Arzúa to O Pedrouzo
Vigil
- Distance
- 19.3 km
- Climb
- 351 m up, 447 m down
- Ground
- 280 to 400 m
- Time
- 5 to 6 hours
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Underfoot
- forest, dirt, 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 penultimate day. Tomorrow you will arrive. Tonight you lie in your bunk in O Pedrouzo and the feeling is not excitement but something closer to reverence. The eucalyptus forests were quiet today, the path gentle, as if the Camino itself was giving you space to prepare. You have walked nearly 800 kilometers. Your body is a different instrument than the one that left Saint-Jean. Your mind is quieter. Something has been completed that you cannot yet name. You set your alarm for before dawn, because tomorrow you want to walk the last kilometers in the dark, alone.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Insomnia the night before arrival
- A quiet, reflective day of easy walking
- Trying to memorize the feeling of being a pilgrim
- Setting the alarm early to walk the final stage at dawn
What has this walk made true that was not true before you started?
The ground
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Arzúa 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, Vigil, 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.