The first day of the quiet ending leaves the Primitivo just past Lugo's Roman bridge and follows the Camiño Verde, a route marked with green arrows by one volunteer, along the Miño and Mera rivers and then old farm lanes to Friol. It is long and mostly flat, with lovely river and woodland walking, but there is nothing to buy until a fountain and bar about 12.4 miles in, and the arrows are easy to lose, so carry a GPS track. Beds are the real problem: Friol has no albergue, one small hotel in town, and its cheap pensión was reported closed for good in October 2026.
Riverside boardwalks out of LugoNo food or water until mile 12Carry a GPS trackOne hotel in town: book earlyDetour to the Roman temple at Bóveda
Distance
16.8 miles27 km; or 16.8 miles via Via Santalla de Bóveda
Climbing
1,290 ft up
Walking time
6.5 to 7.5 hours
Difficulty
Hard
Beds in Friol
2 placesVery few
Map of the stage
Places to stay in Friol
Nearby, if Friol is full
Look out for
The walk12Places to stay: green for dorms, blue for rooms3Other places to stayASightsVillages on the wayDashed ring: position approximate
The line is the waymarked route as OpenStreetMap has it. Places to stay are where Gronze or their own websites put them. Tap a marker for details; the numbers and letters match the cards and the lists below.
Where to sleep in Friol
2 places · Very few
Friol has no albergue. Casa da Galbana, a seven-room hotel on the square, is the one bed in town known to be open in October 2026; the cheap pensión at Casa Benigno was reported closed for good, and Bi Terra, 5 miles out with a pick-up service, could not be confirmed open. Book Casa da Galbana before you leave Oviedo, and line up a backup with pick-up.
Hotel · private room
Casa da Galbana
A small hotel in a stone house on Friol's main square and walkers' favourite stop on the Camiño Verde. Seven doubles, three of them in the old attic, with balconies over the square or the countryside; walkers mention free laundry and a good breakfast.
Beds
7 double rooms with private bathrooms, two adapted for reduced mobility
Price
Rooms from €82 a night on the hotel's website (October 2026); a walker paid €87 in 2024. Breakfast cost one walker €10 in May 2026, though some listings say it is included.
Where
On the main square, Praza Andón Cebreiro 2, in the centre of Friol
Meals
Breakfast only; eat dinner in town
Booking
The hotel's website, phone or WhatsApp (9:00 to 20:00), or email
For years the cheap choice in Friol: basic, clean rooms with private bathrooms above a bar and restaurant on the main square. In May 2026 it planned to reopen in mid-June, but a walker who phoned on 9 October 2026 was told it has closed for good. The restaurant was still serving dinner in late May 2026, so it is worth a call before you rule it out.
Beds
12 rooms, one-star pensión
Price
Single €30, double €50 with private bathroom (July 2025); €30 a room at the pilgrim rate when booked directly (2023 and 2024)
Where
On the main square, Rúa Ramón y Cajal 13 to 15, Friol
Meals
Bar and restaurant downstairs with home cooking and a menú del día; dinner from 20:30
Booking
Was by WhatsApp or phone, directly, for the pilgrim rate; confirm it is open
A one-star rural hotel in the countryside northwest of Friol, with its own restaurant across the lane, that has offered pilgrims free transport to and from the route. Its status in 2026 is uncertain: an undated sale listing for a nine-room stone rural hotel with a restaurant near the Camino del Norte in Friol, described as not currently operating, matches it. Phone before you count on it.
Beds
9 double and twin rooms, up to 21 guests
Price
From €27 a person in a double or twin, €42 a person in the larger doubles (casasrurales.net, October 2026); breakfast about €10
Where
At Regüela, San Cosme de Rocha, about 5 miles northwest of Friol and off the route; free transport for pilgrims, to be confirmed when you book
Meals
Restaurant; breakfast, lunch and dinner
Booking
Phone, or email (the email and a second number, +34 647 741 545, date from 2018); also listed on casasrurales.net
Before and after the stop, with the distance from it.
Casa rural · private room
Casa Rural do Cuco
About 3.5 miles from Friol as the crow flies
At Arxerei (Condes), about 3.5 miles south-southwest of Friol in a straight line, off the route; free pick-up from the Camino, ask when booking
A restored 19th-century farmhouse with an hórreo, vegetable garden and hens in the hamlet of Arxerei, south of Friol. Gronze lists it for the main Primitivo, but it offers free pick-up from the Camino on request, which makes it the best backup if Friol is full.
Beds
4 double or twin rooms with bathrooms and a studio apartment for 3
Price
Double from €90; apartment from €120; dinner €22 (Gronze, October 2026)
Meals
Breakfast included; dinner €22, with a pilgrim menu
Booking
Phone or WhatsApp, or Booking.com; booking ahead is required
At Outeiro, in Ramelle parish, Friol municipality; distance from Friol and the route not found
A 17th-century former rectory let as a whole house, listed in the Camiño Verde route guide among Friol's options. Mainly useful for a group; there is no breakfast, and its distance from the route is not known.
Beds
4 double rooms, each with a bathroom; whole-house rental
Meals
Own kitchen; no meals
Booking
Phone or email; a €250 cash deposit is taken on arrival
From Lugo, this ending leaves the Primitivo for the Camiño Verde to Sobrado dos Monxes, follows the Camino del Norte to Boimorto, then takes the Xunta's signed branch through A Mota, which meets the Camino Francés only near Santiago airport, 8.5 miles from the cathedral. It's about 65 miles over four days, against 62 miles over five on the main route. Recent walkers met almost no one on it, but beds are few, there are long stretches with no food or water, and the first two days have no official waymarks.
The Camiño Verde, Lugo to Sobrado, is an unofficial route marked with green arrows by a volunteer from Friol. Reports from 2024 to 2026 range from well marked to no signs at all, so carry a GPS track; Wikiloc has the route maker's own. The riverside boardwalks just out of Lugo were in poor condition in May 2026, and that stretch floods after heavy rain.
There's no bar, shop or reliable water for the whole first day, and none for about 12 miles on the second. Walkers also report mud, brambles (wear long trousers), a horse enclosure to walk around and loose dogs.
Beds are the weak point. Friol has no albergue, and its cheap pensión was reported closed for good in October 2026, leaving two hotels, both best booked before you leave Oviedo. From November to March there may be no bed in Friol at all. Book Twin Pines too.
The A Mota branch has been signed by the Xunta since 2017. It's flat but mostly on asphalt with little shade. Keep to the signs for Lavacolla: two other local branches from Boimorto lead to Santa Irene and O Pedrouzo on the Francés.
The Camiño Verde isn't a recognised route, and the Pilgrim Office asks for the last 100 km on one route; the Norte part is only about 33 miles. Walkers who took it have reported getting the Compostela, but the most recent reports are from 2022. Collect two dated stamps a day, at Friol and Sobrado's monastery among others, and email the Pilgrim Office before you go if the certificate matters to you.
Bag services may not cover the Camiño Verde, so check with Correos or Pilbeo before you rely on one.
HardAbout 16.8 miles with little climbing, but on muddy, sometimes overgrown lanes with patchy waymarking and no shop or bar for the first 12 miles.
Underfoot. Riverside paths and wooden boardwalks out of Lugo, then farm and forest tracks and old sunken lanes, with short stretches of quiet road near Friol.
The Camiño Verde leaves the Primitivo just after Lugo's Roman bridge over the Miño, where a waymark by the old San Lázaro hospital and the first green arrows send you right along the river. The first miles follow the Miño and then the Mera on riverside paths, wooden boardwalks and a yellow footbridge, through woods with mills and mossy walls; this stretch floods after heavy rain. The route then climbs gently onto farmland and follows old sunken lanes and forest tracks through small stone hamlets. Near Matelo, about 6 miles in, the longer option turns south to the Roman temple at Santalla de Bóveda, while the main line goes on by Cotá. The first water and food is at As Casas da Feira, about 12.4 miles in, where there is a fountain and a bar. The last miles into Friol use lanes and quiet road; just before town the arrows turn left onto the LU-232 where Mapy.com keeps to the old Camino Real, and walkers say to follow the arrows. The arrows are green paint on trees, rocks, posts and tarmac, often with a white arrow beside them, and are easy to miss in summer foliage.
Route
Distance
Climbing
Via Cotá (main line)
15.5 miles
The route guide's figure. A 2017 GPS log gave 16.8 miles and 1,289 ft of climbing, and a 2025 walker put both options at about 16 miles.
Via Santalla de Bóveda
16.8 miles
Leaves the main line near Matelo, about 6 miles in, for the late Roman temple. Arrows were sparse on it in October 2024, and the temple was closed for restoration in May 2025.
Good to know
Carry all your food and 2 to 3 litres of water: walkers from 2023 to 2026 found nothing between Lugo's riverside and As Casas da Feira, about 12.4 miles in.
Load a GPS track before you go: the route maker's tracks are on Wikiloc and Mapy.com shows the route, but Mapy differs from the arrows just before Friol and at a horse farm on day two, and walkers say to follow the arrows.
Reports on the arrows vary: very easy to follow and clearly marked (April 2026), very difficult without a GPS track (May 2026), hard to see and sometimes conflicting (21 May 2026), and partly covered by brambles (June 2026).
The boardwalks out of Lugo were repaired by 2023 but called still a bit dodgy in places in March 2026; on 21 May 2026 one section looked roped off, and in June 2026 the yellow footbridge was in very poor condition.
After heavy rain the riverside stretch floods, with knee-deep water reported in early 2025, and the farm lanes turn to long bogs, so avoid this day in prolonged heavy rain.
Loose farm dogs are common: walkers met three near A Mera in October 2024 and frequent loose dogs on this day in July 2026. Walking poles help.
Mobile reception is patchy on parts of the route.
For stamps, the route guide lists Bar O Zapateiro at Cotá, listed as open Wednesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 18:00, and Friol's hotel, bars and church.
Friol has a limited bus service to Lugo; in April 2026 a walker said the bus back to Lugo runs only in the early afternoon, about 14:00.
Along the way
Start
Lugo
All services. The last café walkers mention is Il Farabutto Fluvial by the river on the way out (2026)
Mile 12.4
As Casas da Feira
Fountain and a bar, both confirmed by a group in June 2026
The Camiño Verde was laid out by José Manuel Sánchez Grande, a walker from Friol, who painted the green arrows himself to link the Primitivo at Lugo with the Camino del Norte at Sobrado. Forum volunteers published an English guide in 2016 and helped refresh the arrows. It has never been an official route: in its early years a court ruling forced the removal of about 110 yards of boardwalk, a bench and signs on the riverside path out of Lugo, though the route itself was not ruled illegal, and Friol council later improved part of the path.
Santalla de Bóveda
On the longer option, the temple of Santa Eulalia de Bóveda is a late Roman building, probably of the 4th century, uncovered in 1926 after centuries underground and declared a national monument in 1931. Inside, a small pool sits under a barrel vault painted with peacocks, doves and pheasants. No one knows what it was built for; one theory links it to a water cult, and it was later used as a church.
Friol
Friol is the small seat of a large, thinly peopled municipality of about 3,600 people (2024). In the Middle Ages this country was held by the Ulloa, Parga and Seixas families, whose towers still stand in the countryside; the best known, San Paio de Narla, is a short detour at the start of the next day.
Look out for
Mile 0.9
The turn-off. Just after the Roman bridge, look for the waymark by the old San Lázaro hospital and the first green arrow sending you right along the river.
Mile 1.9
Boardwalks on the Mera. The riverside path on boardwalks and the yellow footbridge is the part walkers rave about. A short side loop on the Mera passes a mill with plenty of water, but its steps and sleepers were in poor shape in June 2026.
Mile 6.1
Fork for Bóveda. Near Matelo the Bóveda option turns south, and the fork is easy to miss. The temple is normally open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 15:00, and free, but it was closed for restoration in May 2025, so check with Lugo's tourist office before you count on it.
Mile 12.4
As Casas da Feira. The first fountain and bar of the day. Fill up here.
Mile 16.8
Dinner in Friol. Walkers in 2025 and 2026 recommend Restaurante Casa do Grande. Casa Benigno's restaurant on the main square was serving dinner from 20:30 in May 2026.
What couldn't be confirmed, and where sources disagree
Distance: Gronze has no stage for the Camiño Verde. The route guide gives 15.5 miles via Cotá and 16.8 miles via Bóveda; a walker on the Gronze forum in 2025 made both about 16.2 miles. The day's 16.8 miles and 1,290 ft of climbing come from a 2017 GPS log and haven't been re-measured.
Waymarks: in reports from May 2023 to July 2026, most walkers found green arrows, some hard to see; one who walked in September 2025 (posted July 2026) said there were no signs at all.
As Casas da Feira: a group on the Gronze forum found both the fountain and the bar in June 2026, and a May 2025 walker mentioned a bar slightly off the route there. Whether that bar is Bar O Zapateiro at Cotá isn't clear.
Santalla de Bóveda: it was found closed on a Sunday in October 2024 and closed for restoration in May 2025; nothing was found on 2026.
Casa Benigno: no source could be found for the reports that it planned to reopen in mid-June 2026, or that a walker was told on 9 October 2026 that it had closed for good. Against a spring 2026 closure, a walker ate dinner there in late May 2026, and Páxinas Galegas still lists its restaurant hours. The contacts in older guides (+34 639 150 450, [email protected], €16 single in 2018) are out of date.
Casa da Galbana: its website shows rooms from €82 and no season, so an April to October season and an €80 quote in October 2026 couldn't be confirmed. Breakfast may not be included; a May 2026 walker paid €10 for it.
Bi Terra: it may have closed. An undated sale listing by Grupo Country Homes for a property in Friol that isn't operating, with nine en-suite rooms, a stone restaurant building and the Camino del Norte about 1.9 miles away, fits it closely but doesn't name it. Listing sites still show it as bookable.
Other beds: in 2023 Telelama stayed in an unnamed apartment about three quarters of a mile outside Friol, behind a veterinary hospital, and a group in June 2026 stayed at an unnamed place on the outskirts whose owner drove them to and from the route; neither could be identified.
Compostela: a September 2026 post reports Compostelas given after walking the Verde in 2023 and 2024, and a July 2024 post reports an email from the Pilgrim Office saying the route would not be a problem.
Confirmed October 2026. Each place to stay shows when its own details were confirmed. Phone numbers, prices and opening seasons change from year to year, so confirm them before you rely on them.