Campomanes
Camino de San Salvador
Campomanes is the return to civilization you've been waiting for. After the mountain villages and hamlets of the past two days, a town with actual restaurants, bars, and private accommodation feels like luxury. The town sits between the old national road and the A-66 motorway, at the northern end of the convergence of two valleys.
It's a practical rather than beautiful place — the motorway infrastructure overshadows whatever charm the old village once had. But the food is real, the beds have mattresses, and you can buy groceries. After the mountains, that's enough.
Campomanes sits at the convergence of the Pajares and Lena valleys, a strategic position that made it important long before the motorway arrived. The town grew with the coal mining industry in the 19th and 20th centuries, and like many Asturian valley towns, it's been adapting to a post-industrial economy since the mines began closing. The old national road through town was once the main artery between León and Oviedo.
The camino continues straight through town, turns right to cross the N-630, and a bit later crosses the river. Just past the river it doubles back to the left to follow a road along the river toward the Iglesia de Santa Cristina de Lena — one of the most important pre-Romanesque churches in Spain, and well worth the detour.
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