Vía de la Plata
10.6 km, 335 m up and 317 m down, through 2 places. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Lubián. 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 follows the secondary road out of Lubian, downhill from the main road. It turns right after a few twists in the road to follow the signs to the Santuario de La Tuiza. It descends to pass under the A-52 and passes by the Santuario. From here it climbs to the Portela de la Canda, the gateway to Galicia.
This is a serious mountain climb. The signage after La Tuiza can be sparse -- pay close attention to waymarks. Allow about three hours for the ascent from Lubian to the pass.
The camino emerges onto a paved road at the alto and almost immediately leaves it, turning left to descend along a track. It passes through the hamlet of A Canda (1.4 km) and soon begins its descent into Vilavella, passing beneath a railway line along the way.
From here the walking is Galician -- constant small climbs and descents, green valleys, stone villages.
The first hamlet in Galicia. A scattering of stone houses and the feeling that you've crossed into a different world. No services.
The camino descends to O Pereiro (3.8 km) and then climbs to O Canizo (5.3 km). It then joins the N-525 as it enters La Gudina.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 113 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 10.7 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.