Camino de Invierno

When snow closed the pass at O Cebreiro, pilgrims on the French Way left it at Ponferrada and followed the Sil valley west instead. That detour is now a waymarked route in its own right, recognised by the Xunta de Galicia in 2016, and it passes through the terraced vineyards of the Ribeira Sacra and the Roman gold workings at Las Médulas.

It is the quietest Galician route by a wide margin. Infrastructure is thin — some stages have a single albergue, and a few have none, requiring a taxi or a pension in the next town. In exchange you get river canyons, Romanesque monasteries and days where you may not meet another pilgrim.