LIVE from the Camino Sanabrés from Verín - May/June 2022

[jungleboy]

Wendy and I are in Verín, having just finished walking the Caminho Português Interior. That means we are joining the Sanabrés tomorrow partway through the Verín variant, which we’ll follow to Ourense, where it meets the main trail.

I’ve noted some of the comments from @peregrina2000 and @alansykes regarding attractions in the area, especially around Allariz, so hopefully we’ll get to see some of those!

We had a very sunny day today and the forecast is for more of the same over the next three days. Galicia in the sunshine is a whole different ballgame so we’re looking forward to it!

 

[J Willhaus]

Thinking of walking the Zamarano in the future which joins in Verin, I think? Not much on the forum about that route.

 

[jungleboy]

Thinking of walking the Zamarano in the future which joins in Verin, I think? Not much on the forum about that route.

Yes it does join in Verín, and also includes Bragança, a great city in northeast Portugal.

 

[winemakerfw51]

Wendy and I are in Verín, having just finished walking the Caminho Português Interior. That means we are joining the Sanabrés tomorrow partway through the Verín variant, which we’ll follow to Ourense, where it meets the main trail.

I’ve noted some of the comments from @peregrina2000 and @alansykes regarding attractions in the area, especially around Allariz, so hopefully we’ll get to see some of those!

We had a very sunny day today and the forecast is for more of the same over the next three days. Galicia in the sunshine is a whole different ballgame so we’re looking forward to it!

Please continue posting about the Sanabres. There isn't much about it on the forum and even less about the Verin Variant. Thanks for whatever info you can share, Buen Camino.

 

[jungleboy]

Sanabrés Day 1: Verín - Viladerrei: ~21km

We had a fabulous morning at the Monterrei castle high above Verín. The camino goes right past it so there’s no need to visit the afternoon before. We had it all to ourselves as the works currently going on mean the castle parador is closed until October. There are two towers and a Romanesque church, all 13th-15th centuries, and fabulous views of the countryside and of the nearby Atalaia fort.



The fort is not on the camino but is only a five-minute detour. At the turnoff for the fort there is also a marked camino fork: either continuing on the variant (which we’re doing) or heading north to Laza to pick up the main Sanabrés trail.



The next part of the trail from the castle to Albarellos was the nicest walking of the day, past vineyards and pine trees. From Infesta, there is a pretty steep and shadeless climb to the highway, and it was hot today. After crossing the highway most of the ascent for the day is over, though there is a bit more after Rebordondo.

The way is well marked and all villages have benches and water, including a fun fountain in Infesta which has two pilgrim shells carved into it and a duck sculpture for a tap handle.



Viladerrei has a restaurant, a bar, and a fun house-bakery where the nice woman doesn’t charge pilgrims for bread. But that’s about it.

Accommodation-wise, there are xunta albergues throughout the variant, except Allariz. Verín and Viladerrei both charge €8/bed and have wifi and basic kitchens (no blankets). There were two Spanish bicigrinos with us in Verín and we are alone in Viladerrei.

Tomorrow will be hot again (high of 32 degrees Celsius) but I don’t mind the heat and it’s a short stage to Xinzo de Limia so we’ll be finished before it really heats up.

 

[jungleboy]

Thinking of walking the Zamarano in the future which joins in Verin, I think? Not much on the forum about that route.

In case you haven’t seen it, CSJ has some information about this route.

 

[jmwlester]

Wendy and I are in Verín, having just finished walking the Caminho Português Interior. That means we are joining the Sanabrés tomorrow partway through the Verín variant, which we’ll follow to Ourense, where it meets the main trail.

I’ve noted some of the comments from @peregrina2000 and @alansykes regarding attractions in the area, especially around Allariz, so hopefully we’ll get to see some of those!

We had a very sunny day today and the forecast is for more of the same over the next three days. Galicia in the sunshine is a whole different ballgame so we’re looking forward to it!

We are in Vidago today. CPI was beautiful and challenging. Saw your names in the registration book along the way

 

[jungleboy]

We are in Vidago today. CPI was beautiful and challenging. Saw your names in the registration book along the way

Enjoy Chaves tomorrow!

 

[J Willhaus]

In case you haven’t seen it, CSJ has some information about this route.

Yes, published in 2005 or 7. I have found some other tracks online and I will continue to search further. Will perhaps contact the Association in Zamora. Wont walk this for a year or so due to other committments.

 

[Elle Bieling]

My website has info on the Sanabrés, the standard route and I also have posted GPS tracks for the Verín route that you can download. Thanks @jungleboy for your detailed info. Hope to do this variant soon!

 

[jungleboy]

Sanabrés Day 2: Viladerrei - Xinzo de Limia: ~15km

A short, flat and easy stage. We could have gone 8.5km further to the albergue at Sandiás but we didn’t really consider it and staying in Xinzo aligns us with Allariz and Ourense for the next two nights.

It was another day without a cloud in the sky but unfortunately it was a bit of a ‘waste’ of a blue-sky day as the stage was unremarkable. It was mostly straight-line walking on dirt paths through fields so there wasn’t much to look at or take photos of.

The modest highlight of the stage was seeing a Romanesque portal with a pelican on it in the village of Zos; apparently it is not uncommon to see pelicans depicted on medieval churches because their ability to feed their young with their own blood in the absence of other food is rich in Christian symbolism. Pelicans are my mother’s favourite bird so it was nice to see this.



Xinzo de Limia is the largest town we’ve passed since Verín and has another good xunta albergue, including a twin room with en-suite bathroom for us!

But otherwise Xinzo is an unattractive town that doesn’t seem to have much to offer curious pilgrims, and the one thing we were looking forward to seeing (the Carnaval museum) was closed despite us walking by twice within its stated opening hours. And speaking of pilgrims, two Spanish peregrinos arrived at the albergue after a very long, hot day from Verín (about 35km) - they’re the first foot pilgrims we’ve seen in 11 days on this camino.

It looks like we have one more sunny/hot day tomorrow before an afternoon storm cools things down. Hopefully we make it to Allariz before the rain starts!

 

[jungleboy]

A way-finding note from today’s stage:

The camino passes through the village of Boado but this is a detour that requires crossing a highway twice to reach a village with no services, and Gronze strongly recommended taking a short cut instead. The short cut is about 1km shorter, skips the village and takes pilgrims on the apparently better left side of the Limia river (the marked trail, after Boado, is on the right side). We took the short cut, which you can see in more detail here:

 

[Elle Bieling]

A way-marking note from today’s stage:

The camino passes through the village of Boado but this is a detour that requires crossing a highway twice to reach a village with no services, and Gronze strongly recommended taking a short cut instead. The short cut is about 1km shorter, skips the village and takes pilgrims on the apparently better left side of the Limia river (the marked trail, after Boado, is on the right side). We took the short cut, which you can see in more detail here:

View attachment 126550

Doesn't make much sense, the "official" route. Especially since Boado has no services. Maybe it did in the past????

 

[Elle Bieling]

Actually I checked the GPS tracks I had downloaded for my website (I don't remember from where, perhaps Wikiloc), and see that they just stayed on the N-525, shown on your map, Nick, instead of your suggested diversion along the river. I am sure your suggestion is superior!

 

[jungleboy]

Actually I checked the GPS tracks I had downloaded for my website (I don't remember from where, perhaps Wikiloc), and see that they just stayed on the N-525, shown on your map, Nick, instead of your suggested diversion along the river. I am sure your suggestion is superior!

Gronze sometimes rails against the official path and this was one such time. When they are very forceful about it we figure we should listen and take the alternative!

 

[jungleboy]

Sanabrés Day 3: Xinzo de Limia - Allariz: ~20km

After yesterday’s ordinary stage, today was a great one, with much more landscape variety and things to see. We walked through wetlands and forests and saw several interesting things along the way, including a medieval tower, a church portal with Manueline features (because the architect was Portuguese), and some charming rural scenes.



The highlight of the stage was the virtually abandoned stone village of San Salvador. Completely by accident, we arrived just as dozens of people were descending on the village for Ascension Sunday, the only day of the year where the village church hosts mass. A traditional Galician band, including gaiteiros, played outside the church to create a wonderful atmosphere. (I tried to upload a short video here but it didn’t work.)





Allariz is a lovely town with attractive ecclesiastical and residential buildings, narrow alleys, a pretty river scene and plenty of bars and restaurants. It’s the kind of place we haven’t really seen on this camino (including the CPI); we’ve either been in cities or very small villages with no services, but rarely anything in between.

Weather-wise, it looks like our sunny days are coming to an end tomorrow. The storm hasn’t hit yet but the forecast has rain in it for the next six days. Hopefully it’s wrong as it often is!

 

[Elle Bieling]

Sanabrés Day 3: Xinzo de Limia - Allariz: ~20km

The highlight of the stage was the virtually abandoned stone village of San Salvador. Completely by accident, we arrived just as dozens of people were descending on the village for Ascension Sunday, the only day of the year where the village church hosts mass. A traditional Galician band, including gaiteiros, played outside the church to create a wonderful atmosphere. (I tried to upload a short video here but it didn’t work.)

How fabulous!!

 

[jungleboy]

Another hat-tip to Gronze for being indispensable today. I must admit that until this camino, I wasn’t aware of how much coverage Gronze actually provides. I used it for stages, distances and accommodation but didn’t realise there was a detailed description of each stage with suggestions for alternatives that are then included in their tracks. I realise that the need to auto-translate would be annoying for non-Spanish readers (and the prose is quite flowery which might confuse the machines), but since that isn’t a problem for us, Gronze has been incredibly useful.

For today’s stage, they recommended two alternatives to take us off the highway. The first was immediately upon leaving Xinzo, and the alternative took us through wetlands for several kilometres. The second was a shorter alternative from Sandiás, which goes past the church in town and comes close to the medieval tower near Santa Ana. All told this helped us avoid over 6km of highway walking as well as offering interesting things to see.

The wetlands:



The tower:



The Spanish pilgrims who we spoke to for quite a while last night also wanted to take the first alternative today but couldn’t find it and took the highway instead. They had the Gronze description but not the map/tracks, which made all the difference.

To get Gronze tracks for any given stage, open that stage on the website and hit the ‘Recorrido’ tab. Under the basic map is a link to ‘Descarga el Track en formato KML’. KML is the format maps.me uses, so it’s perfect. On your phone, just download the track, open it, tap share, and if you have maps.me, it should be one of the share options. Tap it and the track will appear; the whole process takes no more than 10 seconds. See this screenshot if the instructions are not clear:

 

[mspath]

Jungleboy,
Thanks for the update and helpful hints re downloading Gronze maps. If I don't have maps.me can I still open and read the KML?

 

[jungleboy]

Jungleboy,
Thanks for the update and helpful hints re downloading Gronze maps. If I don't have maps.me can I still open and read the KML?

KML files are GPS tracks, so to be used they need to be imported into a map application. I’m not sure which map apps are compatible with KML, as there are other file formats. I’m sure there are other threads on the best map apps for the camino. I use Google Maps in general but find maps.me to be better for using GPS tracks.

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 4: Allariz - Ourense: ~23.5km

Well, that was a stage of two halves! In the first half, we walked mostly through beautiful old forest, sometimes on a Roman road, and saw several historic sights, including one that was absolutely extraordinary. Then in the second half, we walked basically the last 11km on or beside a main road that not even the Gronze wizards could find a way out of.

It was a gloomy, overcast day as we set out this morning, and it remained that way all day - but it didn’t rain. The forest sections early in the stage were the most atmospheric forests we have walked in on this camino (including the CPI).



The Romanesque Santa Mariña de Augas Santas church was closed, which was disappointing although not unexpected. We talked to a nice man there who said it was open yesterday for Ascension Sunday, so it was a shame to miss out by one day but we had our great village festival instead.

Besides, the real attraction of the stage for us was not this church but another, more fascinating one in the middle of the forest. Begun by the Knights Templar on the site of Santa Mariña’s martyrdom in the 13th century and left unfinished once the order was dissolved, it would already be an intriguing ruin if it was limited to the parts above ground.

But the real highlight was the underground crypt, which was so dark that we had to use the flashlights on our phones just to be able to see one step ahead. This was a haunting place littered with tombstones that was right out of an Indiana Jones movie. I can’t tell you how much I loved exploring it and having it all to ourselves; all in all, it was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen on any camino.





Now we are in Ourense, one of the seven cities of Galicia, and we’ll have a rest day here tomorrow.

 

[peregrina2000]

Begun by the Knights Templar on the site of Santa Mariña’s martyrdom in the 13th century and left unfinished once the order was dissolved, it would already be an intriguing ruin if it was limited to the parts above ground.

Well, you are lucky Wendy’s plantar fasciitis has dissipated because you missed your chance to have Santa Mariña cure your foot pain.

Here’s a picture @Kanga posted years ago when she went there (and admittedly got no miraculous cure).



One other tidbit is that I was told that the underground chambers are actually pre-Roman saunas. Which made it a good starting point for the Santa Mariña story about emerging unscathed from an oven.

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 5: Ourense.

A rest day in Ourense on our 15th wedding anniversary, the fourth time in the last six years we’ve been on camino on this date.

Even though it rained on and off and we tried to emphasise the ‘rest’ part of ‘rest day’, we still managed to walk 9km around Ourense, which seems like a decent effort!

Wendy spent a month in Ourense studying Galego last year but it is my first visit. It’s a nice city but there are current huge works going on at the cathedral so unfortunately we were unable to enter.

My favourite thing was seeing these hot spring fountains in the centre of the city. The springs have been known since Roman times and are in fact the raison d’être of Ourense to begin with.



Tomorrow we resume our camino and join the main route of the Sanabrés. We’ve seen a few pilgrims around town and Ourense is just over 100km from Santiago so our camino might look a bit different from now on after we only saw two pilgrims through the first 14 days of the CPI and the Verín variant.

 

[AJGuillaume]

A rest day in Ourense on our 15th wedding anniversary, the fourth time in the last six years we’ve been on camino on this date.

Happy Wedding Anniversary, @jungleboy and @Wendy Werneth ! We wish you many more years of happiness together on the Camino of life!

 

[bowewe]

Great report. Thanks for sharing

 

[jungleboy]

Happy Wedding Anniversary, @jungleboy and @Wendy Werneth ! We wish you many more years of happiness together on the Camino of life!

Thank you!

 

[jungleboy]

Today I figured out how to get around walking in the rain for the next few days: get Covid and isolate in Ourense instead.

Yesterday I began to feel a sore throat coming on. I slept really badly last night and decided to test this morning, and it was positive. I am tired and low on energy but otherwise OK.

Isolation guidelines in Spain these days are quite lax if you have no/mild symptoms, so I’ll take it day by day and hopefully I will feel good enough to start walking again soon.

Wendy had some symptoms a few days ago but tested negative.

 

[Elle Bieling]

Today I figured out how to get around walking in the rain for the next few days: get Covid and isolate in Ourense instead.

Oh no! Take care of yourself, my friend and hopefully you will feel better soon!

 

[miguel_gp]

@jungleboy Sorry to hear that you have Covid. Hope it continues to be mild symptoms.

I walked ny first Camino from Verin in 2007 with a few friends. It being my Mother-In-Law's home town and a place I had visited many times prior to getting involved in the Camino World so seemed the obvious place for me to start. Also the reason for me joining the forum in 2006.

The variant to Ourense was very quiet back then. We stayed in the Albergue at Sandias on the first night and saw no other pilgrims either there or on the trail until Ourense. Sounds like it is still pretty quiet.

Thanks for sharing your daily posts. It is great to look back at it.

Buen Camino.

 

[AJGuillaume]

I wish you a quick recovery, @jungleboy !

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 6: Ourense - Cea: ~21km

After six nights in Ourense we restarted our camino today. I have felt normal for the past two days so both in terms of fitness and responsibility to others, I thought it would be OK to restart today. (There is currently no requirement to even isolate at all in Spain with no/mild symptoms, which is all I ever had.)

Almost immediately upon leaving Ourense, there was a pretty steep 400m climb, so that tested me right out of the gate! That part was a bit tough but the path eventually flattened out and I made it through 21km quite easily, so we’re back on track.

As for the stage itself, it was pleasant if unspectacular, and it didn’t rain, which is always a plus in Galicia. There were some nice (though fairly brief) stretches of forest and a couple of picturesque villages.





Now that we are on the Sanabrés proper (and within the last 100km), there are suddenly quite a few more pilgrims than we’ve seen up to now. We saw some on the trail and it looks like there are about 12 of us in the albergue in Cea. It’s nice to have a bit of conversation but we seem like a pretty quiet bunch so far!

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 7: Cea - Oseira: ~13km

A short day that should have been even shorter (about 8.5km) but we (I) forgot to actually take the variant to Oseira when leaving Cea, and we were about 4km into the regular route before realising. Rather than backtracking, we went cross-country a bit on a some forest trails before joining a road and eventually the right path.



There are eight of us from the albergue in Cea yesterday who did this short day today and are staying at the albergue at the monastery, so it’s a more common idea than we thought.

We all went on a tour of the monastery in the afternoon, unfortunately with about 30 Spanish tourists in tow. Once the tourists left, we returned to the monastery to hear the monks sing at Vespers, a real highlight and something that offered the atmosphere and opportunity for reflection that the busy afternoon visit didn’t.

Architecturally, I perhaps wasn’t quite as impressed with the monastery as others tend to be. Most of what we see today is 16th century or later, and the best aspects (the ceiling decorations in some rooms) are similar to, but not as good as, those at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, walking distance from where I live. Still, it was well worth the visit!

 

[peregrina2000]

I perhaps wasn’t quite as impressed with the monastery as others tend to be.

I think I would agree with that, but one thing that is very magical is the view back down into the valley if you climb up (to the right of the monastery coming into it, if I remember correctly). These monks surely knew how to pick their idyllic locations.

So glad you have recovered, @jungleboy. It’s sad to say that it is hard to keep track of all the forum members who have een getting covid on the camino. Hoping you and others are not plagued by symptoms going forward.

 

[peregrina2000]

And I almost forgot — what about the new albergue?!

 

[jungleboy]

I think I would agree with that

I thought you might, once I saw it referred to as the ‘Galego Escorial’, given your view of the original Escorial!

So glad you have recovered, @jungleboy.

Thank you! Luckily, it wasn’t much more than a 24-hour energy sapper for me; it was milder than a standard cold in the end.

And I almost forgot — what about the new albergue?!

It’s pretty nice! The dorm is sub-divided into little ‘nooks’ of two bunks (four beds) each for a little more privacy. Each bed has a power outlet and a personal lamp.

On the less positive side, the kitchen obviously has no utensils or plates comme d’habitude with xunta albergues, and for ‘modern pilgrims’ there’s no wifi and data reception is not great.

Plus we read that the old albergue was in the monastery library so that might have been a bit more atmospheric. The new albergue is in a new building around the corner from the monastery.

 

[peregrina2000]

Plus we read that the old albergue was in the monastery library so that might have been a bit more atmospheric.

You are right, if by atmosphere you are referring to cold, dank, and clammy.

 

[gracethepilgrim]

Sorry guys, I’ve been out of the loop. One day I ‘will’ stop and stay at Oseira. I have walkerd the Sanabres 3 times I believe and never stayed there. The reports of cold lodgings has always put me off .
Enjoy your final few days.

 

[jungleboy]

And I almost forgot — what about the new albergue?!

Some pics:

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 8: Oseira - Botos: ~23km

It was misty when we set out this morning but soon turned into quite a nice day. The first 8km or so was the most enjoyable part as we climbed above the monastery for great views, and the trail was a pleasant combination of forest and country paths.

Right at the end of this stretch was my favourite moment of the day: walking through a stone village and thinking I was walking past a house only to see these two beauties stick their heads out the window!



After that there was some road and roadside walking and not a lot to remark upon.

Luckily the Taberna de Vento in Botos had room for us today, as it was booked out on the date we originally wanted to stay before we changed our schedule. The six other pilgrims who we have been with the past two days are also here and I assume we’ll all take the short day to Silleda tomorrow.

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 9: Botos - Silleda: ~16km

A short day today but we can afford it as we have two more days to reach Santiago and only 40km left now. The forecast was for rain all day but it only lightly ‘misted’ on us so another day without rain in Galicia is a good day.

It was another typical Galician stage with some forest and a nice bridge (Ponte Taboada). We merged with the Invierno so we saw a few more pilgrims, and that’s about it, really.



Wendy is soaking up these last few days as her camino ends on Friday, and she has enjoyed speaking Galego with a few people lately. I’m continuing on the Salvador with a friend next week so my mind is already drifting towards that.

We’re still weighing up our options for tomorrow night (likely between Ponte Ulla and Outeiro, but we’re open to other suggestions). Any recommendations for how to split the last 40km from Silleda?

 

[Elle Bieling]

Nick, there is not a lot to see through these final 40 km, except sweeping countryside (see our day sixteen and seventeen). While our staging was a bit different because we made it all the way to A Susana on our penultimate day, I would suggest stopping in Ponte Ulla after about 20 km from Silleda. It is a nice little town, and if you were inclined, you could walk up the slight diversion to the Alto do Castro, just before Ponte Ulla, and see its views over the River Ulla valley. There is only a replica of the ancient castro that was once there, but the views may be worth the climb.

The other option is to make it to the albergue in Outeiro which would be the traditional 24 km stage from Silleda. It is not really in a town, but it is set on a hill, also with lovely views. Solitude and contemplation would be the story here. The Pico Sacro (lots of miraculous legends surrounding Queen Lupa and her conversion) is just a bit farther along the Camino, and again, while we didn't take the time to do it, if you were inclined, you could take the 1.7 km diversion to hike up it for the views of Santiago, which are supposed to be fabulous. There is a small church there, and an interpretive center farther along the Camino, which may be of interest. The turn off for the Pico Sacro is 2.3 kilometers farther on from the albergue, so you would perhaps do it the following day.

The glimpses of the cathedral ahead in Santiago are most impressive from this Camino, so start looking when you get to Lestedo, at the turn by the historic cross, almost 14 km from the cathedral. You can just make out the cathedral spires from this distance. I confirmed it with a local. Then, again as you approach the final hill into the Center of Santiago, it is a wonderful sight!

Have a lovely final steps!

 

[C clearly]

The glimpses of the cathedral ahead in Santiago are most impressive from this Camino, so start looking when you get to Lestedo, at the turn by the historic cross, almost 14 km from the cathedral. You can just make out the cathedral spires from this distance. I confirmed it with a local. Then, again as you approach the final hill into the Center of Santiago, it is a wonderful sight!

If you really want an impressive panorama of Santiago and the Cathedral, take a slight detour up to the Ciudad de la Cultura. I had only read bad things about it, but went up there a couple of days ago and found it magnificent.

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 10: Silleda - Outeiro: ~24km

A nice day weather-wise for the penultimate stage of this camino. As expected, there wasn’t anything super interesting about the stage itself but that seems to be pretty standard for the last few days into Santiago on most caminos (CP/VE excepted).

We stopped for a drink at the albergue Casa Leiras in Dornelas in the morning and enjoyed speaking Italian with the owner. It didn’t make sense for us to stay there this time but we’ll make a point to do it next time (whenever the Mozárabe/VdlP/Sanabrés camino happens!) as it’s a lovely, rural place.

Before Ponte Ulla, we decided to go up to the lookout because we could see that a concrete hut at the top would be a shady spot for our picnic lunch. It’s only a 550m detour so it’s easily done and the views, if not amazing, were certainly extensive!

After to-ing and fro-ing about where to spend the night, we decided to push on from Ponte Ulla to Outeiro, a decision we are happy with in the end. It’s quite peaceful here, as Elle said above, and it gives us a short and pretty flat day into Santiago tomorrow with the climb to Outeiro now behind us.

Last day coming up!

 

[jungleboy]

Camino Sanabrés Day 11: Outeiro - Santiago de Compostela: ~16km

It’s always so exciting to be on the trail knowing you’ll be in Santiago that day and today was no different. I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last couple of days but I was like a kid on Christmas morning today.

It was foggy when we left and there wasn’t great visibility so we didn’t climb the Pica Sacra, but we believed it would clear up as the day went on, and it did. There were some nice stretches of forest and some vineyards on the trail so I didn’t mind the walk at all.



The entry into Santiago on the Sanabrés is quite a good one. You only start walking past houses with about 3km to go until the cathedral, and even then it’s very rural. You don’t really hit suburbs until less than 2km to go, so it’s a very quick city entrance.

The combination of the great weather and being able to eat at a couple of our favourite places made it such a nice afternoon/evening and one of the best Santiago arrival days we’ve had. We have one more day here tomorrow before going our separate ways - which for me means León and the Salvador!

 

[AJGuillaume]

Thank you for sharing your Camino @jungleboy !

 

[Elle Bieling]

Congratulations and I'm glad you enjoyed the entry. I agree, I thought it was the best! Good luck on the Salvador and I look forward to your adventure!

 

[Carmeleve]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this! I'm starting the sanabres from Ourense tomorrow morning and I'd been getting a bit nervous (/considering changing plans and doing the portugues and just dealing with the crowds) due to lack of information online!

But reading your posts convinced me all would be fine and I'm currently on the train to ourense

 

[miguel_gp]

Buen Camino @Carmeleve

 

[jungleboy]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this! I'm starting the sanabres from Ourense tomorrow morning and I'd been getting a bit nervous (/considering changing plans and doing the portugues and just dealing with the crowds) due to lack of information online!

But reading your posts convinced me all would be fine and I'm currently on the train to ourense

Buen camino! The logistics (accommodation etc) are quite straightforward. The only tricky bit is the albergue closure in O Castro/Dozón. If you’re planning to stay at the taberna in Botos 12km further on, it’s best to make a reservation, especially if it will be the weekend as they were full when we first tried. They are on Booking.com but we got a cheaper room by calling.

Another tip is to consider more rural accommodation in the last few days. Towns like Silleda and Bandeira have albergues and services but nothing else of interest. The albergue in Outeiro is in a nice village surrounded by vineyards, so I found it much more pleasant. And the albergue Casa Leiras in Dornelas is also recommended. We didn’t sleep there but stopped in and it was a really nice place. Finally, the Oseira monastery variant after Cea is definitely worth it as it’s the only significant historic site between Ourense and Santiago.

 

[jungleboy]

My 'best of' Flickr album for the Sanabrés is now available for anyone interested.