Category: Camino Primitivo

8.8mi/14.16km from Lavacolla to Santiago de Compostela There’s more to say about the day below, but for now the main headline: WE DID IT! 200 miles from Oviedo, capital of

19.2mi/30.89km from Arzúa to Lavacolla On our second-to-last day of this trek, we did our second-longest day. Our legs are well beneath us now and we’re feeling strong. Pity that

8.8mi/14.16km from Melide to Arzúa Today was a quick and relatively easy day with nice paths, good conversations with a few new faces, and surprisingly manageable weather. David and I

14.3mi/23km from Ferreira to Melide I had been in a rough mental state these past few months. Last night I had a conversation with David about my mother that helped

16.7mi/26.87km from Lugo to Ferreira With a weeklong rain forecast, David and I dreaded leaving our comfortable Lugo hotel for the dusty (muddy?) trail. We had a steep descent out

Rest day in Lugo And on the thirteenth day, we rested. As I mentioned yesterday, we looked at the weather forecast and realized we were staring down the barrel of

21.2mi/34.11km from O Càdavo Baleira to Lugo We’ve made it through the thick of the Cantabrian Mountains and are now heading gradually downhill towards the more densely populated parts of

16.8mi/27km from A Fonsagrada to O Càdavo Baleira Yesterday and today mornings couldn’t have been more different. While yesterday brought us hours of death fog and a damp chill to

15.4mi/24.78km from Grandas de Salime to A Fonsagrada My memory is a little foggy on what we did today. At least, the details are a little hazy. I wrote some

14.4mi/23.17km from Berducedo to Grandas de Salime Today could mostly be summed up by one word: dam. No, not a typo. The massive Salime Dam dominated our day. We began

12.1mi/19.47km from Pola de Allande to Berducedo Today began a string of longer days with significant climbs and drops as David and I go through the heart of the Cantabrian

9.7mi/15.6km from Campiello to Pola de Allande We woke up after a massively sweaty night under all manner of layers, sleeping bags, extra blankets, and face masks. But… we sweated

8.4mi/1.5km from Tineo to Campiello It hit the fan today… hopefully it’s our Camino nadir and there’s nowhere else to go but up. Whatever’s going around the Camino and that

8.7mi/14km from La Espina to Tineo We had a decent 350-foot climb out of La Espina, after which we hiked along a few rolling hills until we reached the very

13.3mi/21.24km from Cornellana to La Espina We were somewhat dreading today. Our handy dandy guide app, “Buen Camino” (highly recommended for anyone on these treks), told us we would be

10.3mi/16.57km from Paladín to Cornellana It was a good but sweaty as usual hiking day, as the humidity remained high all day. After a solid and very necessary sleep, David

13.5 miles/21.7km from Oviedo to Paladín Oviedo was the starting point of the very first Camino de Santiago. “Camino Primitivo” actually means “the Original Route,” and the city prides itself

For the 4th time, we’re going to the Iberian Peninsula for a Camino de Santiago. This time we’ll take a trail through the Cantabrian Mountains called the Camino Primitivo, covering