Vía de la Plata
20.7 km, 382 m up and 486 m down, through 4 places, 3 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Bandeira. 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.
Cross to the right side of the road as early as is convenient. At the end of town the camino veers right, and trying to cross at that point is dangerous with traffic.
From Dornelas the camino descends to the Río Ulla, passing through San Miguel de Castro (5 km) along the way.
The camino continues its descent towards the Río Ulla and the bridge town of Ponte Ulla.
The camino follows briefly a section of the N-525 as it leaves Ponte Ulla. This section can be a bit dangerous, so keep an eye open for the two times it leaves the road. The first is to your left, so you'll need to cross. The second is to your right, which means crossing back. About 500 meters separate the two crossings. If these crossings sound unnecessarily dangerous, you're not alone.
After the second crossing, the camino returns to safer side roads as it climbs to Outeiro.
The stretch of N-525 leaving Ponte Ulla can be dangerous. Keep an eye open for the two points where the camino leaves the road.
From Outeiro the camino passes through Lestedo (3.7 km), A Susana (bar, pharmacy) (3.4 km), Aldrei (3.1 km), and Santa Lucía (bar) (2.3 km).
The camino enters Santiago from the neighborhood of Sar, named for the modest river that flows through it. Here you'll find the Colegiata de Santa María a Real de Sar, a 12th-century church worth a short visit -- it's to your left just after crossing the river. From the church, the camino follows the same road and eventually climbs steeply uphill to the old town. At the top, the arrows can be hard to find. Cross the road and enter the old town through the last standing gate, the Porta de Mazarelos. Continue straight through (against traffic). You'll pass a statue of Alfonso II at the highest point of Santiago, and from here keep going straight where the road narrows. At the next crossroads, turn left steeply downhill. At the bottom stands the Cathedral.
The rest of the way is through the suburbs of Santiago, a mixture of modern construction and old stone houses. The camino crosses the railroad tracks very close to the spot where the RENFE train derailed in July 2013, killing 79 people. The fence has become a makeshift memorial with photos, prayers, and remembrances.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 144 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 20.8 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.