San Romao da Retorta to Melide
Convergence
- Distance
- 28.5 km
- Climb
- 430 m up, 550 m down
- Ground
- 420 to 670 m
- Time
- 7 to 9 hours
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Underfoot
- dirt, forest, paved, cobblestone
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
Today is the day the Primitivo ends and the Francés begins. You walk through forest and farmland for most of the morning, the path quiet, the forest the same Galician green as the past three days. By afternoon you enter Melide and meet the Camino Francés. Suddenly the path is busy — pilgrims you have not seen for weeks, faces from albergues you stayed in fifty kilometres ago, new pilgrims who started in Sarria this morning and have only walked the last day. Melide is famous for pulpo a feira: octopus boiled in copper cauldrons in the street, served on wooden plates with paprika and rough wine. Tonight you eat it. Tomorrow you start walking with the Frances tide toward Santiago — three days, three stages — but tonight, this is still your route.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The first Frances pilgrims you encounter at the merge point
- Pulpo a feira at one of Melide's pulperias — the famous Galician octopus tradition
- A strange sense of loss as the quiet Primitivo becomes the busy Francés
- The relief of being on a well-known path with frequent services
When your path joins someone else's, who do you become?
The ground
The final day on the Primitivo proper. From here on, Primitivo pilgrims walk the same path as Camino Francés pilgrims. Long but mostly gentle terrain through Galician farmland.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in San Romao da Retorta 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.