Stage Sarria to Palas de Rei (By bike)

Stretching some 47 kilometres, this stage opens the final leg of the Camino Francés from Sarria, the most popular starting point of the whole route. The profile is the constant up and down so typical of the Galician interior, with no major climbs but a steady accumulation of elevation gain, all in an atmosphere enlivened by the great flow of pilgrims.

The exit from Sarria climbs through the old town, past the church of Santa Mariña and the convent of A Magdalena, before soon entering a rural landscape of extraordinary charm: sunken lanes flanked by stone walls, woods of oaks and carballos, small hamlets with their hórreos and cruceiros, and the famous kilometre 100 marker, where many pilgrims stop for a photo.

Beyond Morgade and Ferreiros, the path drops to the Miño, here held back in the Belesar reservoir and crossed by a long bridge. On the far side, a steep flight of steps leads up to Portomarín, a village relocated to its present site in the 1960s when the reservoir was built; its fortress-church of San Nicolás, belonging to the Knights of St John, was dismantled and rebuilt stone by stone at the top of the village.

The second half of the stage faces the longest climb of the day, up towards the Alto de Sierra Ligonde, by way of Gonzar and Castromaior, where a remarkable Celtic hillfort survives. Past the summit, the road rolls on through Ligonde and Eirexe to Palas de Rei, a town in the A Ulloa region that traditionally marks the end of the stage and prepares for the final stretch towards Santiago.