Cathedrale de Mondonedo and Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cathedrale de Mondonedo

   Mondoñedo is a small cathedral city in the north of Galicia, tucked into a green valley of the Masma river between the Cantabrian coast and the hills of the interior. With barely five thousand people it is one of the smallest places in Spain to have a cathedral, and the building is the reason the town exists. It was begun in the late twelfth century and finished over several centuries, with a Romanesque core, Gothic vaults and a Baroque west front with two towers. Inside, there are medieval wall paintings in the cloister and a fine stone choir, and the whole is built from the grey local granite, which turns green with lichen and gold in the evening sun.

   Read the complete Cathedrale de Mondonedo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cathedrale de Mondonedo is where the day begins. Next is Chemin de l’Intérieur.

2. 2. Chemin de l’Intérieur

   Pilgrims have been crossing this green upland of Galicia on their way to Santiago de Compostela for more than a thousand years, and the scallop-shell waymarkers still guide them through the villages around Vilalba and Guitiriz. This is the Terra Chá, the flat land, a high plateau in the north of the province of Lugo where the northern pilgrim routes come down from the Cantabrian coast toward the interior. The Ways of Saint James in northern Spain are part of a UNESCO listing that recognises not only the famous French Way but also the coastal and inland routes that run through this region.

   Read the complete Chemin de l’Intérieur write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Chemin de l’Intérieur comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes.

3. 3. Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes

   Pilgrims walking the Camino del Norte toward Santiago reach Sobrado dos Monxes tired and footsore, and the sight of the huge granite Baroque façade of the monastery, rising out of a quiet Galician village, must feel like a miracle. Sobrado was founded as a monastery in the tenth century, became Cistercian in the twelfth, and grew into one of the most powerful abbeys in Galicia. After the dissolution of the monasteries in the nineteenth century, it fell into ruin, until Cistercian monks returned in the 1950s and began restoring it. Today they run a pilgrim hostel in part of the buildings.

   Read the complete Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 98 km into the recorded legs you reach Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes. Next is back through Chemin de l’Intérieur.

4. 4. back through Chemin de l’Intérieur

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Chemin de l’Intérieur write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Chemin de l’Intérieur, late in the day. Next is Cathedrale de Mondonedo.

5. 5. Cathedrale de Mondonedo

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cathedrale de Mondonedo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Cathedrale de Mondonedo. That is the ride.