The detour to Cañon de Río Lobos

[peregrina2000]

Alan's recent walk on the Castellano-Aragonés included a stage from Navaleño to Hontoria del Pinar, which included a detour to the Cañon de Río Lobos. That looks like a very nice thing to do, but if I'm not mistaken, Alan's detour did not go by the Ermita de San Bartolomé, which is also on that trail through the Cañon. It looks like it's in a stunning natural setting.

I've been looking at maps and wondering if the following is possible. Stop in San Leonardo. I could then take a taxi to Ucero. Ucero is right close to the beginning of the trail through the Cañon and goes by San Bartolomé. Information I see says that Ucero to Hontoria is 25 km. http://www.acampamos.com/comunidade...ñon_del_rio_lobos_ermita_de_san_bartolome.htm

I wouldn't have to sleep in San Leonardo, because Ucero seems to have a some lodging. http://ucerorural.com/

Hoping that either @Castilian or @alansykes or some other enlightened forum member can offer some advice on this.

Thanks, buen camino, Laurie

 

[AlanSykes]

Sadly I didn't get as far as San Bartolomé, which sounds worth a look. I took the minor road from San Leonardo (which has a very fine 17th century ecce homo sculpture in its church, which was open when I passed through), mostly following the Arganza river, to the bridge of Siete Ojos, about half way between Ucero and Hontoria del Pinar, and then continued up the canyon, without seeing a single person, for about 12km. It was a bit like a poor man's Yosemite, and I kept half expecting to see Ansel Adams setting up his camera. This is the route I took from Navaleño:

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=11249311

 

[peregrina2000]

So, Alan, I'm virtually certain that what I'm considering will overlap with the second half of the route you did. At least that's what my eyeball comparison of your wikiloc with this wikiloc tells me: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=9301368

Here's a pic from the web of the Ermita de San Bartolomé: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rio_lobos_san_bartolome.jpg

I am hoping that maybe I won't be totally alone on this walk, since it does seem to attract people in summer!

 

[peregrina2000]

And p.s., I've learned it's a 25 € cab ride from San Leonardo to Ucero, where the trail starts. I think it would be worth it, even though it will make me a cheater again.

 

[AlanSykes]

And p.s., I've learned it's a 25 € cab ride from San Leonardo to Ucero, where the trail starts. I think it would be worth it, even though it will make me a cheater again.

Sounds pretty good to me. I'm told it's the most popular parque natural in the whole of Castille-Léon, so I assume I must have hit a quiet patch.

I stayed in a quite nice hostal/restaurant on the main drag in Hontoria del Pinar, afraid I can't remember the name, but there wasn't a great deal of choice.

 

[Castilian]

The Cañón del Río Lobos is a protected Natural Park (for info about it: www.patrimonionatural.org/ren.php?espacio_id=4 ) so it might be a good idea to get in touch with the casa del parque (Park House) to get info about the park itself and about (possible) restricted or forbidden areas on your travel date (if they existed). The web of the casa del parque: www.patrimonionatural.org/casas.php?id_casa=15

I've been looking at maps and wondering if the following is possible. Stop in San Leonardo. I could then take a taxi to Ucero. Ucero is right close to the beginning of the trail through the Cañon and goes by San Bartolomé. Information I see says that Ucero to Hontoria is 25 km.

You know about taxis from San Leonardo and its fares and you know about accommodation in Ucero so with the info you already have you can almost answer your own question. The only thing I can think that might make it not possible would be that your route crossed a forbidden or restricted area (on your travel date) of the Natural Park but I guess an email or phone call to the casa del parque would -easily- solve this doubt as well as any other about up to date access regulations to the Natural Park (because you never know when they can change them...).

BTW, you have to add another roughly 2kms from downtown Ucero to the point where the route starts what would make a total of 27kms.

And p.s., I've learned it's a 25 € cab ride from San Leonardo to Ucero, where the trail starts. I think it would be worth it, even though it will make me a cheater again.

If you want to walk it all, you have alternatives:

1. To walk from San Leonardo to Ucero (21.7 kms), stay overnight in Ucero and walk next day from Ucero to Hontoria del Pinar. This option means roughly 8 kms of backtracking but, OTOH, you would see the ermita twice (once on your way to Ucero and another one on your way to Hontoria del Pinar). For info about the walk from San Leonardo to Ucero (on the GR86.2 and on the GR86): www.caminosoria.com/naturaleza/rutas-verdes/1699-gr-86-san-leonardo-ucero.html
2. A variant of the alternative I quoted as 1 would be to walk from Navaleno to Ucero. In that case, you would miss San Leonardo. For info about the walk from Navaleno to Ucero (all of it on the GR86): www.caminosoria.com/naturaleza/rutas-verdes/1698-gr-86-navaleno-san-leonardo.html from Navaleno till the point where the GR86.2 meets the GR86 and the link I provided above from that point onwards.
3. To walk from either San Leonardo or Navaleno to Casarejos (roughly 7 kms from S. Leonardo), stay overnight in Casarejos and walk next day from Casarejos to Hontoria del Pinar. From Casarejos to Hontoria del Pinar, you would follow the GR86 from Casarejos to the ermita. Once on the ermita, you would follow the track you linked in the OP till Hontoria del Pinar. Overall, Casarejos to Hontoria del Pinar following this route would be roughly 29 kms. This option means a backtracking of roughly 2 kms. It also means missing the route from Ucero to the ermita. In Casarejos, there's, at least, a posada and a casa rural but check fares beforehand to see if they are within your budget.

P.S.: I think I recall your travel companion on the camí català this year visited the ermita once ago? If memory serves me right (and she was there), she could provide you some info about it too.

P.S. (2): For some unkown reason, I don't get alerts when I'm mentioned on a post so, right now (i.e.: meanwhile the bug is detected and fixed), if you want to make sure I see a mention on a thread in which I didn't reply previously, the best way would be sending me a PM.

 

[LTfit]

Laurie - I could connect you to someone who lives in San Leonardo if you wish. I walked the first part of the Cañón de los Río Lobos this August when I stayed 4 days in San Leonardo at the home of friend. I think that I met the whole town haha. It was an easy walk, well signed, saw a handful of people.

We only did about 12-14 km starting somewhere near San Leonardo (friend's sister took us in a car so I wasn't particularly paying attention) but I don't know if I would make a detour to do it - please don't tell my friend. The pine forests in the area are lovely though.

Sorry not more helpful Laurie but I certainly could fill in any missing pieces once you have decided on your route.

 

[peregrina2000]

Laurie - I could connect you to someone who lives in San Leonardo if you wish. I walked the first part of Río de los Lobos this August when I stayed 4 days in San Leonardo at the home of friend. I think that I met the whole town haha. It was an easy walk, well signed, saw a handful of people.

We only did about 12-14 km starting somewhere near San Leonardo (friend's sister took us in a car so I wasn't particularly paying attention) but I don't know if I would make a detour to do it - please don't tell my friend. The pine forests in the area are lovely though.

Sorry not more helpful Laurie but I certainly could fill in any missing pieces once you have decided on your route.

Thanks, LT, both you and alan have given lukewarm recommendations about the walk, but it seems silly to be there and not take a peek. If I want to stay out of taxis, I'd walk from San Leonardo and walk the second half to Honoria de Pinar, but the first half (from Ucero, that may be where you started) is where the church is. Did you see the church? You know I'm a romanesque nut case and the setting looks pretty amazing. San Bartolome, I think it is.

One of many nice dilemmas to have as I look over this camino. Laurie

 

[LTfit]

Ok I just chatted with my friend and what we did was walk from Hontoria to S. Leonardo (puente de los 7 ojos) so it was only half of the total Cañón. In her opinion the other half is much nicer which will allow you to visit the ermita.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks so much LT, but I don't want to divert your attention away from the Salvador/Primitivo in mid June.

 

[LTfit]

Don't worry Laurie I'm pretty much set on a June Salvador - Primitivo Camino. Now just wondering about a 2+ week break (14-18 days) before and during Semana Santa . Hmmm...any ideas? From Málaga, Almería or Alicante? Sorry don't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[peregrina2000]

Don't worry Laurie I'm pretty much set on a June Salvador - Primitivo Camino. Now just wondering about a 2+ week break (14-18 days) before and during Semana Santa . Hmmm...any ideas? From Málaga, Almería or Alicante? Sorry don't mean to hijack your thread.

Well, I would say from Malaga in 2016 so you will still want to walk in 2017 from Almeria.

 

[Castilian]

Well, I would say from Malaga in 2016 so you will still want to walk in 2017 from Almeria.

Bearing in mind that roughly 50% of the route from Almería (to Mérida) is shared by the Mozárabe from Almería and the Mozárabe from Málaga. I would suggest another route just to increse the odds of she wanting to walk in 2017 from Almería with you.

What about the route from Granada to Toledo? I don't know about waymarking of the route but the Amigos in Granada (http://granadajacobea.com.es) could let you know about it and if it's decently waymarked could be an option to consider. http://pilgrim.peterrobins.co.uk has tracks for the route what could be useful too.