Camino Francés
8.7 km, 196 m up and 305 m down, through 4 places. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from A Balsa. 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.
Between here and San Xil you will pass a large fountain with a large scallop shell with a lot of graffiti and algae. Beyond that by two more kilometers is the Alto de Riocabo. You will also pass through San Xil de Carballo, with no services.
San Xil de Carballo gives this route variant its name. A tiny village with no reliable services. The terrain is hilly and green, with good views back toward the mountains you've crossed.
You will not enter the village of Montán, but rather pass along the edge. While there is no fixed bar, there is a small picnic area with an on-again-off-again vending machine.
You will pass through Fontearcuda and Furela, no services.
A hamlet with a fountain (fonte) on the San Xil route. The water is reliable. No other services.
A small village on the San Xil route with a bar. The Iglesia de San Fiz has Romanesque elements. The path begins to descend toward Sarria.
A hamlet between Furela and Calvor on the San Xil route. No services. The descent toward Sarria continues.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 299 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 9.5 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.