Camino de Santiago from Sagunto: 68 pilgrims add 80 km up to Mecerreyes
68 pilgrims from Sagunto's Camino de Santiago association walked between Soria and Burgos on 9 to 12 October and are now 32 km from Burgos.
Walkers with the Asociación de Amigos del Camino de Santiago de Sagunt (Sagunto's Camino de Santiago friends' association) have left Soria behind and are now at the gates of Burgos. From 9 to 12 October, 68 pilgrims covered four consecutive stages, from the Ermita de la Virgen Blanca (a hermitage) near Navaleno to Mecerreyes, a village in Burgos province. About 32 kilometres remain from there to the city of Burgos, where the Sagunto route joins the Camino Francés (the main French Way).
The four days correspond to stages 21 to 24 of the Camino de Santiago from Sagunto and add up to 79.09 kilometres, which the association rounds to almost 80. The first linked the Ermita de la Blanca with San Leonardo de Yagüe (18.67 km) and the second went on to La Gallega (19.81 km). The third was the hardest: 29.40 km between La Gallega and Retuerta, passing through Mamolar and Santo Domingo de Silos, more than a third of the total distance. The last was 11.21 km from Retuerta to Mecerreyes, via Covarrubias.
The group did not only walk. Between stages it visited the Laguna Negra, the Bosque Mágico de la Fuente del Pino, El Burgo de Osma, Santo Domingo de Silos, the Cañón del Río Lobos and Covarrubias, so the trip mixed hiking, cultural tourism and time together.
The groundwork began weeks earlier. The association's waymarking team travelled to the area to check and reinforce the route marks and install new signposts. The association also prepared an information board for each stage, with the distance, elevation change, difficulty, estimated time, places of interest and recommendations for pilgrims.
The route has a longer history than these four stages. According to valenciabonita.es in March 2025, the Sagunto variant was proposed by the historian Luis Bona and its waymarking began around 2011, while the association was founded in 2022 as the Asociación Cultural de Amigos del Camino de Santiago Sagunto-Burgos. The group's walk itself started about two years ago at kilometre zero, at the Ancla roundabout in Puerto de Sagunto (coastal district). The initial plan was to reach Teruel, but the members' enthusiasm has kept the project going, with the aim of reaching Santiago de Compostela one day.
The next step has a reference date: the association is planning the 2027 stages and takes part in the project 'El Bordón', planned for the next Jacobean Holy Year. The idea is that several Camino associations each walk their own route from their home town and meet in Burgos, then continue together towards Santiago during June. For the Sagunto group, that makes Burgos, about 32 km from where this outing ended, the meeting point with the others.
According to El Periódico de Aquí, with additional data from valenciabonita.es.