Románico palentino Nature Trail

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The Palentinian Romanesque Nature Trail combines a rich cultural heritage with the stunning landscapes and environmental relevance of North-Western Palencia. The trail uses the old road that linked the mining areas in the Orbó, Castillería and Vergaño Valleys to the Canal de Castilla, in Alar del Rey. This road was used to transport coal to Palencia and Valladolid.

This nature trail, around 103 kilometres long, has a main route, the “Ruta del Carbón de Cok” (Coke Coal Route), whose name refers to one of the traditional uses of the trail. This route takes the traveller through 66 kilometres of crop plains and hills covered with holm oak meadows and pine reforestation areas, up to the first foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains, at the Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina Natural Park.

Two alternative routes, 14 and 22.5 kilometres long, respectively, complete this nature trail. The first one goes from Santibañez de Ecla to Payo de Ojeda, and the second one goes from Cozuelos de Ojeda to Dehesa de Montejo. Both of them depart from the “Ruta del Carbón de Cok” and complement the main route, helping travellers discover the rich Romanesque heritage of Palencia, one of the places with the greatest number of examples of Romanesque art in Europe.