Camino de Invierno
19.9 km, 519 m up and 521 m down, through 7 places. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Lucenza. 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.
Lucenza is a small hamlet between Chantada and Penasillás. No services. The camino goes straight through — before the end of the hamlet, take the path to the right.
The next 5 km steadily ascend toward Monte Faro on a logging road. Eventually you reach an asphalt road with a monolith — continue on this road.
After the steady climb from Penasillás, the camino merges with a paved road. To visit the ermita at the summit, look for stone steps on the left — they take you off the camino and ascend past the Stations of the Cross. In a few minutes you'll reach the summit field with the ermita, a lookout tower, and a cruceiro. One pilgrim enjoyed chatting with the fire ranger in the tower.
To rejoin the camino from the summit, you have two options: backtrack down the stairs to where you left it, or head to the cruceiro (within sight of the ermita) and descend the hill, turning right at the bottom. This passes an overgrown picnic area that's on the camino.
If you skip the summit, continue straight at the Stations of the Cross turnoff. You'll pass the picnic area on your right. At a T-junction, a waymarker takes you right.
The marked camino leaves the tarmac beyond the picnic area and parallels a windmill farm on a limestone access road with views back toward Chantada. You'll see an old sign pointing to Rodeiro — ignore it (there's a yellow X). That's the back-road route, full of unmarked intersections where people get lost. Wait for the PO-533 crossing, which is the direct road option to Rodeiro.
After several kilometers through the windmill farm, the path meets pavement. The camino turns left and crosses a bridge over the PO-533 highway. Here you pick up yellow arrows again. Going left along the highway takes you directly to Rodeiro on an access road — not pretty but safe, and a few kilometers shorter. Going right is the official camino through farmland and hamlets.
Vilanova is a small hamlet on the camino's descent from the Monte Faro windmill farm. No services.
San Xoán de Camba is a hamlet near the Pazo de Camba, an old stone estate that's usually closed. The camino passes the estate — two pilgrims once happened upon it during preparations for a baptism (the first in 25 years)…
A Ermida is a small hamlet between the Pazo de Camba and A Feira. No services. The camino passes through on quiet lanes.
A Feira has Bar O Recanto, which serves a good menú del día. The camino arrows take you off the road before entering the hamlet, but if you stay on the road you'll reach the bar and the adjacent hamlet of Leboro. Continu…
Mouriz is a small hamlet between A Feira and Rodeiro. No services.
Leave Rodeiro on the PO-5330 heading west for about 2 km. A mojón stands across from the COGAL rabbit-processing factory, directing you right onto a paved road toward Puente Limpio. It soon becomes a dirt path and meanders over a wide valley with stone quarries, trout-fishing streams, and sunken lanes that sometimes turn to mud.
Mojones direct you from Penerbosa to Puza to A Penela — notable for an enormous granite monument a local farmer dedicated to former King Juan Carlos. From A Penela, continue to A Eirexe, where the camino crosses a 12th-century bridge beneath a large strip mine.
A long stretch on a dirt road follows, through agricultural fields and forest. At approximately 19 km from Rodeiro, the camino enters Palmaz and takes you onto the PO-933 into Lalín de Arriba. The arrows lead past a church dating from the 10th century (the date 980 is carved into a stone window sill). The keeper of the keys lives nearby and is happy to open it if you can find her. From there, arrows continue into Lalín.
There are no services on the camino between here and Lalín. Carry plenty of water and food. Some pilgrims stay on the highway, which has a few bars and is a few kilometers shorter — it's not pretty but safe, as you'll always be on an access road. The camino, however, follows beautiful back roads through the Galician heartland with several hamlets but no services except the occasional fountain.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 354 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 20.5 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.