Camino de Invierno
31.3 km, 185 m up and 187 m down, through 6 places, 4 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Terradillos de los Templarios. 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.
The walking to Moratinos and San Nicolás del Real Camino continues flat and exposed across the meseta. The province of León begins ahead.
Moratinos has been experiencing a slow renaissance, with a few buildings rehabilitated and a growing community of international residents drawn by the quiet and the cheap property. The hillside behind the village is hone…
From here the camino approaches the provincial border with León. The bridge over the Río Valderaduey marks the crossing — unceremonious but symbolically significant.
The crossing into the province of León comes without ceremony — you cross the bridge over the Río Valderaduey and that's it. But the change matters. León was the heart of the old kingdom that drove the Reconquista, and t…
Sahagún isn't the prettiest town on the Francés, but it has a stubborn historical significance that rewards exploration. At its peak, it rivaled Burgos and León in importance — a claim that's hard to believe until you st…
A certificate is available from the Santuario de la Virgen Peregrina on the way out of Sahagún — a type of halfway Compostela. The sanctuary is not on the camino proper; check the map for its location.
Leaving Sahagún, cross the Río Cea. About 4.4 km from town, near a large highway interchange before Calzada de Coto, the route splits into two options. The Camino Real (straight ahead) follows the traditional route thro…
The name tells the story: the original inhabitants came from the Bierzo region, and the village sits on the Camino Real — the 'Royal Road,' a designation that refers not to royalty but to a primary public road. It's a us…
The path between El Burgo Ranero and Reliegos follows a manicured track lined with trees. Unfortunately, the trees are on the wrong side of the path for afternoon shade, so on sunny summer days you're fully exposed. Carry plenty of water.
In late May, check the stork nests on the church tower — the chicks are a highlight of the season.
The path splits here and rejoins before El Burgo Ranero. Both ways are below, because the question is which to take, and that is not a question two separate pages can answer.
The path between El Burgo Ranero and Reliegos follows a manicured track lined with trees. Unfortunately, the trees are on the wrong side of the path for afternoon shade, so on sunny summer days you're fully exposed. Carry plenty of water.
The Vía Trajana continues through open farmland toward Calzadilla de los Hermanillos. The terrain is flat and the walking quiet — this variant sees far fewer pilgrims than the Camino Real.
The Vía Trajana continues through flat farmland before converging with the Camino Real route ahead of Mansilla de las Mulas.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 291 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 31 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.