Camino del Norte
26.9 km, 692 m up and 686 m down, through 6 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 Ribadeo. 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 through Ribadeo has been re-routed in recent years and now follows a route down to the waterfront and then back up. Of course, it is still possible to go the old way and avoid the elevation change. If that suits you, turn right at the first big intersection after you pass under the bridge into town. It is the Avenida de Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and the official camino is across the road to the left. If you turn right you can follow old arrows through town. At the end of town both options rejoin on the Rúa de San Lazaro and before long you are back in the countryside. Such is the case for most of the walking through Galicia; on a few occasions you will walk along the asphalt road but they are quiet country roads. The first of them is the LU-5207 which you will dance around as you enter Vilela.
The scallop shells in Galicia are not installed with an orientation towards Santiago and having come from Asturias where they are it might be a bit confusing. Just remember to follow the arrow and ignore the shell.
Take the turn off to the right to follow a smaller road through the forest. This road follows a broad bend and eventually turns back towards the LU-133 (which was the main road in Vilela). Before the camino gets all the way to the road, it turns to the right along a path. NOTE: At this point you do have the option of continuing straight to the LU-133 where you can find a coffee in the town of San Vicente without adding any extra distance to your walk. When you get to the LU-133 turn right. At the far end of the sparsely populated village the camino turns from the north to cross over the LU-133 so you can simply follow it (about 2km) all the way to this junction. When the official camino returns to the LU-133 it does not follow it; instead it crosses to the other side and descends along a path to the next road. It then zig zags a bit as it descends via paved roads to the bridge in Arante.
If the bar in Vilela is closed, the only option for buying supplies between here and Villamartín Grande is in San Vicente, a short detour from the camino described below.
The bridge here is the low point of todays walk and from here the camino begins a series of ascents and descents which are to become the de facto terrain in Galicia where level ground is seldom to be found. After the bridge the camino turns sharply right up a path and begins a climb to the top of the mountainside. It spends little time at the top before descending the other side into Villamartín Pequeno.
In Villamartín the camino rejoins the road at the lowest point in the valley, following it southwest for only a short distance. It is common to miss the turn off and continue some distance before noticing the mistake, so keep an eye open for the path on your right which marks the beginning of a steep climb into Villamartín Grande.
After passing the small shop and lodging (friendly and helpful owners) the camino crosses the LU-P-6103, following the sign in the direction of Gondán; a downhill walk along a paved road.
Turn right at the first 4 way junction past the albergue, and follow the back roads to San Xusto.
From San Xusto it is another climb, this time to the top of Monte Calvario before descending into the bustling town of Lourenzá.
There are no services between here and Mondoñedo. From the municipal albergue, the camino leaves town along a well marked but narrow and cobbled path uphill. The path climbs to the top of this monte and joins the N-634 as it passes through the hamlet of Arroxo (just a few houses). Here it reaches the highest point along this stretch and ahead you can see the elevated A-8. Keep on the N-634 to pass underneath it and downhill to the roundabout junction where you keep to your left and abandon the N-634. A short distance ahead the camino leaves the road for a path on your right. Along it you will pass the Mondoñedo cemetery and the hamlets of San Pedro, O Reguengo, and San Paio before returning to the main road into Mondoñedo.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 368 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 27.5 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.