Camino del Norte
25.9 km, 445 m up and 462 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 Islares. 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.
Islares is stretched along the coast between the road and the mountain. The Iglesia de San Martín is one of the first buildings you encounter. The village has a bar and basic services. An albergue has operated here inter…
When leaving Islares exercise caution along the N-634. There is no dedicated place for pedestrians along this stretch.
The camino splits in El Pontarrón. The official route continues due south along a pedestrian path adjacent to the main road (which becomes the CA-151) and a coastal option follows the N-634 across the river.
After Rioseco, the camino continues to the first roundabout and turns right to cross the river and enter the small hamlet of La Magdalena.
The camino leaves the main road at the church in La Magdalena, turning right and uphill to follow the trail over the hillside. When it descends it passes under the A-8 and enters the area known as Liendo.
From the albergue the camino climbs up to join the N-634, turning left to follow it a short distance. When it splits the official camino turns left to leave the main road and descend to Tarrueza. You can alternatively keep on the N-634 on a shorter course to Laredo; this option will rejoin the official camino at a large junction.
After Tarrueza the camino crosses back over the A-8 and at a large roundabout junction with the N-634 it leaves the busy road for a side road uphill. There is only one clear way across this large roundabout, to your right, and the road uphill is the first obvious choice. The road takes you towards an unsightly tower. Immediately after it turns left downhill to cross directly over the N-634 to a set of stairs. These stairs descend through the Puerta de San Lorenzo directly into the old town of Laredo.
In Laredo the camino follows two options, and in this instance the alternate route is part of a series of options that appear further to the west.At issue is the best way to cross the broad estuary between Laredo and Santoña. The official camino requires the use of a ferry between the two, a journey which may not suit everyone.As a result, a web of alternative routes has been created. Between them, there does not appear to be any preferred way to rejoin the official camino. There is an option to rejoin in Santoña (passing the municipal albergue west of town) and another to rejoin in San Miguel de Meruelo. Adding to these options is the fact that beyond Santoña, in Berria, the camino splits again for safety reasons. The options from Berria can merge with the second option above, also to rejoin the official camino in San Miguel. Those options are described with Berria.Distances in [brackets] are the total from Laredo to San Miguel de Meruelo.Option 1: To Satoña via ferry (official) - 5.9 [20.6]On your left after passing under the Puerta de San Lorenzo is the Convento de las Trinitarias, on the Calle San Francisco. This road ends at a large intersection and a plaza of sorts with a fountain in the middle. You need to get to the other side and the easiest way to do that is to walk counter clockwise around the intersection. After passing the old Ayuntamiento with the 3 arches, cross one more street to follow the Calle de López Seña. You want to be going in the direction of the Paseo Maritimo and the Playas, NOT the Puerto. Note that at this point you are leaving the old town behind. Soon you will begin walking along the Paseo Maritimo, the path adjacent to Laredo’s long beach. At the far end of the beach, over 4km later, is the restaurant and boat launch at El Puntal.Option 2: To Santoña by land - 13.9 [28.7]The shortest route to rejoin the official camino is to follow the road to Colindres, and then again to Santoña. This brings you into town over the bridge, passing the Municipal Albergue along the way.Option 3: To San Miguel de Meruelo - 19.4 [19.4]If you did not take the ferry, it is more likely that you chose this option to rejoin the camino in San Miguel de Meruelos; and in so doing bypass Santoña, Berria, and Noja. The route is along the road and there are two albergues along the way.
Colindres sits at the head of the estuary between Laredo and Santoña. It's on the land route for pilgrims who skip the ferry. A small town with basic services but not much reason to linger.
The path splits here and rejoins before Colindres. Both ways are below, because the question is which to take, and that is not a question two separate pages can answer.
Note that the distance to the center of Santoña includes the water crossing, a distance of about 600m. The ferry will deliver you to the south shores of Santoña, where you cross through the park and into the city.
From the ferry terminal, with your back to the water, walk straight into the city. You will pass through the Plaza San Antonio and then the large Manzanedo Park. Keep going straight when you get to the first roundabout (bus terminal here) and at the next one do the same; you are looking for the least busy northbound road. From this roundabout, it is a straight path to Berria. At the entrance to town is the high-walled El Dueso prison.
The official camino over the Alto de Brusco is straightforward. To follow the alternative along the road, turn left at the bend to follow a pedestrian path past the first roundabout. At the second roundabout bear right to follow the CA-141 in the direction of Somo. There exist several variants of the camino along this stretch, which may accidentally take you away from Noja and to San Miguel de Meruelo.
All of these options require you to turn left off of the CA-141 so if Noja is your destination, keep on the main road and ignore all left-hand turns. When you do leave the CA-141 it will be to the right and is marked Helgueras 2km.
If neither Helgueras, Noja, nor Castillo are on your agenda you can follow the left facing arrows and continue directly to San Miguel.
When you get to the beach in Helgueras the camino resumes across the sands and up to Noja.
The camino enters Noja along the park adjacent to the beach, and turns left at the far end to follow the road uphill into the center of town. It passes around the Iglesia de San Pedro and then winds its way back down to the CA-141 which it crosses into Castillo.
The camino winds along a paved side road between Castillo and San Miguel.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 412 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 26 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.