Camino del Norte
31.9 km, 1155 m up and 423 m down, through 15 places, 2 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Embalse de Salime. 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.
What goes down must go up, in this case it is about 300m back up to Grandas de Salime. It is mostly, but not entirely, along the road. Along the way is a scenic overlook (about 2km from the dam). Shortly after the most severe turn in the road (a 180 degree bend) the camino turns left to follow a trail uphill.
The camino leaves town along Calle Carmen and passes the Capilla de Carmen before joining the AS-28 highway for several parts; leaving and rejoining between towns on its way up to the alto that marks the border between Asturias and Galicia. There is one more albergue on the Asturian side of the border, in Castro. The first hamlet you come to, that of La Farrapa, has no services for pilgrims.
Just past the bar located on the main road the camino turns right to follow a quieter path. Between Cereijeira and Castro is the small Capilla de la Esperanza de Malneira.
The ruins of the Castro de Chao Samartin are visible to the west when leaving town -- a prehistoric hillfort with occupation layers spanning the Bronze Age through the Roman period. A small museum adjacent to the camino …
Penafuente sits at the top of a long, gentle climb along the AS-28. The view behind you stretches back across the mountains you've crossed. From here the camino crosses through town to the right and follows a track above…
The camino crosses through town to the right and follows a track above the road, and eventually intersects it. Cross the road and continue UP the track, NOT down towards Bustelo.
The camino passes the bar at the alto and keeps off of the road for a short distance. Between here and Fonsagrada it will follow adjacent to, or directly on, the main road. You will pass through Cabreira halfway to Fonfría.
Standing directly between Fonfría and Barbeitos is a small hill. The road goes around it to the north and the camino goes around it to the south. The two meet in Barbeitos.
The camino crosses over the road here only to cross back when it gets to Silvela.
Just beyond Silvela, on the forest track that connects it with Paradanova, you will pass an ermita and a restored capilla dedicated to Santa Bárbara. The camino passes straight through Paradanova 155.9. Immediately at the far end of town it crosses the road and climbs up to Fonsagrada along a back road. See note below about possible conflicting arrows.
Old arrows from Paradanova may tempt you to follow the road, you are better off following the trail to enter Fonsagrada from the North on a quieter road.
Be advised that there have been a growing number of false arrows in Paradanova. Some of them are the official looking blue and yellow plastic (most are painted arrows) signs.
These arrows are intended to detour you from Fonsagrada and towards A Proba de Burón and should be ignored.
The real camino into Fonsagrada follows South of the road (keep road on your right and dont cross it).
If you find that you have mistakenly followed the wrong arrows you will have another opportunity to get to Fonsagrada by turning left at the next large intersection.
The camino exits Fonsagrada along the main road, and shortly after follows a secondary road parallel to it, into Padrón. Beyond Padrón it follows through forested paths off of the road.
The camino between Padrón and O Cádavo is arguably the most difficult of the route, and possibly the reason for the nickname the leg wrecker. Allow for extra time, especially after a rain since many of the sections become thick with mud.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 827 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 31.9 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.