Vía de la Plata
31.1 km, 152 m up and 129 m down, through 4 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 Barcial de Barco. 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.
Beyond Barcial de Barco a bit of care is needed to keep to the camino. If you have any doubts, speak with the owners of the bar Borox (adjacent to the albergue), they sometimes provide a map of the way.
The confusion has to do with the recent development of a disused railway line into a pedestrian path known as the Via Verde. This is the recommended way as it delivers you directly to the albergue in Benavente (which itself is in a repurposed rail yard building).
After leaving Barcial de Barco the camino returns to the N-630 and crosses it; at this point you can see (ahead and on the left) the elevated Via Verde. The camino will eventually pass beneath it, and it is here that you can take the stairs up to the walkable level. From there it is a simple matter of following it all the way to the railway yard in Benavente.
Now separated from the camino with the opening of the Via Verde. If you're following the converted railway path, you'll bypass this village entirely.
Note that it is technically possible to follow the Vía Verde all of the way to Villabrázaro, but that the arrows don’t really give you a good way to find where to depart from it and resume the camino.
From the albergue in Benavente, follow the Vía Verde a short distance until the road that it is parallel to it (on your right) turns away from the path. Here the camino leaves the Vía Verde and follows the road to the right. A short distance on it turns left and follows the road out of town and all the way to Villabrázaro
The camino follows a paved country lane to Maire de Castroponce, well marked.
The way to Álija del Infantado is complicated by only one turn. The camino follows a paved road most of the way and eventually arrives at a larger paved road after crossing the Puente de la Vizana over the Río Órbigo (and into the province of León). Pilgrims who have walked the Camino Francés may recognize the name, this crossing is downstream from the famous bridge at Hospital de Órbigo.
Here the camino arrows indicate a way straight ahead. However other arrows direct you to turn left along the road. If you plan to stay in the albergue, choose the latter option along the road. Both will get you there but the path ahead brings you to town well past the albergue.
Follow the road to La Nora del Río (3km). Arrows at the start of town are conflicting, the smaller ones send you through town (no services) while a giant one encourages you to turn left along a trail adjacent to the river. The river choice is the best option and you will follow it for the next few hours.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 480 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 30.3 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.