Pilgrim next to the cathedral of Oviedo.
seven o'clock historic pilgrim trails that pass through the province of León: the French Way, the Winter Way, the Madrid Way, the Vía de la Plata, the Vadiniense Route, the Old Way and the Camino de San Salvador, the latter being one of the least known and, nevertheless, one of the most notable Compostela pilgrimages, if we look at the importance of the Asturian kingdom in the primitive cult of Santiago.
In fact it was the Pilgrimage of Alfonso II of Asturias in the year 829 along the Primitive Way –To visit the remains of the apostle after his discovery – the one that he consolidated as the axis of the pilgrimages to Compostela: Campus Stellae. To the 'Field of the Star' of Mount Libredón, in the area of the remote episcopal seat of Iria Flavia in where the hermit Pelayo had a revelation from the angels, that with its luminous manifestations indicated where it was the tomb of the evangelist of Hispania, Santiago.
Oviedo and its imposing cathedral
THE ORIGIN OF THE ROAD TO SAN SALVADOR
The pilgrimage in search of the plenary indulgence for sins spread in the 10th century and with it the mass worship of the relics of saints and martyrs, among which stood out those guarded **in the Holy Chamber of San Salvador, the cathedral of Oviedo **(capital of the Asturian kingdom).
For this reason, when the court was transferred to León in 910, it was promoted a new route, the Camino de San Salvador, which, following the layout of ancient Roman roads, served as passage of the Cantabrian mountain range and as a link between the Christian north and the Muslim south. Also as a means to continue visiting –either on the way to or from Compostela– the reliquary of the Oviedo cathedral, in whose inventory they are mentioned relics of the Holy Ark, such as the shroud that covered the face of Jesus, a fragment of his robe, thorns from his crown or bread from the last supper.
Saint Isidore of Leon
ROUGH, COLD AND DANGEROUS
Many were the dangers narrated by the pilgrims who took this path that departed from León to the city of Oviedo: vermin, bears, wolves and raiders. What did not prevent nobles, clerics and kings passed through it and supported it with their donations to become one of the most important pilgrimage centers in the Middle Ages. A French couplet from the 16th century thus summarizes its noble essence: "Whoever goes to Santiago and not to San Salvador visits the servant and leaves the man."
By path that goes up the Bernesga, crossing the Cantabrian mountain range, visiting hermitages with a Marian vocation, walking along traditional muleteer paths, ascending quiet that run between peaks and forests, crowning the pass of Pajares, Descending the port (today plagued by mining towns), embracing the Nalón basin, one reached the door of Cimadevilla, next to the basilica of El Salvador, converted into a gothic cathedral.
The imposing cathedral of León.
THE FIVE STAGES
1. From León to La Robla (27 km): In the vicinity of the San Marcos de León hospital (recently rehabilitated National Parador) The Camino Frances and the Camino de San Salvador fork, which continues along the left bank of the river Bernesga until it reaches –after crossing the oak grove of Mount San Isidro– Carbajal de la Legua, a riverside town where there are still houses made of adobo and boulders, but of which there are no longer remains of the monastery of Santa María, occupied by canons of the order of San Agustín and later by Benedictine nuns (who were later transferred to the convent of the Plaza del Grano de León, where they are known as 'las carbajalas').
Holm oaks and oaks will be our traveling companions along the earthy and reddish path along which the towns of Cuadros, Cabanillas, La Seca and Cascantes until reaching La Robla, whose hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Celada –presided over by a Romanesque polychrome carving of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, patron saint of the town– hides next to the industrial mass that is the thermal power plant of the locality.
Plaza del Grano de León.
2. From La Robla to Pobladura de la Tercia (22.8 km): From the path that connects La Robla with Puente de Alba you can see an 18th century aqueduct known as the Escañao, very different from the medieval bridge used to cross the Bernesga at the height of this small Leonese town that, possibly, owes its name to the castle of Alba that was in the area.
Another castle, the one in Gordon's territory, also has left a toponymic trace in the area. Peredilla de Gordón, Nocedo de Gordón and Huergas de Gordón follow one another on the Camino de San Salvador –leaving behind the remarkable hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso– until reaching Pola de Gordón, a benchmark in the Bernesga valley.
Beberino welcomes the pilgrim with its San Pedro bridge, the hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Valle precedes the crossroads that is Buiza with its stately homes and the Path of the Forcada de San Antón –which leads to the last municipality of León on this route, Villamanín de La Tercia– is a constantly rising leg breaker that gives us **unparalleled views of the entire Cantabrian mountain range. **
Puerto de Pajares, ancestral mountain pass that connects the provinces of León and Asturias.
3. From Poladura de la Tercia to Pajares (14.7 km): After leaving Pobladura de la Tercia, the green meadows of its valley and the La Carbona ravine, we will have to save the Coito pass, at 1,500 m.a.s.l. (remember that there are sections that run at more than 1,200 meters of altitude), before starting the pronounced descent that will take us – along the old Arrieros path – to the valley of the Arroyo de Madera from which you can see the collegiate church of Arbas del Puerto, faithful representative of the Leonese rural Romanesque style. The source of the Bernesga is very close and, a few meters away, the port of Pajares.
Collegiate Church of Santa Maria, in Arbas del Puerto, León.
4. From Pajares to Pola de Lena (24.8 km): The most mountainous part of the road is over, but its hardness is not, since the paths that cross the council of Lena continue to be demanding.
Following the descent of the river Pajares we will leave behind the rural towns of Santa Marina, Llanos de Somerón, Fresnedo and Herías until we reach Campomanes, where the Pajares and the Huerna converge to form the Lena River.
Do not miss a visit to the pre-Romanesque church of Santa Cristina, a ramirense monument with clear Visigothic reminiscences. From the doors of this vaulted church -probably monastic- we will be just five kilometers from La Pola, the largest parish in the Lena council, whose numerous emblazoned and palatial houses they are witness to the noble past of the Asturian town.
Exterior view of the church of Santa Cristina de Lena in spring.
5. From Pola de Lena to Oviedo (32.5 km): We still have a little roller coaster of ups and downs until we see Oviedo for the first time. From La Pola we will descend to Mieres del Camino to ascend again to the top of Padrún and return to 150 meters above sea level in Olloniego, before taking the path uphill again to reach the small village of Picullanza.
There are those who claim to have seen with total clarity the tower of the Sancta Ovetensisse (as the cathedral of Oviedo is known) from the Monxoi that is next to the ruins of the hermitage of Santiago, others even claim to have distinguished the Cantabrian in the distance, but what all the pilgrims who reach this point can affirm, without risk of being mistaken, is that the panoramic view of the city under the protection of Mount Naranco is spectacular.
Oviedo is noble and a city with a lot of style.
The historic center of Oviedo welcomes the visitor with the poise of a noble city and with style: the cafeterias of the pedestrian Cimadevilla, the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias in the Palacio de Velarde and the Casa de la Rúa from the 15th century –the oldest civil building in the city– already in Plaza Alfonso II El Casto, where the cathedral stands imposing guarding in its Holy Chamber, among many other reliquaries, the Victoria Cross and the Angels Cross, symbols of Asturias and Oviedo.