Vía de la Plata
22.3 km, 118 m up and 96 m down, through 2 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 Benavente. 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.
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 — 314 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 21.8 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.