STAGE 26 Campanario - Don Benito

Leaving the Campanario sports centre, walk in the direction of the railway station and after about 200 m take the first path on the right of the road. Further on, the path crosses the railway line over a level crossing. The path then passes in front of the archaeological site of ‘La Mata’, dating from the 5th century BC. After the Arroyo del Torvisco, the wide track turns to the right, and soon turns left, passing between abandoned mine mouths and arriving at a tarmac road.

The hill of Magacela with its imposing Muslim citadel, later reconquered by the Military Order of Alcántara, watches over us and accompanies us throughout our stage.

We enter Magacela through the Barrio Sobrante del Berrocal. We cross the Estación road and begin the climb up to the Town Hall, passing the Church of Santa Ana, built in the 1950s when the original parish church inside the castle was destroyed.

Before reaching the Avenida de la Constitución we will have the opportunity to visit the Centro de Interpretación del Camino Mozárabe de Santiago, where we will visit the exhibition ‘Camino de Piedras’, a geological route to scale of this Jacobean Way, which also has interpretive panels on the history, landscape, culture and traditions of the Mozarabic Way of St. James.

After the descent of the hill of Magacela, we continue through olive groves to turn right and head back along the King's Path to the town of La Haba, where the parish church of San Juan and the ancestral homes speak of a medieval and modern past of great importance. This town has all the resources for the pilgrim.

On leaving La Haba there are two options: to continue along the road towards Don Benito along a long straight stretch and finish our stage in the Parish Church of Santiago, or turn right to take the variant of the Camino towards Villanueva de la Serena.