Today was a short day – just over 18km. But in the first three km, we climbed 350m. That’s like climbing ~620 feet per mile (steeper that Wrights Lake Jerry).

Coming up to the summit called Collado de Campo at 1641m, we were presented with an indescribable view of the valley below called Campo de Santiago. Sheer rock cliffs to one side, emerald green pastures below and purple flowered covered mountains on the other side.

Looking at the valley below you wouldn’t even imagine that it is a graveyard of what is said to be 70,000 Moors. The legend has it that in 981CE, an apparition of Santiago appeared before the Spanish on the mountain sides and the Moors in the valley below on his white stallion and with a legion of angles behind him. This gave the Spaniards faith and resolve and scared the Moors. The end result is that that very few Moors escaped and the rest were killed.

This is just a fable and there are many competing stories about this battle. Here’s a link to an article that poses a couple of them to contemplate: https://www-viejocaminoolvidado-com.translate.goog/…/…

At the base of the valley, a hermitage was erected in remembrance of the battle and it has been rebuilt several times. The latest was built in the 19th century.

Following the river Boeza out of the valley for 15km – which is the headwaters, you could easily step across it – we were treated to countless waterfalls and natural springs feeding the river to a beautiful mountain water source and home to many trophy trout. It was difficult to get pictures of the river as the vegetation is so think.

Today was a foggy day in Fasgar and cloudy at the summit, clearing as we made our way down 700+ meters (2300’) in 15km. This trail was a single track trail for the most part which was carved out of the sides of the canyon. It’s been in use for more than 2000 years as a mountain pass between two fertile valleys connecting people which would normally take four days to go around the mountains.

The Camino Olvidado goes through many beautiful valleys and while there are alternate mountain routes that I did not follow, this by far was subjectively the most wild and natural etapa so far. It wasn’t an easy day by any means due to the elevation changes and technical nature of the trail, but it was one of the most rewarding.