STAGE: Córdoba - Cerro Muriano

Following the tiles that mark out the historic centre, a World Heritage Site, we leave Cordoba over the Roman bridge of Pedroche, where we once again find the granite milestones that will guide us along the Mozarabic path.

We cross the Canal del Guadalmellato and reach a dirt track, which will take us towards Cerro Muriano along the Cañada Real Soriana, heir to the Roman road Corduba-Emerita.

The track joins a short section of the road which, between housing estates, leads to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Linares. After passing through a landscape of Mediterranean scrubland and holm oak groves. We reach the vicinity of the Sanctuary where we can stamp the credential. A little further on, on the left of the path, we discover a small Roman bridge and begin a steep climb that takes us up to the Loma de los Escalones, where we can see the remains of the road.

A new track leads us to the old route of the N-432. Walking a few metres along the right-hand verge, we ascend along a path, passing a plaque in memory of the former President of the Jacobean Association of Cordoba. Engraved on the rock are a scallop with the Cross of Santiago and what is known as ‘Marisa's hand’, works by the artist Serrano Carriel.

We return to the right-hand verge of the road, which we cross on a sharp bend, to climb a sloping path until we reach a hill from which we can see, some 2 km away, the town of Cerro Muriano, a district of the city of Córdoba.