The Road to Santiago enters Belorado, a city of Roman origin which contains the oldest historically documented fair in all of Spain, by the Hospital de los Cabelleros, today transformed into the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Belén.

Belorado’s urban core lies in the shadow of the ruins of a once important fortress which lay at the frontier Castile. At the foot of the castle stands Saint Mary’s Church, rebuilt in the Sixteenth Century. Inside can be found an interesting sculpture of Saint James ‘Matamoros’. Close to the church are the famous hermit caves of Saint Caprasio. Next to the plaza Mayor, built in the purest Castilian style, stands Saint Peter’s Church.

When leaving Belorado, cross the Tirón River on the El Canto bridge. Tosantos is not far away. High above on the hillside that protects the village is the curious rupestral hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Peña.

To reach Villambistia, a town built on a slight incline, head first to its isolated parish church, built in the Seventeenth Century.

The French Route then begins its long ascent towards the Oca Mountains, much feared by the pilgrims of old, and widens as it crosses Espinosa del Camino. A simple parish church whose floor plan is a Latin cross is followed by well-preserved examples of popular architecture.

Shortly before reaching Villafranca Montes de Oca the visitor can make out, level with the pilgrims´route, the ruins of the Mozarabe monastery of Saint Félix de Oca. The Count Diego Porcelos, founder of the City of Burgos, was buried in this edifice, begun in the Ninth Century.