Stage 2. Béjar/Plasencia
80.1 kilometers. 730 positive meters.
The route leaves the Béjar station through a curved tunnel with automatic artificial lighting that passes under the historic complex, where the main monuments and buildings are located around the Plaza Mayor, the Doge's Palace, the churches and the streets with a medieval atmosphere. The route passes through another tunnel that ends in a small gorge, with climbing routes, and leaves the Corpus de Hombre river valley towards the Navalmoral de Béjar pastures, where the conditioning of the natural path ends. The last kilometer to the town still has the rails of the road but it can be easily reached by pedaling to the town. At the entrance you turn towards the town and at the first intersection you have to turn left again to go down towards the Camino de Santiago. Immediately the Béjar road appears, you must continue on the right, pass the Calzada de Béjar detour and 400 meters later the yellow arrows of the Jacobean route appear marking the Vía de la Plata to Astorga. The gravel journey continues in the opposite direction to the indication of the arrows and at many intersections it is difficult to see the signs because they are painted so that they are useful in the opposite direction, towards Santiago de Compostela. The path runs through a stretch of land and reaches the beautiful street on the way to Calzada de Béjar. At the entrance there is a pilgrim fountain and a sealing place, but the pilgrim hostel is at the end of the town. The street has facades typical of the popular architecture of the region, with stone and wood arcades and balconies, adapted to the centuries-old passage of migrating herds and the active commerce generated by the Vía de la Plata. The descent to the valley of the Body of Man River follows the original layout of the medieval road and there is a section with stones but it is easy to navigate slowly. And then the dirt road continues parallel to the Montemayor del Río highway. In this section you could go along the road to the Malena bridge, losing the possibility of seeing the original milestones that are on the Camino de Santiago.
The milestones marked the distance of the Roman roads, in this section there are several but they have been moved and do not coincide exactly with the original “miles”. The Sinforiano milestone is first, indicating mile 135, and then the Malena milestone appears, at the entrance to the medieval bridge that spans the Corpus de Hombre river. Mile 134 is about 200 meters after passing the bridge, at another milestone that is part of the wall of a farm. At the Malena bridge the hardest climb of the route begins, the slope is steep and there are sections with loose stones that require patience, grinding technique and good legs. The oak and chestnut forest and the beautiful rural environment help a lot to overcome the slope. The climb ends in Puerto de Béjar but it is not yet time to connect with the Vía de la Plata railway route. The route continues along the Camino de Santiago towards Baños de Montemayor and goes down a modern cobblestone built on the original one of the medieval itinerary. The views of the Ambroz Valley are fantastic. At the entrance to Baños de Montemayor the track leaves the urban complex on the right and continues along the La Garganta road to climb the Natural Path, right where the rest area and the stone fountain are. The bikepacking adventure continues through familiar terrain on the old railroad track. The slope is favorable, the bicycles fly along the side of the mountain, they pass by the Hervás station and one kilometer before the Aldeanueva del Camino station you have to take a detour to the right to enter the urban complex and connect again with the Camino de Santiago.