Camino del Norte
28.6 km, 973 m up and 756 m down, through 8 places, 1 of which has somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Borres. 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 camino returns to the road in Borres, and immediately crosses it to climb up and out of town on the other side.
This is the most significant decision point on the Primitivo. Left takes you down to Pola de Allande via the valley road -- longer but lower, with services along the way. Right takes you over the mountains on the Hospita…
The ruins of the Hospital de Fonfaraon are scattered foundations on the mountainside -- stones reclaimed by grass and heather. Medieval pilgrim hospitals along the Primitivo were built at exposed mountain passes precisel…
A second set of hospital ruins on the Hospitales route. Like Fonfaraon, little remains beyond foundation walls, but the name -- Val Paraiso, Paradise Valley -- hints at what arriving here must have meant to a medieval pi…
The high point of the Hospitales route. On clear days the panorama extends across the entire Cantabrian range. On bad days you'll see nothing but your own feet and the path ahead. Either way, from here it's downhill.
Welcome to the top. Be mindful of the way down, which is poorly signed.The best way is to keep the road, and the guard rail, to your left while following the curve in the road. It soon joins a track and descends into Montefurado.
Pass through town and follow the trail to your left. You will have to step over a small wall. When the trail rejoins the road (AS-14) a few km onward, you can either stay on the track or follow along the road to Lago.
Just beyond town the camino again leaves the road in favor of a trail to your right. It will rejoin the road and then leave it again for a smaller side road to your left towards Berducedo.
The camino follows the road uphill for a quick ascent of about 80m and then descends another 100m into La Mesa.
Pay close attention to the arrows when leaving town, there are 4 roads not including the one you walked into town on. The camino follows the road steeply uphill all the way to Buspol.
The path splits here and rejoins before La Mesa. Both ways are below, because the question is which to take, and that is not a question two separate pages can answer.
Cross the road in front of the bar and turn right (uphill) on the first road. Where it ends, turn left and soon you will rejoin the camino that arrives from the first split.
At the Alto the Chavadoira the camino leaves the road on a track to your left. From there it descends to Pola through Ferroy.
The camino leaves Pola along the road and passes the village of El Mazo.
From Peñasieta, the climb begins. The preferred, and more beautiful, route is along the trail so if you spent the night in Peñasieta avoid the temptation of following the road (even though it will get you there). The elevation gain is about 600 meters up to the Alto de Palo, with a few particularly steep sections along the way.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 735 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 28.5 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.