Camino de Santiago del Norte
INTROThe Camino de Santiago is a network of long distance pilgrimages throughout Europe, primarily Spain, leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
St. James Cathedral
This is about the North route (del Norte) which I began in San Sebastián, Spain. This route is roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers). This is different from an other backpacking I’ve done; less wilderness, more showers/town food. This comes after my completion of the Camino de Santiago Frances.
Day 25 - 28 took me from Vilalba, Spain - Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
OVERVIEWDAYS4
MILES/kilometers52.5/84.5
TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED4506 ft
TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS4976 ft
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Reaching Santiago de Compostela on the Camino de Santiago del Norte
Continues personal growth that hiking a trail provides
The pilgrim mass at St. James Cathedral
Wonderful people along the way
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Broken record here but the pavement road walking
Rain several days in a row
Albergue life with snorers…
Great group!
In Depth
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Accommodation: Albergue Baamonde
Distance: 11.6 miles / 18.7 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 942 ft
Elevation Loss: 1137 ft
Despite this being a relatively short day for me, I still wanted to get up and out. The group of six from the night prior that was so loud until 12:30am, I felt no shame in packing up my stuff around 7:00am.
I walked through an industrial area for a while and then eventually got onto some farm roads where I would be until I reach Baamonde. I thankfully ran into Dianna and Lily from the start of my Del Norte hike and we chatted, which made the time go by much faster. It drizzled rain on and off, but all of us were equipped with some very funny blue giant ponchos.
I went ahead of them a bit and got into Baamonde around 11:45am. The albergue opened at 1:00pm and it was first come first serve so I wanted to be there straight away when it opened. I relaxed at the restaurant for a bit before getting one of the glorious single beds in the albergue a.k.a. no bunkbed!
The kitchen was very limited and though it had a stove, it had nothing to cook with and no utensils. But it did have a refrigerator which I stocked with some groceries for the upcoming days.
I had a frustrating administrative afternoon with tasks from home that should’ve been brought to my attention much earlier, but of course someone else’s lack of communication impacted my trip.
There were a lot of interesting people in the hostel this evening. Including the Norwegian women and their Canadian counterpart and some folks from Virginia that hiked a decent amount of Appalachian Trail. We connected about thru hiking in the wilderness, and I explained my exciting plans for the remainder of the year.
I slept relatively well for such a big space filled with a lot of people and was thankful for my nook area all to myself.
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Accommodation: Monasterio de Sobrado
Distance: 20.2 miles / 32.5 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1921 ft
Elevation Loss: 1603 ft
I needed to leave the hostel in Baamonde early as it was a bit of a longer hiking day ahead. Despite the limited kitchen, I went down to grab my breakfast from the refrigerator, ate, and left when the sun was rising.
Soon after I hit a junction, I ran back into Dianna and Lilly and we hiked together the remainder of the day. Water was a bit limited in this section so whenever I walked through a town, I had to make sure to fill up as much as possible. It again drizzled for the majority of the afternoon on and off through these country farm roads. Because I had turned away from the coast, most of this walking was on either major highways or farm roads with very little trail.
This was one of the most interesting accommodations of the entire trip. It was an old monastery that was still connected to a functioning church. It was first come first serve and the entrance process was long. When myself, Dianna, and Lilly arrived, there was a queue that had been waiting there for nearly an hour at that point. I ended up waiting nearly an hour as well before being let in. There was groups of six that got let in at a time. The Priest would explain the instructions to get signed in and given a personal tour.
The rooms were very interesting (picture below), and there was an industrial kitchen. The grounds were stunning because it was still a functioning place of worship. And this place was old!
I went to get groceries and cooked a really basic meal for the night. But ended up having dinner with Lilly, Dianna, Aiyana and Louis. We had a glass of wine and cheers to the evening.
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Accommodation: Cruce de Caminos
Distance: 13.7 miles / 22.1 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1082 ft
Elevation Loss: 1497 ft
Again, this was a relatively short day so I didn’t get moving particularly fast. I had to be out of the monastery by 8:30am and I left at 8:27am. This day I would be arriving in Arzua, which is where the Del Norte intersected with the Frances routes.
Early into the day I ran into Dianna and Lilly, and we walked the rest of the way into town. There were some concerning sounds of gunshots coming from a pig farm that had us running at one point because we did not know what the goal of those gunshots were. It was very strange to be running from that sound in the middle of Spain. Though we were staying in different albergues, the buildings were adjoined, so we had plans to have dinner with the five of us from the night before again.
Arriving in Arzua roughly 4 weeks after I had been there on the Camino Frances was a full circle moment. To know that I had once again walked across Spain towards Santiago de Compostela was a proud accomplishment and feeling.
The five of us went to the grocery store and Louis ended up making a delicious curry. Being gluten-free in Spain was difficult so to make a rice based dish that I’ve been dreaming about was a real treat. The Norwegian gals and their Canadian counterpart were also here so we just had a lovely afternoon and evening with a large group of people.
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Accommodation: See upcoming Finisterre post
Distance: 7 miles / 11.7 kilometers walked, 16.9 miles/27 kilometers bus, plus second half of hiking day - see upcoming Finisterre post
Elevation Gain: 561 ft
Elevation Loss: 739 ft
Today was the day I was going to Santiago de Compostela… Again. Because I was back at the junction of Arzua and the Frances intersected, I decided to walk only a portion into Santiago. I had planned to take the bus for about 17 miles but walk just over 10km into town. I would then be hiking towards Finisterre later in the day after Santiago.
The bus ride went smoothly and I met some lovely people who were touring in the area who were asking me many questions about hiking the Camino de Santiago. Re-walking in the last 10km into Santiago was emotionally overwhelming. I had such a lovely time the last time and I was hiking in with such good friends, it was moving to be walking there alone.
Once I got into the Square in front of the cathedral, I uncontrollably cried. I am not a religious person, but to reach Santiago again and see the absolute joy from all of the other pilgrims was moving. I sat against the back wall for a long time, cried, and reflected on my time in Spain.
I wanted to go to mass as my paternal side of the family is Catholic. As some of you may know my paternal grandparents and my father have passed away within the last three years and the silver necklace that I wear around my neck has all of their ashes. So it was important to me to bring them to mass at St. James Cathedral.
Every day there is a Pilgrim’s mass at noon so I stowed my pack away and was able to go to mass. Luckily, I was sitting next to three older Italian men who spoke Spanish so they were giving me the rundown of a mass entailed. When to stand up, when to sit down, when to donate money, when communion was taking place, etc. I was very lucky because they swung the Botafumeiro which does not happen every day!
I then was able to meet up with Aurélie, who I met the first weekend on the Pacific Crest Trail. Because of social media we were able to connect follow each other‘s journeys and she was finishing up 100 km section with her dad on the Camino. It was a wonderful way to reconnect and to have strong female friends in the outdoors.
After that, I continued on to Finisterre! More information about the second half of my day in the next post.
GALLERY
