No Kings but another virgin

We begin at the Ap-66. I think it is in my top five Spanish motorways mostly for the Geography. It is on this road you really understand that Spain isn’t Britain. Having left Oviedo you climb and climb through mountains of Tolkienesque proportions. At some point you pass a tiny chapel and wonder how much the priest who got sent here had pissed off the bishop. From then you are into bare splendour and engineering marvels before you emerge into Leon and slowly descend through the higher pastures. This is not, alas, for us.






The N-120 has all the marks of the ‘old road reborn.’ It is straight and has increasing settled edges - when you are not going through the beige and abandoned fields. We run parallel to the AP-71 - but who would pay the toll. Certainly not the huge and over long lorry which blocked half the road at corners. He had a little friend in a car that went ahead and with all the care that the Spanish are known for with regard to health and safety, was waving frantically at oncoming traffic.



We are visiting Valverde de la Virgen first. In 1916 it dropped ‘del Camino’ and became ‘de la Virgen.’ In 1857 it had about 1400 people scattered around it. The number rose to 4300 by 1960, fell to 2800 but since 1981 has been on the rise, such is the growth if Spain’s commuter worlds. It has 13 councillors, 7 from the Conservative Popular Party and one from the Union of the Leonese People. The UPL is currently enjoying its best year in terms if seats. As of 2023 it has had 235 councillors - based on 0.16% of the popular votes. This is down from 2003, where it managed 0.2%. It seems to want to break away from Castile.



Just down a dip and up again is San Miguel del Camino. It is part of the Valverde Empire so don’t get too carried away. The Meson El Yantar del Peregrino gets a 4.1 star rating, Fiona McNeilly reckoned ‘Very basic looking restaurant / cafe. Terrible value for money - the menu del día was 15 euros and they only accept cash. Food was ok but overpriced.’ 2 stars. Her reviews tend to be in Australia. If you think that was harsh, try this…
Ristorante Pizzeria La Cantina gets ‘Incredibly bad in every respect. The worst food we've had in our trip so far. The pizza base was more like pita bread. Poor service. I recommend that you avoid this restaurant - complete tourist trap. I can't fathom how it has 4.5 on Google review.’


Maybe we will just move on. Maybe we will see the Kings bearing gifts as today is Los Reyes Magos.



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