Vía de la Plata
31.8 km, 340 m up and 299 m down, through 9 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 Mombuey. 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.
As the camino gets deeper into the Zamora mountains, the villages get closer together but smaller. Few offer any services. The camino follows near the N-525 for a short distance before turning south to cross the motorway and the AVE line. After crossing, it passes through the small rural hamlets of Valdemerilla (4.6 km), Cernadilla (3.5 km), San Salvador de Palazuelo (1.8 km), and Entrepenas (3.4 km). It then turns back north to cross over the AVE, the motorway, and the N-525 into Asturianos.
A handful of stone houses along the path. No services. The depopulation of rural Zamora is visible here -- more empty buildings than occupied ones.
Another near-empty hamlet. No services. The Iglesia de la Asuncion has a simple stone facade that catches the light nicely if you're passing in the morning.
A tiny hamlet with no services. The name suggests a grander past than the present delivers. Press on to Entrepenas.
Between the rocks -- that's what the name means, and that's what it looks like. No services. The landscape here is increasingly rugged as you approach the Sanabria mountains.
When the camino leaves Asturianos it picks up the N-525 but leaves it soon after to follow a paved road that turns to the right. DO NOT miss this turn, or the one just after which removes you from the road entirely. It's a country path all the way to Palacios de Sanabria.
Between Palacios de Sanabria and Puebla de Sanabria the camino follows country paths and once again crosses the motorway and the AVE line. Along the way, it passes through the hamlets of Remesal (2.4 km), Otero de Sanabria (2.8 km), and Triufe (2.5 km).
After Triufe it turns south again to cross the motorway and join the N-525. Follow the road to the first roundabout and turn left, descending gently into Puebla de Sanabria.
In Puebla, the albergue and some services are on the east side of the river.
A small hamlet between Palacios and Puebla. No significant services.
Another small hamlet on the approach to Puebla. No services, but the walking through here is pleasant as the valley narrows toward the mountains.
The last hamlet before Puebla de Sanabria. No services. From here the camino drops down toward the N-525 and the descent into Puebla.
If you stay at any of the accommodation options on the south side of town, retrace your steps to get back to the camino -- it would be easy to confuse the southern road with the northern one.
The camino follows the road north out of town but soon picks up a trail before you reach the N-525. The walk is scenic, and muddy after rain. On several occasions it joins the N-525 but never for very long, so keep an eye open for the exit points. It reaches Terroso (9.7 km) and then makes a large loop to the north before descending into Requejo de Sanabria.
Stock up on supplies here. The mountain crossing ahead has limited services, and you won't find a town this well-equipped again until La Gudina in Galicia.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 211 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 31.4 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.