Complete Guide to Forgotten Path

The Forgotten Path is one of the most enigmatic and primitive Jacobean routes, an echo of the earliest and most challenging times of pilgrimage. Its evocative name is not casual; it represents historical reality. This was one of the main itineraries used by pilgrims between the 9th and 12th centuries, before the French Way became the hegemonic route. It was a mountain path, an "Old Path" that ran through the safety of the Cantabrian Mountains in an era when the danger of Muslim raids made travel across the meseta impractical.

In the early centuries after the discovery of the Apostle's tomb, the Iberian Peninsula was a territory in constant conflict. Christian kingdoms clung to the north, and the border with Al-Andalus was an unstable and dangerous line. For the first pilgrims, both locals and those arriving from Europe at the Vascos ports, the most logical and safe route was not to venture into open plains, but to seek shelter in the mountains. The Forgotten Path offered precisely that: a natural corridor protected by geography, which connected the emerging Lordship of Vizcaya with the Leonese Bierzo through the mountainous comarcas of northern Burgos, southern Cantabria, and northern Palencia.

This route not only offered physical security but also connected important monastic and power centers of the time, which acted as beacons of civilization and refuge for travelers. It passed by strategic enclaves such as the Monastery of San Salvador de Oña in Burgos, a royal pantheon of great influence, or the village of Aguilar de Campoo in Palencia, now considered the capital of Romanesque art due to the incredible concentration of churches and hermitages in its surroundings. These holy places offered hospitality and solace to pilgrims on a route that, while safe from incursions, was not exempt from the hardships of high mountain: cold, snow, wolves, and long stretches without population.

The path's layout is a clear reflection of its mountainous character. Starting from points like Bilbao or Balmaseda, it ventured into the valleys of Las Merindades of Burgos, crossed the Ebro by Valderredible in Cantabria, and faced the ports of the Palentine and Leonesa Mountains. It was an demanding path, with constant ascents and descents, that required great physical and spiritual strength.

The "forgetfulness" of this path began in the 12th century. With the advance of the Reconquista and the determined promotion of Navarre and Castile kings, the French Way, more to the south and considerably flatter, became the new "highway of faith". With better infrastructure, greater royal protection, and the impulse of the Cluny Order, the route diverted the main flow of pilgrims. The Mountain Path was relegated to local use or for travelers who knew the terrain well. As the centuries passed, its memory faded from the general map of pilgrimages, although it never disappeared completely from the memory of the people that traversed it.

Its rediscovery and recovery in the 21st century is an authentic labor of pedestrian archaeology. Historians and friends of the Camino associations have dedicated years to investigating ancient documents, charters, and maps to reconstruct its original route, signaling it again for contemporary pilgrims. Today, the Forgotten Path offers a Jacobean experience of overwhelming authenticity. It's a solitary, hard, and wild path that allows the walker to connect with the essence of medieval pilgrimage and discover landscapes and Romanesque heritage of incalculable value, before converging near Villafranca del Bierzo with the French Way. Walking it is, in some way, unearthing forgetfulness and doing justice to one of the first paths that led men to Santiago.