alansykes @Doughnut NZ @mspath @Bernice M @Currie and who ever came along…

I would love to join another virtual walk or two (we probably have all of 2021 to do so (unfortunately)). @Magwood and I had the Olvidado and the Invierno planned for 2020, so Laurie I’m all in for a virtual walk in the mountains that you know so well. Oh, and the Mozárabe would be lots of fun to revisit!

Even the slow walkers should have reached Burgos by know. I treat you all to at glass of wine at La Favorita Burgos on Calle Avellanos. The wine is being poured at this very minute, will you join:

 

[Ninja]

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Drop your napolitana and face the cafetería,

We ain't done yet! A few more remarks. Modubar de la Emparedada is so close to the Lana that one can jump back to the Lana from there. In the Lana guide, it is marked as an alternative. So close to Burgos, one can come and go between the Lana and the San Olav as one wishes. I didn't see any bar in Emparedada though. The bar in the previous Modubar de la Cuesta opens at 9-10 in the morning and is heavily promoted in Alex' San Olav guide. The industrious woman-in-charge probably saw me gnawing at the bench outside and opened it up early, to save me from the starvation I had endured all the way from Cubillos del César.

I walked the San Olav in 2 days: not recommended. I will try 3 days the next time, and in the other direction.

Another photo of the arrival to Burgos below, to celebrate the end of our journey!

 

[Deleted member 73526]

OK. De gustibus non disputandum est. There shall be no debate. But we can vote... I created a poll. Click the link below to ensure that your valued opinion is ignored heard. (Poll closes in 7 days).

Love it or hate it? - Capilla de San Olav | Covarrubias, Burgos

Here are the results of the great St. Olav hermitage poll:

The corrugated iron sanctuary is not as divisive as I expected. Most people (6 out of 11 respondents) do not have extreme feelings one way or the other about it. I was pleased to see that nobody was eager to condemn it without encountering it in person. That's fair and open minded.

 

[Bernice M]

May I add a vote to the St Olav question? Never been there, love it. The roughshod combination of materials, use of corrugated iron, and harking back to a mend and make do past would give me an instant case of homesickness.

Thank you all for your massive contributions to this walk. Having retired once from it, this new guide gives me more confidence to try it again. And special thanks to AJG for his short distances focus.

 

[VNwalking]

I am only catching up on the end of this thread after my internet went out.
So here are a few loose ends:

I’m sure when VN gets back online she will want to take a look. I know that the ruins of the monastery at San Pedro de Arlanza have been high on her list.

Indeed I would.
In fact I have devised an off-piste way to go from Santo Domingo de Silos past the Sad Hill Cemetery, to San Pedro de Arlanza and then direct to Mambrillas - missing the loved/hated chapel, but also Covarrubias. So perhaps this would be best for those of us who are repeat offenders and have already enjoyed Covarrubias's considerable charms.
Here it is:

There is now a Vía Verde - a gravel road with them white pebbles that almost blind you in the sunshine - all the way from Revilla del Campo to Los Ausines. So there is no need to walk on tarmac for 6 kms.

I missed this and all the off-road bits after Santa Maria de Lara. I had a map malfunction so was basically walking blind. I have to do this camino again! There is much to share about waymarking and such, but everyone has moved on.

But two places of caution:
First, leaving SDdS, make sure you are on the way you intend to walk— whether that be the Camino or the GR. They both end up in Covarrubias, but one is much longer than the other!
Second, above Covarrubias you'll come to an intersection with a confusing sign. If you take the left fork you end up going directly to Quintanilla. Should you want to go to Mambrillas, don't do what I did. Take the right fork. This will allow you to avoid several kilometers of road walking at the end of the day!

Modúbar de la Cuesta

I was given a tour by the mayor, who happened to be in the bar with his son as the later was opening it up at the absurdly early hour of 09.45. A very friendly and voluble fellow!

After Modubar de la Cuesta, where the road goes over the old rail line before Modubar de la Emparedada, you can scramble down the bank onto the via verde that takes you directly and painlessly into the middle of Burgos. There is a tunnel, which was 'fun!' When I was in the darkest part of it, I heard rapid footsteps coming from behind, which of course upped my pulse just a bit. Fortunately it turned out they belonged to a totally harmless female runner. I'm with you, @Bad Pilgrim. Not for the faint-of-heart indeed!

Even the slow walkers should have reached Burgos by know

And beyond.
I am happy to report that yesterday I 'arrived' in Santiago after 165 days and about 1350kms since we all left from Alicante: from Burgos along the CF to Leon, then the San Slavador and Primativo to Santiago. I will never be able to do this whole thing in one go in real life, and it was a special treat to be able to share the first part of it here with all of you. We really were walking together! Which made the end a little challenging on this end, feeling the sudden end of that collaboration.
Thank you each and every one. With special thanks to @AJGuillaume for jumping in to take the thread!

 

[peregrina2000]

In fact I have devised an off-piste way to go from Santo Domingo de Silos past the Sad Hill Cemetery, to San Pedro de Arlanza and then direct to Mambrillas - missing the loved/hated chapel, but also Covarrubias.

That’s a tough choice! But the Arlanza monastery has had about five years of restoration, stabilization, and improvements. I watched an interesting video done by the mother daughter architect team responsible for the renovations. Nearly all of the original romanesque wall paintings are now in museums (Metropolitan, Fogg, and the national museum in Barcelona), and the Barroque rebuilding really did a number on the Romanesque. But still.... it looks like a beautiful site.

I see that San Pedro de Arlanza is only 7.5 km from Covarrubias, so I suppose one could walk Santo Domingo to Covarrubias (with or without going through Sad Hill) and then find a way to visit in the afternoon. There is still no indication when the monastery will be open for visitors, but surely it will happen before we get there to walk!

 

[VNwalking]

I suppose one could walk Santo Domingo to Covarrubias (with or without going through Sad Hill) and then find a way to visit in the afternoon.

When I walked via Sad Hill/Contreras, I ended up on the road leading to San Pedro and there were many casual cyclists - mostly families. It would be a very nice ride if you could manage to borrow a bike.
And if you go via Contreras, it's a very short detour - turn right at the BU-905 bridge, rather than left. From there to San Pedro and back to where you started is only 2.6kms.

 

[VNwalking]

Returning to this thread to add this piece that I found of interest to anyone who arrives in Siguenza with a few extra days on your hands.

20 kms away, on the Camino del Cid, is the town of Medinaceli. It was a hugely important defensive fortress, and has the only remaining Roman triumphal arch in Spain. The latter looks really impressive.

Camino del Cid | Un viaje por la Edad Media | España

Web oficial del Camino del Cid: una ruta turístico-cultural que atraviesa las provincias de Burgos, Soria, Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Teruel, Castellón, Valencia y Alicante.

en.caminodelcid.org

Arco de Medinaceli - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.m.wikipedia.org

Medinaceli looks like one of those unknown but amazing places that take your breath away when you stumble into them unawares.

It has much of interest besides the arch, Roman mosaics, and salt mines going back to Roman times - there's of course a castle, plus the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, a ducal palace, loads of arab remains, and - much to my astonishment - even a beguinage!

To get there, here's a mountainbike wikiloc track to and from Siguenza, two different ways:

⚡

⚡

www.wikiloc.com

The Camino del Cid goes there too: https://www.wikiloc.com/mountain-biking-trails/ruta-del-cid-5a-etp-siguenza-medinaceli-10511616

There are at least 3 places to stay. Wprd to the wise: avoid the town during the firebull festival when it's bound to be booked out by both gawkers and protesters.

 

[dick bird]

https://vilamuseu.es/en/ruta/camino-de-santiago-vilero/3

http://caminobenidorm.blogspot.com/2018/04/santiagos-way-benidormvillajososa-to.html

https://www.caminosantiago.org/cppe....asp?kCamino=ES39a01b&EtapaId=612&CaminoId=87

Not trying to confuse you all and not 100% sure of the best place to put this, but these three websites should give you most if not all the information you need if you plan to start the Lana in Villajoyosa - and if they are anything to go by, that might not be a bad idea.

As for when we can follow our own advice, not sure. Be nice to start in May, but it may have to wait till September. Who knows, anyway, buen camino to you all.