Vía de la Plata
31.6 km, 505 m up and 460 m down, through 3 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 Riego del Camino. 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 keeps to the countryside and enters Granja de Moreruela along a back street. Immediately you are presented with the choice between continuing the Vía de la Plata to Astorga or following the Camino Sanabrés to Santiago via Ourense.
The Camino Sanabres turns left and due west from Granja. It follows farm tracks to reach the Puente Quintos (6.7 km) over the Rio Esla. Once over the bridge, the route splits into two options to reach Faramontanos de Tabara. The right route follows the road and is preferred when rains have been heavy. Follow the road to the first paved left turn to descend and rejoin the left route. The left route turns left at the end of the bridge to follow a more scenic trail along the river.
There are no services for the first 18 km. Carry food and water from Granja.
Once over the bridge, the route splits into two distinct paths to reach Faramontanos de Tabara. The right route follows the road and is preferred when rains have been heavy -- follow the road to the first paved left turn to descend and rejoin the left route. The left route turns left at the end of the bridge to follow a more scenic trail along the river.
The camino to Tabara crosses over the AVE railway development. From this point you can see Tabara in the distance, but note that the camino does not enter Tabara directly. If you plan on stopping there, aim for the church towers.
If you entered Tabara you have two options to return to the camino. You can return to the camino where you left it, or if you stayed at the municipal albergue you can follow the alternate route from there.
The camino between here and Santa Croya offers two options, both of equal length. The original and more scenic route turns right and passes through Bercianos de Valverde, however with the closure of the bar there, this route has fallen out of favour with pilgrims. It has been replaced with the left route, which heads directly towards Villanueva de las Peras.
The path splits here and rejoins before Tábara. Both ways are below, because the question is which to take, and that is not a question two separate pages can answer.
Small village squabbles and arrows pointing in two directions. The easiest way to Santa Croya de Tera is via the road out of town.
Distances are the sum of the town-to-town measurements in my data, not a straight line on a map. Climb and descent come from the altitude of each place listed above, so they under-read where the path goes over a hill between two of them.
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.