From San Nicolas del Real Camino to El Burgo Ranero, Camino Frances Stage no. 16

Basic Information

• Starting Point: San Nicolas del Real Camino, Spain – A peaceful village with less than 50 inhabitants, a nice pilgrim albergue and a good restaurant. The real Meseta village.
• Ending Point: El Burgo Ranero, Spain – A classic Meseta village with traditional adobe houses and poplar-lined streets. With roughly 700 inhabitants, you an count with all services, including supermarket, restaurant, and various accommodation options for pilgrims.
• Availability of an alternative route: Yes, after the town of Sahagun, before a place called Calzade de Coto (km 13), you can take an alternative route that avoids some road walking and settlements, and allows for more solitude on the Meseta. It is 4 km longer though, something you should consider before opting for this variant.
• Distance: Official camino way: 25 km (Download GPS here). Alternative route: 29 km (Download GPS here).
• Online Map: Official camino: map. Alternative route: map.
• Elevation Difference: +165 m ascent, -130 m descent, for both routes. Super flat, that’s very little elevation for the distance we cover today.
• Difficulty Score: 2/5 – Flat and straightforward, and not very long either. The only problem is the heat and the wind.
• Beauty Score: 2/5 – Very monotonous, with plenty of road walking (or being next to the road). Alternative route is slightly better, but only because of less walking next to the roads. With beauty score the alternative route hovers between 2/5 and 3/5 🙂
• Terrain/Asphalt Walking Ratio: Official camino: 75% trails, 25% asphalt. Alternative route: 80% trails, 20% asphalt.
• Next stage: Camino Frances Stage no. 17, El Burgo Ranero – Leon.
• Previous stage: Camino Frances Stage no. 15, Carrion de los Condes – San Nicolas del Real Camino.

Elevation profile for the routes

– Official Camino, another stage that’s extra flat. Even though it looks like a constant ascent from km 9 to km 25, on those 16 km you’ll climb only 80 meters. That’s 5 vertical meters per kilometer. As flat as it gets really.

– Similar to the official camino, the alternative way is super flat. On 90% of today’s stage the climb gradient is below 1%. As you can notice on the chart, the alternative way is 4 km longer than the official camino.

Advanced Info About the Stage

• Trail marking: Excellent marking, with the route following a straight line across the Meseta. With the treeline (see pictures below) accompanying you for big part of today’s walk, there’s really no way of getting lost. The alternative route bifurcation is clearly sign-posted too.
• Alternative route info: The alternative route leaves the official camino roughly 4km after Sahagun, exactly here. It is clearly marked, and once you’re on an old Roman Way, it is easy to follow it. The alternative route doesn’t go to El Burgo Ranero. If you follow the stages according to our guide, and want to take the alternative route, you leave it exactly here, turning left on the CV-163 road, and in 3 km of flat walking you’re reach El Burgo Ranero. Alternatively you can follow one of the dirt routes going in the same direction as the CV-163 road. Both alternative and official camino merge 13 km further on, in a place called Reliegos (location on Google maps here). The alternative route is very similar to the official camino when it comes to landscapes and terrain, but it keeps you further away from the A231 highway, and offers more solitude, since only about 20% of pilgrims take this alternative.
• Natural Highlights: Nothing worth a particular mention. Just another day on the Meseta. This time, however, you’ll have some trees on your way. Even if artificially planted :).
• Historical & Cultural Highlights:
  • Ermita de la Virgen de Puente, the 13th century chapel that marks the half-point of Camino Frances. Right on the Camino, location on Google maps here.
  • Church of San Tirso, Sahagun, impressive Romanesque Mudejar church from the 12th century. Free entrance, location on Google maps here.
  • Ermita de la Virgen de Perales, another beautiful chapel with nice rest area, originally built in 12th century and restored recently, right on the camino, location on Google maps here. In general there are quite a few nice chapels/churches on today’s way…
  • El Burgo’s Adobe Architecture. Traditional earth-built houses line the streets, just enjoy it while spending your afternoon in El Burgo…
• Camping/Bivouac Options: There isn’t any organized camping place on today’s stage. Unless you want to camp for a specific reason (for example you walk with the dog, or completely hate shared accommodation), I recommend you skipping this one for wild camping. Many people camp because they’re on budget, and on this stage you will find quite a few donation-based pilgrim hostels, many of them offering food as well. I do not write this to suggest you to benefit from the hospitality of someone else. But maybe you can stay in one of these places and leave at least something (what you would normally pay for food for example). In any case, if you are stubborn about camping outside, you can try your luck in one of the rest areas for pilgrims, for example this one.
• Dog-Friendly Score: 2/5: Better than yesterday, mostly because of the shade the endless treeline offers for your dog on today’s walk. Still, the terrain is very flat and the ground is hot, and in general these aren’t conditions most dogs enjoy (unless you’re lucky with a colder day). In terms of dog-friendly albergues there’s one in Sahagun called Viatoris (location and reviews on Google maps here), or you can walk 8 km extra from El Burgo Ranero, to a nice albergue in Villamarco (location and reviews on Google maps here).
• Special Remarks: 
  • Sahagún marks the unofficial halfway point of the Camino Frances (when you started from St. Jean Pied de Port). Of course, it is hard to say what’s exactly the halfway point, since (as you can see with our guide) there are many alternative routes, and you won’t find two pilgrims who walked the same numbers of kilometers on a 30 day long pilgrimage. However, the unofficial mid-way point is near a beautiful chapel from 13th century Ermita de la Virgen de Puente, location on Google maps here. What many people do not know is that you can actually get a half-way certificate in Sahagun, in the tourist office, exactly here. The certificate costs 3 euro, and some people consider it just another way of making money from the pilgrims. However, I believe it is a nice souvenir, especially for people who cannot reach Santiago, for one reason or another. At the end of the day, walking 400 kilometers over Spain is no small feat.
  • Today another lesser-known Camino merges with Camino Frances, in Bercianos del Camino (km 18 of today’s walk). It is called Camino de Madrid, or “Ruta Jacobea Madrilena”, and as the name suggests, it starts in the capital of Spain. With almost 800 kilometers and a half-point here, this camino offers an interesting mix of complete solitude and some necessary nights outside (on the first half) with plenty of social interactions and the most crowded camino of all (once it merges with the French way here). We do not have the guide for this Camino, but should you find it interesting, you can check more info here.

My picks for accommodation on this stage

1. Albergue de la Santa Cruz, Sahagun (km 8). A wonderful albergue with small rooms (4 beds in each), and 10 private double rooms. Great price (7 euro/night for a bunk in 4 person room, 10 euro for a bed in a double room). 80 places in total. Communal dinner (pilgrims participate with bringing the main course, the volunteers prepare the soup), breakfast, meeting with pilgrims at 5pm with coffee and orange juice, holy mass and pilgrim benediction at 6:30pm. A wonderful place overall, location and reviews on Google maps here. You can make a reservation by phone call or WhatsApp, on the following number: +34 650 696 023.
2. Albergue Casa Rectoral, Bercianos del Real Camino (km 18). A wonderful donation-based albergue with communal dinner and breakfast. Run by a local parish. Opens 1:30pm, 44 beds, does not accept reservations. Location and reviews on Google maps here.
3. Albergue de peregrinos Domenico Laffi, El Burgo Ranero (km 25): Another donation-based albergue on today’s walk. 30 beds in four rooms, well-equipped kitchen for cooking any meals, check-in from 1pm. They do not accept reservations. Location and reviews on Google maps here.

Pictures from the stage

– One of those churches in the middle of nowhere on the Meseta. Notice the benches, it is a good spot to have some rest.

– You’ll see this scenery for kilometers on end on today’s stage. Walking on dirt but pretty close to the road, with trees wisely planted on your left side–on the south side, providing some shade at least until the sun rises up high on the sky.

– Seems similar to the previous one? Well, that’s how today’s stage is. Hard to tell various kilometers apart :). At least good for meditation and some deep reflections I guess.

Few tips at the end

• Special cookie shop with Sahagun. Let’s face the truth: Spain isn’t particularly famous for a good pastry. Of any kind. But exception always proves the rule, and you will find one amazing exception in Sahagun. A small artisanal cookie shop, that makes the most delicious cookies on the camino, without colorants or preservatives. It is called Galleta Sahagun de Hierro, and you can see location and reviews on Google maps here. Definitely worth a morning stop, and the pack of cookies you’ll remember for the rest of your way to Santiago.

Next/Previous Stage

• Next stage: Camino Frances Stage no. 17, El Burgo Ranero – Leon.
• Previous stage: Camino Frances Stage no. 15, Carrion de los Condes – San Nicolas del Real Camino.