Medio Camino de Santiago

Start your morn­ing with a café au lait and fresh-baked pas­try before strolling through the pic­turesque streets of Leòn. 

Tour the 13th-cen­tu­ry Goth­ic cathe­dral, Cat­e­dral de León, with its tow­ers and fly­ing but­tress­es, before meet­ing for din­ner in our pri­vate din­ing room at the La Posa­da Regia Hotel. You’ll spend the evening get­ting to know your guides and fel­low pil­grims as well as review­ing the week’s itinerary.

After a deli­cious break­fast, we’ll roll through Hos­pi­tal de Orbi­go with its well-pre­served Roman bridge. and stop for lunch in sight of the cathe­dral in Astor­ga. The house next door – designed by famed Span­ish Cata­lan archi­tect Antoni Gau­di i Cor­net – is one of his most beau­ti­ful pri­vate residences. 

Ped­al through laven­der fields and moun­tain scrub trees en route to the tiny town of Rabanal del Camino. With few­er than 100 year-round res­i­dents this tiny town is a unique and wel­com­ing stop along the Camino. 

Enjoy views of tomorrow’s moun­tains, beck­on­ing from every window.

Today starts with a morn­ing climb up to the Cruz de Fer­ro, the high­est point on the Camino de San­ti­a­go. Leg­end has it that if you bring a stone from home and leave it at Cruz de Fer­ro, you will leave your bur­dens there and pre­pare for rebirth on the remain­der of your jour­ney. Did­n’t bring a stone from home? It’s okay to bring one from a lit­tle closer.

Next, we’ll tra­verse the ridge­line on the way to a stop at the colour­ful Refu­gio in Man­jarin. We’ll be wel­comed by a bunch of friend­ly dogs and cats, stop for a pho­to, and enjoy some refreshments. 

From there, we’ll cycle 20 kilo­me­tres down­hill to lunch in Molin­se­ca and vis­it the Tem­plars Cas­tle in Pon­fer­ra­da before rolling through the beau­ti­ful cher­ry orchards into Vil­la fran­ca de Bierzo.

Today, we’ll ride the most moun­tain­ous ter­rain along our jour­ney. We’ll begin with a mel­low hour of ped­alling through a deep-cut val­ley lead­ing towards a moun­tain pass. Then, set­tle in for the long steady climb up to the small town of O’Ce­breiro. When you make it to the top, you’ll have a great feel­ing of accom­plish­ment – and a healthy need for a hearty lunch!

We’ll have a deli­cious three-course lunch at the top of the moun­tain to fuel you up for the rest of the day.

After lunch, we’ll roll through the hills, past the Alber­gue (hos­tel) in Tri­a­castel­la that wel­comes cyclists with a bicy­cle hang­ing on an exte­ri­or wall. We’ll con­tin­ue rid­ing through pic­turesque farms on the way to the trans­porta­tion hub of Sar­ria, one of the most pop­u­lar towns on the French Way of the Camino.

Feel­ing brave? A Fred Flint­stone steak can be yours for din­ner! Tonight’s restau­rant spe­cial­izes in char-grilling  to perfection.

Deep in the heart of Gali­cia, the hills are a mix­ture of forests and cen­turies-old fam­i­ly farms sep­a­rat­ed by stacked rock fences. The scent of euca­lyp­tus fills the air; its bark blan­kets the trail. Por­tomarin, our lunch town, sits on top of a hill next to a for­mer lake that is now a lush valley. 

Tonight, we’ll stay in Melide, just a short 52-kilo­me­ters from tomorrow’s des­ti­na­tion, the incred­i­ble cathe­dral in San­ti­a­go de Compostela.

You’re almost there! It’s the home stretch.

The feel­ing of enthu­si­asm is pal­pa­ble. This morn­ing, we’ll cross sev­er­al small stone bridges over tiny streams as euca­lyp­tus for­est thick­en around us, shad­ing the trail as you near the final hill. The last few kilo­me­tres seem end­less – then sud­den­ly we’ll arrive at the John Paul II Mon­u­ment at Monte do Gozo.

Monte do Gozo is well known as the place where Chris­t­ian pil­grims on the Camino de San­ti­a­go get their first glimpse of the three spires of their des­ti­na­tion, the Cathe­dral of San­ti­a­go de Compostela.

We’ll get our final stamp in Monte do Gozo before coast­ing down­hill into Santiago.

The square in front of the cathe­dral is always bustling and we’ll spend time explor­ing the Cathe­dral, con­grat­u­lat­ing each oth­er on an amaz­ing jour­ney and snap­ping pho­tos to keep the amaz­ing mem­o­ries alive.

Our farewell din­ner will be filled with toasts and tales of The Way. Tonight, we’ll stay at Hotel Cos­ta Vella.

Buen Camino, Amigos! 

Wake up on your own time, there’s no sched­ule to fol­low today!

Enjoy break­fast (includ­ed) at the hotel before head­ing to the air­port or con­tin­u­ing your trav­els through Spain.  Please note: you are respon­si­ble for arrang­ing air­port transportation.