Camino Francés: Stage 32

You will leave Arzúa going through Rúa do Carmen street. You have to go through the left and you will leave the village to get to the Fuente de los Franceses spring. After crossing it you will cross the Vello river and you will get to As Barrosas named after the kind of land that you will find there when it rains, here you will find the Capilla de San Lázaro chapel.

Then you will continue through a rural area that is very calm and beautiful and you will find the Brandeso river that is an affluent of the Iso river. Once you start to walk up you will find a fork in which there is marker that indicated you the left path to get to Preguntoño where you will find the Ermita de San Paio hermitage from the 17 century.

After leaving this village you will have to cross a tunnel to get to A Peroxa where you will start to descend to a stream known as the Ladrón river. Is time to start walk up again to get to Taberna Vella and after leaving behind this place you will go through Burres and then through O Pino the city council before Santiago de Compostela. The first village that will welcome you is Calle where you walk through a path. After crossing the LAnguella stream you will get to Boavista and then to Salceda, you will walk through a road and you will have to cross it many times.

Before getting to the next village you will get into a path to see a plaque devoted to Guillermo Watt that died here in this place while he was walking to Santiago. Then you will get to O Xen a small village where you will find a national road that you should cross to reach Ras surroundings, which also belongs to San Miguel de Cerceda, the same as O Xen. Pilgrims coming from the Northern Way go through O Pino and then the way get unified with the French Way.

We keep on walking parallel to the national road to reach O Empalme, where we can find a particular picnic that still keeps a massive copy of the Pelegrín, the pet designed for 1993 Jacobean Holy Year. We will cross the road towards the village and then start descending among eucalyptus. After a short walking crossing again under the national road through a tunnel, we will find Saint Irene’s chapel, only 3 kms away from O Pedrouzo. Santa Irene, divided by the road, has two hostels: a public and a private one, at each side. It is a perfect place for those limp pilgrims that will continue until O Pedrouzo, as the eucalyptus will help us recovering ourselves.

Across the dense forest, we will descend until A Rúa place, where its houses made of stone will welcome us, just a kilometer and a half away of our goal. Leaving behind this wonderful place, where we can even find a tourist office, we will go on with our walking through a paved road that will lead us next to the N-547, the last obstacle before reaching O Pedrouzo and resting, knowing that tomorrow will be the best day.

Bear in mind

It is an easy stage for everyone including cyclists and people with reduced mobility. All sections of this stage are in good conditions.

What to see