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Do you have a favorite Camino tree?

Time of past OR future Camino
Various 2014-19
Via Monastica 2022
Primitivo 2024
The subject of camino trees came up in a chat with another Forum member, and we both thought it would be fun for everyone if there was a thread about our favorite trees along the way, or even in Santiago.

My personal favorite is this gorgeous chestnut on the Invierno, between Villavieja and Castillo de Cornatel.
signal-2024-10-21-11-36-16-209.webp signal-2024-10-21-11-33-35-853.webp

A tree I haven't met yet (but want to) is easier to find: the giant Pohutukawa in A Coruña.

I've discovered a few others from this link:

Among them, a few that are relatively close to a camino route:
1. Tejo milenario de San Cristobal de Valdueza
Between El Acebo on the Francès and Penalba - quite a detour, but also quite a tree.

2. This immense oak is "thought to be the largest and oldest tree in the Montaña Palencia in the region Castilla y Leon" - and is not so far from Cervera de Pisuerga on the Olvidado.

If you really want to get into the weeds with this, here's a fun website:

Edited to add this website listing trees in Galicia:
 
Last edited:
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
February 26, 2008

west of Sarria.jpg

Early morning leaving Sarria after crossing the rio Pequeno on the medieval Ponte Aspera and traversing a railway track I entered a magical space, an enchanted wood, and saw what would become my favorite tree.

Carpe diem!
 
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Camino Frances
Samos
rúa do Salvador
La Capela do Ciprés

photo taken December 1, 2013

Samos, La Capela do Ciprés.jpg

This millennial cypress tree 25 m. tall, is one of the most notable trees in Spain. The adjacent chapel which may once have been a monastic cell is named for that cypress.
 
Another fun themed thread!
VN, as soon as I read the title I was going to say "Chestnut" because the ancient ones are amazing! I've been mesmerized by them this past year on both the Sanabres and the Invierno.
This monster was upon leaving the albergue in Villavieja. I'm in the picture for "scale".
Screenshot_20241021-064853~2.webp

Then the Via Francigena popped into my head because I loved seeing the marching soldiers of the "Thin man arborvitaes" all lined up in rows in Tuscany. They aren't beautiful, but they sure make a landscape statement.
Screenshot_20241021-070648~2.webp
 
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One of my most arduous days on Camino Norte consisted of constant vertical rain.
I walked through a forest knowing the day would be a long 31km, there was no farms, villages or buildings.
Hours at a constant pace, alone, resided that pushing-on was the only option....I needed a rest.
Everything was wet, soaked and cold, the path when up, was a constant flow of water.
I entered a dark valley, the day gloomy enough.
There stood a towering coniferous spruce, dark green, the base too wide to hug, branches extended, drooping and dripping. But there close to the trunk existed a perfectly dry circumference of refuge.
I thanked that tree. I frequently remember that tree.
 
I think my favourite on a Camino is this one in Sintra. I know it is on a Camino because I saw the yellow arrows.
20181018_141118.webp
My favourite on a Camino that I walked is this large one just before Triacastela, because I managed on separate occasions to get pictures of both my kids standing in front of it.
20240511_114201.webp
 
I think my favourite on a Camino is this one in Sintra. I know it is on a Camino because I saw the yellow arrows.
View attachment 179441
My favourite on a Camino that I walked is this large one just before Triacastela, because I managed on separate occasions to get pictures of both my kids standing in front of it.
View attachment 179442
I have been to Sintra, but my eyes were focused on other things.

Here is my picture of the same huge tree with my "kids" standing in front of it. My daughter-in-law has very long arms, but they don't begin to wrap around that behemoth tree.
Screenshot_20241021-104008~2.webp
 
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This is my Primitivo tree, I took this photo the first time I walked the route in 2015. Turned it into a gigantic poster that I had hanging on my living room wall, and I looked at it every morning as I drank my coffee. I was back on the Primitivo in 2021, and passed this spot and recognized it right away. What a powerful experience, to know and love a tree in Spain!

(Sharing a slightly different photo than the one I have hanging on my wall... I'm oddly protective over my most favorite Camino photos! But, this is the same tree :)

51E414F0-F975-4B4E-A754-4BE7724D3B47.webp
 
My picture of the old chestnut is already on the forum. It's behind the pilgrims. Check out the text for it by clicking on "Vegtable garden"; there are links. My other pictures of it are on an SD card that snapped before I got home.

 
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This millennial cypress tree 25 m. tall, is one of the most notable trees in Spain. The adjacent chapel which may once have been a monastic cell is named for that cypress.
Ummmm. I missed it. 😓
Thanks for the heads-up, @mspath.

They aren't beautiful
Oh, these are gorgeous! Elegant, and creating such a nice contrast to the ones with rounded crowns.
 
I am not sure of the type of tree but these lovely planted along the path in the meseta became my favorite trees during warm days on my camino Francis
They're Plane trees.

In plazas all over Spain they are heavily pruned and grafted together to create a natural arbor offering continuous shade and refuge from the summer heat. The one in Briviesca on the Vasco is especially large.
20190527_132423.webp
 
They're Plane trees.

In plazas all over Spain they are heavily pruned and grafted together to create a natural arbor offering continuous shade and refuge from the summer heat. The one in Briviesca on the Vasco is especially large.
View attachment 179458

Makes a certain peregrina on the bench less large!
 
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They're Plane trees.

In plazas all over Spain they are heavily pruned and grafted together to create a natural arbor offering continuous shade and refuge from the summer heat. The one in Briviesca on the Vasco is especially large.
View attachment 179458
I'm glad you posted this VN. I was almost ready to hunt mine down (I have many). It is so interesting how they prune them down to nubs in Spain like a misshapen hand, but provide shade in summer.
We even have a variety of them, called Sycamores, in northern Illinois, often near river banks.
 
3rd Edition. Vital content training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
3rd Edition. Vital content training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
My personal favorite is this gorgeous chestnut on the Invierno, between Villavieja and Castillo de Cornatel.
When I saw the title of the thread, I was sure I knew who the OP was. :) I never had a favorite tree till I walked the Camino — but now how could it be anything but the chestnut? Its impossible regenerations, its seductive and distinctive smell when it is flowering — just standing in a grove and seeing how life keeps bursting through seemingly dead trunks is pretty humbling and life-affirming. I think one of my favorites is the big one right next to the church at Soutomerille (a very short detour off the Primitivo on the day into Lugo). What could be more atmospheric than being all alone surrounded by ancient chestnuts, moss covered stone walls, and a pre-Romanesque window?

IMG_3151.webp

If you love chestnut trees, you’ll love Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer.
 
The subject of camino trees came up in a chat with another Forum member, and we both thought it would be fun for everyone if there was a thread about our favorite trees along the way, or even in Santiago.

My personal favorite is this gorgeous chestnut on the Invierno, between Villavieja and Castillo de Cornatel.
View attachment 179432 View attachment 179433

A tree I haven't met yet (but want to) is easier to find: the giant Pohutukawa in A Coruña.

I've discovered a few others from this link:

Among them, a few that are relatively close to a camino route:
1. Tejo milenario de San Cristobal de Valdueza
Between El Acebo on the Francès and Penalba - quite a detour, but also quite a tree.

2. This immense oak is "thought to be the largest and oldest tree in the Montaña Palencia in the region Castilla y Leon" - and is not so far from Cervera de Pisuerga on the Olvidado.

If you really want to get into the weeds with this, here's a fun website:

Edited to add this website listing trees in Galicia:
I call this the “sentinel tree.” Between Burgos and Hontanas, I believe.
 

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Perfect memento/gift in a presentation box. Engraving available, 25 character max.
Reminds me of a woodworker cabinet maker I met on my first Camino. As we walked down through the woods into Roncesvalles, he says. "This is what I came here for, the fabulous oak trees of Northern Spain."

After two weeks of almost constant oak forests I wondered to myself if he'd seen enough oak trees yet.:):):rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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Loving all these photos!


Yes, that one for sure. Who amongst us doesn't have an atmospheric photo of that tree. Also these house-shading pines on the way to Villafranca.
View attachment 179509
I have that same photo and have read on the forum that it is the most photographed one on the Frances. Not sure if that is true though.
 
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The subject of camino trees came up in a chat with another Forum member, and we both thought it would be fun for everyone if there was a thread about our favorite trees along the way, or even in Santiago.

My personal favorite is this gorgeous chestnut on the Invierno, between Villavieja and Castillo de Cornatel.
View attachment 179432 View attachment 179433

A tree I haven't met yet (but want to) is easier to find: the giant Pohutukawa in A Coruña.

I've discovered a few others from this link:

Among them, a few that are relatively close to a camino route:
1. Tejo milenario de San Cristobal de Valdueza
Between El Acebo on the Francès and Penalba - quite a detour, but also quite a tree.

2. This immense oak is "thought to be the largest and oldest tree in the Montaña Palencia in the region Castilla y Leon" - and is not so far from Cervera de Pisuerga on the Olvidado.

If you really want to get into the weeds with this, here's a fun website:

Edited to add this website listing trees in Galicia:
I have some trees in Galicia. My favourite ones are twenty "carballos" ( Quercus robur) with more than a hundred years.
 
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I call this the “sentinel tree.” Between Burgos and Hontanas, I believe.
Here's the tree in May and September.
I have walked in both May and September, and I can tell you that the vegetation is definitely does not look green and fresh in September.

These photos were taken in the same place:

May

View attachment 179303

September

View attachment 179304

September is a lovely time to walk, but definitely different.


I also liked the "Buda tree" in Molinaseca

Some time ago, after reading this thread I set a "place reminder" on my phone, so that when I was walking through Molinaseca today it popped up and I was reminded to look for the Buda tree.
Thanks @VNwalking for bringing it to my attention.

View attachment 172405
 
Join the Camino cleanup. Logroño to Burgos May 2025 or Astorga to OCebreiro in June
After two weeks of almost constant oak forests I wondered to myself if he'd seen enough oak trees yet
Likely not. At least I hope not.
He was clearly not the 'you've seen one oak tree, you've seen them all' kind of person, anyway. Nature blindness is going to kill us all, so I find the enthusiasm touching.

It took me a while to find the link, but for the most adventurous among the adventurous, there's a grove of millennial Yews on an alternative route near the Viejo, between Trespaderne and Quintana de Valdivielso. Here's a description of it from:
Descendemos un poco y entramos en la espesura de la Tejeda de Panizares (que en realidad es de Trespaderne). Tenemos más de una veintena de centenarios y evocadores tejos, pero esta empinada ladera ofrece una gran variedad de arboles: tilos, robles, madroños, hayas... A medida que vamos descendiendo observamos un tejo retorcido tras otro, formando rincones inolvidables
 
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2nd ed.
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Train for your next Camino on California's Santa Catalina Island March 16-19
The subject of camino trees came up in a chat with another Forum member, and we both thought it would be fun for everyone if there was a thread about our favorite trees along the way, or even in Santiago.

My personal favorite is this gorgeous chestnut on the Invierno, between Villavieja and Castillo de Cornatel.
View attachment 179432 View attachment 179433

A tree I haven't met yet (but want to) is easier to find: the giant Pohutukawa in A Coruña.

I've discovered a few others from this link:

Among them, a few that are relatively close to a camino route:
1. Tejo milenario de San Cristobal de Valdueza
Between El Acebo on the Francès and Penalba - quite a detour, but also quite a tree.

2. This immense oak is "thought to be the largest and oldest tree in the Montaña Palencia in the region Castilla y Leon" - and is not so far from Cervera de Pisuerga on the Olvidado.

If you really want to get into the weeds with this, here's a fun website:

Edited to add this website listing trees in Galicia:
Outside Sarria think can't remember a misty morning.
The subject of camino trees came up in a chat with another Forum member, and we both thought it would be fun for everyone if there was a thread about our favorite trees along the way, or even in Santiago.

My personal favorite is this gorgeous chestnut on the Invierno, between Villavieja and Castillo de Cornatel.
View attachment 179432 View attachment 179433

A tree I haven't met yet (but want to) is easier to find: the giant Pohutukawa in A Coruña.

I've discovered a few others from this link:

Among them, a few that are relatively close to a camino route:
1. Tejo milenario de San Cristobal de Valdueza
Between El Acebo on the Francès and Penalba - quite a detour, but also quite a tree.

2. This immense oak is "thought to be the largest and oldest tree in the Montaña Palencia in the region Castilla y Leon" - and is not so far from Cervera de Pisuerga on the Olvidado.

If you really want to get into the weeds with this, here's a fun website:

Edited to add this website listing trees in Galicia:
Outside Sarria random photo.
1000017691.webp
 
Not a favorite tree but one of my favorite photos of a tree. Taken shortly before arriving at the beach at Finisterre (southern route).
T12600-HOR.webp

The thumbnail doesn't do it justice. That's a huge tree!
I suppose you saw it then with Google Street View by using the link (I have edited my post to indicate that it could be seen that way).
 
Must be this one, between Logroño and Navarette, for offering the only bit of shadow on a sunny, 35° mid-day, when all the wise people had stopped for siesta but we had foolishly pressed on.

9, La Grajera (4).webp
I was very grateful to this tree.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
They’re wonderful trees; I still miss seeing them.

We use a piece of elm as a worktop. It’s more than two inches thick and six and a half feet long, with a couple of small irregularities at the edge, presumably as a result of the disease. What they say about putting hot tins and saucepans down on it is true: they don’t burn the wood.
It was a nightmare to sand smooth though!
 
Im northern Illinois all the beautiful colonnade of Elm trees I grew up with got what was called "Dutch Elm" disease. They were all cut down, hauled off somewhere and burned.
Is this the same disease as you speak of, @chinacat?
 
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It is.
It was dreadful, and in the UK a similarly devastating disease has been attacking Ash trees in the last few years.
However, this year we have discovered lots of young ash trees growing in and around our garden, which seem to be resistant to the disease.
Fingers crossed!!
 
Well really my favourite is a local one, and it is a bush, but I found this photo. July 2006.
Where? Let Rick be the sleuth :D
Here:
1000005868-01.webp

Closest photo I still have is this one taken before Villar de Mazarife (I think I recognize the water tower in the village before).
Q05500-HOR.webp
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I think my favourite on a Camino is this one in Sintra. I know it is on a Camino because I saw the yellow arrows.
View attachment 179441
My favourite on a Camino that I walked is this large one just before Triacastela, because I managed on separate occasions to get pictures of both my kids standing in front of it.
View attachment 179442
Me too, what cracker of a tree, not sure about its ageIMG_8477.webp
 
Me too, what cracker of a tree, not sure about its age
The following is taken from this webpage:

There, in the village of Ramil, we find one of the most iconic elements of this route: The centenary chestnut tree of Ramil.
It is a chestnut tree that, according to the School of Forestry Engineers of Madrid, has around 850 years of history. [...]
But as if its longevity were not enough, the reality is that there are more reasons why the Chestnut Tree of Ramil is so well known: its size and shape. Its 2.7 metres in diameter and 8.5 metres in perimeter make it a most peculiar chestnut tree, as well as its strange hollows and fat branches, which make it seem unique.
 
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Park / Lake ? Grajera Park just outside Logrono 2018. The following year I was ready and had a snack to throw

@Camino Chrissy
@markie6, I zoomed in on your squirrel picture and see that it is a red squirrel. I must eat my previous words saying I have never seen a squirrel while walking the caminos, but must clarify. While visiting Valladolid and walking around the huge and beautiful "Camp Grande" park, there were many of the unique and pretty Red squirrels so I took some pictures. Where I live there are only gray squirrels and an occasional black one.
He is so cute.😊
Screenshot_20241031-083542~3.webp
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I love trees of any age and description, but there was one on my very first camino...it was, I think, just after a hamlet called Hospital, on the way to Triacastela. I was walking through a forest and came to a massive, ancient tree - the obvious camino trail went upwards to the left of it, and a faint trail went downwards, to the right. I was immediately put in mind of my favourite Robert Frost poem.
 
I love trees of any age and description, but there was one on my very first camino...it was, I think, just after a hamlet called Hospital, on the way to Triacastela. I was walking through a forest and came to a massive, ancient tree - the obvious camino trail went upwards to the left of it, and a faint trail went downwards, to the right. I was immediately put in mind of my favourite Robert Frost poem.
Many seem to love that same tree near Triacastela. See post #8.
 
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Many seem to love that same tree near Triacastela. See post #8.
Thank you so much for looking, though - and I've definitely seen a photo of it somewhere on this forum, but not in this thread. When I walked the camino that first time, we didn't have such things as mobile phones, so I just had an actual photo of it, which I put into an album, to which I now don't have access (hostile ex!)
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).

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