This is a closed circular route starting and ending in Carbajosa. It has a total distance of fifteen kilometres, a medium difficulty level and an estimated duration of between four and four and a half hours on foot.

Its main value is combined: landscape, heritage and nature intertwine in a route that links seven localities by old rural paths. Cereal fields, pine woods, scrubland, dovecotes, adobe architecture and centuries-old towers accompany the walker at all times.

It is a route designed for experienced hikers, cyclists or those doing routes on horseback. It is recommended to bring water, suitable footwear and to plan in advance if one wishes to visit churches, teleclubs or closed points.

Circular Route D: Carbajosa – Santovenia – Villafeliz – Villalboñe – Solanilla – Villacil – Carbajosa
Approximate distance: 15 km

Section 1: Carbajosa – Santovenia through the woodland – 3.3 km

Forest silence and open views over the valley

From Carbajosa de la Sobarriba, the route slowly rises along the old woodland path, a trail that winds among holm oaks, oaks and rockroses, where the silence of the countryside is not absence, but a low and constant murmur of wild life. The views gradually open out, until reaching a ridge from which Santovenia del Monte can be seen like a profile suspended in the air.

This section offers a rugged route, with a primeval charm. Burrows, traces of wild boar, flights of red kites and discreet signs of a nature that still preserves its own pulse can be sensed. As one approaches the village, the church of San Esteban emerges, a resistant testimony to religious art and to the memory of La Sobarriba.

Section 2: Santovenia – Villafeliz – 3.5 km

Traditional path among cereal fields, scrubland and dovecotes

On leaving Santovenia, one takes a path that crosses gentle hills, with stretches of scrubland and cultivated areas. The sky dominates the landscape and accompanies the walker with an almost absolute breadth. Among farmland, hedges, slight slopes and old paths, the route advances towards Villafeliz.

Villafeliz appears after a slight descent, with its houses aligned as if waiting for the walker. On one of the paths leading out of the village several traditional dovecotes are preserved, a symbol of rural self-sufficiency and of the ancient coexistence between human beings and the land. So too are the dry-stone walls, which outline the old boundaries with an almost sculptural precision.

Section 3: Villafeliz – Villalboñe – 2 km

Tool sheds, threshing floors and the tower as a beacon

From Villafeliz, after briefly following the road, one takes an agricultural track towards the west. On both sides, tool sheds appear, humble yet singular, witnesses to daily work and to a functional architecture raised without plans, with the practical intelligence of those who knew the land. Some have collapsed as if they wished to return to the mud that gave them origin; others remain standing, firm and poetic.

Taking the road again, after a few metres there is a turn onto a clearly marked rural path that winds among fields. The surroundings are agricultural, orderly and luminous. The arrival at Villalboñe is announced by the silhouette of its solitary tower, a vestige of the old church. Its masonry and ashlar construction turns this tower into a landmark of the landscape, visible from kilometres around, as if it still marked the rhythm of time and memory.

Section 4: Villalboñe – Solanilla – 1.5 km

Open landscape, pine woods and art in the shade

From the tower of Villalboñe, the path turns southeast among farmland and scattered groves. The pale earth contrasts with the dark greens of the scrubland and the nearby pine woods. It is a brief, serene section of transition, in which the landscape seems to widen before gathering itself again around the hamlet.

On arriving at Solanilla, a small settlement among gentle hills, one discovers a church with a simple bell gable, of austere lines. Here, every detail — an old door, a hand-forged nail, a twisted grille, a shadow on the stone — preserves something of anonymous art, of rural beauty not sought and, precisely for that reason, true.

Section 5: Solanilla – Villacil – 2.4 km

La Nava: an old hollow among cereal fields and shade

From Solanilla one takes the old path of La Nava. The hollow preserves freshness even in summer, thanks to small damp areas where rushes, clovers and spontaneous vegetation grow. The landscape mixes fallow land, cereal fields and wild flowering. Solitary holm oaks mark the rhythm of the path, and it is not unusual to observe partridges, rabbits or even deer at dawn.

Villacil appears at the end of the valley, with its rural church as the centre of the ensemble. Although simple in construction, the church preserves the charm of the authentic: that quiet dignity of small churches, made not to impose themselves on the landscape, but to form part of it.

Section 6: Villacil – Carbajosa – 2.3 km

Return among poppies, wheat fields and memory

The path back to Carbajosa follows the natural continuation of La Nava. Here the terrain opens out, the hills soften and the horizon becomes slower. Along the path, wild flowers — mallows, poppies and other wayside plants — colour the edges with an ephemeral palette, characteristic of the bright days of spring and early summer.

In the distance, the roofs of Carbajosa and the bell gable of its church can already be made out. On the top of a nearby hill, the remains of the old hermitage seem to whisper stories of pilgrimages, prayers and communal gatherings. The return thus culminates among memory, landscape and rural art, closing a circular route that not only unites villages, but also ancient ways of inhabiting, working and looking at the land.