Pola de Allande to La Mesa
Threshold
- Distance
- 21.7 km
- Climb
- 1,100 m up, 650 m down
- Ground
- 524 to 1,146 m
- Time
- 7 to 10 hours
- Difficulty
- expert
- Underfoot
- mountain, rock, 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
The hardest day on the hardest Camino. You climb out of Pola de Allande in the dawn cold, the air sharp at 600 m and getting sharper. Up the Puerto del Palo: 1,146 m, the roof of the Primitivo. From the pass you can see for fifty kilometres in every direction — Asturian peaks to the north, the Sierra de los Lagos to the south. Pilgrims who took the Hospitales variant at Campiello are walking the high ridge somewhere to your right, passing the ruined medieval hospitals at Paradiella, Fonfaraón, Valparaíso, Freita. Both routes converge at Berducedo and continue through forest to the small village of La Mesa, where the only albergue holds maybe twenty pilgrims. Tonight you sleep at altitude. Tonight you have crossed something.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The pre-dawn start to give yourself time on the climb
- The view from Puerto del Palo — fifty kilometres in every direction
- Meeting pilgrims at Berducedo who took the other variant
- Feeling the altitude in your breathing for the first time
- The strange quiet of La Mesa at night, the wind moving through the only village for miles
What does it mean to spend a day above the everyday — and what do you bring back down with you?
The ground
The famous Hospitales/Puerto del Palo day. The standard route climbs from Pola de Allande over the Puerto del Palo (1,146 m — the highest point of the entire Camino Primitivo) and descends to Berducedo before continuing to La Mesa. The Hospitales variant is the high alternative: starting back at Borres/Campiello (yesterday), it follows a high ridge through several ruined medieval pilgrim hospitals at 1,000-1,225 m, then converges with the standard route at Berducedo. Hospitales is more scenic, more dangerous, and should not be attempted in fog, wind, or storms.
- Highest point of the Camino Primitivo at Puerto del Palo (1,146 m). The Hospitales variant should not be attempted in bad weather — exposed ridge, no shelter for ~10 km.
- Very limited services between Pola de Allande and La Mesa. Carry water and food.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Pola de Allande 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.