A flat day on the Camino del Norte to Boimorto, the last place with shops, then onto the signposted branch toward Lavacolla, which avoids Arzúa and the Camino Francés. Most of it is on quiet asphalt with little shade, and there is nothing but a fountain in the last 6 miles. Beds at the end are few and small: Twin Pines has the only dorm beds between Boimorto and Lavacolla, with a rural hotel and an expensive pazo off the route and Casa Rico de Medín 1.4 miles on, so book ahead.
Last shops and bars at Boimorto, mile 7Keep to the signs for LavacollaFountain at the A Mota chapelBook Twin Pines or Casa Rico de Medín
Distance
13.5 miles21.7 km
Walking time
5 to 5.5 hours
Difficulty
Moderate
Beds in Alto de Goimil (Orxal)
3 placesVery few
Map of the stage
Places to stay in Alto de Goimil (Orxal)
Nearby, if Alto de Goimil (Orxal) 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, except from A Gándara to the Alto de Goimil, where OpenStreetMap doesn't have the route: there the line is the shortest footpath, which may not follow the waymarks. 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 Alto de Goimil (Orxal)
3 places · Very few
Three small places at the end of the day: Twin Pines on the route, with the only dorm beds between Boimorto and Lavacolla; Hotel Lar da Mota, 765 yards off the route; and the expensive Pazo da Briona. Casa Rico de Medín, 1.4 miles further on, is the other good choice. If all are full, stop at Boimorto, 6 miles earlier, and face a last day of about 25.5 miles.
Albergue · dorm and private rooms
Twin Pines Pilgrims Rooms
A pilgrims' B and B right on the branch, with dorm beds and private rooms, a garden, and dinner and breakfast made by the hosts. It is the only cheap bed for miles, so book ahead.
Beds
9 rooms, from shared dorms to doubles; total beds not published
Price
Dorm from €23; double from €45; dinner and breakfast €19 (Gronze, October 2026). A walker paid about €50 for a room in 2023.
Where
Orxal, on the A Mota branch at the top of the Goimil rise
A country manor with stables, rooms and two apartments, three-quarters of a mile off the route past the A Mota chapel. The comfortable, expensive choice; it offers transfers.
Beds
6 rooms and 2 apartments for 4 and 6
Price
Double from €150 with breakfast; apartments on request (Gronze, October 2026)
Where
Orxal, 0.75 miles off the route past the A Mota chapel
Meals
Breakfast included; guest kitchen
Booking
Phone (+34 645 962 416 or +34 664 403 555), its website or Booking.com
Before and after the stop, with the distance from it.
Casa rural · private room
Casa Rico de Medín
1.4 miles past Alto de Goimil (Orxal)
On the route at O Couto Pequeno, 1.4 miles past Twin Pines
A casa rural with a garden and hórreo on the route at O Couto Pequeno, serving breakfast and meals; walkers from 2024 to 2026 praised the food and rooms and called it a bit pricey. Stopping here makes the last day about 18 miles.
Beds
5 double rooms with bathrooms, up to 11 guests
Price
From €35 a person in a double (casasrurales.net, October 2026); one walker reported about €127 for a night
Meals
Breakfast and meals; food for passing walkers in 2026
Booking
casasrurales.net contact form; no phone or Booking.com page found
Albergue de peregrinos de Boimorto (Telleira de Baiuca)
7.3 miles before Alto de Goimil (Orxal)
At A Telleira de Baiuca, Boimil, on the Norte 6.2 miles into the day and 7.3 miles before Goimil
Xunta albergue on the Norte just before A Gándara, with a kitchen and washer. Use it if Goimil is full; the walk to Santiago next day is then about 26.5 miles.
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.
ModerateAbout 13.5 miles with no real hills, but almost all on asphalt with little shade and no services for the last 6 miles.
Guides' own ratings: Gronze: 2 (Sobrado dos Monxes to Arzúa)
Underfoot. Mostly quiet asphalt lanes and country roads, with short stretches of track on the Norte before Boimorto.
The day starts on the Camino del Norte, leaving Sobrado past the monastery on mostly quiet asphalt through Madelos (3.8 miles), As Corredoiras and Boimil, where the Xunta albergue stands 875 yards before A Gándara, the small capital of Boimorto, 7.3 miles in, with shops and bars. In A Gándara the Norte turns south for Arzúa and this route goes straight on. Follow the main street until it splits into two streets, both called Rúa Gándara, and take the right-hand one, with a playground and small football pitch on your left; one block on, a Camino post on the left sends the Norte south, and a second post on the right marks the variant. From there the branch runs west for about 6 miles on a quiet, cambered country road with little shade, through farmland and small hamlets, past the A Mota chapel and its fountain about 11.8 miles in. Hotel Lar da Mota and the Pazo da Briona lie off to the left just past the chapel, and Twin Pines stands on the route at Orxal, at the top of the Goimil rise. Follow the signs for Lavacolla throughout: two other local branches from Boimorto lead to Santa Irene and O Pedrouzo on the Francés, and after Goimil some signs also point south to A Salceda.
Good to know
Buy lunch and snacks in A Gándara: after it there is only the fountain at the A Mota chapel until Twin Pines, about 6 miles on.
Look for the split in A Gándara carefully: if the playground is on your right, you are on the wrong Rúa Gándara.
Walkers in 2019 and 2025 found the branch well signed from A Gándara to Goimil and on to Lavacolla, but a 2022 walker found it hard to follow and ended up at Santa Irene, so keep a track open.
There is little shade on the branch: carry water and sun cover in summer.
Reports of Twin Pines differ: one walker in 2023 found a gated house, a locked fridge and rationed breakfast, while others in 2024 and 2025 had a pleasant stay with dinner cooked by the hosts.
Sobrado to Boimorto is the Norte's last stage before Arzúa, so expect a few other walkers until A Gándara and almost none after.
Along the way
Start
Sobrado dos Monxes
Shops, bars, laundry
Mile 3.8
Madelos
Albergue Abeiro da Loba, on the route
Mile 6.2
Boimil
Xunta albergue, 34 beds
Mile 7.3
A Gándara (Boimorto)
Shops, bars, albergue and hotels; the last services of the day
The Camino del Norte ends its separate life at Arzúa, where it joins the Camino Francés and its crowds. The branch from Boimorto runs west instead, through farm country, and meets the Francés only near Santiago airport, leaving about 8.5 miles shared with it. Gronze mentions it only in passing as a signposted variant, and a walker found it already signed in 2019.
The northern routes
In 2015 UNESCO extended the Camino's World Heritage listing to the northern routes, with Sobrado's monastery among the named monuments. This farmland is also the home of Arzúa-Ulloa cheese, which you can buy in Sobrado and Boimorto.
Look out for
Mile 7.3
The turn in A Gándara. Watch for the second Rúa Gándara and the two Camino posts a block apart: the one on the left is the Norte to Arzúa, the one on the right is your branch.
Mile 11.8
A Mota chapel. A small chapel with a fountain, the only water on the branch. Hotel Lar da Mota is 765 yards off the route just beyond it.
What couldn't be confirmed, and where sources disagree
Distance: Gronze has no stage for the A Mota branch; its Sobrado to Arzúa stage covers only the 7.3 miles to A Gándara. Beyond there, the distances to the A Mota chapel (about 11.8 miles) and Twin Pines (13.5 miles) haven't been re-measured, and no climbing figure was found for the day.
Signs: it couldn't be confirmed that the Xunta has signed the branch since 2017; the earliest report of signs is from a 2019 walk (posted April 2024). Gronze calls it signposted, and walkers in 2024 and 2025 describe Camino posts and good signs to Lavacolla, but a walker on the Gronze forum in 2022 found it hard to follow.
Madelos: Albergue Abeiro da Loba is on the route 3.8 miles from Sobrado, with 26 places, dorm beds €18 to €20, singles €40 and doubles €55, open all year.
A Gándara: Gronze also lists Apartamentos Rurales Escola de Bieite, on the outskirts 550 yards out, and Casa Taboada, at the entrance to the village on the route; neither was checked.
Boimorto: that nearly everything shuts on Sundays hasn't been checked. Telelama mentions a Parrillada A Cabrita somewhere after Boimorto, closed when visited; it couldn't be placed.
Twin Pines: Gronze shows dorm beds from €23 and doubles from €45, and lists 9 rooms, a phone and Booking.com. It couldn't be confirmed that it has 25 beds, has no guest kitchen and is open all year, or that its email is [email protected]. Gronze calls it Twin Pines Camino Norte; Booking.com calls it B and B Twin Pines Pilgrims Rooms.
Lar da Mota and Pazo da Briona: no season or email was found for either.
Casa Rico de Medín: no phone, email or website was found, and a Booking.com listing couldn't be confirmed. Telelama's figure of €127 (posted April 2026) isn't broken down.
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.