Side trips: Yuso, Suso, Sto Domingo de Silos

[Margaret Butterworth]

Last month I did these side trips to take a break from walking. I left Najera by bus at 1.30; a 20 min drive through several small villages. I visited Yuso (new monastery) later that afternoon. Next morning I took the guided tour at 9.30 up to Suso (old monastery). Later I took a taxi back to the Camino at Sto Domingo de la Calzada for 42 Euros. (The alternative was to waste an afternoon waiting for the bus back to Najera).
For Sto Domingo de Silos (home of the Gregorian Chant) I took a bus from Burgos at 5.30 pm. The bus took 1 hr and 20 mins, partly through small mountain villages on twisty roads. I arrived at Silos with only 10 mins to spare before Vespers at 7.00 pm. which was lovely. To visit the monastery, I was hoping for the regular guided tour at 10.00 am next morning. But it was the Feast of the Virgin of Pilar, so the tour was rescheduled to 12.00. However, there was a special mass at 11.00 with lots more Gregorian Chant singing and the monks all dressed in white instead of their normal black robes. After lunch I took a taxi to Lerma, another interesting historic town, and stayed the night, taking a bus back to Burgos next morning. There are more buses to and from Lerma than Silos.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi Margaret,

Great suggestions.

I know that a lot of peregrinos don't want to break from the routine, or from the "family" or are on fixed schedules, but for those who are open to it, I agree with you that it's well worth it to take an occasional detour. There are so many jewels within a short distance of the line we walk from one side of the peninsula to the other.

Santo Domingo de Silos is probably the most popular side trip off the Francés from Burgos. Your idea about adding on Lerma is a good one, and of course those who want to just keep on walking can return to Burgos from Santo Domingo on the Camino San Olav, which is itself chock full of great vistas, ancient churches, and the prettied up town of Covarrubias.

 

[VNwalking]

of course those who want to just keep on walking can return to Burgos from Santo Domingo on the Camino San Olav, which is itself chock full of great vistas, ancient churches, and the prettied up town of Covarrubias.

You took the words right out of my mouth@peregrina 2000...indeed, this route is a real gem and so accessible from the Frances. You can bus to SDdS and walk back, or create a (roughly 6 day) loop with the Ruta de Lana, the San Olav, the GR82, and El Cid.

Likewise, it's possible to walk to Yuso/Suso from the Frances - some Irish pilgrims I'd been seeing mysteriously disappeared for several days and I thought they'd gone home. But no. They had walked, leaving and rejoining the CF. They said it was fantastic.

 

[Trude]

Last month I did these side trips to take a break from walking. I left Najera by bus at 1.30; a 20 min drive through several small villages. I visited Yuso (new monastery) later that afternoon. Next morning I took the guided tour at 9.30 up to Suso (old monastery). Later I took a taxi back to the Camino at Sto Domingo de la Calzada for 42 Euros. (The alternative was to waste an afternoon waiting for the bus back to Najera).
For Sto Domingo de Silos (home of the Gregorian Chant) I took a bus from Burgos at 5.30 pm. The bus took 1 hr and 20 mins, partly through small mountain villages on twisty roads. I arrived at Silos with only 10 mins to spare before Vespers at 7.00 pm. which was lovely. To visit the monastery, I was hoping for the regular guided tour at 10.00 am next morning. But it was the Feast of the Virgin of Pilar, so the tour was rescheduled to 12.00. However, there was a special mass at 11.00 with lots more Gregorian Chant singing and the monks all dressed in white instead of their normal black robes. After lunch I took a taxi to Lerma, another interesting historic town, and stayed the night, taking a bus back to Burgos next morning. There are more buses to and from Lerma than Silos.

Last month I did these side trips to take a break from walking. I left Najera by bus at 1.30; a 20 min drive through several small villages. I visited Yuso (new monastery) later that afternoon. Next morning I took the guided tour at 9.30 up to Suso (old monastery). Later I took a taxi back to the Camino at Sto Domingo de la Calzada for 42 Euros. (The alternative was to waste an afternoon waiting for the bus back to Najera).
For Sto Domingo de Silos (home of the Gregorian Chant) I took a bus from Burgos at 5.30 pm. The bus took 1 hr and 20 mins, partly through small mountain villages on twisty roads. I arrived at Silos with only 10 mins to spare before Vespers at 7.00 pm. which was lovely. To visit the monastery, I was hoping for the regular guided tour at 10.00 am next morning. But it was the Feast of the Virgin of Pilar, so the tour was rescheduled to 12.00. However, there was a special mass at 11.00 with lots more Gregorian Chant singing and the monks all dressed in white instead of their normal black robes. After lunch I took a taxi to Lerma, another interesting historic town, and stayed the night, taking a bus back to Burgos next morning. There are more buses to and from Lerma than Silos.

Last month I did these side trips to take a break from walking. I left Najera by bus at 1.30; a 20 min drive through several small villages. I visited Yuso (new monastery) later that afternoon. Next morning I took the guided tour at 9.30 up to Suso (old monastery). Later I took a taxi back to the Camino at Sto Domingo de la Calzada for 42 Euros. (The alternative was to waste an afternoon waiting for the bus back to Najera).
For Sto Domingo de Silos (home of the Gregorian Chant) I took a bus from Burgos at 5.30 pm. The bus took 1 hr and 20 mins, partly through small mountain villages on twisty roads. I arrived at Silos with only 10 mins to spare before Vespers at 7.00 pm. which was lovely. To visit the monastery, I was hoping for the regular guided tour at 10.00 am next morning. But it was the Feast of the Virgin of Pilar, so the tour was rescheduled to 12.00. However, there was a special mass at 11.00 with lots more Gregorian Chant singing and the monks all dressed in white instead of their normal black robes. After lunch I took a taxi to Lerma, another interesting historic town, and stayed the night, taking a bus back to Burgos next morning. There are more buses to and from Lerma than Silos.

Last month I did these side trips to take a break from walking. I left Najera by bus at 1.30; a 20 min drive through several small villages. I visited Yuso (new monastery) later that afternoon. Next morning I took the guided tour at 9.30 up to Suso (old monastery). Later I took a taxi back to the Camino at Sto Domingo de la Calzada for 42 Euros. (The alternative was to waste an afternoon waiting for the bus back to Najera).
For Sto Domingo de Silos (home of the Gregorian Chant) I took a bus from Burgos at 5.30 pm. The bus took 1 hr and 20 mins, partly through small mountain villages on twisty roads. I arrived at Silos with only 10 mins to spare before Vespers at 7.00 pm. which was lovely. To visit the monastery, I was hoping for the regular guided tour at 10.00 am next morning. But it was the Feast of the Virgin of Pilar, so the tour was rescheduled to 12.00. However, there was a special mass at 11.00 with lots more Gregorian Chant singing and the monks all dressed in white instead of their normal black robes. After lunch I took a taxi to Lerma, another interesting historic town, and stayed the night, taking a bus back to Burgos next morning. There are more buses to and from Lerma than Silos.

I walked from Azofra to Yuso and Suso via Canas with a stop and tour from the Priest at
The splendid Cistercian abbey of Santa Maria at 7.30 in the morning. I felt so lucky.
I walked on to the village near the Yuso Monastery where I had coffee. The owners offered to watch my backpack whilst I visited the monasteries. After visiting the amazing monasteries I walked back to the coffee shop picked up my backpack and headed along the road to Santo Domingo. I had my thongs on by the time I arrived into SD but the pain was well worth the visit to the monasteries. I will never forget that day it was wonderful.

 

[hfenton]

I walked the Camino Real from Najera to San Millan de la Cogolla after staying the night before in Ventosa. Route finding on the Camino Real was good for the first part of the way, but eventually I was sort of feeling my way; which was okay with me.

The hotel at the Monastery Yuso was closed for the night of the day I arrived and I found lodging at a Casa Rural about a Km outside of town. For dinner I walked back into town only to find all the restaurants closed! It must have been a thing that day.

I eventually found a bar that was open, but it didn't serve food. However, the owner told me about a nearby store and that if I rang the door bell on the house next door the owner would open the shop for me. So I did that; she opened her shop and I bought sardines, cheese, mini toasts and olives. I took these items back to the bar where I bought a beer and had my dinner. Turned out very nice in the end.

The next day I toured the monasteries Suso and Yuso. I was particularly taken with Suso and the historic significance of the very early monastic tradition that got its start in Spain at this location. I caught a bus back to Najera in the afternoon and resumed my walk on the Camino Frances the next day. It was a wonderful side trip away from the crowded main way that I would recommend.

 

[alexwalker]

Completely agree. And @peregrina2000 and @VNwalking know what they are talking about. Good decision. 2 years back I walked the San Olav, a 3-day walk from Burgos. Being a Norwegian, I had a particular interest in the Viking princess who ended up in Covarubbias, and since there was no guide for this walk, I wrote one:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/el-camino-san-olav-a-walkers-guide.518/

I intend to walk it once more, because I didn't go all the way to Santo Domingo do Silos (but the camino San Olav's ending point IS Coverubbias...). I need to do that one day. Also because it was such a peaceful and easy walk.

What I can say is, you will meet some wonderful and helpful, grateful people on this short side-trip. Addresses and contact info. is in my guide. An easy and peaceful diversion from the frenzy of CF for a few days. But I am not sure I would recommend walking backwards: At the time of writing, it seemed difficult without using GPS and a map track. But that's just my opinion.

But the 2 aforementioned esteemed members of this forum, as well as @Rebekah Scott (Who kindly let me use her computer in her house to write the guide while it was relatively fresh in my head) have done it backwards, so definitely doable.

 

[VNwalking]

It was a wonderful side trip away from the crowded main way that I would recommend.

Completely agree. And @peregrina2000 and @VNwalking know what they are talking about. Good decision. 2 years back I walked the San Olav, a 3-day walk from Burgos.

Just to clarify for those coming to this old thread here - the side trip to Yusu/Suso from Najera (the OP) and the one to Santo Domingo de Silos (that Alex is talking about) are two different things. Both are wonderful. The one to SDdS is longer and needs 2-3 days of walking from Burgos, or back to it. There are easy morning and evening bus connections, so you can walk it in one direction.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

After lunch I took a taxi to Lerma, another interesting historic town, and stayed the night, taking a bus back to Burgos next morning. There are more buses to and from Lerma than Silos.

I've been to Silos (worth the trip!) but never Lerma.... I've built a Burgos 'rest day' into my September walk schedule, but I've been thru Burgos several times before - so an out-and-back day trip to Lerma might be a do-able new adventure!

Question: would it be worth it, in your opinion?

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

You can read what I wrote about Lerma on my blog here:

Lerma

Today's minor irritation is that my email isn't working. It seems to be blocked as nothing has come through in 24 hours. Everything else on ...

caminoconfidential.blogspot.com

 

[rappahannock_rev]

Many thanks! I've now looked at your blog, and very much enjoyed doing so. It would appear that we've stayed at many of the same places, over the years.... Pax, Fr. Jeffrey