Camino de Invierno
30 km, 104 m up and 166 m down, through 7 places, 5 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from La Virgen del Camino. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
La Virgen del Camino is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage sites in the province of León. The modern Santuario, designed by the Dominican architect Francisco Coello de Portugal and completed in 1961, is a stark …
A village on the road route (N-120) between La Virgen del Camino and Villadangos del Páramo. A bar and a couple of shops. The road walking continues.
Another road-route village along the N-120. A bar and basic services. The terrain is flat páramo — the high plateau country of León, dry and windswept.
Villadangos sits on the N-120 and has more services than the villages before it — several bars, a supermarket, and albergues. The Iglesia de Santiago has a 16th-century altarpiece with an image of Santiago Matamoros. The…
San Martín del Camino straddles the N-120 between Villadangos and Hospital de Órbigo. A couple of bars, an albergue, and a small shop. The terrain remains flat páramo. Both the road route and the scenic route pass near h…
Puente de Órbigo sits on the east bank of the Río Órbigo, directly across the famous bridge from Hospital de Órbigo. The two towns function as one settlement split by the river. A couple of bars and services are availabl…
From Hospital de Órbigo, the camino heads south through flat farmland toward Astorga, about 17 km ahead. The terrain is open and exposed.
Villares de Órbigo is a small village on the road between Hospital de Órbigo and Astorga. A bar serves pilgrims. The Iglesia de Santiago has a modest Santiago Peregrino statue. The terrain is still flat páramo.
The approach to Astorga becomes more interesting as the terrain begins to rise gently and the walls of the city come into view.
The path splits here and rejoins before Santibáñez de Valdeiglesias. Both ways are below, because the question is which to take, and that is not a question two separate pages can answer.
From here it's a short walk to Puente de Órbigo and the famous bridge at Hospital de Órbigo.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 300 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 29.8 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.