Portomarín to Palas de Rei
Gratitude
- Distance
- 24.8 km
- Climb
- 519 m up, 353 m down
- Ground
- 350 to 725 m
- Time
- 6 to 7 hours
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Underfoot
- dirt, gravel, paved
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
The rolling Galician hills demand more of your legs than you expected this late in the journey, but your body answers without complaint. The small churches and wayside crosses appear every few kilometers, each one placed by someone who wanted pilgrims to feel accompanied. You begin to notice all the hands that have held this path open for you — the hospitaleros, the farmers who maintain the trail markers, the bar owners who welcome muddy strangers. Gratitude arrives not as an idea but as a physical sensation, a warmth in the chest that has nothing to do with exertion.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Feeling surprisingly strong despite accumulated fatigue
- Gratitude toward the people who maintain the Camino
- Beginning to say goodbye to walking companions
- Counting remaining days and not wanting them to end
Who has held the path open for you in your life, and have you thanked them?
The ground
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Portomarín 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, Gratitude, 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.