Lugo to San Romao da Retorta
Quiet
- Distance
- 19.2 km
- Climb
- 320 m up, 210 m down
- Ground
- 460 to 620 m
- Time
- 5 to 7 hours
- Difficulty
- easy
- Underfoot
- paved, dirt, forest
Where this day sits on the Camino Primitivo
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 11 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
After yesterday's thirty kilometres and Lugo's stones, today is gentle. You leave Lugo through the south gate, cross the Miño river, and walk into open Galician countryside. The path is flatter than the days before. Small farms, low stone walls, oak forests. By early afternoon you arrive in San Romao da Retorta, a tiny village whose albergue is one of the smallest on the Primitivo — maybe twelve beds in a converted farmhouse. Many pilgrims feel a strange shift here: Santiago is suddenly close. The mountain stages are behind you. The end is real.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Leaving Lugo through the south gate, crossing the Miño bridge
- The first day that doesn't physically hurt
- Recognizing pilgrims you have walked beside since Pola de Allande
- The realisation that Santiago is two days away
When the hardest part is behind you, what part of you misses it?
The ground
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Lugo depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
Pilgrim doesn't carry the Camino Primitivo as a route yet. You can still walk it with the app in Wander mode, speaking what arises and keeping it on your phone.