From Belorado to San Juan de Ortega - Viajes Camino de Santiago.

Information

The eleventh stage of our French Route will take us from Belorado to San Juan de Ortega and has two well-differentiated parts. The first stretch will serve as a warm-up, walking along agricultural tracks to Villafranca Montes de Oca. From this stretch, the cereal fields will become half mountain. We will face a long and lonely route with a difference in altitude of 200 meters in the first 3 kilometers. The road goes through oak, pine and heather forests to San Juan de Ortega, which appears as an oasis in the middle of the desert.

We will start the stage leaving Belorado in the direction of San Juan de Ortega through the main gate until we reach a road that will take us to Tosantos, the first village of this stage. Here we find the hermitage of Virgen de la Piedra, built inside the mountain. We follow the road to the village of Villambistia.

Not even two kilometres will pass until we reach Espinosa del Camino. We continue ascending a small hill and on the way down we see the apse of the Mozarabic monastery of San Félix, where some chronicles place the tomb of Diego Porcelos, founder of Burgos.

We continue parallel to the road and crossing the river Oca before reaching Villafranca. From here the itinerary changes its profile completely. We have ahead of us a wonderful three-hour ride through the Montes de Oca, so feared in the Middle Ages for the presence of evildoers.

We start from Villafranca, on the right of the church in a climb without contemplations. We pass the Mojapán Fountain, where there is a rest area and soon we see a monument to those shot in the Civil War. We cross the ravine of the river Catarrón and continue the ascent to the Alto de la Pedraja (1,157 m), the highest point. We ride along a wide track through an oak forest and, after a long descent, we arrive at the end of the stage, San Juan de Ortega.

To consider

We have the option of extending this stage by staying overnight in Agés or Atapuerca, a perfect option if we want to spend the next day in Burgos.
There are bars and restaurants in all the towns along the stage, although with a limited offer. In Villafranca Montes de Oca you will find all the services.