We are again surrounded by small hills, crop fields and scattered groves. It’s an easy stage that takes place on dirt trails in good condition.

Take your time to enjoy the charming little villages, where you’ll feel the spirit of the pilgrims who travelled the Route to Santiago. Among them are Tardajos, built atop Roman settlements and beside the Roman road of Clunia; Rabé de las Calzadas, the point of intersection of two Roman roads; Hornillos del Camino, through which the pilgrims once flowed, memorialised by its old Pilgrims Hospital; and Hontanas, a town of numerous fountains whose name is derived from ‘Fontanas’; it still conserves a Jacobean vestige, the ‘Mesón de los Franceses’, a former pilgrim hospital.

Our last stop is Castrojeriz, a town that treasures, among its monuments, more than half a dozen Assets of Cultural Interest, among them the Villa Historical Complex. The Monastery of San Antón is a strong indication of its importance to the pilgrimage. Located two and a half kilometres away from the town, it is one of the most important landmarks of the French Pilgrims’ Route to Santiago. An impressive Gothic ruin, it was founded in the 12th century as a hospital for patients with Saint Anthony’s Fire, a medieval disease more feared than leprosy. One of the treatments for this illness was the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. In this convent, they received the Tau, a T-shaped cross by which these patients were distinguished, and the bread and wine of Saint Antón.