Percurso de BTT difícil. É necessário estar em boa forma. É necessário ter um nível de experiência avançado. Podes ter de empurrar a bicicleta em alguns segmentos do Percurso.
The sanctuary of the Virgin of Chilla is located in a picturesque setting, surrounded by oak trees, and with a formidable panoramic view. It is a simple church, built in the 18th century, inside which the miracle of the Virgin is narrated on ceramic panels.
It is a small hermitage that is located at the foot of the Sierra de Gredos, next to the central massif; It can be reached by a paved local road that starts in Candeleda, at the exit of the town on the way to the province of Cáceres.
To get there you have to climb about seven kilometers, winding almost entirely. Next to the gorge of the same name, in a place populated by chestnut, ash and alder trees, stands this center of devotion for the people of the Tiétar valley. From its height (660 m.) there is a beautiful view of the western part of the Tiétar valley and Campo Arañuelo.
Tradition has it that a pious shepherd, whose goat had died, in full grief, for fear of the owner of the herd, invoked the Virgin and She appeared to him and rewarded him with the resurrection of the animal. The people of Candeleda gratefully erected the hermitage in memory of such an extraordinary moment.
The festivities that commemorate this event are traditionally held on the second and third Sunday of September, the latter being called the sailing festivals. The religious acts consist of a pilgrimage and a mass with a procession. The pilgrimage leaves, at nine in the morning, from the town to the hermitage; There, at twelve o'clock, the image of the Virgin is taken in procession to a secluded esplanade, in the shade of chestnut trees, in which a solemn mass is celebrated with the image of the Virgin presiding from the place where it appeared to the goatherd Finard. Once the Eucharist is over, the offerings are made to the Virgin of Our Lady of Chilla; before agricultural products and livestock were donated, today the offering is generally of a monetary nature. The act ends with the restitution of the image to the hermitage, before whose doors the puja de banzos takes place.
Devotion to the Virgin of Chilla, patron saint of Candeleda and Gredos, is not exclusive to the town of Ávila, since the number of her devotees has always spread throughout the Tiétar valley and even through the Talavera countryside to the extent that representatives of the towns of Mejorada, Segurilla, Velada, Calera, El Casar and Gamonal attend the celebration; Formerly they carried their own presents and a mayordomo, on behalf of their municipality, a large candle.