Via Lemovicensis: a Race for Beds?

This morning was a good news/bad news kind of situation. The good news is that the heat wave may finally have broken. Today was supposed to be much cooler than yesterday.

The bad news is that the municipal albergue in today’s destination, San Juan de Ortega, was almost certainly closed. As I understand it, the company that’s run it for the last twenty years quit and efforts to get it back in working shape have been delayed.

If that were indeed the case, then we would have to walk an additional 4 km today, bringing our total to something like 28 km.

Despite the fact that I woke up just after 3 AM today, Herve and I didn’t manage to make it out of the door until 6:25.

The air was cool enough this morning that I considered putting on my fleece. As we walked out of Belorado, we passed a great number of murals painted on walls and buildings. Some of them are quite beautiful, and some of them are quite odd. A few were both.

We crossed a long wooden bridge next to an arched stone bridge over the Río Tirón, and then we were back on a gravel path next to a two-lane road. 

The character of the landscape changed a little this morning, with more shrubs and bushes and even stands of trees. In the main, though, we were still walking through rolling hills planted with grain.

Despite my best efforts, I continue to lose weight. Combine that with my lack of hips, and I’m increasingly finding it difficult to keep my backpack in a comfortable position.

As the gravel road slowly pulled away from the highway, Herve fell behind, taking photos of the landscape.

At about 7:25 I entered the village of Tosantos, and Herve caught up with me. Second breakfast was over in 25 minutes, and we were out on the trail again.

In the cliffs to our right, you could see Ermita Virgen de la Peña built into the rock face above the town. I have the opportunity to tour this place three years ago when I stayed at Tosantos.

We arrived in the village of Villambistia right about 8:15. The lovely little church, with its blue grey door, was locked. Ermita San Roque, less than fifty meters away, was surprisingly open. It is a lovely little building that looks as though it was parted out from other, grander churches.

I was actually able to pray in here for a few moments. As I turned around to leave, a crush of pilgrims entered.

Slowly, the gravel in the road became less and less, until we were basically walking a dirt road with occasional sections and patches of gravel.

We passed through the little hamlet of Espinoza del Camino at about 8:40. The trail started to become a little hillier than earlier in the morning.

We passed the ruin of Ermita de San Felices just after 9 AM. Here, the Camino took a sharp turn down a very flat, straight road towards the village of Villafranca Montes De Oca. 

The final approach into the village was on a narrow dirt path between a roadway and a wheat field, followed by a short woodland stretch.

We stopped for a quick refuel in the village before tackling the forest and the hill. The village church has an unusual steeple that looks like it’s something out of a children’s illustrated Arabian Nights. Unfortunately, it was locked.

The hill ascent began before we even left the village on a brick paved road. We ran into Katie and Amy just as the pavement ended and the dirt and gravel began again.

And then it was steeply uphill and into the forest.

At about 10:15 the road took a more gentle slope up. There was tree cover now, with dappled shade all over the road. Even so, the air was definitely warming up.

Eventually, the road more or less leveled out.

By 10:45, the road, and the clearance around it, had widened to the point that there was no longer shade. Fortunately, there was a cool breeze that kept the conditions moderate.

Shortly after this, I paid my respects at a monument to the victims of fascism in this region of Spain.

From here, the road begin descending into the forest again. This steep descent was followed by an equally steep ascent on the other side of the valley. at least there was shade again now.

Sometime before 11 AM, we walked up another fairly steep slope. This one, though, was packed with loose stones the size of a fist, which made the uphill climb more challenging. At the top, shade was only intermittent as the road randomly widened and then narrowed.

It was mostly pretty wide, if I’m honest.

Orange and white butterflies fluttered across the road, and amidst the bird song I could occasionally hear the call of a cuckoo. Herve fell behind, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

At some point the forest gave up all pretense of offering shade.

This only changed briefly at about 12:10, when the Camino turned down a narrower dirt road through the trees. Five minutes later, we came out of the forest completely. I could see steeple of the monastery church of San Juan de Ortega in the distance. 

I finally arrived in the village at about 12:30. Herve was only a few minutes behind me. Most of the village are in fact the buildings of the old monastery here.

The albergue was definitively closed, and everything else in the village was full. We stopped for lunch at the bar and rested a bit for the final push.

San Juan was a disciple of Santo Domingo de la Calzada. He is entombed in the little Romanesque church here. I have fond memories of this church, which provided me shelter during a rain storm 13 years ago.

They’ve considerably restored it since then. For one thing, it has doors now.

I prayed in this sheltering space, and I lit a candle for Francine.

And then we hustled on. While this had been our intended stopping point, the temporary closure of the albergue here meant that we need to walk another 4 km.

The route was a rough road of dirt and stones through the shady woods. whereas this morning’s trees were mostly pines, these were oaks.

By 2:05, the trees had thinned once more and we were walking through open, rolling grassland.

The Camino, now a gravel road, took us into the village of Agés just before 2:30. By some miracle (and possibly Herve’s charm) we were able to secure beds in the municipal albergue. 

After the usual pilgrim chores and a long nap – the fatigue is really starting to catch up with me – I finally ventured out to explore the village sometime after 5:30.

Other than the pilgrims, and the facilities set up for their needs, there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot going on here. The 16th-century church basically looks abandoned. I had to walk across a field of overgrown grass to get to the (locked) door.

The only ones that seem to be getting any use out of the church are the storks nesting above the bells.

Similarly, the graveyard is overgrown, with grass up to my knee and going to seed. Some of these graves are only a decade or so old, so this appears to be a recent phenomenon.

There are quite a few pilgrims in this village tonight, as you might expect. However, despite the bed panic earlier in the day, there are still plenty of empty bunks here.

Date: 31 May 2026

Place: Agés 

Today started: Belorado 

Today’s Photos!