Arrow vandalism at Riolobos?

[alansykes]

I know there have been other postings about the possible detour to Riolobos between Grimaldo and Galisteo. This is my take on it, having passed that way last Friday:

A few miles after Grimaldo, there are two agricultural gates. The junta of Extremadura's hito indicating the camino points through one to the borth, and a sheaf of arrows point westwards, together with a couple of signs for casas rural in Riolobos. For once I decided to ignore the arrows (possibly because there were SO many - I think they undermined their case by overstating it) and follow the arco de Caparra sign instead.

There have been rumours that a farmer in this area doesn't want the camino through his land. If so, he or she has made no effort to block it here - it would be a very simple matter, with a bit of barbed wire and a padlock, to make this gate a very undesirable obstacle to cross, and there has been no attempt to do so.

as I say, I went happily on, along the very clear calzada romana. A few miles later, when the camino reaches a minor road just after the reservoir of Riolobos, there was another quiverful of arrows pointing (almost due south) to Riolobos, and just the hito (which somebody had scrawled an "X" on) pointing northwards to the road. Again, I ignored the arrows and went along the road. After several 100 yards, made worried by the lack of arrows, I retraced my steps to the junction, just in case I'd misssed a sign pointing the Via off the road and back into the fields.

I hadn't, but back at the junction I noticed some splodges of black paint. Looking closely at these, I could see that they covered over the yellow arrows pointing northwards along the road. These splodges continued along the road for several 100 yards, before I eventually found another junta block pointing the roman road's path off the road and into the countryside again.

Deliberately painting over the arrows on the public highway, AFTER the disputed section, doesn't seem likely to be the action of a farmer. It seems more likely to me that it was done by somebody keen to see peregrinos passing through Riolobos.

I'm sorry to labour this point at such length, as it did me personally no more harm than travelling a 6-800 yard stretch of road three times rather than once (but I'm sure if it was my first camino I'd have followed the arrows). And I hate to impute underhand dealings to anybody, but the evidence I saw suggested (to me) that somebody in Riolobos is keen to divert people there, and isn't too bothered about inconveniencing people who would rather go straight on to Galisteo.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan,

Glad to hear you were able to navigate the part before Galisteo. Is this the famous green gate that other posts have talked about? (When I walked the Vdlp in 2010, there was no problem there).

But I have had similar experiences at a couple of other places on the Vdlp/Sanabres, which I will repeat here in case you are inclined to get to the bottom of it.

One is after Cea, not in Cea, it comes if you take the monastery detour leaving Cea. I explain it here: camino-mozarabe-and-via-de-la-plata/topic8872.html

The other one I have a fuzzier memory of, but I remember quite clearly that the father in the "not to be missed" albergue Casa Anita (I believe his name is Domingo and he his one of those camino characters) was extremely upset about this particular arrow deception. He had several printed sheets showing us how two families in town A had diverted the camino so it would pass their bars, while the bar in town B on the "real" camino was up in arms, resulting in almost daily remarking and repainting if you can believe that. The problem is that I can't remember exactly where it was, but if memory serves it was actually on the day INTO Casa Anita rather than the day after Casa Anita so it wasn't clear what we pilgrims were supposed to do with this knowledge since we had already passed the crucial point.

Anyway, it's really not surprising that we run into this, since the presence and purchasing power of so many pilgrims, though small individually perhaps, really makes a difference to the livelihood of people in a country where unemployment is over 25%.

Where are you now anyway? Buen camino, Laurie

 

[mmm042]

Hi Alan.

No, you have the story wrong. I walked the path last year, when the arrows were painted over by the angry farmer, and just last month. Here's the deal.

The gate you saw with all of the arrows and inn signs pointing north is the NEW Camino. Everyone expects this to be the way the route will remain from here on out. It takes you directly to Riolobos, and from there to Galisteo. That's the way to go.

You proceeded along the old route. At this point, you were walking well before the grumpy landowner's property. The old route hit the highway after the dam, as you saw, and then had you turn right and walk along the highway for about 800 meters before exiting off-road again. Had you followed this second off-road section, which wound along a concrete canal, you would have eventually come to the infamous green gate where the landowner doesn't permit pilgrims and had painted over the arrows.

I'm sure officials painted over those arrows you saw on the highway because, again, you ARE supposed to go through Riolobos now. The government tried fighting with the landowner to let pilgrims access his land, but the landowner won and the new Camino now does go through Riolobos.

I'm curious from your note, though -- did you end up walking through Riolobos, or did you find that second off-road path? I'm guessing you went through Riolobos, because otherwise you'd probably still be wandering around the mountaintop!

Re: Laurie's note, I think I might know what she's talking about. Casa Anita is in a town called Santa Croya de Tera. When you're walking from Tábara to Bercianos de Valverde (the two towns before Santa Croya), you'll come upon an intersection where official Camino signs point right, to Bercianos, but homemade signs say you can go straight and head to Villanueva de las Peras, too -- that's also the Camino, the signs say. I wasn't sure what to do there, so I followed the official signs to Bercianos. My guess is this is what Laurie's talking about.

Melanie

 

[alansykes]

Curious.

I'm sure mmm042 must be right. However, I (eventually) carried on along the road after the Riolobos reservoir and found the junta granite stone and followed that along the Roman road towards Galisteo and lunch at Los Emigrantes, past the irrigation canals etc - a lovely walk over the hills, with a few eagles and lapwings for company, and wonderful views of Galisteo and its former minaret in the distance. If anybody was trying to stop me from going that way they did a bad job.

But if the "real" camino is going to be diverted to Riolobos, then so be it. At the moment it is unclear, and I think it is the lack of clarity that is upsetting (at least, it upsets me). And I quite understand that 2-3,000 peregrinos a year spending €20-30 each on dinner, bed & breakfast will probably support 2-3 families in Riolobos - but I hope not at the expense of families in Galisteo.

Anyway, to answer Laurie's question, I'm now safely in the tiny albergue in Morille (hot water currently not working, groan) after staying in fabulous Fuenterroble, looking forward to the best part of a full day in stupendous Salamanca.

And I will take care at Santa Croya etc - I have a vague memory last time of making the mistake of going across country on what must once have been the camino between Tabara and Mombuey, and getting horribly lost, arriving in the freezing (but beautiful) albergue of Mombuey long after dark.

 

[Donovan]

I’m deviating from the Rio los Lobos discussion and picking up on the Laurie/Melanie thread. Melanie, if you continue straight on at the intersection you mention, you do indeed come to the small village of Villanueva de las Peras. We called in at the bar/restaurant La Moña, and staggered out some two hours later. We had had a long chat, with the very hospitable owner who accommodated our very broken Spanish, and enjoyed some excellent food – the white beans and setas were a treat. He also does a pretty good line in proper hot chocolate. It was a really enjoyable stop. My walking notes don't tell me whether by going through Villanueva we bypassed Bercianos and so contributed to the fued.

 

[mmm042]

Hi.

Alan, I'm still trying to figure out if you went the old way! Are you saying you DID follow the old path? If you did -- meaning you turned right onto the highway, walked about 800 meters, then exited left onto an off-road path -- how did you know where to turn left off the path by the canals? There's no hito there, and the farmer painted over the arrows on his gate. Everyone else (including me) kept following the path (it's the only one), which dead-ends into a farm 5km past the gate where you're supposed to turn. I'm so curious!

Re: the new route, it goes through Riolobos first, but then it does go into Galisteo, so no town is harmed. And actually, the original route bypassed Galisteo. However, there was a well-marked detour leading into Galisteo for those so interested, plus markings leading you out of Galisteo into Carcaboso, so you had your choice of two routes in the old days. I believe most pilgrims detoured through Galisteo.

Thanks for the info on Villanueva, Donovan. I know if you take that route, you eventually hook back into the official Camino, but I can't remember at which town. Maybe Santa Croya? But yes, you did bypass Bercianos. When I walked through there, though, there were virtually no services for pilgrims. There's a room above the town hall where they serve beverages. It serves as a rec center of sorts -- there's a dart board there, and they show movies there and such. Some locals saw there were about 6 of us in town, and they opened that room early ,so we were able to buy some cafe con leches and water, and eat our packed lunches at tables there. But that's about all they offer.

Melanie

 

[alansykes]

Hi Melanie,

Yes, I followed the road and rejoined the calzada romana at the next set of hitos, and then followed the Roman road to the outskirts of Galisteo where, as you say, the junta signs take you direct to Carcaboso, and I turned left to have lunch and a smooch around Galisteo.

I don't remember any particular obstacles, but as Galisteo's walls and former minaret are visible straight in front of you due north for most of the time, it is virtually impossible to get lost, so I wasn't worrying about flechas.

I'm sure Riolobos would be a nice place to stop - indeed I had planned to stay there when I thought the albergue at Alcantara was open, but as it wasn't I went Casar de Cacares-Grimaldo-Carcaboso.

Perhaps next time (dv) I will stay at Riolobos, but there is no doubt that it will add a few km (mostly on tarmac) to the Cacares-Carcaboso stretch.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

..... I turned left to have lunch and a smooch around Galisteo..

Alan - you're lucky to have a smooch anywhere along the camino!

Stephen
http://www.calig.co.uk/camino_de_santiago.htm