Stage Ventas de Narón to Palas de Rei

This day of just over eleven kilometres connects Ventas de Narón with Palas de Rei and is ideal for breaking the second-to-last third of the French Way into short stages. With a rolling profile, it begins with a moderate climb and is then resolved in a long, manageable descent, free of technical difficulties, through the most authentic rural Galicia.

From Ventas de Narón, the path climbs towards the Sierra de Ligonde and crowns the Alto do Rosario, at around seven hundred and twenty metres of altitude. This is one of the last significant rises of the Camino and, according to tradition, the point from which the old pilgrims first made out, on the horizon, the mountains that herald Santiago. The panorama over the surrounding valleys rewards the effort of the climb.

After the pass, the Camino descends towards Ligonde, a village with a long hospitable history that once had a pilgrims' cemetery and a house of the Order of Malta. It is followed by Airexe, with its simple Romanesque church of Santiago, and the hamlets of Portos and Lestedo, where cruceiros and traditional stone buildings abound. The route alternates stretches of track beside the road with quiet country lanes through oak woods.

The final section descends steadily to Palas de Rei, whose name, according to legend, evokes the Visigothic king Witiza, who is said to have had a palace here. The town, today the municipal capital and a bustling meeting point for pilgrims, preserves the Romanesque church of San Tirso and a lively atmosphere around its hostels and taverns. It is also the place where the leap towards Melide, famous for its pulperías (octopus taverns), traditionally begins.