Carrión de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios
Desolation
- Distance
- 26.3 km
- Climb
- 105 m up, 51 m down
- Ground
- 830 to 880 m
- Time
- 6 to 7 hours
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Underfoot
- dirt, gravel
Where this day sits on the Camino Francés
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 33 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
Seventeen kilometers without a village, a bar, a bench, a tree. Just the path and the wheat and the sky. This is the most exposed stretch on the entire Camino. You carry your water and food and yourself across a landscape that offers nothing but distance. The Templars named their settlement here for a reason — this was the frontier, the edge of the known. By the time you reach Terradillos, you understand in your body what 'desert' means, even in the middle of Spain's breadbasket.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The strange intimacy of walking 17 km without seeing a building
- Rationing water and feeling genuinely vulnerable
- A mind that has finally stopped narrating and simply watches
- Arriving at the tiny village feeling you have crossed something vast
What do you discover about yourself when all external support is removed?
The ground
17 km stretch without any villages after leaving Carrión. Carry sufficient water and food.
- 17 km without services after Carrión de los Condes. Carry at least 2L of water and food.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Carrión de los Condes depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
In Pilgrim's Honor mode you can walk this stage as it is drawn here, and save its maps for days with no signal. The morning opens with this day's word, Desolation, and its story. When you arrive, it asks the question above, and you can answer out loud. Your walk stays on your phone.
With Pilgrim on your phone, this opens the stage, ready to begin. Without it, you'll see the stage and where to get the app.