The Los Dolores romería was as spectacular as ever this year with thousands walking along the roads heading towards Mancha Blanca on Saturday 12th September. The route from the Monumento Campesino in San Bartolomé is just under 9km walk to the church Ermita de los Dolores and a popular meeting point for many groups and offering refreshment to those who had walked there.
Its amazing when you look along the route, both forward and back as far as the eye can see are people heading in the same direction, like a huge multicoloured snake winding its way through the villages. The arrivals continue after dark, some only reaching their destination of Mancha Blanca after midnight! It’s an amazing event with a fantastic atmosphere and highly recommended.
The evening starts with a huge procession of families, groups and villages that stop to present their multitude of gifts to la Virgen de los Dolores, crates of wine, bleach, milk together with fresh grapes, melon, squash’s etc are laid in front of the church. The Virgen is taken back into the church and the gifts stored safely away before the party starts!
I was saddened to learn that 23 year old Samuel Hernández Jorge from Tías lost his life at the Los Dolores Romería. An Italian family (husband, wife and two daughters aged 4 & 7) had driven around the barriers closing off the road to traffic and collided with the procession. The accident happened on the road from Tinguatón to Mancha Blanca.
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Road Traffic Incident
I was saddened to learn that 23 year old Samuel Hernández Jorge from Tías lost his life at the Los Dolores Romería. An Italian family (husband, wife and two daughters aged 4 & 7) had driven around the barriers closing off the road to traffic and collided with the procession. The accident happened on the road from Tinguatón to Mancha Blanca.