Camino del Cid

Atienza to Hiendelaencina

Senderos Borderlands

Sunday 14 May 2023

Distance: 24.5 km Time: 6:20 Ascent: 300m Descent: 360m – Wikiloc

This day is officially 28.4 km which was a bit too much for our first day so we took a short cut walking 8 km on the CM-1001 road which reduced the day to 24.5 km. There was very little traffic on the road.

A few kilometers from Atienza we left the fertile plains and entered this valley
The CM-1001 road cut through slate
One of many wildflowers

Robledo de Corpes (pop 26 in winter, 100 in summer), according to some scholars “an inhospitable place in which the daughters of the Cid were beaten and abandoned by their husbands”.

Black Architecture of Robledo de Corpes, stone walls, slate roofs
Church of San Gil Abad at Robledo de Corpes built of stone and slate
Heather, rockrose, lavender and the smell of thyme at an altitude of 1,200m
There’s been a drought in this part of Spain but last week it rained and suddenly the stoney ground is covered in wildflowers
Traditional yard where goats giving birth were protected from wolves and weather …
… on the stamp on our Safe Conduct Pass for Hiendelaencina
Church of Santa Cecilia in Hiendelaencina dates from 1353
The current Church was built in the 19th century

We had some difficulty booking accommodation in Hiendelaencina (pop 115) by email as the owners of Meson Sabory, José and brother Julian, thought Australians walking through Hiendelaencina must be a scam! But we managed to convince them with a phone call and they gave us a very comfortable apartment for the night.

Lunch was a surprise. Their restaurant was full. Everyone gets the same food and wine, there is no menu. First goat livers with mushrooms stewed in pot on the fire in the dining room, papas bravas, tomato and onion salad, blood sausage with mince meat and Torreznos served one after another on plates to share at the table. Then another salad to eat with the roast kid. A good Ribera del Duero wine went so well with it. Finally a plate of 5 different deserts. They gave us a bottle of wine to take with us too.

Roast kid at Meson Sabory, after 5 entrees
The meat had been in this rustic stoneware dish in the wood fired oven for 4 hours
Julian took us into the kitchen to show us the 50 year old oven. He has 650 goats in the hills but an app on his phone tells him where they are. The old, and the new.