A few days ago my fiancé and I chose the Ruta de los Hospitales in order to bypass Pola de Allande and catch some beautiful views. We read several guides and posts as well as talked to locals in order to prepare for the day. I’m an experienced backpacker with 5+ years guiding at Outward Bound, with proper equipment and navigation skills. Signs entering Hospitales warned of loose animals, and locals had mentioned cows grazing on the loose—however we ran face-to-face into fully grown Bulls. There were at least 15-20 bulls grazing alongside the cows at various points during the Hospitales route. I grew up in farmland and know the danger of loose bulls—my great uncle was gored by one and spent weeks in a hospital. I would not recommend walking the Ruta de los Hospitales due to these bulls; it is very remote, and in case of a run-in with a bull you will not have access to medical care easily or quickly. This is something to be careful of and a real danger: for those that choose the Ruta de los Hospitales, please take extreme caution. There is no clear route around the bulls when they graze in the path (this was 4 times for us, every 2-3 km). We gave the bulls an extremely wide space as we hiked around and took caution to be quiet, non-threatening and did not make direct eye contact. Ruta de los Hospitales is physically very challenging and requires strong outdoors skills—however, even with those skills I do not recommend this route.
Enjoy your Camino, the Camino Primitivo is incredible and gorgeous! Just stay away from the loose bulls.
Enjoy your Camino, the Camino Primitivo is incredible and gorgeous! Just stay away from the loose bulls.