When I finished the Camino Primitivo last year, I knew I wanted to return to Spain and walk another path. After watching several YouTubers talk about their Camino walks, I decided the Camino de San Salvador was the one I wanted to do. Since it would only take 6 days to complete, I decided I would add on a section of the Camino del Norte adding another 6 days to my walk. Santiago would not be my final destination this time but I would instead spend 2 nights in the beach town of Ribadeo to end my walk.
The Camino de San Salvador and the Camino Del Norte are very different walks. The Camino de San Salvador begins in Leon and heads north to Oviedo. In the early days of the pilgrimage to Santiago, pilgrims who wanted to visit the cathedral in Oviedo would leave the Camino Frances in Leon and head north to Oviedo. From here they would continue their trek to Santiago via the Camino Primitivo. The Camino de San Salvador crosses the Cantabrian mountains and is known for its spectacular beauty as well as being quite strenuous. It is one of the lesser-traveled paths and requires some planning ahead as there are limited resources for accommodation and food.
On the other hand, the Camino del Norte starts at the border with France and follows the northern coast of Spain along the Cantabrian Sea until it dips toward Santiago after reaching Ribadeo. It is also known to be one of the more challenging paths toward Santiago but also gifts the pilgrim with spectacular sea views. The northern route is one of the more popular paths and has plenty of accommodation and resources for pilgrims along the way.
With my route selected, it was time to figure out my timeline and itinerary since I only had about 2 weeks to work with. While plenty of books about the Camino del Norte discuss stages of the walk and accommodation and amenities in each town or village, there is little information about the Camino de San Salvador. My primary source of information was a pdf I bought from PilgrimageTraveler.com which does an excellent job of providing detailed maps and commentary on each of the stages.
Logistics
Half of the battle with planning a Camino is figuring out how to get to and from your starting and endpoints. Flying into Madrid, I had to get to Leon to start the Camino de San Salvador then get back to Madrid from Ribadeo on the far northern coast.
Getting to Leon was pretty easy by taking a train from the T4 terminal at the airport to the main Chamartin train hub in Madrid. From there, it was a 2-hour train ride to Leon which I had booked ahead of time. The only bad thing was the 4 hours I had to wait at the train station as there were no earlier times for that route.
Getting back to Madrid from Ribadeo would require a full day of taxis, 2 buses, and a flight from Asturias Airport. Thankfully, all was on time and I was able to get checked into my hostel to rest and prepare for my flight back to the States in the morning.
Leon
It was almost 4:30 PM by the time I arrived in Leon and I had several things I needed to accomplish before starting my walk the next day. The first was to check into my hotel, Crisol Quindos. After getting slightly lost, I found my hotel, checked in, and left my backpack. My first stop was to see the Cathedral and then buy a credential for the Camino de San Salvador at the municipal albergue nearby. Next was buying a cheap pair of trekking poles at a sporting goods store, getting some cash at an ATM, and finally, buying some groceries for the first few days of the walk.
At this point, I was a walking zombie and needed to get some sleep. The hotel was only a block from the start of the Camino and I wanted to get an early start. With everything in order, it was time for bed and the start of the Camino do San Salvador!
