The Way of St James - The wool route

The city of Manises is a mandatory step for pilgrims on their way from Valencia to Santiago de Compostela.

The different steps take them through the province to Cuenca, Guadalajara, Soria and Burgos, where the route converges with the French Way.

This itinerary is known as the Wool route and is a Jacobean pilgrimage route in the Camino de Santiago network of routes in Spain.

It is a historical pilgrimage route that is named after one of the main trade lanes between Valencia and Castile.

It was used by shepherds, shearers, stockbreeders and traders for moving flocks of sheep and products deriving from the latter through the Iberian peninsula. It also connected large sheep production centres in La Mancha with the city of Burgos, which was the main trade centre of wool from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century.

Many of the stages of the route coincide, though in the opposite direction, with the tourist and cultural itinerary known as the Way of the Cid. It goes through numerous towns with impressive monumental heritage, as well as an abundance of natural landscapes whose beauty is breathtaking.

This route had already been used at least since the thirteenth century and followed ancient roads, even Roman roads, which the authorities protected to make them safer and to facilitate the movement of travellers.

This continuous flow of people and animals facilitated its use by the pilgrims who went to Santiago de Compostela from the east of the peninsula, and who then returned to their places of origin, and there is widespread evidence of its use as a historical pilgrimage route.

The route is divided into three parts:

Stage 1: From Valencia to Cuenca (250 km). (Pdf in Spanish)

Stage 2: From Cuenca to Burgos (361 km). (Pdf in Spanish)

Stage 3: From Burgos to Santiago de Compostela (484 km). (Pdf in Spanish)

As is the case with the rest of the Jacobean routes, you can walk or go by bicycle.

Further information:

The wool route