Detailed planning for the Camino Sanabres, March-April 2020

C clearly said:

VN and I can meet up there, and maybe walk into Santiago together!

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You're on! I'm steadily getting closer.

If you want to get from Estación de Lalin to Santiago in two days, I agree that stopping at Casa Leiras in San Martín de Dornelas is the best option - Better than the impersonal hostal in Ponte Ulla or the Xunta albergueria in Outeiro , which has a kitchen but no nearby shops (you need to buy groceries when passing through Ponte Ulla).

Casa Leiras is decorated with Italian flair and it has a beautiful garden to relax in. The owners serve a communal dinner - I think that might be your only option for dinner, because I don't remember seeing a kitchen and it's a tiny village. I remember consuming several helpings of delicious pasta with home made ragu. One of my walking companions last year declared it to be the best albergue on the route (despite being bitten to pieces by mosquitos overnight). I disagreed because I don't feel the same warmth in the welcome that I have felt in, say, Tabara, Rionegro, and Albergueria (OK, in Rionegro, the warm welcome comes from the nearby restaurant, not the albergue but even so...). I've described the owners as delightful in my blog, but if I'm really honest, I should say that I feel a bit of tension in my interactions with the husband. There, I've said it.

The walk from Estación de Lalin has a fair bit of asphalt but also some pleasant woodland paths and a beautiful medieval bridge to cross. There are two modern towns on the way - Bandeira and Silleda. When I passed through last year, there was pulpo being prepared in the streets of Bandeira and a festival atmosphere.

Everyone seems in a hurry to get to Santiago at this point, but with all the facilities after Estación de Lalin, there's no reason to rush ... I think if I were to do it again, I'd take three days to give myself an evening in Silleda ... or perhaps at the nice wine bar in [CORRECTED] Bandeiras *(but not the impersonal hostal there), an Italian coffee on my way through San Martín de Dornelas, and a friendly dinner and overnight stay in Deseiro, where the Albergue Reina Lupa is comfortable with a super friendly owner. From there, I would have the shortest possible last day into Santiago. Heck, I might even carry on toward Finisterre.

Raggy said:

a friendly dinner and overnight stay in Deseiro, where the Albergue Reina Lupa is comfortable with a super friendly owner.

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Hmmmm...looking this up...

Santiago is within striking distance from Dornelas, but it's a long day, and this option looks super. Why rush? We have no flights to catch after all...

I'm in, @Cclearly! It'd be a delight!
Today I get to Lalin and am tempted to push on to the flash hotel just past there on the N525. A German priest I met had stayed there and said it was very nice - it even gave him a pilgrim rate. I've been sleeping in all sorts of places on this walk and could use some comfort!

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peregrina2000 said:

as well as a nice outdoor bar/restaurant right near the bridge,

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I can attest to this enthusiastically! Pimeñtos de Padron were perfect, and abundant. That's all I ever need.
And the people were super friendly...

VNwalking said:

Today I get to Lalin and am tempted to push on to the flash hotel just past there on the N525. A German priest I met had stayed there and said it was very nice - it even gave him a pilgrim rate. I've been sleeping in all sorts of places on this walk and could use some comfort!

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Hotel & Spa Norat Torre do Deza? I stopped at that hotel to use the lavatory in the mid-morning and wasn't that impressed. It reminded me of every hotel where I've ever attended a conference - I heard sounds of staff clearing up in the kitchen but when I called out in an attempt to buy a coffee, my words like empty raindrops fell, and echoed in the empty ballroom. Not that I needed a coffee, you understand. I just thought I should buy one out of courtesy since I was using the facilities.

Bottom line - I haven't seen the rooms and I haven't met the staff, but I feel like I know what the deal is there. If having a room of your own floats your boat (and, to be fair, a spa/ pool), then go for it. For me, the Lalin central albergue is a more attractive proposition - very well appointed, with pilgrim-oriented facilities that hotels lack (e.g. washer and dryer), located in the town center, and with a super-friendly hospitalero who runs a restaurant around the corner. (Someone recently wrote that the pizzas at A Casa do Gato are excellent ... Well, I have had better, but my pizza was fine. The bean soup was better. And the welcome was the best).

Now, the Hotel Rural Casa de Casal in Lestedo is another kettle of fish - If I wanted to give myself a treat after several weeks of albergue stays, that's the kind of place I'd like to splurge on. I've never been inside, but I've always been struck by how pretty it is when walking past. Another good place to splurge in this area is the gourmet restaurant in Ponte Ulla that Peregrina mentioned upthread. The menu is quite old fashioned. I think I had quail in wine sauce. It reminded me of fancy restaurant meals with my parents in the 1970s. It's not a place that stuns you with creative flair but it does what it does very well. But you'll be passing through before dinner time, so ... come back another time.

Raggy said:

Hotel & Spa Norat Torre do Deza? I stopped at that hotel to use the lavatory in the mid-morning and wasn't that impressed.

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Yeah, I get it. When I passed the last time I wasn't the least tempted to go in—it looked soulless.
But after hearing that the spa was nice... well, that's the temptation.

Raggy said:

(Someone recently wrote that the pizzas at A Casa do Gato are excellent ... Well, I have had better, but my pizza was fine. The bean soup was better. And the welcome was the best).

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That would have been me. Mine tasted like manna from Heaven! But I have to say by way of caveat that by then I was starving for variety. In retrospect, it was probably just everyday pizza. This calls for a bigger sample size!

So @C clearly , where are you now? I just passed through Ponte Ulla, and the day is still young. An early lunch and cafe fom the friendly bar by the bridge later, and I'm on my way up the hill towards Outero and Lestedo.

Looking forward to the closer view of Pico Sacra than you get going down into Ponte Ulla. The Castro above the river, with its sweeping views, must once have made it a strategic location.

About Pico Sacra, Wikipedia says:

In galician mythology a tomb for the apostle was to be constructed at the summit, until it was known that a dragon lived at that place.

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Well. Of course there is.

Here's the view* from the mirador where the castro once stood; Pico Sacra is the conical peak on the right, and you can see Ponte Ulla down by the river on the left:


* Not my photo. I found it here:

Well, Pico Sacra is well behind us now as we pass through A Susana, and reach the outskirts of Santiago. Next time! That's an amazing view. What's interesting is the photo they posted looking East is almost exactly the opposite of the one I posted from the castro above Ponte Ulla.

I am sorry @SabineP is not with us, because Lestedo contains a culinary surprise. Even if you don't stay here, it's only a wee ways off the camino for a place that makes a locally famous delecacy - tarta de Lestedo. Cheesecake with a strawberry topping. Yum!

What else is there to say about the "home stretch"? The views from the top of the climb around Ponte Ulla and Outeiro are nice (but you already passed those before Lestedo). I didn't know about the Pico Sacro ...

Your opportunities for filling the credencial with its final stamps are the Bar Rosende next to the Reina de Lupa albergue (a couple of hundred meters off the camino). Very friendly, but I doubt you'll need a break at this point. The next bar is only a short distance up the road in A Susana. And then, according to Gronze, after you pass the little chapel (Emita de Santa Lucia) there's another bar in Piñiero, but I don't have any memory of it. Somewhere around here you'll catch your first glimpse of the Cathedral spires. Hard to remember the details at this point, I must always be single-mindedly focused on getting there.

I'm told that these last kilometers on the Sanabres are more pleasant than the way into Santiago on the Camino Frances. There are a couple of road sections, some muddy, grassy bits, one or two pretty little stretches, like the bit where you walk under a canopy of vines between two farm houses, some highways and high voltage electricity cables to pass under, and the railway bridge / crash site that Peregrina2000 mentioned. To get over the railway bridge, you've got a short, irritating, climb - Not a proper climb up a mountain or anything that you might actually want to do, just a last-minute "fooled ya!" kind of climb. After the bridge, you'll get your reward, though. From there on, it's a descent along pretty, old-fashioned streets, until you reach the pedestrianized old town.

Overall, I think it's not an especially beautiful stage until you're in the old town of Santiago itself (and that's very beautiful). But it's not bad. It's a fitting end to the Camino. Compared with entering Ourense or leaving Granada or Salamanca, it's bliss.

Albergue Seminario Menor looks great. I think I'd treat myself to a private room if I were to stay there. I stayed at The Last Stamp albergue last year and found myself with some pretty feckin' ignorant room mates. I don't mind that they'd never heard of Poland, but by the time you reach Santiago you ought to know better than to make a long phone call from your bunk in the middle of the night. The Last Stamp had jacked up its prices since 2017, when I spent one night there. Back then, it seemed like a good value. Now, I'm not so sure.

Come to think of it, my room mates there in 2017 were kind of boorish too - three cyclists from Portugal who hung their gear out to dry across every square centimeter of the shared space, and made a huge racket when they left very early the next morning. I think it's just a shock to my system to find myself in Pilgrim central after being on a less popular route. The camaraderie and feeling of fellowship is diminished and I find my defenses going up. Some things seem so dog-eat-dog. I find people making a sudden dash to position themselves ahead of me in the queue at the pilgrims office. A woman accuses me of having one of her socks in the dryer with my clothes. (Yes, of course, I'll check when I remove my things. No, I'm not just going to walk off with one of your socks. Yes, of course, it's fine for you to stay here and watch me to make sure of that. And how was your Camino?)

In Santiago, I've also stayed at the Compostela hotel on the Plaza de Galicia, which is modern, comfortable, and super-convenient for the airport bus. I've also rented an entire Airbnb with a couple of other pilgrims just off the cathedral square, which was pretty awesome. I must try the Seminario Menor and the Parador one day.

Things to do in Santiago - You probably have your own preferences. I was thrilled to be able to join the guided tour of the Portico de Gloria last year. Tickets are offered to a select few pilgrims who collect their credencials at the Pilgrim Office (who knows how that will work in the COVID aftermath). I'm a huge fan of the museum of the Galician people. The building and the exhibits are simply fantastic. The answers to all of the questions that you asked when you were passing through Galicia are all to be found in the museum. As well as color coded maps for festivals, architectural styles, agriculture, and other cultural phenomena, there are some fascinating isogloss maps of Galicia. (Yes, your ears weren't lying, the Galician language in some of the regions that you walked through sounds quite close to Portuguese). I also like the museum of pilgrimage and the cathedral museum. In all of these places, it pays to have your credencial with you to qualify for the generous pilgrim discounts.

If there's time after all of that, I would recommend a quick visit to the Mercado de Abastos for some foodie souvenirs, followed by a lazy afternoon of sampling Spanish wines with ham rolls at Casa Pepe. And if you need a beard trim or shave, I recommend Barbanosa at 1 Rúa da República Arxentina.

Raggy said:

these last kilometers on the Sanabres are more pleasant than the way into Santiago on the Camino Frances.

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This is such a lovely entry to the city - and you can actually see the cathedral spires as you come down the hill past the Cidade da Cultura.
And the Colegia that you mention Laurie is definitely worth a look. And And the bridge near there is really beautiful. I don't know why I found it so unexpected.

And I had the same experience as you did, @Raggy— the Portico de Gloria tour was fantastic.

And the Seminario is heaven. I also like the private rooms - simple but all you need. Now I'm on the hunt for the best pimeñtos de padron. Any other addicts out there with suggestions?
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A propos of nothing, why does everyone's Tarta de Santiago have St. James' cross on the top? Of course, I realize that's the tradition. But would it not be a cute point of differentiation if bakers sprinkled their icing sugar over a template in the shape of a shell, or an arrow, or the silhouette of two pilgrims bending toward each other for a kiss, or the cathedral wall shadow pilgrim figure, or the cathedral itself, or the word Ultreia in cursive script ...?

Just a thought.

Hmmm...that's also right up the street from the Altair, which is a wonderful little hotel if you want to splurge.
Thank's Laurie! Worth checking out.
Looking forward to visiting Tertulia, as well. The best tea in town.

Raggy said:

A propos of nothing, why does everyone's Tarta de Santiago have St. James' cross on the top? Of course, I realize that's the tradition. But would it not be a cute point of differentiation if bakers sprinkled their icing sugar over a template in the shape of a shell, or an arrow, or the silhouette of two pilgrims bending toward each other for a kiss, or the cathedral wall shadow pilgrim figure, or the cathedral itself, or the word Ultreia in cursive script ...?

Just a thought.

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Spoke too soon

Hi, Jill here from the future! I really enjoyed this thread and all the great info., though I'm sure there have been a lot of changes from then to now. I head out from Puebla de Sanabria on Apr. 14th. I'm most curious about changes since the AVE is apparently finished? And maybe some of the camino has been re-routed onto more pleasant paths. Thanks, everybody