Route
The Complete Stage Guide: Monteagudo de las Salinas to Burgos
The Ruta de la Lana runs a little over 430 kilometres from Monteagudo de las Salinas, in the province of Cuenca, north to Burgos, where it folds quietly into the Camino Francés. The guide breaks it into seventeen stages — though, as you'll see, several can be joined or split depending on your legs and the beds you can find.
The shape of the walk
The first days lead you up onto the high plain and into Cuenca, the hanging city above its two gorges. From there the route threads the Alto Tajo around Cifuentes and Trillo — the green, watered heart of the walk — before climbing to the medieval skylines of Sigüenza and Atienza. Then comes the lonely high country of Soria: the highest point of the whole Lana, 1,372 m on the Sierra de Pela, the ruined castle of Caracena and its canyon, and the long Romanesque river-towns of San Esteban de Gormaz. The last days drop you through Santo Domingo de Silos and Mecerreyes to Burgos.
The stages that ask the most
Three days stand out. Sigüenza to Atienza (31.4 km) is the toughest, long and climbing. San Esteban de Gormaz to Quintanarraya (30.4 km) is a relentless up-and-down. And the final Mecerreyes to Burgos (34.8 km) is simply long. None is technical — but on a route this exposed, distance and heat are the real difficulty, not the gradient.
Joining and splitting
Some pilgrims walk Mandayona to Atienza in one big day; the guide splits it at Sigüenza, and so should you if you can — the castle-Parador arrival is one of the most beautiful on the whole Camino. Build in a rest day at Cuenca, at Sigüenza, or at Santo Domingo de Silos, and the Lana stops being a march and becomes what it's meant to be.
“The goal was only ever an alibi. The real journey began the first day you chose to walk.”