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Wise Pilgrim APPThe Alto de la Grajera is less a mountain pass and more a gentle rise through parkland and reservoir on the western outskirts of Logroño. The Embalse de la Grajera was built in the 1880s for irrigation and has since become one of the few wetland areas in La Rioja — a pleasant green space with walking paths, picnic areas, and a bird observatory tucked into the scrub near the water's edge. Herons, coots, mallards, and marsh harriers are common.
The reservoir itself is strictly off-limits for swimming, but the surrounding parkland makes for an easy start to the day. There's a bar-restaurant near the park entrance if you need an early coffee.
Along this section you'll pass one of Spain's famous Osborne bull silhouettes — the black cutout billboards that have become an unofficial national symbol. Originally built as brandy advertisements in the 1950s, they were saved from a billboard ban by popular demand and are now protected cultural landmarks. You'll see more of them across Spain.
Look for the makeshift crosses that pilgrims have fashioned from bark and twigs and fixed to a fence near the high point of this stretch — one of those spontaneous Camino traditions that nobody planned but everybody contributes to.
The Osborne bull billboards date to 1956, when the Osborne sherry and brandy company of El Puerto de Santa María in Cádiz commissioned artist Manolo Prieto to design a roadside advertisement. The original bulls were 4 meters tall with the Osborne name in red lettering. As the herd grew, they were enlarged to 7 meters, then 14 meters. By the 1980s, some 500 bulls dotted Spain's highways.
When Spain banned roadside advertising in 1994, public outcry saved them. The bulls were stripped of their Osborne lettering, moved back from the road, and — after a Supreme Court ruling in 1997 — declared part of the cultural landscape. Around 90 remain today, including the one you see here above the highway near Logroño.
The reservoir has its own quieter history. The Marquis of San Nicolás, then mayor of Logroño, proposed the dam in 1877 to store irrigation water for the surrounding farmland. Construction finished around 1883. What began as agricultural infrastructure has become one of the region's most important wetland habitats.
From the park, the camino continues along a track that parallels the highway before branching into vineyard country. The walking is flat to gently rolling, with vineyards on both sides and the occasional farm road crossing. It's about 7 km from the reservoir to Navarrete, with no services along the way — the ruins of the Hospital de San Juan de Acre appear on your right as you approach the town.
