Camino del Norte
8 km, 67 m up and 46 m down, through 4 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 Cudón. 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 entrance to Cudón is marked by the crossing of the CA-232 at which point you will find the bar. Once across this busy road turn left to follow a gravel side street. This path parallels a set of supply pipelines all the way into Requejada; when they head underground you are near the train station, and on your left is an elevated crossing that takes you over the railway and into town.
A small town on the alternate route between Puente Arce and Requejada. No particular services for pilgrims.
In Requejada the camino turns right to follow along the busy and noisy N-611 all the way to Barreda.
The camino passes the entrance to the Barreda train station and comes to a roundabout, turn right here to follow the road over the Río Saja and into Viveda.
Note that there may be conflicting arrows after crossing the river. In recent years the camino has changed course and the businesses along the old route through Quevada are still promoting the original way with adverts and arrows. The official camino follows a slightly longer course which avoids very busy road walking for less busy road walking.
Once over the bridge into Viveda keep to the right at the first roundabout, heading uphill. A short distance later it turns left onto the CA-340 in the direction of Camplengo. This new route is well marked and almost entirely along the road, leading you directly to the Plaza de las Arenas and the Colegiata in Santillana del Mar.
Queveda is on the old camino route, now bypassed by the official trail. No particular reason to come here unless you followed outdated arrows.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 64 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 6.6 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.