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Stage 21

Astorga to Foncebadón stage

km 25,9

Time 05H 45’

Difficulty Medium

Hostels 19

Available without an Internet connection

Road sweetened by Astorga mantecadas and pujaldrados

Information about the stage 21: Astorga to Foncebadón stage

Enlarge map

Points of interest in the stage 21: Astorga to Foncebadón stage

12 Albergue La Cruz de Fierro
11 Albergue Monte Irago
10 Albergue Municipal Rabanal del Camino
9 Albergue Gaucelmo
8 Albergue Nuestra Señora del Pilar
7 Albergue La Senda
6 Albergue y Centro de turismo rural El Caminante
5 Albergue Hospedería San Blas
4 Albergue Casa Las Águedas
3 Albergue de Murias de Rechivaldo
2 Albergue de peregrinos Siervas de María
1 Albergue de Peregrinos San Javier

The route

Km 0. Astorga (All Services)

Due to the large number of confectionery in Astorga, which engages us with their mantecadas and puff advertisements, it is very difficult or, rather impossible, to leave the old Roman city without having tried a single sweet. Having breakfast, turning its back to the facade of the Astorga City Hall, we cross the Plaza Mayor to hang us down Calle Pío Gullón, located on the left of the plaza. After crossing García Prieto, we continue in front of Postas Street and Santiago Street. Leaving aside the Episcopal Palace we went by the cathedral and took Porteria Street - where the private hostel is located. After Goal we folded right and advanced straight about 400 meters down San Pedro Street. We crossed the street for a pedestrian crossing and threw in the direction of Castrillo de Polvazares and Santa Colomba de Somoza along the street of the Martyrs. For a walk parallel to the LE-142 we gently descend to the height of Valdevieja, where is the chapel of the Ecce Homo, a construction of the 18th century that was completely restored in 2007. The hermit madruga, stamps and also facilitates credentials. About 150 meters to the right of the hermitage, on the road leading to Valdevieja, there is a pilgrimage hostel opened in 2010.

Km 2.6. Transfer to Valdeviejo (Hostel. Bar)

We left behind the hermitage and saved the A-6 motorway (North-West motorway linking Madrid with the Arteixo Coruñesa) for a high pass. An andadero at the foot of the LE-142 awaits us to drive us to Murias de Rechivaldo, a Maragata population that we enter after saving the river Jerga. The 18th-century San Esteban parish is on the right hand and we pass through Murias on a side street, where is the inn and the private hostel.

Km 4.7. Murias de Rechivaldo (Hostels. Bars)

We left Murias de Rechivaldo through a gravel trail escorted by scrub and brooms. A long line of more than two kilometers leads us to cross the LE-142 (Km 7,3), a road that we leave for a walker stuck to the LE-CV-192. About half an hour later we arrived, ascending very tightly, to the center of Santa Catalina de Somoza. Also old town of Maragatos arrieros, with houses with double leaf portals always painted of some primary color. Several hostels with bar also allow a short break after two hours of walking.

Km 9.3. Santa Catalina de Somoza (Hostels. Bars)

We cross the population through Calle Real and at the exit we recover the andadero from LE-CV-192 that, again in an almost imperceptible ascent, brings us closer to the population of El Ganso. Between stockings, a wooden cross placed in summer 2012 replaced the old, rather deteriorated cross. In El Ganso, after a couple of bars we turn left to pass by a fountain and the church of Santiago.

Km 13.4. El Ganso (Hostel. Bars. Store)

After El Ganso, the same script awaits us: the monotony of the walker, which in some sections that are about to arrive is narrow and obliges to walk on the asphalt, although it is also widened by a pine tree. Between El Ganso and Rabanal del Camino, on the bridge of Diaper over the stream of the Reguerinas and next to the Roman mines of the Fucarona, is the tent of the Gaudisse Association. They are a not-for-profit association that fights childhood cancer and fundraise with the donations left by pilgrims when they make a photo with an eagle from the Acceppiter family. They place the seal of the Association and provide information on the stage itself. In front of them have also enabled in a shady area two large banks to rest. We will leave to the right the crossing to Rabanal Viejo and Maluenga (Km 17,5) and, behind the river Rabanal Viejo, we leave the road to take a path that goes up between a bounce. We move on to a fence filled with crosses made with sticks, where some pilgrims stop to put their own. On the left hand was the monumental oak of the pilgrim, known for the nickname of carballo of Fonso Pedredo. A myth of the Jacobean route that was shot down by the wind in November 2013 (Km 19).

Also on the left hand side we leave the chapel of the Cristo de la Vera Cruz, owned by the Junta Vecinal (Km 19,7). We leave the company of LE-CV-192, which merges here with LE-142, to enter Rabanal del Camino. The ninth stage of the Codex Calixtinus departed from León and ended in Rabanal del Camino. From Astorga they mediate only 20.3 kilometres and some pilgrims extend the day five and a half kilometres further to Foncebadón (Ensure first, especially in winter, that hostels in Foncebadón are open). Both those who do night (up to four hostels to choose from) and those who continue will find in Rabanal several inns offering traditional food and good pucheros (Km 20,3).

Km 20.3. Rabanal del Camino (Hostels. Bars. Store)

We overtake the main street of Rabanal del Camino to reach by a utility room, where we take a runway between the outskirts - cyclists have the option to continue on the road LE-142. There are some sections where you have to push the bike. A kilometer later we cross the road and continue down the left road. We arrived by a watering fountain (Km 22.3).

We climbed a short stretch to the road LE-142, good watchtower to look at the silhouette of Astorga and the maragatry lands. A road that progresses above the road leaves us 3.5 kilometers later in the center of Foncebadón, a town ruined and settled on Mount Irago. Resurrected thanks to the Camino, it has a tavern, a restaurant, the El Trasgu grocery store that has a couple of rooms and several hostels.

Km 25.9. Foncebadón (Hostels. Pension. Bars. Store)

The difficulties

Remarks

In images

What to see, what to do

MURIAS DE RECHIVALDO:It
is the typical Maragata population. It was a village of arrieros, secular occupation of the maragates. The parish church of San Esteban stands out with its characteristic espadaña, of the 18th century. The most important of her, due to her Jacobean relationship, is an embossing of the Virgen del Pilar surrounded by a hornstone on the door dintel. There is also a statue of San Roque Peregrino. There are several premises where snacks and meals are served. Two kilometers from Murias de Rechivaldo is Castrillo de los Polvazares, the most representative nucleus of the maragatería. The people are in an excellent state of conservation, especially its road. Maragate cooked is typical and maragate.
SANTA CATALINA DE SOMOZA:Hospitality
is a constant in the history of Santa Catalina de Somoza. From the old hospital of the Virgen de las Candelas no remains. In the parish church of Santa Maria a relic of San Blas, the patron saint of the people, one of the most present saints on the Camino due to its health and care aspect is preserved. As in many other towns, Calle Real is the pilgrim service. The town has several hostels and bars.
THE GOOSE: In El Ganso, which resumes every summer by the passage of pilgrims, you can still see teitated houses covered with rye straws. This type of cover dating back to prehistory has lasted for centuries and has been considered as an indication of the Celtic substrate of this vast area. The parish church is dedicated to Santiago and inside you can see a nice size (16th century) of the Holy Pilgrim Dress. In the atrium of the church there is a chapel known as the Christ of the Pilgrims. As recorded in the volume two of the Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, in El Ganso there was a hospital that was donated to the canonigos of Astorga in 1142 and a monastery that belonged to that of Aguilar de Campoo.
RABANAL DEL CAMINO:This
town of solid stone hulls served as a way forward to the Templars of Ponferrada to protect the pilgrims until their arrival at the Bierzo. Rabanal also served as an inn (house of the Four Corners) to Philip II on his pilgrimage to Santiago. From this villa, according to legend, Charlemagne and his faithful Breton gentleman Anseïs contemplated Astorga and Sahagún. During the Middle Ages there were several hospitals and churches. The pilgrims stood here to regain strength and gathered together to bypass the summits of the dangerous Mount Irago, where wild animals and bandits lurked. Before entering the village is the hermitage of Vera Cruz, built in sillarejo and covered by Arab tile in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. On Calle Real you can see the chapel of San José and the Hospital of San Gregorio. In the upper part of the town is the parish church of the Asuncion, one of the few Romanesque examples that can be found in this area. Rabanal del Camino, a town belonging to the municipality of Santa Colomba de Somoza, has four hostels, a store and several inns where you can eat.
FONCEBADÓN:A
wooden cross welcomes Foncebadón, a ruined town and settled on Mount Irago. In the 10th century, Ramiro II de León called here a council and in the 11th, a Bierzo hermit called Gaucelmo built a house. The Navarro Pascual Madoz reports in his statistical dictionary of the mid-nineteenth century that Foncebadón had a parish church of Santa María Magdalena served by a cure of income and free provision. In this enclave of pastures and ruined houses, a tavern, a restaurant, several hostels and the incessant passage of pilgrims are responsible for keeping alive the memory of what was a day Foncebadón.