Day 11 and 12 on our “Camino Primitivo” were very special. Why? Because Mommy made up her own route! She was the brave (re: crazy) one, I just accompanied her. From Ferreira, the traditional Camino Primitivo would go to Melide (20 km away) where it is joined by Camino Francés. From there on, it would get very crowded, Mommy had been receiving messages from our friends who were ahead and nobody enjoyed it.
Moreover, it was only a few months ago that we did this Camino (!). So how can we get to Santiago de Compostela with minimal crowd, minimal Camino Francés, and dare we say it… minimal turigrinos? After reading a lot on the Camino forum about various alternatives… for example there is Camino Verde from Lugo to Sobrado dos Monxes via Friol, and then continued from there via Camino del Norte… Mommy decided on this bespoke route, ¡vamonos!
Day 11: Ferreira to Sobrado dos Monxes
Route overview and statistics
| Distance 27.1 km | Average speed 4.6 kph |
| Maximum altitude 733 m | Ascent 368 m |
| Minimum altitude 521 m | Descent 405 m |
The alternative route to Santiago with minimal Camino Francés
Ok, Mommy was NOT that crazy, she didn’t completely make up a route from scratch. She actually found a GPX routing offered by the owner (previous owner?) of Albergue Ponte Ferreira. Interestingly, another Dutch peregrina she met at Casa Zapateiro was also considering this alternative, but she had made her own routing. So we followed this GPX to the tee, and here we wrote our experience with it!
We asked him about this alternative route, and combined with the basic information from the website, our background knowledge of it was:
- No signs for the first 20 kms until it joins Camino del Norte, 6 kms before Sobrado
- At Km 21: First bar, first built up toilet!
- Km 26: Sobrado dos Monxes – Monastery and albergue
- That there are a lot of vicious dogs and he wouldn’t recommend it if walking with a dog
So onwards we go!
Mommy had a bigger backpack than usual today. Because there would be no facilities until just before Sobrado, she brought so much food from Cantina Ferreira, including a whole round of tortilla for both of us!
The camino marker told us to go to the left to Melide, but we head to the right. This was where our bespoke routing diverged from the Camino. There were a few pilgrims from our albergue with us and they were shouting to let us know we went the wrong way, and Mommy politely told them we were not going to Melide.
As we solely relied on GPX, we recommend having a good map with you, either digital or good old fashioned paper chart! At one point we missed a junction where we should have turned left, we simply didn’t see there was a path to the left, so we carried on the main path, which would have led us to a dead end road. We saw a car coming from the opposite direction, the driver stopped and asked us, “Where are you going?” “To Sobrado” “To Sobrado is *THAT* way (pointing to the right”.
At another point, the footpath was crossing over a highway and as we emerged from the footpath, a lorry passed us and stopped. And the driver reversed, and asked us again where we were going. Except he had no idea how to get, on foot, to Sobrado. But Mommy told him we had a GPX and we were not lost, so he wished us luck!
Right after this encounter with the lorry driver, we found that the footpath we were supposed to get to was quite overgrown and someone had placed a string across, as if “closing” the footpath. This was after 2 hours/10 km walking from Ferreira. Mommy checked the map, we could go back to the road as we were not far off, or we could just see if the footpath got any worse, then we would turn back. After all, it didn’t look too bad at all (famous last words!). Mommy also felt that there was no “official” sign saying the footpath was now closed.
So if you looked at the map, we had emerged from the south, crossed the highway, and rejoined another footpath as we head north-west. The dot is where we found the piece of red string. And picture on the right showed the worst bit of the path, so it really was not bad at all! The “overgrown” segment took 5 minutes to walk past and afterwards it became a normal path again. So no biggie.
Half an hour later (2.5 hours since the start) we arrived at a village called Ascariz and then Folgar. At these 2 villages, there WERE quite a few local dogs that were loose (not chained and the property not gated) AND aggressive.
Throughout our Caminos my arrival had always attracted the attention of local dogs. In the vast majority of times, they were behind the gate or tied down. They would wake up from their sleep and start saying hello (as in, barking) but nothing more. Sometimes we met some dogs that were not attached, and usually we just sniffed/said hello, and the dogs would leave us in peace especially as we kept on walking away from their territory.
But the dogs in Ascariz and Folgar were really quite something! They were chasing us, barking, and continued to follow us well beyond their houses. One trick Mommy has learnt is to make loud noises with her hiking poles, as it seemed, no matter how aggressive and vicious these dogs appeared, they were scared of humans! Perhaps that was how they were trained, by getting shouted and hit if they had done something bad? They literally cowered in submission when Mommy started walking towards them with her sticks up in the air. And she’s quite tiny and not at all scary! At least not to me 😀
Right after we left Folgar, we came across this bus stop and guess what we saw? Direction to Sobrado, painted in Camino yellow! I mean, we were not lost and we were following our GPX, but it was still nice to get a confirmation, that we were not completely crazy and that quite a few pilgrims do take this path to Sobrado to avoid Camino Francés. Also, for the first 21 km, as there is no bar, these bus stops were the only places we could get shelter, we had some rain showers and each time we wanted to adjust our gear, or had a snack we would look for these bus stops. Mommy even had lunch in one of them, surrounded with flies. Very glamorous.
Our next interesting moment came only 15 minutes later when we came across this gate. The sign says “Welcome to M.V.M.C. de Carballo, Project Silvopastoril, with pure-bred Galician horses. Close the door, thank you”. So it seemed that this was private property, but we were allowed to walk through, just remember to close the gate behind, so that the horses don’t escape. We didn’t find a single horse or other animals when we walked here.
We have done walks in the UK where it was supposed to be public footpath on the map, but it was closed, even locked at the bottom. We have had to scale some flimsy fence because it was already dark and we had come a long way down and could not go back. Unfortunately according to the map, this was the only footpath and there was no alternative, we had come a long way off the road and the road was going in the wrong direction anyway.
So, we walked past this gate and the subsequent gates with some degree of anxiety.
After we entered the property, the first set of gates were already wide open. But the next one was closed, Mommy’s heartbeat was racing, and we just kept staring as the gate appeared larger and larger as we got closer…
The gate was not locked! Yay! We could unbolt it, and then of course we closed it after. Phew! Mommy had started looking for alternative routes, or whether we could scale it, but it was quite high and she had heavy bags. Anyway, here we are to tell the tales, right? So nothing bad happened.
Months before we went on this Camino, we were doing the Welsh Camino where we got attacked by cows with horns. I got knocked down first and when Mommy tried to tuck me under her, she got knocked down and her arm trampled by the cows. She still had the scars on her arm from this. Luckily I had my backpack, which got ripped, but it probably protected my organs. And for the next 2 days, we kept meeting cows (!) by the 3rd time, I was so traumatised I refused to walk, even though this time the cows were behind barbed wires, they were on a field and we were walking on the road. Mommy had to carry me for a good 500 m until we passed them. So, I was also mentally scarred by cows.
So far on the Camino we had met cows a few times, but they were much more gentile. Sometimes we saw a shepherd with a shepherd dog, so maybe the cows were used to taking orders from dogs here. What a difference!
So here we encountered 2 errant cows. They were well ahead of their herd. We stopped and waited, and then we saw the rest of the herd coming up with the shepherd, they turned to a little path on the left. And these 2 cows were still lost! So began a staring competition. And guess what? They turned back! Fuji 1 vs 0 Cows.
After another hour of walking, we finally saw the first official Camino marker! We have rejoined Camino del Norte, woohoo! And another kilometre from here was the first bar called Meson Suso, which was very much welcomed. We had something to eat and drink, Mommy used the bathroom, and we both got our important sello/stamp! And we met 2 groups of pilgrims here, finally!
Sobrado dos Monxes
We felt rejuvenated after our stop in Meson Suso. Those 20 km were not physically demanding, but mentally very hard for both Mommy and me! So we were very happy when we started seeing Camino mojones left, right, and centre.
We passed the Sobrado lake as we approached the town, and after some photo ops, we met a group of nuns and monks who looked like they were coming back after a picnic! So yes, Sobrado dos Monxes is a mixed sex monastery. Mommy has never seen one like that.
The monastery is located at the centre of the village and surrounded by a few pilgrim friendly bars and a dog friendly hotel. It was the first Cistercian monastery in Spain, dated back to 1142, however the monks left in the early 19th century following “desamortización” (seizure and sale of church property). The Cistercian and Viaceli (Cóbreces) monks bought the property back in 1954 and following extensive repair, the monks returned in 1966 on the Feast of St James (25th July).
Nowadays, visit to the site is limited to the ground floor only and entrance is via the gift shop. There is a self-guided tour using QR code. Opposite the door to the gift shop is the reception area for the albergue, it has recently been refurbished and looks very modern like a bank!
The monk that was manning the gift shop was very friendly and humorous, he also doubled as security as he was also supposed to be watching CCTV monitors, but Mommy spotted him watching Netflix on his laptop! They sold wines that the monks made themselves, as well as wines, port, and beer made in other monasteries. Because we had a long day tomorrow, Mommy didn’t want to buy a bottle of wine if she can’t finish it, so she got a bottle of beer made by monks near Burgos, it was a very good beer!
The 17th century church had a very impressive Baroque front façade. However, during the time that the site was privately owned, almost all the original furniture were sold – altars, paintings, organs, etc. So the church was quite barren inside.
There is vesper every evening at 7PM, ask the monks at the gift shop or albergue reception and they will arrange for someone to meet you at the foyer to take you to the location because it is deep within the cloister! The vesper was very beautiful and moving.
Accommodation and cost
We stayed at Hotel San Marcus which is located in the Plaza opposite the Monastery (see picture with beer above). We had the best room with a balcony facing the square/Monastery (!). The hospitalera was so kind and as we arrived first, she let us choose which room we wanted! The bathroom has a bath (because some people have asked about bathtubs on the Camino). The best thing about the hotel was that breakfast was self-service, meaning we could have it as early as we wanted. They had a proper espresso machine as well as a coffee pod machine. A fridge with sliced ham and cheese. Fruits and mini cakes. Mommy had a very satisfying breakfast and made sandwich for lunch.
Reflection on day 11
Today was a challenging day, mostly mentally. We felt like we had to overcome all our personal traumas head on, but we did it! The night before, Mommy also received sad news regarding the death of a family member so arriving at the monastery and being able to attend the vesper was quite a moving experience.
In summary, the challenges for this route were:
- The isolation, lack of facility including shelter to change/adjust clothes/gear, have lunch, toilet, but the GPX is accurate, so trust the GPX and map.
- Aggressive dogs
- Cows (for peRRegrinos)
- The private property: the gates were not locked and the trail is marked as a footpath on the map, but we just had bad experiences in the past where something marked public was closed/locked/had electric wires.
Would we recommend this route? Difficult to say. I think if you have walked Camino Francés before then you know what the situation is like after Sarria and you most probably would like to avoid it. So this is a very good alternative. The monastery is well worth taking the detour. However, Sobrado is some 61 km from Santiago, so technically speaking by crossing over to del Norte within the last 100 km, you may not be given a Compostela at the Pilgrim’s Office, if obtaining a Compostela is something essential to you.
Day 12: Sobrado dos Monxes to A Brea
So we were now on the Camino del Norte! However, on the official Camino del Norte, there are variations/alternative paths at Boimorto and then later on at As Calles/Orxal. So on day 12 of our camino, it was time to be creative.
Route overview and statistics
| Distance 31.6 km | Average speed 4.9 kph |
| Maximum altitude 568 m | Ascent 315 m |
| Minimum altitude 320 m | Descent 471 m |
Sobrado was 61 km from Santiago and we had 2 days to reach Santiago because Mommy wanted to catch up with her Camino family who were waiting in Santiago. Some were scheduled to go home, some wanted to go to Finisterre but wanted to nurse their injuries and explore Santiago.
The standard route for del Norte from Sobrado would be: Sobrado – Arzua (22 km), Arzua – O Pedrouzo (19 km) or Lavacolla (29 km), and then O Pedrouzo – Santiago (19 km) or Lavacolla – Santiago (10 km). So we had to cut 1 day off the standard route.
From Sobrado to Salceda (via Arzua) would be 34 km, but the dog friendly pensión was fully booked, so we had to go 1 village further to A Brea (36 km), so the last day would be A Brea – Santiago (25 km). But Mommy felt 36 km was a little far, and then she found the alternative route at Boimorto…
Boimorto
Leaving Sobrado in the morning, it was a fairly typical Camino with quiet country roads and forest trails. We were also given the typical Galician rain which was persistent throughout the day. After walking 8 km, we arrived in the village As Corredoiras and right on the main junction there was Cafe Bar Rico. We stopped for 2nd breakfast and sello, and this was later proved to be the ONLY bar that was open today. So: except for when you’re on Camino Francés, when you find a cafe/bar, you should stop as you may not find any other.
After another 3 km walking, we arrived in Boimorto. It was a larger village with 2 supermarkets (Aliprox and Autoservicio) and 2 bars. Both bars were closed when we walked past (it was Saturday).
We walked through the village and at the end of the village was a medical centre with benches and porch if you need to take shelter. Here the road splits: to the left is the standard Camino del Norte to Arzua. If you choose this way, then Santiago is 48.1 km away (this is what the signpost above meant, not that Arzua was 48 km away). If you go straight on then you will be heading towards Lavacolla and Santiago was only 40.6 km away. We took the second option.
As Calles – Orxal
Leaving Boimorto, we went straight ahead at the junction and started walking along DP-0603 (KM 1). At various places, this road had a pedestrian sidewalk, but at other times we had to walk literally on the road. This alternative route to Lavacolla would be really ideal for cyclists (bicigrinos) as the track was smooth and mostly flat! You’ll reach Santiago by midday!
The road is 2-way and cars do come quite fast, so be careful! Here I was practising my “catwalk” but really it should be called “dogwalk no? Because Mommy told me to follow the white line and so I did.
After 4 km, we reached the village Cabrita, and according to Google Maps, there should be a restaurant called Parrilada a Cabrita, but the restaurant was closed. There was no sign life, no announcement at the door to inform if the owner was on holiday etc. So instead of grilled food and some hot drinks, we had sandwiches (ham and cheese butty is my favourite) and water with sports electrolytes.
While we stopped to have our lunch here, we saw 2 pilgrims who walked past us, they were the only other pilgrims walking this alternative route.
A short 2.5 km away from Cabrita, we entered a lush oak grove (carballeira) of La Mota. According to local legend, the trees were planted by fathers who didn’t want their sons to do military service. That is how the carballeira gradually grew to become the extensive forest that we can see today.
On the left side of the road stood a 19th century Capela da Mota, a small chapel with a covered side porch. Opposite the church on the right side of the road there was a small fountain with drinking water. The church venerated the Saints Bartholomew, Mathew, and Simon. Many villagers come here every year to ask the saints to cure their goitre, during the Feast of St Bartholomew on 24th August. St Bartholomew is also believed to protect the area against storms and according to the villagers, there has never been a lightning strike or hailstorm in this parish. All it takes is for someone to ring the bell on a stormy day for all the land where its sound is heard to be protected, as if it were a lightning rod.
After another 2.5 km walk we reached As Calles where at the end of the village, there was another important junction. To the left, the track (DP-0604) would join Camino Francés between A Salceda and A Brea, straight ahead the track continues on DP-0603 and goes to Lavacolla. Note: there had been camino markers along DP-0603 but there wasn’t one at this important junction!
If you turned left to DP-0604, after 500 m turn right at the first junction, and continue on this road until you cross the A-54 and N-547 and join Camino Francés. About 3.5 km from the split at Orxal, you will enter the village Ferradal, where there is a bus stop for shelter and the Church San Cosme de Oins offers a toilet.
Accommodation and cost
When we rejoined Camino Francés, it was very obvious – we saw many pilgrims with disposable ponchos bearing yellow Camino shells. The rain had been persistent and by now we just wanted to reach our destination.
Mar de Frisia is a lovely villa owned by a lady from Texas. She has a very yappie little lap dog which was quite territorial and did not like my presence at all! So after getting a good clean with the garden hose outside, I had to rest and hide from the little monster in my bedroom.
The villa had an outdoor pool which looked very blue except the weather was almost 10C and the rain was still pouring. So Mommy missed her chance to have a swim again!
She met 3 other pilgrims and together they ordered pizza for dinner from a takeaway in O Pedrouzo. Suddenly back in the civilization!
Reflection on day 12
“Be careful what you wish for” can sum up our last 2 days on our “DIY” camino route. Our main objective had been to avoid the crowd and join Camino Francés as late as possible, and we succeeded. This way, we just had 1 day and 25 km of the pilgrim train.
The previous day, the anticipation of visiting the monastery at the end had been a major motivator and so we faced each horrible challenge with gusto. Today, there was hardly anything remarkable that we passed. Mommy was disappointed that many of the bars had been closed, so the only one opened had been Bar Rico and that was right at the beginning. The previous day, although the track had been isolated, a lot of it was out in nature and Mommy could find a discreet place for bathroom break. Today, we were basically walking along a main road the whole time, so apart from using toilets in cafes (which were not open), the only option was at the Church in Ferradal.
There was a scale in our pensión, so Mommy tried – she had lost 6 kg since she started, and her pack weighed 15 kg! Oopst.
Only one more sleep until Santiago! Can I have a belly rub please for being a good girl?
