Camino de Santiago, 5-35 Days, 113-780km.

The Camino de Santiago or Way of St James is a journey of the soul along an ancient pilgrimage route from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. Walk the whole way or just a week or two, you will never forget it!

Start off from the car park at Fuente Dé, the one on the opposite side of the road from the lower cable car station, and walk through the wooden gate into a field. The gate is secured by a very rough piece of old metal. Please leave it fastened. Cross the field in a north-westerly direction until you come the the marked track heading up into the Tornos de Liordes where there used to be a mine. 

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Just keep following the path uphill until just under a kilometer into the walk the path turns sharply left. Just keep heading uphill, following the white and yellow markers. At times the signs say Vega de Liordes  at at other times, Tornos de Liordes. Follow them either way. Its really beautiful in the early morning. The sun is just touching the high peaks leaving the path cool and in shadow. Its not too crowded yet, just a few serious walkers and climbers. Still even a few of these, who should know better, are making enough noise to scare off any wildlife. One idiot is even whistling loudly! There are a few stunted hazels scattered on either side as the path skirts around the top of a wood.

We are now zigzagging up the wall of the Canal de Embudo, the path becomes steeper and even steeper. Soon the path turns to scree and we pick our footsteps carefully, not wanting to take the quick route back down. The path is steep and by the first two kilometers we have already ascended 250 metres. After three kilometers we have gained over 300 metres in height. Here it becomes a bit of a scramble as we fight for footholds and, in places, handholds. Good boots are essential here. 

There are lots of Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) about this morning. I just saw a group of six flying overhead, scouring the ground below for fallen walkers. I better make sure I don't fall off this mountain! There are also lots of Alpine Swifts.

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The paint shop boys have been out marking several rocks with their white and yellow sigils to assure us we are still on the right track. 

Another one and a bit kilometers and we have reached the top !!! Over five kilometers of steep ascent. Mercifully the ground levels out now, the scree disappears and we have grass and animal dung underfoot. We have reached the high pasture of Vega de Liordes. We look back we way we have come and are rewarded by a mjestic view of the valley of Fuente De bordered by the Peña Cascajal.

Soon we see a sign at Waypoint 01 where we are being told to turn left towards El Cable, the upper cable car station. Although we have no intention of availing ourselves of their hospitality, we turn left anyway. 

The ground here is very wet and boggy in places and the path becomes quite indistinct. There is a spring nearby (43.15320 North, -4.83780 West), a natural one not an animal trough. I suggest setting it as a goto on your GPS and making for it, remembering to tread carefully as the ground is often soft. 

There is a hut at 43.15200 north,
-4.84975 west, at the opposite end of the pasture. The easiest way to cross the Vega de Liordes is to set that as a goto and make for it in as straight a line as possible allowing for the boggy ground. Of course if you want to linger here for a while and wander about a bit, that's fine too. It is a really lovely place with grazing cattle, horses and goats. I can hear Spaniards but I can't see them yet. How can such little people have such big voices? They certainly will never get lost in the fog. 

Alpine Choughs (Pyrrhocorax graculus) are everywhere on the grass. When you get to the hut you will see a signpost. It gives us three options, Collado Jermoso, Collado Remoña, and back the way we came. The one we want is Collado Remoña (collado means col) and we are about to cross it at the high Puerto de Remoña (Remoña Pass). So we turn west and make for the path where only goats can go. We ascend steeply towards the Remoña Pass between Torre Salinas and Torre Alcacero. 

We soon realise that getting up here was the easy bit. We are now faced with a very steep, scree decent. Glad we are wearing good quality, non-slip boots, we pick our way down carefully. The scenery is breathtaking. The mountain on our left is still steadily crumbling away as we hear rocks falling and smashing on the ground a few meters from the path. We see two huge gouges on its face, as if made by a crazed giant with a over-sized JCB. 

There are no more pictures now. My camera is put away safely in my rucksack. Don't want to spoil such a wonderful day out with a smashed camera. After what seems like an eternity, the stones underfoot become less numerous and a wooden signpost is spotted. This is Waypoint 02

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At Waypoint 03 we come to another wooden post which confirms we are going the right way to return to Fuente Dé.  Another option is Remoña de Caldeón which might be fun another day. There is a Fuente here where you can top up your water bottles if you are desperate but be warred that the ground is very boggy and I went in up to my knee. There is a much easier animal trough a little further on. 

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This is wide open pasture again with cattle and horses grazing. A little further on we come to a fence. There is a gap in the fence we can go through. There is a means of closing the gap with bailer twine. I hope I don't need to say that if you find it closed please close it again behind you. Leave it as you find it. We carry on along the path with the gentle sound of cow bells in our ears. The paint shop boys have been out so we know we are on a path, but as they use the same colour code for all their paths it is of little reassurance. 

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Soon after the fence we come to Waypoint 04 where the path joins a wider 4x4 road. Here is a signpost that gives us the assurance we want. A few metres further on is the next Fuente I mentioned. Here I try to wash off some of the mud but just make a bigger mess. The lesson here is to bring a spare pair of socks. Still as we only have about four kilometers left to do, all downhill, its no big deal. Ignoring the road on our left which only goes up to a farm, we carry on in the direction of Fuente Dé. 

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At waypoint 05 we turn left for Fuente Dé. The other option here is Majada de Bustantivo which maybe we can find another day. From here we pass two more horse troughs and cross two cattle grids until we return to the car park at Fuente Dé. A better day out would be hard to find. 

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